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

Friday, October 14, 2011

The foreign policy of Park Avenue

Click here to access article by Jim O’Reilly from his blog, Comments on Global Economy.

This, and other commentaries by this blogger, are quite significant given his background. O'Reilly is another example of a solid member of the (real) middle class who, while pursuing a career in banking and finance, became disillusioned with the ongoing attacks on working people by the governing class. He knows this class from the inside while serving under them, and with this knowledge he writes:
This glittering Valhalla doesn’t give two shits for Greater Reading [poverty stricken areas of the Northeast US] but it does immensely care about foreign policy.  While often thought of as “US policy” or “US national interests” nothing could be further from the truth.  Only the interests of Park Avenue are in play.  And what are those interests?  They’re really only two: 1) expand global markets in order to maximize corporate profits and 2) continuously grow and revel in the ever higher glory and grandeur of great power, Rome being the obvious model.  The Three P’s: profit, power, prestige.  We can see how this foreign policy has played out historically since the end of World War II, from Korea to Vietnam to Latin America and throughout the Middle East.  Millions have died but no group in history has ever risen to greater power.