Since the Spanish-American war of 1898 the U.S. has been an (now
the most) imperialist country in the world (
Wiki).
After
the
fall
of
the
Iron Curtain in 1989 (
Wiki) a
group called Project for the New American Century PNAC (now
called: Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI)) didn't want a "peace
dividend" (
Wiki)
but rather saw this as a time to increase defense spending and (my
paraphrase) for the U.S. to become king of the jungle and take
whatever they want. Their 1997 policy statement called for a
regime change in Iraq. Clinton signed the Iraw Liberation
Act (
Wiki)
in 1998, calling for regime change. This is where the
Eisenhower's warning about the Military Industrial Complex (
Wiki)
has ended up. Note the driving force is not oil but rather
the idea that the U.S. can take whatever it needs by military
force.
Obama has continued the U.S. tradation of imperialist war
mongering by attacking Libya. No NATO county was attackes so
NATO has no cause to go to war with Libya. The UN Security
Council only called for a no fly zone, wihch involves RADAR and
jet fighters. So using bombs on Libya is far outside the
UN. That leaves Obama with "When our interests and values
are at stake", I don't see how that's a reason to start a war.
The key references are:
Against All Enemies (
Wiki)
by Richard Clarke (2004) (
Amazon)
- (
Wiki)
Starting with Bush41 through Bush43 head of counter terrorism
The Price of Loyalty (
Wiki)
by Paul O'Neill (2004) (
Amazon)
- (Wiki) Sec of Treasury under Bush43 & member of the National
Security Council (
Wiki)
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American
Empire (
Wiki)
(2004 DVD) (
Amazon)
by Julian Bond (
Wiki) (
My Review at
Amazon)
--------------------- secondary references---------------
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007) (
Wiki)
(
Amazon)
by Naomi Klein (
Wiki)
Whil reading Conservatives Without
Conscience there was a reference to this free on line book, so
I've been reading it.
People can be ranked on an authoritarian scale. People
like me score very low, and people who are in the moral majority
score very high. But this is different than religious
belief and is a better predictor of many things. One of
the things people who score high on this scale do is fight wars.
But there is still a very high correlation between the Christian
Right (
Wiki)
and high authoritarianism.
Christian Reconstructionism (
Wiki)
and Dominionism (
Wiki) have
a considerable influence on the Christian Right. This is
very similar to Islamism (
Wiki) where
the religious ideals take over the political and judicial
sytems.
American Theocracy : The Peril and Politics of Radical
Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in The 21st Century
(2007) by Kevin Phillips
While reading The Authoritarians I
came across a description of this book and have it on order.
"religious conservatives have
taken control of the Republican Party, turning it into the first
religious party in U.S. history and endangering everyone else’s
rights, the future of the country, and that of the world.
How did this happen?"
Authoritarian (Wiki)
Leo Strauss (
Wiki)
- at Univ of Chicago, like Milton Friedman (
Wiki)
Paul Wolfowitz was his student
Ayn Rand (
Wiki)
In glossary of the book: Seal Team Six (2011) by Howard E.
Wasdin & stephen Templin they have:
CIA Christians In Action
Neocon Background (Where did the PNAC come from)
After
Neoconservatism by Francis Fukuyama (Wiki) - This gets to
the heart of the matter.
As Kristol and Kagan put
it in their 2000 book "Present Dangers": "To many the
idea of America using its power to promote changes of
regime in nations ruled by dictators rings of
utopianism. But in fact, it is eminently realistic.
There is something perverse in declaring the
impossibility of promoting democratic change abroad in
light of the record of the past three decades."
This overoptimism about postwar transitions to democracy
helps explain the Bush administration's incomprehensible
failure to plan adequately for the insurgency that
subsequently emerged in Iraq. The war's supporters
seemed to think that democracy was a kind of default
condition to which societies reverted once the heavy
lifting of coercive regime change occurred, rather than
a long-term process of institution-building and reform.
. . . the neoconservative position articulated by people
like Kristol and Kagan was, by contrast, Leninist; they
believed that history can be pushed along with the right
application of power and will. Leninism was a tragedy in
its Bolshevik version, and it has returned as farce when
practiced by the United States.
|
Movie:
Arguing
the World bio on neocons
Movie: Ayn Rand: In Her Own Words.
DVD:
Speaking Freely: Vol. 4:
Chalmers Johnson
In 1991 the U.S. said we've won
the cold war, but that's not true, we both lost. So the
U.S. started acting like Rome, building empire.
Imperialism leaeds to Militarism.
A country can have either domestic democracy or foreign
imperialism (
Wiki),
but not both. Imperialism is a form of tyranny (
Wiki).
An example is Iraq today.
When Iran revolted aginst the puppet dictator the U.S. had put
in power in 1989 we lost our military bases in Iran. When
Saudi Arabia forced the U.S. to close (
Wiki)
the military base used for the Gulf War (
Wiki)
in 2003. That left the U.S. without a major base in the
region. Johnson says getting a new base was one of the key
reasons for the attack on Iraq in 2003.
In his farwell address George Washington said in paragraph 26 (
Wiki):
26 It is important,
likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free
country should inspire caution, in those intrusted
with its administration, to confine themselves within
their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in
the exercise of the powers of one department to
encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment
tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments
in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of
government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that
love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which
predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to
satisfy us of the truth of this position. The
necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of
political power, by dividing and distributing it into
different depositories, and constituting each the
Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the
others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and
modern; some of them in our country and under our own
eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to
institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the
distribution or modification of the constitutional
powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected
by an amendment in the way, which the constitution
designates. But let there be no change by usurpation;
for, though this, in one instance, may be the
instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by
which free governments are destroyed. The precedent
must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any
partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any
time yield. |
Neither the Democrats nor the Repbulicans want to restore the
balance of power (Wiki:
Seperation
of Powers) between the Legislative, Judicial and Executive
branches. They want to use the presidential powers for
their own benefit.
G.W. Bush instituted signing statements (
Wiki)
which amounts to an unconstitutional line item veto.
Dianne Feinstein (Wiki) is on the defense subcommittee which
funds the military.
Politicians are highly motivated to get campaign money (either as
part of an election campaign or as lobbying for a bill in
process). All the key players in the federal government have
been bought and paid for.
Constructing Public Opinion: How
Politicians and the Media Misrepresent the Public a
documentary by Media Education Fund (
6 min YouTube,
small
format full length preview)
These words and the concept behind the Democrat and Republican
parties relate to a 2-axis system (economic and social freedoms)
that no longer is relevant to today's world. The Democrats
and Republicans for the past three decades have similar views on
things like war, defense spending, health care, social security,
etc.
The book The Authoritarians makes it clear that how the lawmakers
behave depends more on their Authoritarian and Social Domination
scores than on their party affiliation.
The Economy
The economic system determines how goods are allocated.
Marxism (Wiki)
The Soviet Union (U.S.S.R) was based on a Marxist (
Wiki) economic
system: "to each according to his needs". The guns on the
Berlin wall were pointing toward the Communist side to keep their
people from escaping, they were not pointing outward to prevent
people coming into the country. There was no motive for
anyone so things just got worse. In order for central
planning to work smoothly there can not be any unexpected events
and so where socialism is the governing policy individual freedoms
are not allowed. This system failed.
Capitalism (Wiki)
The U.S., starting with Ronald Reagan, adopted Milton Friedman's (
Wiki)
free market (
Wiki)
capitalism. "To each according to his ability". The
result has been great for those few individuals who have become
extremely rich, but bad for society as a whole. This system
failed.
Something New
The propose of an economic system is to allocate resourses.
John Nash (
Wiki)
proved the idea that Adam Smith (
Wiki) was
wrong about capitalism, i.e. "There's an
invisible hand (
Wiki)...).
Instead Nash has shown that there's two factors controlling what
happens, first there's the classic Adam Smith idea that everyone
is out for himself, but in addition there's an overriding benefit
to be had by doing not what is in one's own self interest, but
also what's in the interest of the group. This is well
illustrated in the bar scene in the movie
A Beautiful Mind (
IMDB). The
Constitution is big on individual freedoms maybe to the point that
they hurt society as a whole. An example of this is the
number of lawyers per capita (1 in 265 people in the U.S., only 1
in 1230 in Denmark).
A new system based on both doing what's in the best interest of a
group (there can be many different groups) and at the same time
doing what's in your own best interest might be a much better
solution. For example a single payer health care system (
Wiki) makes
more sense than any other option. It amounts to a very large
insurance system. This is a case where by joining the group
you get a personal benefit. But since it's an insurance
polity there will be limits on what's covered so those with more
money can hire a private doctor to treat something that will not
be covered for group members.
This potentially has the advantage of capitalism in motivating
people and the advantage of Marxism in helping those in need.
Work
The Puritan Ethic (Wiki:
Protestant
Work Ethic "Hard work and frugality were thought to be two
important consequences of being one of the elect; thus,
Protestants were attracted to these qualities, seeking to be
obedient to God to whom they owed their salvation.") It's
commonly paraphrased as "work hard and you will be
rewarded". The economic system is based on this idea, that
wages are paid for "work". But work can be accomplished in
a number of ways. For example:
- by humans
- by animals other than humans
- by machines
Luis B. Kelso promoted the idea that workers should be paid in
capital (stock of their company) in addition to being paid in
money. His "two factor theory of economics" used 1. Labor
and 2. Capital. But his "Capital" factor maybe should have
been called "Energy". That's to say the main thing doing
work in today's world is energy not humans or animals or
"capital".
Starting about 1800 more and more of the "work" done has been by
machines. The source of their energy has been primary by
burning something (wood, coal, oil). The economic systems
to not account for this change. It takes fewer and fewer human
workers to produce all the products needed and so there are more
and more people who are out of work.
The Constitution has provision for the federal government to print
money. Through very unethical means including bribery, etc.
Federal Reserve System (
Wiki)
came about even though it was being opposed by a majority of the
people and a majority of Congress (the Federal Reserve Act vote
was 23 Dec 1913 (
Wiki)
while many Congressmen were off on Christmas break). The
central bank has been responsible for most (if not all) the
depressions and major wars in the history of the U.S.
The Money
Masters (
Google
Video) (3h:35m).
There are a number of ethical problems in government and they all
need to be fixed. A number of them show up in this
congressional report:
House Committee on the Judiciary
Majority Staff Report to Chairman John Conyers, Jr. Jan 2009
Reining in the Imperial Presidency:
Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the presidency of
George W. Bush (
pdf)
A big problem with lawmakers with
high Authoritarian scores is that they don't care at all about
equality and just give lip service to freedom.
Campaign Finance Reform (
Wiki)
is one of the first things that are needed to decrease the outside
influence on Congress. There are other things that also need
to be done to prevent the revolving door (
Wiki),
Regulatory capture (
Wiki)
and a host of other Ethics Violations.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
This was sent to me as an email and it looks like a good idea.
1. Term Limits. 12 years only, one
of the possible options below.
A. Two Six-year Senate terms
B. Six Two-year House terms
C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms
2. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a
salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out
of office.
3. Congress (past , present and future) participates in Social
Security.
All funds in the Congressional
retirement fund move to the Social Security system
immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security
system, and Congress participates with the American people.
4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.
5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
6. Congress loses their current health care system and
participates in the same health care system as the American
people.
7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on
the American people.
8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void
effective 1/1/12.
For many decades the office of the
President has taken over the right of Congress, as spelled out by
the Constitution, to declare war. Although the people want
to end war, Congress is powerless to do this for a number of
reasons. First, the industrial-military complex wants war
and so there are campaign contributions and lobbying money that a
Congressman stands to loose if he votes to stop war. Second,
it's almost impossible to pass any legislation when both houses
are split 50-50 on party lines. Campaign Finance Reform
needs to come first.
Ethics Reforms
This involves a number of areas.