By Charles Sullivan
25/03/08 "ICH"--- -Neoconservatives derive much of their political
strength from the ****trayal of big government as the enemy of the
people: a belief that plays only too well in America. Big government
is indeed the enemy of the people when it does not serve the people's
interests, or when it betrays them.
Where the neoconservatives and the chicken hawks have been
spectacularly successful is in the field of perception management. The
super rich--or the ruling clique--constitutes no more than 0.1 percent
of the US population. Yet they control the mainstream media, every
branch government, the electoral process and the country's major
financial institutions.
Thus, 99.9 percent of the people are being manipulated and
cannibalized by a tiny but powerful minority. It is the interests of
this powerful minority that are served by government and it is their
interests that are defined as the national interest or as national
security; and it is hardly benign. Robbing the poor to pay the rich
causes irreparable harm to the victim.
There is a continual conflict between the super rich and the remaining
99.9 percent of the people in this nation. Not only is democracy
subverted when a tiny minority rules over a large majority, the
majority is diminished and betrayed, and social and economic servitude
is instituted. The relation****p is not only adversarial; it is
fundamentally unequal and unjust. You have a situation where a large
majority suffers all of the hard****ps and makes all of the sacrifices
but the small minority reaps the reward, without incurring any risk
themselves. One should never call this intolerable and immoral
situation a democracy.
Through subversion, coercion, and intense perception management the
owner****p class always gets what it wants, and almost always at the
expense of the working class. We pay the price and someone else reaps
the financial reward.
Consider, for example, the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the
United States military and who has benefited financially. The
military, comprised almost entirely of working class women and men, is
being used to secure Iraq's nationalized oil fields and turning them
over to private firms and foreign investors. Those firms have profited
from the theft of Iraqi oil by the United States armed forces without
running any risks themselves.
The armed forces ran the risks for them, and turned the profits over
to private oil companies who subsequently realized record profits. The
entire country has been similarly privatized by a host of cor****ate
predators. War is a form of cor****ate welfare cloaked in patriotic
language. One need only follow the money to understand what it is
really about.
Similarly, George Bush is not fighting a war against terrorism as he
pur****ts: he is committing unconscionable acts of terrorism against
innocent people, and his cohorts in congress are providing him the
funds to do so. It is not Islamic terrorists that are spying on law-
abiding citizens and intercepting their emails or tapping their phone
lines; it is the United States government, authorized by Bush.
The president behaves like a fascist dictator because he is a fascist
dictator representing the interests of the ruling clique, while
masquerading as a protectorate of the people and the national
interest. Never lose sight of the fact that Bush is an emissary for
the ruling class to which he belongs and it is on their behalf that he
is acting, not ours.
Consider also the fact that thousands of no bid contracts were awarded
to private cor****ations with connections to the Bush White House--such
as Halliburton, Bechtel, and Blackwater during the occupation of Iraq.
Thus, it is evident that terms such as free trade and free markets are
not only misleading, they are disingenuous and fraudulent.
Not only is the ruling clique stealing the wealth of other nations
through overt militarism, they are simultaneously bankrupting our
nation's economy. Their intent is to privatize government in hopes of
changing it from a service oriented entity into a for profit body.
Their goal is to eliminate all social spending in order to further
facilitate the ruling clique's personal wealth creation, and to
finance future military invasions; to impose capitalism on the world
by means of brute force and coercion.
If they are successful, those with enough money to buy services that
are now provided by the government will continue to enjoy those
services. Those who cannot afford to pay: the poor, the elderly, the
sick or injured, the unemployed and uneducated, will just have to
suffer and die. They will be forced to subsist on whatever they can
beg, barrow, or steal and slip into the realm of non-persons. It is
worth noting that the infrastructure for delivering those goods and
services were created with public funds. As always, we are talking
about socializing costs and privatizing profits.
Paradoxically, neoconservatives and their media cohorts have succeeded
in persuading working class people of modest incomes, conservative and
liberal alike, into sup****ting a wide range of policies that are
detrimental to their class, especially those with the lowest incomes.
That is the role that neoconservative icons like Rush Limbaugh plays
in the cor****ate propaganda apparatus. While actually part of the
ruling clique, Limbaugh has persuaded his followers that he and his
economic brethren are on their side. In reality, Limbaugh and his
class are preying upon the fears and prejudices of his followers while
accruing tremendous personal wealth from their sup****t, much like
George Bush. Such is the power of disinformation, fear, and
propaganda.
Limbaugh's mindless blathering is like the kiss of Judas. He and his
kind are impervious to scientific fact and without empathy for the
people they so ruthlessly exploit.
Leaving no economic stone unturned, the ruling clique is even
privatizing the military. The average soldier assigned the rank of
private first class receives a yearly salary of about $40,000; whereas
a mercenary working for Blackwater--a private defense contractor--doing
the same job in the same place, earns about $400,000. The mercenary
soldier costs tax payers ten times more than the government soldier
for the same services and is not accountable to anyone.
The privatization of the military began under former Secretary of
Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and it continues to this day. Private
contractors have such close ties with government these days that it is
difficult to tell where the private sector ends and government begins.
There are revolving doors that continuously sweep cor****ate executives
into government and government officials into cor****ate board rooms.
That is how fortunes are made in Wa****ngton: through crony capitalism
and theft.
Rumsfeld, a man who sanctions torture, has long deified Milton
Friedman, of the Chicago School of Economics; and it is Friedman's
economic and social theories that are being put into practice. Lest
anyone think that the disciples of capitalism are limited to the
neocons, they aren't. Every contending presidential candidate is a
Friedman disciple. The president, his entire cabinet, and virtually
every member of congress are disciples of Milton Friedman; and that is
why voting does not often significantly change policies: the ideology
behind them remains the same, regardless of who is in power.
That is where this country is heading but most Americans are sitting
on their hands and allowing it to happen. The people need to know what
is being done to them and who is responsible. We the people must
organize and mobilize to protect ourselves from the ruling cabal or we
will be forever cannibalized by them.
Like it or not, we are all in this together and long term survival
will depend upon our ability to organize and to cooperate with one
another. It will require long term economic boycotts, strikes, work
slow downs, dramatically curtailed consumption, civil disobedience,
sustained protests, self-education and personal sacrifice. The key is
to get organized as quickly as possible.
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Charles Sullivan is a nature photographer, free-lance writer, and
activist residing in the Ridge and Valley Province of West Virginia.
He welcomes your comments at csullivan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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