The days of the American empire are numbered, says Chris Hedges & evidence is all too clear for those who study history: revolution's the only answer!

[basquebromance]

I am truly terrified when I think about our future, I believe all signs point to a real systemic economic collapse in the near future, maybe even before the 2024 elections. I believe this is why many incumbents (including Biden) will be stepping down. They seem to know what is coming and of course the rats are jumping ship and taking their pensions with them

I assure you it's going to hurt everyone, except of course, the corporate and banking elite. I say let the empire collapse; sometimes we must die to be reborn. The political system as it stands offers little hope for influencing real change or social justice. I propose we attempt to reverse this coup d'état by attempting a coup of our own. First, we must try to retake the traditional means of control, power and discourse by restoring integrity to our sold-out democratic election system.

Unfortunately, this will probably do little good but it is a worthy effort. It is our patriotic duty to resist tyranny. We must break these chains of oppression and restore our government to principles based on liberty and justice for all. I am not confident that standing outside buildings with signs is going to provide any fundamental power shifts, as power is not often transferred without a struggle. Inalienable rights are not a courtesy of the Federal Government. We must stand in the streets and refuse to be silenced. We must reject corporate-controlled politics and focus on rebuilding a localized political structure and society. A revolution is the only alternative to complete surrender and defeat. Cold, hard suffering and pain will be the only hope for a real revolution, and this is all but guaranteed. At this point protest must be transformed into acts of defiance. We must be bold.

Our rampant militarism abroad combined with neglect of the domestic needs of any but the wealthiest citizens describe a grim future for the United States, he says. And if you think progressives in government might help us avoid that destiny, think again – The Squad and their ilk are merely controlled opposition designed to provide false hope for change.

 

[Votto]

Look to the squad for hope?

 

[Grumblenuts]

So what's new?

 

[basquebromance]

At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is "not done" to say it, just as in mid-Victorian times it was "not done" to mention trousers in the presence of a lady. Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the highbrow periodicals.

-GEORGE ORWELL,"Freedom of the Press"

 

[Viktor]

Our rampant militarism abroad combined with neglect of the domestic needs of any but the wealthiest citizens describe a grim future for the United States, he says. And if you think progressives in government might help us avoid that destiny, think again – The Squad and their ilk are merely controlled opposition designed to provide false hope for change.

An empire consists of staging your troops on the soil of another country without their permission. The USA does not do that.

 

[basquebromance]

To allow the market mechanism to be sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment, indeed, even of the amount and use of purchasing power, would result in the demolition of society. For the alleged commodity cannot be shoved about, used indiscriminately or even left unused, without affecting the human individual who happens to be the bearer of this peculiar commodity. In disposing of a man's labor power the system would, incidentally, dispose of the physical, psychological, and moral entity of "man" attached to the tag. Robbed of the protective covering of cultural institutions, human beings would perish from the effects of social exposure; they would die as the victims of acute social dislocation through vice, perversion, crime, and starvation. Nature would be reduced to its elements, neighborhoods and landscapes defiled, rivers polluted, military safety jeopardized, the power to produce food and raw material destroyed.

-KARL POLANYI, The Great Transformation

 

[basquebromance]

An empire consists of staging your troops on the soil of another country without their permission. The USA does not do that.

without even mentioning other regions around the world, the crushing majority of arab nations don't want America there

 

[22lcidw]

An empire consists of staging your troops on the soil of another country without their permission. The USA does not do that.

Several hundred bases around the world. Its semantics.

 

[Viktor]

without even mentioning other regions around the world, the crushing majority of arab nations don't want America there

They can kick us out anytime they want. We are there to defend them against Iran

 

[basquebromance]

Everybody in my apartment building has had their hours cut, are unemployed, or have taken minimum-wage jobs since Biden took office

I was laid off last year. I try to find work as an independent opposition researcher. I don't have health insurance.

I prefer living in my native Lebanon where I have government services like free health care, free phone service and even your own personal driver because both my parents served in the Lebanese army

 

[Viktor]

Everybody in my apartment building has had their hours cut, are unemployed, or have taken minimum-wage jobs since Biden took office

I was laid off last year. I try to find work as an independent opposition researcher. I don't have health insurance.

I prefer living in my native Lebanon where I have government services like free health care, free phone service and even your own personal driver because both my parents served in the Lebanese army

I suggest you file an application with a temporary employment agency. They can find you short term work to keep you going until you find permanent work. There are lots of them in the phone book.

 

[basquebromance]

I really got disillusioned with the neoconservatism. The idea that we needed all these troops all around the world "defending freedom," as they called it, when we were actually engaged in nation-building and supporting special interests that drive these wars, was something I began to understand. As far as foreign and economic policy, I could see there was no difference between the two main political parties. There is a false left/right paradigm which diverts the working class from the real reasons for their hardships.

 

[Grumblenuts]

An empire consists of staging your troops on the soil of another country without their permission. The USA does not do that.

For example:

U.S. control of Guantánamo Bay came about through the end of the Spanish-American war and the Platt Amendment. This amendment was initiated in 1903 and outlined seven conditions for the U.S. withdrawal from Cuba. The United States intervened at the end of the Spanish-American War, taking credit for Cuban independence from Spain. The Platt Amendment was an amendment to the Cuban constitution that supposedly gave Cuba sovereignty. However, it included conditions that allowed for U.S. intervention and the ability for the United States to lease or buy lands in order to establish naval bases. The U.S. was allowed to create up to four naval bases on the island of Cuba, but only ever built one, at Guantánamo Bay. The Platt Amendment was repealed in 1934, which is why the Cuban government considers the U.S. occupation of Guantánamo Bay illegal.

 

[Viktor]

For example:

Cuba could complain to the UN or the International court in Belgium. I don't believe you.

 

[Grumblenuts]

I propose we attempt to reverse this coup d'état by attempting a coup of our own. First, we must try to retake the traditional means of control, power and discourse by restoring integrity to our sold-out democratic election system.

Too late. Our "democratic election system" was made highly undemocratic and fragile on day one. The Founders were never interested in sharing power with the riff raff. They only wanted "men of property" to rule. They had no clue as to the sort of "for profit" and "corporate people" monsters they were asking for. They just wanted a better life for themselves and possibly their immediate family.

Necessarily representative Democracy was an outstanding concept. Allowing only two pretend parties to prevail and eventually squash all competitors was criminally negligent. This "experiment" was designed to be short lived and fail because The Founders themselves were just a bunch of narcissistic, opportunistic scoundrels at heart. No, we need a complete makeover. First, our billionaires must be locked away on Guantanamo until their disgusting excess is extracted. I feel fairly certain the Cuban people would gladly handle that bit (for us and themselves).

Then we can Begin with a new Constitutional Convention where reps, drawn by lot from volunteers hailing from every State and Territory, hammer out a new document all can sign that will last at least ten years until the next Convention takes place. Best practices from around the globe shall be implemented unless local conditions compel an alternative approach..

 

[Kondor3]

Mein Gott, der himmel fallt !!!