Who Gave Corporations Control?

 Why should we recognize the rights of corporations? From whence comes their authority? Who bequeathed them their rights? The U.S. Constitution? There is no mention of corporations in that document.

Why should corporations own houses that go empty while people sleep under bridges? Why do they have access to our politicians when the pleas of their constituents fall on deaf ears? Why do we permit them to write our laws? Why do we fight their wars?

And who was it that decided corporations should be in charge of our water? I thought it would be obvious once they decided the best means of delivering water would be through single use plastic containers trucked in from hundreds of miles away that people would realize how stupid and evil this was, but we all just went along with it. Who told us that was a good idea?

I suppose it was the media, almost all of which is owned by corporations, 90% of which is owned by just 6 gigantic corporations. But who allowed that to happen?

It was our crooked politicians, all of whom rely on corporate funding to win elections. Democrats and Republicans alike are working for the same corporate interests. Where is the politician who will take the side of people over corporations? The system the corporations fund will never permit them to be elected.

Who gave corporations the power to control not only our means of production but our environment, our media, and our government? We the people didn’t give it to them. They never asked permission. They just took it.

But who’s allowing them continued ownership of nature, government, the machinery of production, and the influencing of our minds?

Who gave them our forests and gave them tax breaks on the purchase of chainsaws?

Who gave them our rivers and lakes to use as receptacles for their poisonous waste?

Who gave them our oceans to exploit and abuse every creature that lives within them?

Who gave them our genes to play with and the genes of our plants to patent?

You did.

You did, every time you willingly bought what they were selling you.

You did, when you voted for THEIR candidates.

You did, every time you turned on THEIR media and allowed them to dump THEIR lies into YOUR mind.

You did, every time you said “It’s just more convenient.”

You did, every time you refused to speak up or fight back.

You did, every time you bought your Made In China flag to show your Made In Madison Ave. patriotism.

And who is EVER going to make this right?

You will.

Not the politicians who owe their positions to corporate backing.

Not benevolent CEO’s or visionary billionaires.

Bill Gates won’t do it. He’ll just spray the sky to darken the sun.

Elon Musk won’t do it. He’ll just blast a car into outer space.

Technology won’t make this right.

Incremental progress won’t get us there.

The invisible hand of the market won’t be our savior.

No.

Who then will make things right?

You will.

You can.

You must.

We will.

We must.

We shall.

P.S. F*ck Jeff Bezos.

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It's Not Defending Donald Trump To Point Out Certain Flaws In The Democratic Party

 

A lot of Democrats wonder why I seem to defend Republicans all the time. I don’t, I just call out the flaws of the Democrats. Democrats, like Republicans, have been conditioned to think that attacking one party means defending the other. It doesn’t.

 Let me give you an example: if I were to say dog sh*t smells bad, I am not saying cat sh*t smells good. An attack on dog sh*t is not an implicit endorsement of cat sh*t. And it’s really weird for me to see anyone defending either.

 It’s just that both parties have become so bad that the only way they can justify anyone voting for them is by pointing out the ways in which the other side is worse. Politics has become a completely negative endeavor, because there is no positive to point to. Let me be clear: demanding something be good is not supporting something bad.

 There are critiques of the Democrats that need to be made. First, because they are valid. Second, because it shows everyone involved that I am willing to step outside the whole “my side rules your side drools” mentality. Communication should be maintained so that understanding and consensus might be achieved. Third, because honest criticism can lead to improvement. Fourth, trying to defend cat sh*t is just going to make me feel and look ridiculous.

 One thing especially about the Democrats has me worried: their blind trust in authority and official narrative. Their desire to obey authority is different from that of the Republicans, who prefer a strongman to admire, a uniform to salute, a boot to lick. The authority to which Democrats bow is what Erich Fromm would refer to as “anonymous authority”. Anonymous authority is not anything one can point to but a sense that public opinion, science, and our systems are working as they were designed and providing us with the “right” answers. One need only recline into the existing environment and all will be well.

 Ask any Democrat how they arrived at their opinion on a certain subject and they will tell you that they read or watch reliable media and come to their own opinion on the matter. But the very unanimity of not only their thoughts but their arguments indicates an alarming homogeneity of opinion. It’s like they open their mouths and CNN comes out. There is certainly a danger involved in Republican’s over-willingness to accept conspiracy theories, but the Democrat’s overwhelming acceptance of official narrative is even more frightening. Especially, especially, when it comes to narratives that justify U.S. military engagement.

I suppose it springs from the fact that many more Democrats go through what they believe is an education but would be more accurately described as an indoctrination. In college, they are fed a smattering of culture which provides them a far broader view of the world than they had previously imagined. This a good thing in and of itself, but for far too many they feel they have been given all the education they will ever need outside of work. They are left with a vague notion that the university has done its job by downloading its program into them and they are now free to go about their lives. The anonymous authority of higher learning, they feel, has done its job. They will henceforth be guided by all the wisdom of the ages.

 They are then unleashed into the world and feel they have a deeper understanding of what is happening because they consume a better cut of media than the rest. The problem is, most are just taking notes from the media like they did with their teacher in college so that they can repeat what they have been told. So long as they are able to repeat in their own words what they heard the teacher/Washington Post say, they are demonstrating their intelligence. Too often, though, it is merely a repetition of what they have been given from their source. Most of them were taught that the ultimate goal was a good grade, not learning how to formulate their own opinions. 

 Democrats nowadays have an almost unimaginable faith in the system, the complete opposite of Democrats in the 60’s and 70’s. They trust the establishment media and dismiss anything that does not jibe with it as conspiracy theory. Wacky, crazy, conspiracy theory. Indeed, a lot of it is, but it should not be so immediately dismissed because the media calls it that. A media that is not questioned will soon abuse the trust given it. But it’s easier for Democrats to trust the media and let them tell them what to think. They are, after all, the authority, and Democrats have been trained to seek the approval of authority. But because the media is a less tangible and less obviously monolithic authority than, say, Fox News, they don’t see it as such.

 Another authority in which the Democrats have placed their complete and utter trust is the intelligence agencies. Again, something completely opposite of what Democrats did a half-century ago. There is literally no news article which had the line “According to unnamed intelligence sources” which Democrats did not fully believe since Donald Trump has come to power.

 The last authority democrats look to is establishment politicians and parties. Not only do they uncritically accept any establishment Democrat, they treat any Republican willing to defend the status quo in the face of Trump as the biblical father did his prodigal son. George W. Bush, John McCain, Rick Snyder, John Kasich, etc. Anyone belonging to establishment politics speaking against Trump is given status as an authority and defender of the realm. It is not the individuals themselves whom Democrats admire, because individually they would be and have been despised by Democrats. No, it is the anonymous authority they represent.

 Something happened to Democrats when Donald Trump arrived on the scene. Or, more accurately, Donald Trump revealed something in them that was already there: their unacknowledged dependence on authority. It is not always easy to spot someone who is dependent on anonymous authority, but it became impossible to deny as Democrats sought to find something they could throw in Trump’s path to impede his march to power. Their obedience to unnamed power was transferred onto more readily identifiable institutions. As establishment Republicans fled the Trump movement, they were embraced into the Democratic mainstream. With them came an admiration for concrete structures of authority. Military authority, once suspect in the eyes of the Democrats, became unquestionable. If generals say we should not withdraw from Afghanistan, then Trump is treasonous to suggest we remove troops. The CIA and FBI have long been known by the Left to engage in all kinds of undemocratic behavior, but all that seems to be forgotten. The authority of intelligence agencies was all the proof required for Democrats to believe that Russia was starting a war against the United States and that we must respond as strongly as possible. Corporate media, which most Democrats used to know was biased in favor of corporations, became the vestal virgins keeping alive the sacred flame of truth.

 Even the Democrats’ embrace of and trust in their politicians has never been so complete as it is now. While once they may have voted for the lesser of two evils, never until now were they willing to accept Joe Biden as a candidate. Their enthrallment to anonymous authority is evidenced by their unquestioning support of anyone stamped “Democrat” by unknown arbiters within the party.

 The world can be changed by a relatively small group of individuals capable of thinking for themselves. The world will not be changed by a large group of people willing to be guided by authority, be it a demagogue or the more abstract kind. In a way, the acceptance of authority by Democrats can be more insidious, because it is less recognizable. An acceptance of anonymous authority can be far more enduring than the support of any one man, because an individual will eventually be held accountable for his failures. Not so the power that hides behind the media and the government. I am not talking about some nefarious shadow group but of a power relationship between those who are willing to abuse power and those who allow themselves to be abused. This happens. It is an undeniable but often denied aspect of human nature. Those who are in abusive relationships, be it with a lover or a cult, are reluctant to admit it and are quick to explain it away. But it happens.

Democrats are now in such a relationship. They won't admit it, of course, precisely because they are in deep in such a relationship. There's nothing you nor I nor anyone can tell them until they come to realize it for themselves. All we can really do is be there for them and continue to point out what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like. As hard as it may be, that's all a good friend can do.

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Trump Is The Picture That Reveals America's Soul

 

(The Picture Of Dorian Gray is the story of a man who has his portrait drawn and makes a wish that the picture and not he would age. The wish is granted, and Dorian Gray lives for many years appearing as if he has neither aged nor been changed by his sinfulness. When at last the picture is shown to others, it reveals all the sin and corruption he has indulged in.)

 I won’t go as far as to say the U.S.A was ever the shining city on the hill some imagine it was, but we did good enough P.R. that many people believed it was. So much so that the illusion existed overseas as well, even in countries we invaded. A lot of my social media fam will say the U.S. has an evil history, but that’s true of most if not all countries.

 Regardless of how you personally view the U.S., the Stars and Stripes were an image that symbolized freedom to many in other countries. If you don’t believe me, try to send your memory back to when the 9/11 attacks happened. Just as most Americans felt as though they were New Yorkers on that day, a lot people around the world saw themselves as Americans, felt like the world had been attacked. The genuine outpouring of sympathy and support internationally was undeniable. Whatever the United States was going to do in response, the rest of the world seemed poised to support us.

 Of course, most of the goodwill we had garnered on that day has been squandered by an arrogance and aggressive militarism we had never so overtly shown before. Yet somehow there was still a bit of a luster to the Stars and Stripes. Perhaps the illusion that we were caring and just had fallen away, but the world still viewed us as at least powerful and competent.

 But then came Trump. He revealed a truth to the rest of the world that none of our other actions ever could. Mai Lai could be rationalized as the actions of a few bad soldiers. Hiroshima could be blamed on the decisions of a few people in government. The American people themselves could still feign innocence or at least ignorance or powerlessness. The violent and greedy actions taken by the United States could be viewed by the charitable or gullible as mistakes that America was willing to fix. They could even be viewed as sins for which we would yet atone.

 But Trump…Trump is something people in other nations can’t explain away. When they saw a nation that embraced Donald Trump, they were not witnessing an action done by a few. They were not seeing bad behavior from an otherwise benevolent country. They were not seeing a mistake, or misstep. No, when we elected Donald Trump to be our political—and in many respects, our moral—leader, there was no denying what lay in our collective soul.

 It's as if The United States was Dorian Gray, and the world had finally seen the portrait we had kept hidden for so many years. It’s like for years we’ve been exporting sausages to the world and they finally got to see how the sausage was being made. You don’t unsee that.

 The world now knows that this is our true face, even though there are so many of us who are screaming “This is not who we are!” Sure, you did not vote for the oozing pustule that is our president. But for how many decades did you notice the blemish grow and do nothing about it? You should have known it was just a matter of time before it popped. You should have applied some antiseptic to the area the moment it became noticeable. But you permitted it to fester.

 Meanwhile, many Americans perceive Donald Trump as our path back towards greatness. He is the one who will give Old Glory a spit shine so that it will be as bright as new (though oddly enough, they seemed to have replace the flag I knew and loved with a faded or completely black and white one). But you can’t be great when everyone who stares upon you recoils in horror. And there is little reason for anyone outside our borders to look at us in any other way.

 There is nothing for the world to see in our president that would prompt any admiration or fondness. They see a man who has killed another country’s general while he was arriving under the white flag of parley. An assassination of a leader revered by a nation we are not even at war with. Nobody does that, not even on Game Of Thrones. It is a signal to the world that we are a nation of complete lawlessness, not greatness.

 When the world looks at our country, they see a leader who says openly that we have the right to occupy, for as long as we desire, portions of Syria and take their oil to help pay for our occupation. Again, this is in a nation that has not attacked us. You may appreciate Trump because he states honestly what others obfuscate about, but this proves my point. People can fail to clearly see Dorian Gray’s crimes because he appears pleasant and innocent. But when others finally see him for who he is, they are appalled. Trump has let the world see who we are.

 Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld said “Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue.” That means even sinners are capable of realizing that it is in their own best interests to at least pretend that what they are doing has some virtue to it. It means that even the evil find it practical to praise goodness. This idea has eluded Donald Trump. I’m afraid it eludes us as Americans, as well. We are no longer capable of thinking at this level, and this is a pretty basic level. I would guess that most grade schoolers have the potential to grasp this concept. But they have to be taught, and our number one teacher is the media. A media that is funded by consumer advertising has little interest in making people grasp simple concepts.

 Trump supporters will defend the president’s behavior by saying (and if I am wrong on this, I expect my MAGA friends to set me straight) that the United States does not have to be appreciated, admired, or respected by other nations but only feared. Our greatness, they will say, relies on our strength, not in our ability to win friends.

 This is a mistake that even Adolph Hitler would not have made. Even he made pretext and justifications when he did something evil. Even he tried to hide many of his more horrible crimes. Brutal oppression may work for a time, but it is not a long-term strategy. If your only justification for dominance is brute force, the world will be covertly working to trip you at an opportune moment, and nobody will try to stop the fall. No, if you're going to go full-blown evil, deception's a necessary tool.

 Soon, Democrats will regain the presidency and attempt to stretch the threadbare blanket that is Joe Biden over the painting in hopes that the world will forget about it. Not long after that, they will slap a picture of a woman of color on top of it as if there was nothing to see behind the curtain. But what the world has seen, it cannot forget. As in Oscar Wilde’s novel, there will be no cosmetic answer to the problem we face, but perhaps we might, seeing at last what we’ve become, repent and save our soul.

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