The Condition
I don't know if the Corporate State instituted the two dominant political parties to begin with or if it co-opted and reshaped them in its own image. Either way, by now we take for granted the Corporate State sits situated in the seats of social and economic decision-making. It's the boss, so to speak. No only are both parties under its stamp of approval or disapproval, but so are we. By now we also know the Corporate State doesn't like dissent and it ridicules, derails, or kills such disturbances (whatever it takes) without much effort or consequence. Politicians not following the Corporate State line get put before an orchestrated public media tribunal. Dissenters are ostracized, marginalized, or tokenized. Bernie Sanders, for example, is tokenized. Cynthia McKenny and Ralph Nader have been ostracized. Dennis Kucinich has been marginalized. Tokenism, Ostracism and Marginalism are weapons of the Corporate State and its loyal minions. Used as threats, tokenism, ostracism and marginalism ensure endemic obedience in exchange for privileges. Just the facts by now. Just the condition of things. Just part of the debase side of humanity. Can a new political party help heal? Maybe but it comes with a price, privileges as the norm rather than the exception.
The Rut
Do we want a democracy or not? For me, the ambiguity--we're kind of wishy washy on this question--situates us at the core of the problem. We seem to want democracy and not want it. For some, it seems to not matter as long as people in Gestapo-like uniforms aren't barging into most of our lives and turning our neighborhoods into camps. We seem to not care as long as we can still buy a car or board a plane. Make some money. Eat well enough. We seem to accept whatever the political reality is as long as we can buy a good enough cell phone and watch TV shows and find other kinds of entertainment to our liking. We seem okay as long as we have the freedom to buy products we want or give us some kind of social status.
Unfortunately, when George W. Bush told the country to go out and shop to prove to the terrorists we won't let them hinder our freedom, purchasing and freedom became intricately linked as not just the symbol of American Democracy but as its major arena for residents on Main Street. Purchases then have become symbolic degrees of freedom. The problem then has to do with our definition and application of democracy.
The Solution
The Rut
Do we want a democracy or not? For me, the ambiguity--we're kind of wishy washy on this question--situates us at the core of the problem. We seem to want democracy and not want it. For some, it seems to not matter as long as people in Gestapo-like uniforms aren't barging into most of our lives and turning our neighborhoods into camps. We seem to not care as long as we can still buy a car or board a plane. Make some money. Eat well enough. We seem to accept whatever the political reality is as long as we can buy a good enough cell phone and watch TV shows and find other kinds of entertainment to our liking. We seem okay as long as we have the freedom to buy products we want or give us some kind of social status.
Unfortunately, when George W. Bush told the country to go out and shop to prove to the terrorists we won't let them hinder our freedom, purchasing and freedom became intricately linked as not just the symbol of American Democracy but as its major arena for residents on Main Street. Purchases then have become symbolic degrees of freedom. The problem then has to do with our definition and application of democracy.
The Solution
Chaos is inherit in change. Change for the better on Main Street does not come in the form of a bomb, but it does require a shaking up of ideology and perceptions. The more change that is needed, the more shaking up and thus the more chaos. Anyone who remodels a house knows that. One change that seems simple but suffers from constant derailment at its outset is the formation of a movement to create a third party to establish a system of democracy for the 21st Century.
Practically speaking, many of us would like to see a new political party that addresses the issues of Main Street and its Side Streets, including Poverty Street, Food Stamp Street, Foreclosure Street, Homeless Street, and Hopeless Street. Most people I've talked with would like to see a new party arise that can withstand attacks and dismissals from both major parties, a new party that can't be conveniently or tritely slotted as the left's answer to the right's Tea Party.
For this reason, one of the best chances for a third party (representing Main Street at the Table) to get traction is to learn and employ new tools in establishing itself. It must outsize, outsmart or outrun not just the Corporate State (its polar opposite) but its three political parties, Democrats, Republicans and Liberatarians. What's needed is a party that is savvy, stable and solidly ethical and compassionate, one that is willing to do what it takes to redistribute the wealth and cut the general work week in half.
Practically speaking, many of us would like to see a new political party that addresses the issues of Main Street and its Side Streets, including Poverty Street, Food Stamp Street, Foreclosure Street, Homeless Street, and Hopeless Street. Most people I've talked with would like to see a new party arise that can withstand attacks and dismissals from both major parties, a new party that can't be conveniently or tritely slotted as the left's answer to the right's Tea Party.
For this reason, one of the best chances for a third party (representing Main Street at the Table) to get traction is to learn and employ new tools in establishing itself. It must outsize, outsmart or outrun not just the Corporate State (its polar opposite) but its three political parties, Democrats, Republicans and Liberatarians. What's needed is a party that is savvy, stable and solidly ethical and compassionate, one that is willing to do what it takes to redistribute the wealth and cut the general work week in half.
We also need such a party, because the decisions made in the 17 and 18 centuries in Europe regarding putting an end to feudialism in favor of capitalism have run their course. Now the conditions of capitalism have dimmed and corroded the good and progress of its early promises. The fall of hope for Main Street under capitalism began with Main Street unwittingly accepting the credit card in place of greater increases in wages and benefits. We are now in a situation in which the line of wealth is skewed in extremes.
The combined wealth of the 85 richest people in the world is equal to that of 3.5 billion people -- or half the global population -- according to a report by Oxfam.
Click on the graphic to enlarge.
The report states, "The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world."The nature of this statistic suggests Main Street has crippled itself through complacency. With no cure from Main Street beneficiaries (the wealthy elite) in sight, Main Street must heal itself. One indicator that the time is ripe is irrational thinking on the part of the wealthy elite. Some of these owners are even absurdly comparing themselves to Jews under Nazis or claiming minority status. Who can even comment on such a ridiculous notion?
Among the report's other findings, it notes that 70 percent of the world's population reside in countries where income inequality has risen since the 1980s and 1 percent of families in the world own nearly half, 46 percent, of the world's wealth, or $110 trillion.
Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/financing/wealth/richest-85-own-half-worlds-wealth/#ixzz2re1EuPJn Follow us: @Bankrate on Twitter | Bankrate on Facebook
Naming Names
I personally like the Egalitarian Party with its basic platform the redistribution of wealth, revaluing of money and Wall Street, and restructuring of the work week based on creating a healhty ratio between work and liesure. Perhaps as important is establishing a new system of organizing society, one based in ethics and compassion in which class and caste are eliminated, a society in which everyone "has" and arenas and resources exist so that each individual can pursue his or her individual highest potential.
End of Notes
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