Are We Up to It?

We, and the the U.S. that is, are in trouble, and there is no end in sight. It has become pretty obvious that Congress is a hopeless mess of partisanship and stupidity with somewhere around 80% of the public having little or no confidence in their ability to do anything at all, let alone solve any of our current problems. It appears that President Obama and the Executive Branch are not performing well and seemingly unable to get much of anything done. There are voices now saying if anything is to be done it will be up to “us,” us being the American electorate. I think there is reason for serious doubt that “we” are up to the task. There are reasons for my doubts.

The idea of a revolution in the U.S. is so strange it is barely even mentioned. It is as if such a thing would be literally impossible here, and perhaps that is true. But where are we the people standing up and demanding much of anything, except perhaps in Wisconsin. The anti-war voices are barely heard anymore. Half of the public doesn’t even bother to vote. We are in general not well educated, don’t read, get much of our information from the likes of Limbaugh, O’Reilly and Hannity and/or Fox non-news. We are increasingly at the mercy of huge corporations that our Supreme Court has decided are really “persons,” and able to contribute as much money as they wish, even anonymously, thus giving them control over our officials, but how many people do you see demonstrating in the streets over this absolute outrage? Bush/Cheney and that nightmare period are passed, and while Bush and Cheney actually boast publicly of torturing and other war crimes nothing whatsoever is done to hold them accountable. Congress, with the acquiescence of the President just passed a “debt relief” bill that can have no possible positive consequences for the economy, and actually protects the most wealthy people and corporations at the expense of the middle class and the poor, virtually no one except Bernie Sanders is very seriously protesting this utterly absurd situation.

There can be no doubt the wealthiest among us and the corporate giants are literally waging war against the poor and the middle class, using their operatives in Congress, mostly Republicans, to lead the way, a situation you might think would actually lead to revolution or at least massive protests, but doesn’t. Republicans keep chipping away at doing away with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and Obama seems willing to at least consider changes to these basic programs that have proven their worth for a long time, and whereas a few in Congress object there does not appear to be much activity on the part of the public, if there is it is not very apparent. Rather than outrage at the excesses of the Tea Party and the other Republicans who seem to live in fear of them, there is mostly apathy.

Paradoxically, there is opposition to many of the outrages we have been subjected to of late, but they are largely just ignored by the powers that be. There were massive objections to the “war” in Iraq, for example, but they were ignored. A large majority of Americans are in favor of tax increases for the wealthy and the closing of corporate loopholes, but they are ignored. The public was in favor of a so-called “public option” for health care, also ignored. A majority want us out of Afghanistan, similarly ignored. They want Guantanamo closed but it’s not. Unemployment is at a completely unacceptable level, people complain about it, but they don’t take to the streets. Anti union laws are being passed in many states, and unions in general are under an all-out attack by Republicans, but aside from Wisconsin little opposition is visible. Unemployment benefits, minimum wages, unionization, welfare in any form, education, science, global warming and even legal abortions are being challenged on a daily basis. The poor and the middle class are literally being “savaged” by the wealthy and corporate interests and few are standing up to this onslaught. We are on the brink of a genuine Fascist takeover of our country and are outraged because a woman was found innocent of killing her child or fantasizing that Muslims are trying to introduce Shari’a law and take over our country.

The moneyed interests have been largely successful in their takeover of our nation. They have filled Congress with their toadies, willing to do their bidding in return for baksheesh, infiltrated our courts, taken over the Press, starved education and “dumbed down” our citizens, and produced a population that is probably no longer able to defend themselves. Half of the population has no interest in what is happening, large numbers are being fed propaganda and nonsense by the MSM, many seem not to believe in science, believe in ghosts and Armageddon, think evolution is some kind of left-wing lie, global warming is likewise, and the solution to all our problems are tax cuts and smaller government. It seems that a great many are willing to vote consistently against their own best interests. Thus, if it is up to the people to rise up and make things right, don’t bet on it. You get the government you deserve. Welcome to the third world.