Stupid is quite plentiful, much like the kudzu vine of the American South, as both are ever attempting to take over Civilization.
George W. Bush is not as stupid as he appears. It isn’t so much that he IS stupid, but that he does stupid. The entire premise of the Bush 43 Administration was to wreck the economy, to really screw it up worse than Reagan-Bush did, so that the political takeover of America by the Robber Barons and the Fascists would be easier (for them).
But Dubya screwed that up! The economic crisis was scheduled to happen after the Democrats got control of the Executive and Legislative branches, so that the Oligarchs could then blame the Democrats – those terrifying Liberals – for the mess.
But Dubya screwed up the intentional screw-up, and the People woke up and Barack Obama won by a landslide in many precincts and states, and Dubya gets the blame by present and future historians for the Recession, Depression, Meltdown that is the current and future economic plight of America and the world.
While a significant portion of the U.S. population were infected by the sleep-inducing propaganda of the Culture-Structure, the sheeple let the Party of Stupidity run the country using obvious strategies of stealth, plunder, Mafia-style ethics, talk-show alarmists, and an insane disregard for the consequences that always arise from such actions.
(And the Tea-Bagger sheeple even mindlessly protested President Obama’s tax CUTS for the Middle Class!)
The Corporatists and Fascists and Oligarchs and Conservatives and Religionists and bigots and Federalists have continued to work in concert, with the full intention of producing a mess just like the one that we are in. The anti-Reason gangsters always move in the same direction – to benefit from the exploitation and degradation of We The People.
And the sheeple let them.
And it never works. The mess gets dire and the People rise up and re-establish Progressive programs, and clean up the mess from the new Festival of Stupid.
And the Master Class sits back and complains about taxes – taxes that had to be raised to pay down their recent fiscal crimes – and the Master Class bides their time. And when the economy and civil rights are restored, or at least repaired, then the Master Class invents some new imaginary monster to make afraid those infected with Stupid, and here we go again.
Freedom is the result of Reason. Locke and Hume and Tom Paine and Tom Jefferson and the American Revolution set in motion a Progressive ideology that will eventually prevail.
But it is tough work keeping Freedom alive. There are indeed those who oppose Freedom, who cannot tolerate rule by The People. They seek a return to feudalism, where in their view the Master Class (aristocracy) owns the peasants and is entitled to anything that it wants.
So Stupid exists in two places: the Master Class thrives on doing harm, and the sheeple suffer the consequences of their obliviousness.
To be truly free from something is to not need it. I cared that the First Amendment was torn to shreds by the Bush Administration, but those freedoms still were alive where I was anyway because I do not need a piece of paper behind glass in Washington, DC to give me those freedoms. I am free to exercise my rights at all times because living from those Unalienable Rights ensures their existence. I am free, the Constitution says so, and that is a matter that is worth risking one’s life for.
Reason gives Progress. Action creates opportunity. Persistence delivers results.
Meanwhile, Stupid just creates more Stupid: messes to clean up, lives ruined, a planet despoiled, mindless waste, perpetual violence, and pain for everyone involved.
Reason is the antidote for Stupid. The Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand [1905-82], the Existentialist philosophies of Albert Camus [1913-60] and Jean-Paul Sartre [1905-80], transformative education – all are based on Reason and lead to solutions that benefit Mankind as a whole.
We are all in this together. (Except for the Stupid, who are not IN anything, except failure.)
Reason has a person seek Progress; Stupidity can be defined as the lack of seeking or striving or thinking.
Reason is an act of Free Will; Stupid is based on a want or a wish, often for some fantasy, such as An End To Fear.
Reason seeks Progress; Stupid makes a mess. The act of cleaning something up is always a result of a cause that was sourced by Stupid.
- Federal cleanup sites are the result of Stupid behavior: atomic radiation, mining poisons, industrial pollution, the Texas-sized (literally) mega-pile of trash in the Pacific Ocean.
- Economic rescues (bailouts) are the result of Stupid behavior, and the bailouts themselves are Stupid behavior.
- The conflation of gambling and finance is the result of Stupid behavior: commodities futures, money market funds, indexes on indexes, convoluted ‘instruments’ – none truly exist (have equity) and are therefore sold only to suckers (stupid people with money).
- Economic failure or meltdown is the result of Stupid behavior: when hardworking regular folk find themselves homeless from tidal changes in The Market which they do not understand and had no hand in, and when their 401K or pension is now worthless after being touted as foolproof.
- Corporatism, which is based on the Stupid value of Growth For Growth’s Sake, which like pond scum will eventually suck all the oxygen out of the system.
- Ill health is the result of Stupid behavior: Reason-based healthcare prevents breakdown, as a boon to all, for a smoothly-running society and economy; single-payer healthcare makes prevention affordable. The economics of Stupid makes healthcare hard to get, with their proffered ‘solutions’ overpriced and with unwanted side-effects.
- Crime is Stupid, and not in any way Progressive. Crime is quite costly: lost equity, lost time, and waste of resources – the chase, the meting out of justice, the incarceration, the restoration of plundered goods, the parole system. Crime is an industry in America, and that fact is the result of Stupid behavior.
The very fact that a cleanup is required means that a crime or assault on Liberty, or a crime of simple greed or survival has been committed.
The evidence of that dis-empowering act is whatever needs to be cleaned up.
- Poisoned eco-systems
- Poisoned social systems, like healthcare and the military and police and justice systems, and the election system
- New Orleans
- The Rust Belt
- Chernobyl
- North Korea and Darfur and Somalia
- Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac and the rest of the $25 trillion Republican National Debt
- America’s labor unions
- America’s automobile industry
- America’s housing industry
- America’s healthcare industry
Politics is revitalized by Barack Obama’s campaign and his landslide victory. We the People did some cleaning up, got the election system working again, and President Obama has eight years to implement his planned repairs and improvements, his Vision For America.
What the Obama Administration will leave behind is a better world, even for the sheeple contaminated with Stupid. That Progressive agenda (hated by the pro-feudalism talk-show gasbag pundits) includes better healthcare for Americans, better education, more jobs and more union activity (better jobs), Reason-based taxation, and a reduction in death by warfare on the planet.
War is stupid. Feudalism is stupid. Hunger and starvation are stupid. Pollution is stupid. A frenzied life is stupid.
But the pathogen of Stupid bides its time and looks for chinks in the armor of the Progressive Life Force. No matter that Obama won in 2008, the Bad Guys are still loose and making their Stupid-based plans.
Stupid causes pain and death and suffering.
Empower whoever you can, wherever and whenever you can.
3 comments :
Gary,
You are right on every point. Now what? You, alone, cannot correct the wrongs. I, alone, cannot correct the wrongs. You and I together with a thousand or even a million folks cannot correct the wrongs.
We either need a new political party, or several billion dollars, or both. Neat trick if you and I can start the ball rolling.
Whatdoyousay, we start a new political party -- say the Jefferson, or Hamilton or Jay party (per the Federalist Papers) or the Ben Franklin Party, or the Lincoln Party? Our motto will be "Whack-a-Bush" or "No more Bushwackers". Our party logo will be a four person family with the home in the background. -- Only the wife is Black, the Husband is Asian the boy is white and the girl is Mexican. The dog is a mutt.
We will need a progressive platform. You should write it since the elements you touched on constitute the index and all you need to do is to pick the antidote to the evils you describe, as the platform.
We need a whiz-banger of a charismatic leader and a think tank in support of the leader. I'm not charismatic enough and I doubt you fit that mold or would want the job. Your blog is basically the think tank. We can all contribute our ideas and comment on each other's ideas (respectfully). We need a Ralph Nader type of leader. We need a mascot – how about the mutt dog? Let's call it “Sparky” or some such name.
Moreover, we need to begin working our way into the politics ("All politics are local") by gearing-up our local chapters then supporting our candidates for school board, county commissioners/supervisors and city councilpersons. Then work toward winning Congressional districts and some state assembly and senatorial districts. Eventually, we get U.S. Senate seats and elect the President and VP.
Instead of a having our meetings known as a “Tea Party” we could have a “Creme d' Coco Party” or a “Coffee Au Lait Party” or a “Chocolatē Party” or a “Mulligan Stew Party”. We could have face-to-face as well as virtual parties, all at the same time in the same room. We should try to arrange the chapter meetings in a school cafeteria and do potlucks – so we can chew on our food and crew on our politics at the same time. Whatdoyouthink?
We need to take-on the abrasive talk-show hosts who are paid to lie, misquote and bad-mouth everyone who does not snap to attention to their moods and views. We can label them the N3's – "nattering nabobs of negativity". The hate they spew is ill-disguised racists.
We can use the blog-o-sphere as our media and start a monster mailing list of members who are equally as pissed as we are. We can continue to peel-back the layers of cover which the super-rich have applied to themselves and expose their greed and predatory practices. Our members can contribute to a "story board” archive of their personal experiences of how the rich have preempted their lives, their labor and their small earnings. Mine is: During the second college stint, I worked at Home Depot for $10.00 per hour while the CEO, Bob Nardali, earned $85,000 per hour.
We need to find a file or hacksaw and start cutting our chains. Maybe our motto should be the old, “The Truth Will Set You Free.” We will also need a fight song. Maybe Keith Carridine will let us use “Born Again American” or maybe the Star Wars theme. We also need a long list of short slogans suitable for placards.
Regards,
Jim Miller
GAMING THE SYSTEMThis is a featured page
"A billion here, a billion there -- pretty soon it adds up to real money."
After my last submissions of major grant applications to the Federal government, I was plenty exhausted from the huge effort to read and understand the instructions, fight the lousy software and then compact way too much information demanded into few pages.
I realized what had been happening. The Feds have such a huge number of people fingering the preparation of grant invitations, that every federal employee had to leave his/her mark on the FOA, thus adding more and more stuff for us applicants to do and more hoops to jump through. Also, the more stuff required, gives the Feds that many more reasons to turn down the applications, until only their friends are left as viable grantees. They then award the grants to their friends. -- the new spoils system in government.
The feds have never had an accounting system which could be audited. No one really knows where the money goes. Take BIA -- Bureau of Indian Affairs which stole billions from the Native Americans. BIA managed to get the Federal District judge who originally pounded BIA, removed from the case and the case basically disappeared. No President has the insight, political will or political backing to take on the Fed bureauracy and slim it down and kick out the thieves. We are stuck with most all Federal and state agencies "gaming the system" rather than accomplishing their real jobs. Democracy is not working because the con artists have infiltrated government and taken it over. We "enjoy" a vile "corporatocracy".
Antidote to stupidity --
Why are the vast majority of adults "stupid"? Why do people from age three up watch TV and some listen
to talk and other radio shows? Half of the time are the sales pitches and the other half are really dumb: violence, pseudo-sex, noise parading as music, meaningless small talk, and the "nattering nabobs of negativity". It's time to turn off the radio and TV.
Each neighborhood ought to have a weekly "Potlatch Potluck". Simple, we all attend at a park, community center or school, bring our share of food and something to be auctioned-off with all of the proceeds going to a local named 501.c.3. It just might work -- neighbor helping neighbor -- a 2000 year old idea, come to life, again.
Jim Miller
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