Let's Connect the Dots - Part 7

I realize that I have covered a lot of subjects here. My critics will probably call this rambling. But history doesn't stay on one subject. And I do have a point: 

 

If you put all of the “dots” I have set here for you together, a pattern forms. The pattern I see is combination of growing military/industrial power, growing monopoly power, growing multinational corporate power, and what are essentially insider attacks on democracy – which have led to systematic corruption that could ultimately lead to the collapse of America's democracy, economy, and even viability. In fact, it is quite arguable that this trend is already past a tipping point. The Party that used to fight back, the Democrats, are now unwilling (and likely afraid) to speak up. That leaves Americans with no options to fix things other than to find ways to fix them ourselves.

The good news is that sometimes things have to get bad enough for us to do something. This systematic corruption could be the inspiration to create a much more functional system. This hideous mess now forces us to create a system even more democratic and responsible than even the founding fathers of our nation dared to consider.

Imagine a system of operating our nation (and the world) that actually functions to the benefit of all – including the environment. And all we have to do to obtain this better way of doing things is to refocus on what we really want. Of course, to achieve this we will have to figure out how to limit the unwarranted power of the greedy, back-stabbing, short-sighted, monopoly playing fools who's goal is to make us all victims of their get-rich-quick schemes. But there is hope. Even the pillagers might have a moment of common sense when faced with self-destruction from the consequences of their actions.

Our goals in life should not be to; treat our employees like slaves, treat our customers like addicts, treat our investors like suckers, treat the environment like a limitless credit card, and treat those who want to fix things like the enemy. Success should be healthy, maximize true happiness, and long-term.

Yet our predicament is obvious:

In order to fix anything, we are going to be tasked to fix everything...

So, what do we do?

For decades now, Americans have known that money is the root of all evil in politics. We have to get big money out of politics if we ever hope to end up with a functional government. But we should know by now that our elected (by big money) politicians are never going to do that for us. Which means we can't sit around and wait for somebody else to fix this for us.

Ironically, we have always had the power to get money out of politics. In fact, we voters could get the money out of politics in the very next election, if we worked together on it. All we have to do is not vote for candidates that have been backed by big money. And if we all do that, money won't matter in politics.

If you don't like bought and paid for candidates, then don't vote for them. In almost every election in this country, there are candidates who are honest and just – and they don't get elected because they won't sell out – and they don't get noticed. Vote for them. Find the candidate that supports the issues you agree with most and vote for that candidate – no matter what Party they are – no matter if you didn't hear about them on TV. In fact, the candidates you hear about on TV are the ones you don't want to vote for – they're the ones with the money to pay for the ads.

The mass media is getting filthy rich feeding us junk-food politics. We know that. We know they ignore the best candidates. We know they're not telling the whole truth. We know that sometimes they even lie to us (big time). So, why do we continue to act as though we believe their junk-food politics stories? Because everybody else seems to. But they don't. Americans are being herded like sheep to the slaughter, when we have the power to change things – if we work together.

Even if we don't agree on who we want to elect, we can agree on who we don't want – sell outs.

Face it, voting for the candidate with the most money is just passively accepting your slave status. All we have to do is think outside of the (squawk) box. All we have to do is ignore those attack ads on TV. All we have to do is ignore those mass media commentaries.

All we have to do is together not vote for the sell outs.

And what would we want our ideal candidates to do?

Getting rid of those plutocracy rules I mentioned earlier would make a significant difference. Reform of our mass media “news” would help immensely. Independent investigations of the possible conspiracies I've mentioned would help us know where we really stand. And sending a handful of the worst perpetrators to prison would have a chilling effect on most of the corruption we just put up with now.

Speaking of prisons; Americans need to fire the corporate prisons. They are the worst example of privatization of government functions we commonly see. The incentives are backwards. Prisons should want to keep as many people out of prison as possible. But because of the profit motive, private prisons see each body behind bars as $40,000 to $50,000 profit. Privatized prisons are even becoming a new form of slavery.

Privatization has been a terrible idea for most Americans – except those who profit from the privatized government functions – and our tax money. Costs are not lower – there is no incentive to lower costs to taxpayers. Services are commonly worse – because government oversight is gone. And with privatized spies and mercenaries, patriotism takes a back seat to profits.

We are being used! Our taxes are being stolen! A portion of our incomes are being taken away from us against our will to enrich others. This essentially defines us as free range slaves. We need to take back America from the profiteers. Sustaining income streams should not be more important than actual sustainability – especially when it's our money they're wasting! If we could eliminate corruption in American government; our taxes would be lower, our government services would be everywhere, our military would be invincible, our public health would be amazing, and our future wouldn't look nearly as desperate.

But for now; our taxes are even being used to poison us. Think about it; that's just what subsidies to the fossil fuel industry end up doing.

We need to break the grip of the fossil fuel companies. Since 1976, America has spent eight trillion dollars “protecting” middle Eastern oil. And that's our money, not the oil companies'. (Moreover, had we spent that money on renewable energy, we wouldn't have needed most of the oil.) Worse, nations all over the world have been giving fossil fuels a multi-trillion dollar unfair advantage in the market with all the subsidies and tax breaks they give. Astonishingly; America has recently cut subsidies for wind power and left subsidies for fossil fuels intact. This has only worsened the problem of multi-national corporations' monopoly like control over critical industries and corruption of our government. On top of all of this, there is the massive damage being done to our environment which will cost trillions to deal with.

There is one more extremely important thing we can do. Stay out of wars! America now has the most formidable military ever in history – by a wide margin. Americans need to realize that no war we get into now is going to be a war of “defense.” And moreover, it would be far less expensive to treat our “enemies” with respect than spending trillions to oppress them.

But this isn't just about what could happen. This is also about what has happened. Let's consider the outcomes of America's wars of the last 50 years. The war in Vietnam ended in failure. Vietnam ultimately fell to the communists – but no other nation fell like a domino. The war in Grenada was unnecessary. The medical students were not being held captive. The war in Panama didn't really achieve its objectives. Drug trafficking doubled after the removal of Manuel Noriega and the U.S. eventually gave the Panama Canal to the Panamanians anyway. The Gulf wars didn't bring true democracy to anybody – and the price of oil went up. Moreover, the war on terrorism has gradually transformed into a drone war against less and less likely suspects – ultimately transforming America into terrorists.

Think about it. The American military/industrial complex needs enemies to justify its existence. No enemies, no tax money. And now that there is no Soviet Union or Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden, they have to find somebody else. But all that is left are a few angry civilians. That doesn't matter. No enemies, no tax money. So, this war on “terrorism” has digressed into an act of chasing ghosts. It's as if America is creating our own enemies so that we can have someone to fight. We pay private “analysts” to find our enemies. (We've got mercenaries doing our spying for us!) And the more “enemies” they find, the more money they make. Anyone familiar with systems theory would know that this is certain to spiral out of control. If America is willing to pay for names, they'll give us names – even if they end up pulling them out of a hat! And once the names of these unfortunate people end up on our hit list, somebody has to go kill them before they go out and commit an act of terrorism. In effect, our intelligence community has created system that doesn't actually need real enemies to commit to acts of war. The American intelligence community can call this whatever they want to, but the people in the nations our drones fly over obviously see this as American terrorism – inspiring anti-American terrorism.

Example: It appears that our military/spying community is so committed to never having another Ayatollah Khomeini that they are willing to kill anyone like him. This may just be the consequence of a system that is so desperate for enemies that they are now chasing anybody who even speaks out. But either way, too many innocent people are dying. Where does this end? When every Muslim cleric who speaks out against America is dead? It's as if we have stumbled into another Crusade. Have we stooped that low? Muslims probably think so. And I would imagine that would make them quite angry.

But it almost appears that's just what the American military/industrial complex was planning for. Now they'll have some more enemies to justify their existence.

Wars are expensive. Wars cost lives. Wars result in unnecessary destruction of the environment. And wars distract us from the real enemies – those who con us into fighting their wars of empire for them.

However, we now we have an additional far more insidious enemy; our perverted war system. Our system of “defense” has shifted into a system of perpetual “war.” War has become a business – a business of collecting our tax money. Our system of checks and balances has been bypassed by a non-governmental system of mercenaries. Our governmental intelligence community has been bypassed by privatization – and thus commercialization.

So what do we do about all these government contractor spies? We can't fire them. We don't want to risk the possibility of them taking private contracts for big business. I recommend we pay them not to be spies – give them other jobs – give them a raise even. It would be a whole lot cheaper than paying for another war.

But of course, the our government and government contractor spies are only the tip of the military/industrial complex. The devil is in the details. The Pentagon still hasn't provided America with an audit of their spending since we ordered one back in 1997. They won't even tell us where our tax money goes! Billions just disappear. And we Americans have let this happen, by not holding them accountable. I bet they'd be much more willing to tell us how our money is being spent if we threatened to cut them off.

I'm not saying that we should shut down the military/industrial complex. I'm saying we shouldn't just give them whatever they want, whenever they want it.

When an arms manufacturer goes over budget, we should either shut down the project or give it to a competitor. When the military says they don't need something, quit making them! And when a government contractor subcontracts out a job, the subcontractor should get almost all of the money for that job.

The sequestration would have cut defense spending significantly – as it was cutting spending everywhere. But lap dog politicians for the military/industrial complex didn't let that happen. And it won't happen until the American people speak up – LOUD.

And while we're at it, we need to work towards a one world democracy – that votes on issues.

The right wing nuts have been totally panicked over a one world government. But what they don't realize is that one already exists. That's what the G8 and G20 meetings are all about. That's what the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Trans Atlantic Free Trade Agreement are all about.

The multi-national corporations are deciding the fate of the world – based upon how much profit they're scheming to get. Officials from Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, Cisco Systems Inc. and General Electric Co. have been involved with the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations – while America's elected leaders, such as Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson have been kept out – and of course, the rest of us are to be left wondering what happened. The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is blatantly an agreement among multi-national corporations. At the negotiation level, this has nothing to do with our nations' governments. Our governments are just supposed to sign it and accept the consequences. That's not democracy in the slightest.

The multi-national corporations are deciding the world's fate without our input – and they don't want some one world democracy to get in their way. That's why they try so hard to panic us about a one world government. That's why the United Nations has received such bad press here in America.

At this point in history, the United Nations represents the best world governing organization we have available. But we could also go one step further. We could develop a one world democracy. Initially, it would not likely be binding. But a landslide win would send a mandate to the world what we, the people of the Earth, really want. No depraved despot would be able to hide the fact that they were acting against the will of humanity.

Imagine all the people of the world voting on what to do about Global Warming. We the people of the world should have the right to decide our fate – not a bunch of paid off politicians and greedy multi-national corporations. We should be able to vote for or against subsidies for devastating our environment. It is almost certain that we the people of the world would vote against wars over oil. It is almost certain that we the people of the world would vote against military oppression that breeds terrorism. It is almost certain that we the people of the world would do a better job than the cash and power obsessed cronies who decide our fate today.

But until then, we can still vote with our pocketbooks. Renewable energy is cheap enough now. Electric cars are on the market. If you can't afford that, inexpensive electric bikes are now on the market. But this isn't just about what is cheapest. This should be about what is smartest.

If enough of us don't use fossil fuels, maybe next time there won't be a convincing excuse to go to war over oil. That's what a Federal scientific inquiry advised President Harry Truman back in the 1950's. That was President Jimmy Carter's goal back in the 1970's. And now; giving up on oil makes more sense than ever. 

But of course; poisoning ourselves, altering our climate, corrupting our governments, and enabling military profiteers has never been a good choice.

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Disclaimer/Invitation: I admit I am only an amateur historian and some of this is only my opinion. But I have left a number of very interesting links to back up my commentary. I understand that how I connect the dots may be different from everyone else. Which is why I invite you to briefly inform me on information I might have left out. Let's connect the dots together. You're welcome to leave a relevant link. 

 

I also will be conducting a conversation on Reddit at:

http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1w7cpg/what_are_your_thoughts_on_a_grand_unified/

And if anyone is interested in collaboratively writing a book; I'll check the comments, and I'll let you know.