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Why the current election "fever" is so disgusting
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Feb. 7, 2008 |
The most glaring problem with the electoral process active in the US these days is that it is a major part of the propaganda and deception campaign that is ceaselessly waged to by mass media and academic and religious groups, to convince the US public that the US government is, in fact, the controlling institution of the country and that our government is under democratic control.
The illusion of democratic government is so overwhelming that most people have a hard time coming to grips with the reality that our country is totally controlled by a small set of hugely wealth families and their foreign friends and that our national elections are just shams. Packaged as a sort of professional sport, our elections serve only to dull the mind and suspend real critical judgement.
For those who are struggling to shake off the effects of this grand illusion, I suggest the book "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush" by Kevin Phillips. Phillips, as a long time Republican Party insider, is in the ideal place from which to address the descent of the US from a republican democracy to our current condition of oligarchic dictatorship.
For those who favor the Cliff's Notes approach to wisdom, which I consider a perfectly logical approach, I suggest listening to a segment of Democracy Now from January, 2004, entitled "American Dynasty: Fmr. Top Republican Strategist Discusses The Bush Family’s Rise To Power Since WWI".
Really folks, it is going to get us nowhere if we persist in living in a fantasy world where "We the People" count in the scheme of things as they actually happen. Not that I wish to denigrate "We the People" -- we do have the potential power to expel these evil families from their seat of power. We proved that in our original revolution that expelled King George and his favorites from our land. And I am not encouraging people to stop participating in this phony electoral process either -- especially in local elections, people can make their voice heard. But to continue to participate while lapping up the charade of "democratic" national elections is not going to make things better. It is going to make things worse.
A suggestion might be to form a local political study group and start with a discussion of Philip's book (or listen to the Democracy Now segment). We can
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Why is it that I respond to electoral "news" with a nauseating ache whenever I am unsuccessful in avoiding it?
Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle, in this column, helps me sort out the cause of my distress:
Dead soldiers, peak oil,
and mind-boggling profits:
Praise Jesus, the
machine's still working
by Mark Morford,
San Francisco Chronicle | |
Excerpt: Because this nasty truth remains: Bush or no, Exxon and its nefarious, insanely powerful ilk are ramming full speed ahead, undertaking more incredibly brutal, land-raping techniques as you read these very words to get at the Earth's remaining supply of oil, sucking up tar sand and coal and anything else possible to maintain profit and power. They are, and will continue to be, utterly relentless and, at least for a number of years to come, quite unstoppable.
There is no eliminating the dark side of capitalism, the gluttony and the greed and the violent underbelly. There is only minimizing, shifting the emphasis, changing the pitch and angle of approach, trying to take what is, at its very heart, a flawed and self- destructive system, and making it into something proud and interesting and vibrant, something actually worth defending.
Can it be done? Is it still possible? No matter how many poetic Barack Obama speeches, no matter how many pragmatic Hillary Clinton promises, it's a question that seems far bigger than both of them. And the truth is, it's really the only question that matters. |
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unseat these people if we try, but that effort will have
to start very locally, so it can incubate free of the vast complex machinery of illusion that keeps the general public narcotized with lies.
There are a number of fine books recently published, such as "The End of America" by Naomi Wolf and "The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein, that challenge the illusion, but they all are about the process of subjugation of the US public and both books are too depressing for beginners and fail to name names and connections as Philip's book does.
I believe that we need to focus on the story of how we lost our freedom, complete with the names and personalities, the alliances and marriages, the secret deals and betrayals, the secret societies and connections with foreign forces of evil, if we are going to be able to make the concept of our existing subjugation vivid and accessible to enough people. Philip's book, and his more recent writings, have all that.
When I get my ballot I am going to write in Dennis Kucinich. So what if my vote ends up in the "spoiled ballot" trash can. What difference can it make?
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Turns out that government by legalized bribery doesn't work. Who'da thunk?
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Civil rights really only matter to the relatively poor. The very rich buy theirs.
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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The illusion of democratic government is so overwhelming that most people have a hard time coming to grips with the reality that our country is totally controlled by a small set of hugely wealth families and their foreign friends and that our national elections are just shams.
Packaged as a sort of professional sport, our elections serve only to dull the mind and suspend real critical judgement.
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