Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

“Of course the people don’t want war….but after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether, it’s a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a Communist dictatorship.” (Sheldon Richman, “War is Government Program”)

Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D., Axis of Logic

Wars are planned, financed and fought by governments, not by groups or ordinary people. Wars are based on political agendas bent on complete control over resources, people and territory. Most wars have multiple reasons, domestic, foreign and global outreach. The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are fought to maintain US domination worldwide, to occupy the untapped natural resources of the Middle East, in particular oil and gas, and to protect the value of U.S. dollar as a stable international reserve currency. In September 2000, the proactive policy paper written by the neoconservative intellectuals to envision the "Project for the New American Century" (PNAC), sets the milestone, seeking U.S. domination over the rest of the world powers.

Yet we refuse to believe in this new Orwellian America. We prefer the world of magic, myth and illusion.

Paul B. Farrell, Global Research

Marshall Ramsey

Democracy dead? Lobbyists ruling America? Lobbyists the new "Unseen Hand" of capitalism? Sadly yes.

And here's why: Ask any neuroeconomist, behavioral-finance quant, investment psychologist or other practitioner of the mysterious "science of irrationality" and they'll tell you that Americans have two self-sabotaging mental biases that killed democracy from within: "Denial" and "Magical Thinking" make us easy targets. Our brains are being manipulated by clandestine forces beyond our control. We can't see them or resist.

Yet we refuse to believe in this new Orwellian America. We prefer the world of magic, myth and illusion.

Yes, folks, democracy is dead. Oh, the illusion will be kept alive in our history books, in the rhetoric of politicians, in the manipulated minds of America's 95 million Main Street investors. The propaganda machine works. Like a child's fairy tale, democracy has been deeply imbedded in our brains for decades; we prefer believing old, familiar stories. They comfort us, even when no longer true. The real democracy, what so many fought and died for since 1776, is dead.

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Related:

• The more that Republicans claim to change, the more they remain the same. The more they wrap themselves in dubious populism, the more they will defend the wealthy and powerful, without respect to national sovereignty and the national interest.
• Populism is Not a Style, It's a People's Rebellion Against Corporate Power
• How America's Demented Politics Let the GOP Off the Hook for Their Giant Mess

Joe Conason, Truth Dig

The most revealing moments in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address were not in his remarks, but the reaction to them by those listening on the Republican side of the aisle.

When he proposed to recover a “financial responsibility fee”—in plainer English, a bank tax—from the largest and most heavily leveraged Wall Street firms, the Republicans sat on their hands and scowled, while Democrats cheered and whistled. And when he warned that the Supreme Court’s latest decision would open the political process to mega-corporations and their foreign owners, the Republicans were so enraged that they have since accused him of lying.

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Bill Moyers interviews Thomas Frank on how our short attention span has allowed conservatives to escape blame for their role in the economic meltdown.

Bill Moyers Journal, PBS, in AlterNet

AlterNet Editor's note: In the following interview Bill Moyers and Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter With Kansas" and "The Wrecking Crew," talk about why conservatives can get away with blaming Obama for the past decade of conservative failures.

Bill Moyers: There were hands in the air in Washington this week, but it wasn't a stickup. The new Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, appointed by Congress to find out how America got rolled, began hearings this week. These four are not the victims of one of the greatest bank heists in history - they're the perpetrators, bankers so sleek and crafty they got off with the loot in broad daylight, and then sweet talked the government into taxing us to pay it back.

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Welcome to 1984, GOP Version, Jeffrey Page, Zest for Orange
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Ken Mitchell
Changing history to make it safe for the GOP

• The next years are going to be about mediocrity, broken promises, and striving for second best. That's not the MN I grew up in. And it's not what I voted for, or was promised.
• Do we continue as part of a political institution that we feel in large part is not serving us or the common good, or do we strike out towards something that we can participate in with integrity?

David Culver, Evergreene Digest

For as l-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-n-g as I can remember, certainly ever since the obligations of getting an education, serving in the military, getting established in a career, and starting to raise a family were completed, I have attended my party’s (DFL) precinct caucuses. It’s a habit, born of a middle school teacher’s planting the seeds of activism deep in my heart, becoming radicalized in college at the feet of the good Jesuit fathers at Marquette University in Milwaukee, and my church’s (St. Joan of Arc) nurturing of that commitment to activism in pursuit of peace and justice. From those many precinct caucuses, I’ve often gone on to serve as a delegate to county and district conventions and as associate precinct chair. The first Tuesday of February in even-numbered years comes and, like a Dalmatian at a fire, as soon as the bell rings, I’m there.