We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, June 21, 2010

The Obama administration and its pundit-defenders

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon. 

The article supports my long held contention that Obama was carefully selected by the ruling class for the 2008 show elections to defuse all the popular anger against Bush, the wars, and the economic collapse. They were right--much of the anger was defused, and the leftover has been mostly directed against immigrant workers. He was the perfect candidate to "pull the wool over the eyes" of the American people. Even with this Gulf oil spill disaster that was caused in large part by the Administration's waving of environmental checks, you can be sure that he will be well protected by mainstream media.