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

Sunday, November 20, 2016

The Election Is Over, But the Two-Headed Beast Devours On…

Click here to access article by Jeremy R. Hammond from his blog. (amended at 3:45 PM Seattle time.)
I actually think Trump was the lesser of the two evils. He’s an ignorant bigot, but Clinton is a war criminal with blood on her hands who is responsible for literally destroying nations (including Iraq, Libya, and Syria). So I’m very happy that Clinton is not president. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy that Trump is. I didn’t vote for either of them. I didn’t vote at all, actually. The way I see it is this: Why would I want to legitimize my own disenfranchisement? Why would I want to legitimize the corrupt system that produces these kinds of candidates? I think Americans needs to stop participating in this insanity every four years because it only perpetuates the criminal operation people call a “government”.
Hammond describes the beast but he doesn't identify him, and correctly argues the futility of voting for either head of the beast. It's obvious to me and others that the two-headed beast is the US capitalist ruling class. That is precisely why Trump has appointed/nominated so many Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street bankers to his cabinet.

This tiny group of players at the Wall Street casino, the owners of our economy, and those who create our money and store the wealth we create will continue to do "business as usual" after filling our heads with the temporary delusion of power--that we decide through elections how our society is managed. And business as usual means that they decide what we produce and consume, how we work (if we work at all), how we think, and what we think about the world around us.

"The more things change, the more they remain the same". That is, until we wake up from the "American dream" which has turned into a nightmare.