"Come, let us Reason, Together...
FTA,PT4:”I also have a challenge
for the Ameican people: Recommit to a new civic course accommodating
change in our socity and systemic environment. Essentially, we all
should participate, as responsible citizens, in that national
dialogue; we also need to embrace change but resist radical
alteration of the historic democratic experiment.
My suggested course for both the president and the people also
means foregoing partisan advantage, as much as is humanly possible,
in favor of practical democratic progress. Too often, for example,
conservatives tend to cling stubbornly to cherished but outdated
remnants of the past; and, alternatively, liberals tend to ignore
valuable lessons of history. Such tendencies are acceptable when
neither side prevails completely in our limited, representative
system of governance. However, if one or the other assumes sufficient
dominance and pursues wayward tendencies, within an extremely
distempered environment, the outcome could threaten the substantive
ideals and representative procedures of our historic experiment.”
This
is a
Transformative Time, in American, and World History...and including
both of those(American and World)...including that Context is
Important.
I am confronted Daily, by erstwhile Liberals(who often
do not know it), who unwittingly Parrot Conservative Talking
Points:”Obama is a Failure”,”He's Worse than Bush”,etc...and
who aver that it's all over...and that We should give up on
Democracy, and the Republic...since they're “All the Same”.
A sort of
Galt's Gulch mentality, often shorn of it's Randian precursor of
Selfishness as the Highest Good.
This Exhaustion is the direct
result of two things, both part and parcel of the 35 year Project of
what I term the Violent Parasitical Elite(VPE):1. The Wholesale
Purchase of the Apparatus of American Governance, and 2. the
accompanying Mindfuck, directed at the American People....the
overwhelming Barrage of Confusion and Helplessness, the Confusion of
Tongues and the Corruption of Language,Cognitive Dissonance, and
Revisionist History.
All of this in the context of Racial
Pandering, and the encouragement to Blame
our Neighbors
and Fellow Prisoners for the Actions of our Ruling Class(whom they
have convinced us, do not even exist.(“Classless Society” is part
of the Mindfuck.))
While we're
beating each other about the face over whether or not, variously,
Black People, Brown People, Queers, Women, Non-Xians, etc are
Citizens...or even People...the VPE have run off with the Country.
We
have been sold into slavery, and our chains are made of Mythology and
an Inability to Think.
A Comment:
FT Comments:”
Thomas
Pain
05:10 PM on 03/30/2013
Glen Browder's heart is in the right
place, but call for a renewal America inspired by "the sacred
fire of liberty," "a new birth of freedom," and a
"dream of equality," is far to vague and amiguous to take
us anywhere.
What we need is some very specific
proposals.
First, I propose putting a sign at the front of
every classroom in every school grades 1-12 that
says:
______________________________________________________
I
WILL TREAT OTHERS THE WAY I WANT THEM TO TREAT
ME
______________________________________________________
Yes,
the Golden Rule, restated as an affirmation, for this is the essence
of the law, and of love, friendshp, civility, civic cooperation, and
civilization.
Second, every student in high school must take a
course in Political Philosophy, in which he, or she, will read and
discuss "The Rights of Man," "The Age of Reason,"
"The American Crisis," and "Common Sense," by
Thomas Paine (with an "e"), the most influential philospher
of the American Revolution; the "Meditations" of Marcus
Arelius, Emperor of Rome; "The Quotable Founding Fathers"
edited by Buckner F. Melton, and "The True Believer" by
Eric Hoffer.
Fourth, also in every classrom, a poster with
these words of Abraham Lincoln from his first annual message to
Congress on December 3, 1861:
"Labor is prior to, and
independent of, Capital. Capital is only the fruit of Labor, and
could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is
superior to Capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
“
Consider,
that in Texas, the new Social Studies Curriculum is...instead of
being concerned with History, Context, and Truth....is all about
Indoctrinating our Youth into believing many of the VPE's Favorite
Mythologies...Christian Nation, “Capitalism” as 1. What we've
been doing, and 2. the perfect expression of Liberty....the American
Experience as Nothing but the Good and Positive...meaning,”My
Country Right or Wrong”, and the Uncritical,”We're Number
One!”.
What Mr Browder doesn't mention is all of this, as
Context.
He is pointing to the Effects of the Mindfuck, without
mentioning the Mindfuck.
It's the Ontological Crisis I've been
hollering about all this time.
Another Comment:”
01:44 PM on 03/30/2013
Despite the widespread belief that the
present government is mired in partisan politics, I would assert that
quite the opposite is true. We are embroiled in a national dialogue
about fairness and justice, with more voices being heard than ever
before, and this is a good thing. The issues over taxation,health
care, gay marriage, and voting rights are being fervently discussed
and argued at multiple levels of varying detail in every political
news cycle of the day. As these arguments proceed they will
eventually distill some form of consensus, enlighten the electorate
and lead to a better America. Patience is all that is needed - good
things are happening in America “
This
is what I would like to Believe...and there is an argument to be made
that there is Great Transformation happening, under the
surface...after all, how would we expect to know...when the VPE have
a Tentacle thrown across the Media(Hydraulic Despotism)?
When our
Information about the World is Filtered through the wholly owned
Corporate Media, is it any wonder that We are confused?
I am,
of course, way out beyond mere Party and Politics...Review my
Ramblings...Left and Right, Conservative and Liberal...none of this
means much , any more...
Better: Dominator/Cooperator, or
Authoritarian/Egalitarian.
I side with Democrats, because the LEAN
towards Cooperator/Egalitarian...not because they EMBODY them. We let
the Perfect be the Enemy of the Acceptable Improvement.
With
that in mind, Protest Does, indeed Work...despite what my Naysaying
Buddies would have us believe, on our way to Throwing in the
Towel.
Racists use Euphamism and Code Words, instead of openly
declaring their Racism=Progress.
Even Republicans are set to give
up on Gay Marriage...shamed into silence for fear of losing
elections=Progress.
Occupy, ere it was Cast into Outer Media
Darkness...and Tea, ere it was Bought...agreeing on the Fundamental
Problem of Super Rich Folks, and the Corps(e) they Hide Behind,
essentially Buying Our Governments.=Progress.
There is reason for
a little Hope....
Another Comment,Exemplifying the
Confusion of Tongues:”
Bart
DePalma
Bart DePalma
11:27 AM on 03/30/2013
"Can our nation -- a people of
growing cultural diversity, with increasingly divergent values, and
dissentient governance inclinations, in a constrained systemic
environment -- continue to sustain our collective pursuit of freedom,
equality, and justice through the traditional framework of limited,
representative government?"
Talk about your compound
questions! Let's break this down...
The traditional framework
of constitutionally limited, representative government is based on
the proposal that the purpose of government is to protect the
liberties of the people and accomplishes this purpose by limiting the
power of government to infringe on liberty. The only proper law
("collective pursuit") is one that prevents the citizenry
from harming one another.
This permits divergent cultures to
live with one another peacefully.
The fundamental challenge to
the existence of constitutionally limited, representative government
is progressivism and socialism - the "dissentient governance
inclinations" referred to in the question.
Progressivism
and socialism are based upon the proposition of unlimited government
power exercised by an unelected bureaucracy of "experts"
directing the economy and society. This is the anti-thesis of and
cannot coexist with constitutionally limited, representative
government.
Under our current progressive and socialist
government, the bureaucracy and courts rather than our elected
Congress enact the vast majority of law.
Our caesarist
President quite openly declines to enforce laws of which he
disapproves and rules by executive order or bureaucratic decree where
ever he can. How Professor Browder can even conceive of Mr. Obama as
a transformative president advancing democracy is a complete mystery
to me.”
Here is the
Exemplar of the Confusion of Tongues....
To me, it is
Obvious...the code Words,”Progressive”, allied with
“Socialist”...mixed with the others,”Constitutionally
Limited,Representative Government”....
Again, I am confronted
Every Day, with such rhetoric...mostly by erstwhile Liberals...who do
not Know that they are Liberals(after all, don't they eat
babies?)
Who cannot Define Terms, save from Inside the
Mindfuck....”Socialism/Progressivism/Liberalism”= Soviet
Russia.(or even Nazi Germany!!)...always neglected in such statements
is the Effects, even the Reality, of Corporate Domination of every
area of Life.
I stand firmly with Mr Browder...We, the People,
must Engage in Dialog....except that no one seems to recall what
“Dialog” is.
In order to begin a Dialog, “Both Sides”(but
especially what is known as “the Right”!) must accept the other
as American, Too.
Our Diversity is often the root of our
ineffectiveness.
Fear of the Other is fomented....by those who
would have us fighting our Neighbor, rather than attacking the actual
Enemies of Freedom.
We, the People,
must overcome this Distraction...this Manufactured Division...if We
are to ever even begin to, as we heard so often from TEA,”Take Our
Country Back”..
Again,
We have been riding the car, driven by maniacs, bumping along in the
Right Hand Ditch...any correctional swerve to the left is regarded as
going all the way, into the Left Hand Ditch...the Perfectly
Serviceable Road remains Empty.