al loomis's Open Salon Blog

on the way out, one more time:

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:12:28 -0500

it's not the rich, though they are vile. it's not the politicians, though they are corrupt beyond your imagination.

america's problems lie in the 99%, because they are 99% and whatever they are, the nation is. people who complain about the 1% are fools, at best. but most are excusing you and themselves from being citizens.

so, no "good luck!" on the way out, because luck has nothing to do with it. you deserve what's coming.

capitalism doesn't work.

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:12:37 -0500

you can see it not working. you can see it in the millions unemployed, losing their houses, uninsured, dropping out of education.

the apologists will answer, that there is a temporary glitch, service will return to normal soon.

not good enough.

when one link of an anchor chain fails, and the ship is lost, we don't say, "only one link failed, most of the chain is perfect." when a car works just fine for 100 yards, but then stops until it cools off, you don't say "it works most of the time."

aside from periodic failure, the system doesn't even pretend to work for everone. imagine throwing people into the garbage can, because they are 'unneeded.' america is a nation that views its people as a commodity, to be bought and sold, and thrown away, as required.

an economic system that can't even pretend to work all the time for all the people is no system at all, it's a label for an economic free-fire zone.

the fall-back position for the apologists of capitalism is that it is the best system available. best for what? best for who?

it's not best for the nation, because the lost production and skills can never be replaced, they are a permanent scar on the economy. it may be best for the '1%' to destroy any savings in the lower classes, as it makes them humble and pliable, but it's not best for the 99%.

and there are other, better systems, without even getting into total socialism. many nations in europe achieve better results in the 'civilization indices' by simply injecting some worker control into production and commerce.

this can't be done in america because the sacred constitution flash-froze american society in the legal attitudes and customs of georgian britain. capitalism doesn't work, because it was never meant to. it was just a label applied to a bandit society ruled by looters and exploiters, the 'cosa nostra' of anglophone nations.

not-voting

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:12:54 -0500

i often suggest (demand/plea) that people stop voting for politicians, and i occasionally get the reply that this would result in only the wrong people voting- those who oppose democracy. quite true. if there were not more to it.

nonetheless, you must stop voting, if you are to stop america from sliding into tyranny*. further into tyranny, actually. you were half-way there when the constitution was established. the american people never assented to the imposition of the constitution. it was imposed by the various state governments. only rhode island put the question directly to the people, and the people rejected it. the united states of america, from its first day, was the counter-revolution of the rich against the revolution of 1776.

since then, finding themselves within its confines and yearning to improve their lives by whatever means are at hand, the electorate began voting for the lesser of two evils. this process of voting has a significance much greater than you may imagine: it transfers power from your hand to the winner of the election. by that act you transform yourself from an equal and active member of political society into a passive watcher, from 'citizen' to 'civilian.' office-holders have no right to power from birth, and not yet from direction of military power. their right to power is only in your assent expressed in voting. but by voting, you consent to your own subjugation. the system is unfair from the beginning, even when it works as it imports to. but it doesn't even work that well:

the winner of the election becomes the wielder of the power of many, and is thereby corrupted: people shower him with bribes in search of favors, and he dispenses favors in search of more votes, and bribes.

what, then, to do? voting cements in place the corruption of society, not-voting allows the 'wrong' people to dominate society.

well, no, it doesn't: not-voting comes in two forms. the common form is the act of the private person, the manifestation of 'hell with politics, it's fixed.' it is common, because voting is nearly useless- it is not connected to getting any particular result beyond putting a particular face in a seat of power. any reasonable person might well shrug the shoulders and say "hell with it!"

but there is another kind of 'not-voting.' public and organized not-voting by a group of people who are united in pursuit of a common goal is much more effective in getting a result than voting for a face. it is voting for a citizen initiative in a society that does not have citizen initiative.

a focused not-voting campaign is vastly more productive than shaking a fist in a street demo. 100,000 people shaking their fist on the street feels good, and looks good on the 6 o'clock news, but if you are not committed to the violent over-throw of the government, then they will wait you out, and turn you into a tourist attraction while you're there. if you want to modify a politician's behavior without shooting, nothing approaches being regularly and frequently presented with a list of 100,000 voters saying in concert: "no mas!" notice, by the way, that initial 'public and organized.' that is the distinguishing mark of political not-voting, and both parts are necessary. (see my post 'democracy, and revolution' for more on this.)

that is the hard part: americans have little experience with any kind of political action beyond assenting to a face to rule over them. it's very easy to raise a demo, brief, emotionally fulfilling, but telling them to send a form email on the first of the month and keep on doing it, in the face of silence, requires a certain amount of character.

but remember gandhi's observation: "first, they ignore you,,,, and then you win." better yet, sending simultaneous emails on the first of the month to interested parties is easy and free: even fast-food, immediate gratification americans may be able to do it.

my estimation is, that a citizen is not a citizen without citizen initiative, anymore than a carpenter is a carpenter without a hammer. that should be the first goal of anyone hoping to reform a society.

democracy, and revolution

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:11:10 -0500

(time for the annual exhortation to get up on your hind hooves and act like citizens)

politicians rule america, not the people. it is no accident, the constitution writers, the sainted founding fathers, were contemptuous of democracy. they were determined that america would be ruled by men of property. they have been brilliantly successful. the 'men,' have become men and women, and occasionally colored, too. property has become stock holdings rather than slave plantations, or the ships that prospered in service to the slave/cotton trade. even so, america remains in thrall to money. better still, it is 'unamerican,' to suggest that the wealthy are bandits.

lincoln said, at gettysburg, that the war was fought to preserve a society ruled 'by the people.' lincoln lied, for it has never been that. he lied as every politician does.

politicians rule, for the rich.

this has brought the richest nation in the world into grave debt to what was once one of the poorest. it has enslaved the ordinary people to the wishes of the richest, who own the politicians. it has made munitions the only viable manufacturing industry in the nation, achieved by selling arms to most of the world's dictatorships. it has created many of those dictatorships in pursuit of markets. it has put america into 3 wars, which in modern america are not the struggle of nations for dominance or survival, merely sinkholes into which money can be thrown, to the enrichment of the munitions corporations.

the rule by politicians has looted the environment, threatens ecological collapse, has transformed the most prosperous nation in the world into a land of 'mcjobs' and poverty. this rule must stop, if america is to stop its decay.

i present to you a plan to change the course of history: it's embarrassing, i know, but i'm not here to whine, i'm here to change things. if you are tired of whining, here's a plan which may work, and costs very little:

we can begin a revolution to democracy. i say begin, for this is not a quick fix. it has taken more than 200 years for america to get this far into the mire, it will take several years to get out. revolution? yes, genuine revolution. not a violent activity, a little keyboard activity once a month will be your basic duty. but a revolution, nonetheless. it will be a transfer of the ultimate decisions, major policy, from those few hundred politicians to the electorate, a transfer of power from the few to the many.

will the people's decisions be good ones? yes, for the collective judgment of millions is certainly better than the rule of a few who will always put their private interest ahead of the national interest. in particular, the people who will suffer will be little inclined to send jobs or their soldiers overseas, not at all inclined to let wall street and the banks play 'go fish' with the nation's treasure.

how to get there? the first step is to get citizen initiative, in every state, and in the federal government. it will need a constitutional amendment, similar to the one extending the vote to women. citizen initiative is not a magic wand, but it will have a profound effect, even if seldom used: it's existence is material proof that politicians are not master of the nation. it will always be a reminder that politicians who do not work for the good of the majority can find themselves overruled. they can even find themselves in court, with no 'get out of jail' card from their guild brothers.

how to get citizen initiative? there's only one way: politely threaten politicians with loss of employment if they do not enact the enabling legislation for initiative.

here's how: on the first of every month, send an email to the democrat national committee, and to your state committee if you don't have initiative in your state. send it also to sitting office holders, and candidates in your electoral district. send it to your local newspapers too.

in this email, say: " i will not again vote for any democrat candidate until establishing citizen initiative is at the head of the democrat platform, in the federal government, and in the state."

that's all it takes. first time 1000 such emails hit on the first of the month, the democrat party will smile and forget it. when 10,000 hit they will start to think. when 100,000 arrive, they will act.

incidentally, i have no particular respect for the democrat party. however, the republican party is the champion of wealth. the democrats are the party of the 'others.' the others include 'progressives,' who must be kept in the tent if democrats are to hope for success.

will this result in a tsunami of republican victories? no. the minute some state official loses his job while getting a pile of these emails, the democrat party will discover they are the natural champions of democracy. before the first federal legislator loses his seat, initiative will be prominent in democrat promises. this will actually lead to greater success for democrat candidates, for at last they will have a promise that inspires the youth of the nation, and is affordable to their elders.

initiative and democracy should have some appeal for libertarians, btw.

will having initiative bring paradise overnight? sorry. but it will put into the hands of ordinary voters the means to direct the broad policies of the nation. america will gradually become as good as the people, instead of as bad as the politicians. that's all human beings can hope for, and it's a goal worth a little effort.

i present to you a way to make a citizen's contribution to the political strength of the nation. while civilians, consumers, couch potatos will say something like 'too much trouble,' or 'never work' or 'those grapes were sour,' citizens will act. i hope you will prefer to be a citizen.
==================================================that's that's the key: no one is going to give you democracy. first, you must want it. second, you must act like a citizen so that you can become a citizen. to change the nation, begin by changing yourself: allow yourself to hope for success.