Tuesday, May 16, 2006
New World Order
[Overheard atop Arvin Hill]
Spartacus O'Neal said...
Three of my favorite blogs--Narco News, Wampum, and Whiskey Bar--have offered especially thoughtful and constructive commentary of late on our prospects for fundamental social change in North America. While their writers often disagree on strategies of reform--or even its possibility anymore--they all agree our system of governance has become completely dysfunctional; no longer even pretending to serve those who pay the taxes.
For myself, I tend to agree with the strategy espoused in Narco News that only by bringing down these corrupt institutions entirely can we get on the right track. Short-term objectives might involve tactical support for reform-minded institutional players, but our long-term interests involve much more than "just changing managers while the economic blueprint remains the same."
Eventually, the ruling class and its two political parties in the US have got to go. Otherwise the downward spiral of humanity continues, as it has under both Democrats and Republicans for over half a century.
7:03 PM, May 14, 2006
Arvin Hill said...
A system now commonly referred to as "a stable democracy."...
When The People are held to standards of behavior and accountability which, show trials aside, differ significantly from those imposed on the Government, the entire system invalidates itself. ...
1:13 AM, May 15, 2006
ThePoetryMan said...
"Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." Brandeis puts it succinctly...if Bush is allowed to skate we will no longer call America anything but a dictatorship!
9:58 AM, May 15, 2006
Jonathan Versen said...
...maybe we could be talking about what else is possible. Any ideas?
11:16 AM, May 15, 2006
Spartacus O'Neal said...
You once remarked on the failure of imagination by our fellow citizens as an inability to think of an alternative worth working for. But fundamental change of how we pursue happiness doesn't require that we abandon the principles which inspired such things as our Constitution, just the methods by which we honor them.
Altering our way of life to better conform with these values requires effort, and imagination, but not the repudiation of every noble aspect obtained through our painful experience as a people. It's OK to be both revolutionary as well as magnanimous.
11:31 AM, May 15, 2006
Arvin Hill said...
As I've said many times and will no doubt keep saying, neoconservatism didn't blow in like a thunderstorm. It was seeded and cultivated with a great deal of money and, more importantly, deliberation and commitment. They had a plan - a horrible one, but a plan nonetheless - and they brought it to fruition within a couple of decades. Progressives have no plan. ...
12:31 PM, May 15, 2006
Jonathan Versen said...
... once you allow such massive tinkering with the constitution, you open a pandora's box of truly-crazy-ass reactionary ammendments to follow...What the social conservatives did was easier because it didn't threaten Wall Street, but I think it's possible. And yes, as you said, this requires a long-view approach.
1:34 PM, May 15, 2006
Arvin Hill said...
... It is the illusion of opposition that enslaves us, that deceives us into thinking there's an actual struggle occurring instead of the choreographed bs we see presented as a legitimate, functioning democracy. ... Lurking behind every shadow of oppression is our ravenous appetite for the world's resources. Politically, socially and culturally, we are SO wrong track, only an epic social movement can alter the present course ...
10:44 PM, May 15, 2006
Spartacus O'Neal said...
We don't even have to use our imagination to see the irrelevance of electoral politics, political parties, and institutional forms of social organization to the furthering of humanity. We can just look at the Other Campaign in Mexico for ideas.
Once we free our minds from the constraints of elite-sponsored activities--otherwise known as The Spectacle--we can start to put our energy into something more useful.
10:57 AM, May 16, 2006
Spartacus O'Neal said...
Three of my favorite blogs--Narco News, Wampum, and Whiskey Bar--have offered especially thoughtful and constructive commentary of late on our prospects for fundamental social change in North America. While their writers often disagree on strategies of reform--or even its possibility anymore--they all agree our system of governance has become completely dysfunctional; no longer even pretending to serve those who pay the taxes.
For myself, I tend to agree with the strategy espoused in Narco News that only by bringing down these corrupt institutions entirely can we get on the right track. Short-term objectives might involve tactical support for reform-minded institutional players, but our long-term interests involve much more than "just changing managers while the economic blueprint remains the same."
Eventually, the ruling class and its two political parties in the US have got to go. Otherwise the downward spiral of humanity continues, as it has under both Democrats and Republicans for over half a century.
7:03 PM, May 14, 2006
Arvin Hill said...
A system now commonly referred to as "a stable democracy."...
When The People are held to standards of behavior and accountability which, show trials aside, differ significantly from those imposed on the Government, the entire system invalidates itself. ...
1:13 AM, May 15, 2006
ThePoetryMan said...
"Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." Brandeis puts it succinctly...if Bush is allowed to skate we will no longer call America anything but a dictatorship!
9:58 AM, May 15, 2006
Jonathan Versen said...
...maybe we could be talking about what else is possible. Any ideas?
11:16 AM, May 15, 2006
Spartacus O'Neal said...
You once remarked on the failure of imagination by our fellow citizens as an inability to think of an alternative worth working for. But fundamental change of how we pursue happiness doesn't require that we abandon the principles which inspired such things as our Constitution, just the methods by which we honor them.
Altering our way of life to better conform with these values requires effort, and imagination, but not the repudiation of every noble aspect obtained through our painful experience as a people. It's OK to be both revolutionary as well as magnanimous.
11:31 AM, May 15, 2006
Arvin Hill said...
As I've said many times and will no doubt keep saying, neoconservatism didn't blow in like a thunderstorm. It was seeded and cultivated with a great deal of money and, more importantly, deliberation and commitment. They had a plan - a horrible one, but a plan nonetheless - and they brought it to fruition within a couple of decades. Progressives have no plan. ...
12:31 PM, May 15, 2006
Jonathan Versen said...
... once you allow such massive tinkering with the constitution, you open a pandora's box of truly-crazy-ass reactionary ammendments to follow...What the social conservatives did was easier because it didn't threaten Wall Street, but I think it's possible. And yes, as you said, this requires a long-view approach.
1:34 PM, May 15, 2006
Arvin Hill said...
... It is the illusion of opposition that enslaves us, that deceives us into thinking there's an actual struggle occurring instead of the choreographed bs we see presented as a legitimate, functioning democracy. ... Lurking behind every shadow of oppression is our ravenous appetite for the world's resources. Politically, socially and culturally, we are SO wrong track, only an epic social movement can alter the present course ...
10:44 PM, May 15, 2006
Spartacus O'Neal said...
We don't even have to use our imagination to see the irrelevance of electoral politics, political parties, and institutional forms of social organization to the furthering of humanity. We can just look at the Other Campaign in Mexico for ideas.
Once we free our minds from the constraints of elite-sponsored activities--otherwise known as The Spectacle--we can start to put our energy into something more useful.
10:57 AM, May 16, 2006
