All Things
-
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif","Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "SimSun"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "Mangal";...
-
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; }p.western { }p.cjk { }p.ctl Voter Apathy? Around election time, pundits begin to worry about low voter turnout. So they write newspaper articles recommending all...
-
Occupy Wall Street-- a Year Later When groups of mostly young people descended on Zucotti Part on September 17 2011, mainstream observers expressed exasperation: " They never tell us what they want; they do not have a program."...
-
How to listen to the Tea Party message--II Our society, I pointed out in an earlier blog, has become so complex that individual citizens cannot understand, let alone manage large parts of it. Do you really understand the causes of the present economic...
- The Bottom Line On The Bejing Olympics
McDonalds, Visa, Coca Cola, Samsung, General Electric--should we feel sorry for them? They spent huge sums of money for the privilege of advertising their products during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, China. But now the Tibetans, always a bit...
All Things
RuminatingaboutRepublicanPrimaries
InthefinalmonthsofthelastyeartheOccupyMovementwasprominentinthenews.Almosteverydaytherewasmorenewsaboutdifferentoccupationsandthereactionsoflocalgovernmentswhocaredmoreaboutthecleanlinessofparksthenaboutjusticeordemocracy.
Butthentheprimaryseasonbeganandpushedallothernewstothesecondpageorthesecondsectionofthenewspaper.OnemighthaveexpectedthattheOccupyMovementanditsindictmentofourcurrenteconomicinequalitieswouldbecomeatopicintheprimarydebates.Butnosuchluck.OccupyWallStreet'sferventtalkaboutthe1%disappearedfromthenewsasifithadneverhappened.
OnecanexplainthisbysayingthattheoccupiersobviouslyfailedcompletelytomakeanimpressiononthemajorityofAmericans.Moreplausibleisthisinterpretation:intheprimarydebatesthecandidateschoosetheissuesandhowtheywilltalkaboutthem.ObviouslytheyarenotgoingtoraisequestionsthatembarrasstheirdonorsorthesuperrichwhofinancethePAC'ssupportingeachcandidate.Soinequalityandthedisproportionatepowerofthe1%arenot available asissuestobearguedaboutintheprimaries.Theprimarycandidates– notonlytheRepublicanones– protecttheirdonorsandkeepissuesofinjusticeoutofthepublicdiscussion.
ThecompetingcandidatesaretryingtosellthemselvestothepublicwiththesametechniquesusedbyCoca-ColaandPepsi-Cola toselltheir products.Radio hosts interview political consultants whose job it is to produce the better advertising campaign for their candidate. But advertising is inherently deceptive. Even if your advertisement merely announces that the General Store has received a new barrel of pickles, you will not advertise that the pickles have a funny aftertaste. The customer has to discover that for herself. The sellers of soda wax eloquent about their soda's taste, but not about the damage it does to your health. Political advertisements promise that the candidate will solve to unemployment problem but neglect to mention that he will first rewrite tax laws to favor some rich corporate sponsors of his. Advertisement mention some good qualities of a product and ignore what is not so good. Advertisements are intentionally one-sided and misleading.
IsthatthewaytoselectacandidateforthePresidency?TheUnitedStatesfacesanumberofseriousissues.Wehave,foralongtime,conductedourforeignpolicyontheprinciplethatothernationsmusteitherbepersuadedtofollowourpoliciesorbeforcedintosubmission.Followingtheseprincipleswehavelostfourwars. Itistimetoreconsiderthisstyleofhostileandcoerciveforeignpolicy.
Thepresidentialcampaignshouldbeanopportunityforthenationtoreflectaboutthisissue.
Oureconomicsystemhasbeengoingfromcrisistocrisis.Butthegeneraltrendisdownhill.Everyyearmorepeoplefallbelowtheofficialpovertyline.EveryyearAmericaneducationsuffersasdoeshealthcare.Thecurrenteconomiccrisisclearlyisduetogrossmismanagementonthepartsofbanks,andlargemortgagecompanies.Whatisthegovernment'sroleinthatcontext?Thecurrentcampaignshouldsparkadiscussionabouttheeconomy.
Inournation,hatefueledcampaignsareontheincrease– againstthepoor,againstimmigrants,especiallythosewithoutpapers,againstpeopleofcolor.Moreandmorepeoplearedevotedtoparanoidcauses.Moreandmorepeopleareworried,discontented.Many,manyarejustveryangry.Andasmoreandmorepeoplesinkintodepression,theytrytobuildaliferaftoutofanunthinkingnationalistchauvinismthatproclaimstheUnitedStatesthegreatestnationonearth.
ItistimeforustothinkaboutlifeintheUnitedStatestodayandtorecognizethediscrepancybetweeneverydayrealityandwhatwetellourselvesasconsolationinourmisery.
Butnoneofthatcomesoutinthepoliticalcampaigns.
Winningthepresidencyhasbecomecomparabletosellingsoftdrinks– whosellsmore,CokeorPepsi?Fromself-governmentofthefreeandequal,democracyhasbeentransformedintoanentertainmentforalargelypassiveelectorate.ThepresidentialcampaignhasbecomeonemoreSuperBowl.
OurpoliticalcandidatesarebetrayingwhatismostpreciousintheAmericantraditions.
-
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif","Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "SimSun"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "Mangal";...
-
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; }p.western { }p.cjk { }p.ctl Voter Apathy? Around election time, pundits begin to worry about low voter turnout. So they write newspaper articles recommending all...
-
Occupy Wall Street-- a Year Later When groups of mostly young people descended on Zucotti Part on September 17 2011, mainstream observers expressed exasperation: " They never tell us what they want; they do not have a program."...
-
How to listen to the Tea Party message--II Our society, I pointed out in an earlier blog, has become so complex that individual citizens cannot understand, let alone manage large parts of it. Do you really understand the causes of the present economic...
- The Bottom Line On The Bejing Olympics
McDonalds, Visa, Coca Cola, Samsung, General Electric--should we feel sorry for them? They spent huge sums of money for the privilege of advertising their products during the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, China. But now the Tibetans, always a bit...