>

2/1/11

Economic, Social and Geopolitical

re: those of little faith in the ideals of America...

It's understandable to me the different attitudes and frame of mind that contrasting people have taken towards the current economic crisis across our society. There are those few that have been barely dented and just don't get it and insensitive to it all (if you're in Arizona think pretentious North Scottsdale or Oro Valley) but they will be hit, sooner or later. The majority of people have taken various viewpoints that I do understand, ranging from denial to "eat, drink and be merry," to recognizing there's nothing they can do about the macro but focus on the micro, to those who are devastated, to optimists and positive-thinkers to purposeful obliviousness and everything else in between.

One positional longitude that I don't understand strikes me as plain anti-American. It emanates from people who preach we are heading for a long term difficult economic era due to excessive capitalism, firmly believe it and spread a message that the "power elite" will control the markets, while the rest of us will suffer under these people's thumbs forever. Basically to them, truly free America is over. Ironically, I notice that these skeptics, who think we are stuck in the grip of a ruling elite of our own, have something in common. They tend to spring out from liberalism or the left, a gross generalization I realize but too noticeable to ignore. They are the legacy and descendants of the progressives from the period after the WWI. I'm supposing their answer is more government intervention and control.

I don't buy that frame of mind. 

What makes this country different is we are not a European, Middle Eastern, Eurasian (Russia) or Asian country, where it is quite possible to be entrenched in a truly stratified society. Even so, I'm not sure it is possible in some of those countries, of those regions. As a recent example look to Tunisia, which ran its leader out and now Egypt which is on the verge of overthrowing their government, Jordan is likely next. They certainly have more obstacles to overcome to bring down their ruling class than we do in the United States. We may not care for or fear their culture but it is an example of the middle and lower classes bringing down a ruling class that has made life too difficult for the majority to live with.

I do believe we have a class of people who have gotten the notion that they know best and act as power brokers in government and business. Corporations are a large component of our economic distress due to their excessive access to government policymakers. The entire premise of America however, is based on our ability to overthrow our own government quite easily, without real bloodshed. That ideal is based on the Founding Fathers vision, the principles of the US Constitution and our kind of rule of law. Some argue that so much control has been taken by the so-called "power elite" of our country, defined as the corporate and business class and I would add, in collusion with trade unions (who fancy themselves as downtrodden members of the lower class) alongside the political and bureaucratic classes, that "they've" made it impossible to overthrow their control and power.

I don't believe that we've lost that much control.

It may be there are a lot of lazy, entitlement-minded, sheep-like people in this country but I don't think in the big picture, they're the majority. In the long view, when it comes down to brass tacks, I believe most Americans will do whatever it takes to rise above the power structure we have now when pushed too far. The current leadership and ruling structure is out of touch with the average person in this country but we still own that. We lulled ourselves asleep while they snuck in like thieves in the night and stole our stuff but they still didn't get our basic rights. It is a matter of us asserting those rights and overthrowing the current government in our own unique American way. What that way will be, I can't predict, I do think that we are heading towards a turning and a tipping point.

I have faith it will happen.

My thought is that the time is coming when we will have to make some bold moves, as a people, to rid ourselves of the current leading classes that do not have the rest of America's best interest in mind. The civil war of ideas that will occur within the country, when the time arrives for our own overthrowing of the status quo dominating classes, will be between those of us who believe in the ideals of the founders of this country and those schooled in liberalism and socialism. The conclusion I've reached is that those who think more government is the answer will lose that civil war and the overturning of a century's worth of their meddling will be undone.

We will then be rid of two things. The current ruling classes as well as the ideas of the left and liberalism. Both of them are twin evils that are equally responsible for the economic, social and geopolitical crunch we are in, due to the national power they've held. Momentum is building and a shift is coming, ready or not.

2 comments:

  1. There are so many things I could say in agreement with this post that I truly don't know where or even how to start. So I will just jump in.

    I think the whole leftist battle of the haves versus the have-nots is a bogus claim. We live in a country made up of people who WILL and people who WILL NOT. And it goes far beyond welfare people and those on other (obvious) public assistance, though they tend to be the ones spotlighted. We live in a country of hard-working people who are paying for things like I mentioned, but also paying for products made by "hard-working" union workers who wait 30 minutes for somebody to show up who is even allowed to turn a screwdriver. We live in a country where state employees think that an orange t-shirt gives 13 of them a reason to stand around a shovel handle doing nothing as their bosses pass them by on the highway. Not that some union workers don't work hard, or some state workers, but it's the absolute in-your-face-arrogant-I-don't-have-to that shows in the actions of many that really pisses me off, to the extent that I daresay they piss me off more than welfare people, being more in my face on a daily basis.

    We also live in a country whose main branches of legislative government dares to overrule the majority of it's bosses by PASSING a very-questionable health-care bill, then ADMITS almost to a man or woman that their vote on a 2000-page document was based on nothing except some absurd trust they seem to have had in the document's contents. "No one could have read it," they say. And yet they voted for what was in it. My only real question in this case is: what constitutes treason? If you can try US Soldiers for what everyone called the HORRORS of Abu Gharaib (which-and I admit I don't understand the details-sure seemed just like a bunch of maybe not too bright decisions that resulted in some possible terrorists getting scared or embarrassed) I wonder why you can't try members of Congress for the HORRORS of treason. It's just a thought.

    I think it's interesting that the media seems to be playing the Middle East uprisings down...but I find it MORE interesting that our officials seem determined to be on the side of the oppressed people, who are just hard-working and under the thumbs of their awful governments.

    I have nothing to say after that. It's beyond ironic to me.

    I think the left is like one gigantic TV weatherman. They're never dressed like they were at work (unless they are deigning to condescend, which they do sometimes), they spend a lot of time gesturing and explaining things that are irrelevant to the issue at hand, and in the end their successes can be attributed to nothing but luck.

    And after all this babbling, I still feel some unknowable sense of good, some positivity and welcome for whatever difficulties are coming. I'd almost say it's an underlying calm, knowing these cheating idiots cannot stand.

    That's all I got, sir. Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. All great points and well pointed out also. I think you ought to review a lot of your comments, do a rewrite if you think they need them and post them on your blog. They're always worthy of mentioning. You'll probably like my post today (02/02/11).

    Thanks for commenting. It's never babbling but always food for thought.

    ReplyDelete