Every year, the president gives a speech on the state of the
union. His most famous line is,
"...and I come before you tonight to report the state of the union
is...(insert any word-strong, robust, thriving etc) The fourth of July seems
like a good time to report on the state of our independence.
Currently on hold, because of a federal judge, is a law passed recently
which would allow the President to declare any American a security threat and
give the government the right to hold them for an indefinite period of time
without charging them with any crime.
It goes without saying the right to habeas corpus would go out the
window. The FISA laws, (Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act), have been weakened calling for less judicial
oversight and allowing the government to surveil, watch, spy or keep tabs on
any Americans they wish. (Lest you
protest this is only for "bad" guys, let me remind you the FBI has
admitted to abusing national security letters and other parts of the Patriot
Act, spying on groups because of their political affiliations, using local law
enforcement to gather information for them and even the city of New York sent
undercover cops into mosques in New Jersey based on the need to spy on certain
Americans who might represent a threat)
The majority of Americans are in favor of the use of unmanned drones to
spy on suspected terrorists, or to control the border, but are not willing to
let them be used to give out speeding tickets on the nation's highways. (tens of thousands are killed each year
on our roads due to excessive speed, but no one has been killed by a terrorist
since 2001...no I don't understand it either.)
There are thousands of laws, federal laws, which can result in a
sentence in federal prison, and yet you do not even need to know you had broken
the law to be held accountable.
These strict liability laws give total discretion to the government to
decide whether to prosecute you or not.
Federal prosecutors can use these laws to intimidate or crush dissent
and the rising voices of protest.
In a fascist state, when everything is illegal, the option to prosecute
or not is the ultimate power and gives the government unlimited discretion to
control anyone who might be a problem, even if they never intended to break the
law to begin with and didn't even know any laws had been broken.
I once heard a very bright man, Regis McKenna, give a speech in which he
contended all freedom is economic.
On the fourth of July, what is the state of our economic freedom? The average middle class family
lost 40% of its wealth between 2007 and 2011. At the same time, the top 1% saw their wealth increase. While Americans struggle to find jobs and
obtain credit, and hold on to their homes, the government has given trillions
of tax dollars to the nation's banks to prop them up. Banks are making record profits even as they try to prevent
new regulations. (J.P. Morgan
Chase bet and lost over $5 billion and maybe more, something which might have
been prevented by the Volker Rule which they, and their industry still fight.)
Americans who might move to take advantage of job
opportunities elsewhere in the country cannot because they owe more on their
homes than the home is worth and government has utterly failed to help them
out. Students are discovering loan
payments, due upon graduation, have cost them a great deal of freedom. It becomes virtually impossible to take
community-based or non-profit jobs and they are forced to seek and accept jobs
which pay enough to cover their financial obligations. Lawyers who might opt to work in local
legal aid offices; doctors who might be willing to work in communal clinics;
business majors who might wish to start new businesses in under-served
neighborhoods; liberal arts majors who might want to teach in inner cities or
provide services to the elderly or infirmed, are precluded from these and so
many other options due to the mountain of debt they compiled to achieve a
college education. (except of
course for the children of the 1% who have the freedom to choose any jobs they
wish since they have no debt to worry about)
Americans once believed we were a society where anyone could start poor
and achieve great success. This
Horatio Alger illusion is less true in 2012 than perhaps at any time in modern
history. Numerous reports show the
economic status of your parents is a direct predictor of what your economic
success will achieve. Other
studies show whatever you have achieved economically by your 30th birthday, is
as far as you will progress for the rest of your life. In terms of social mobility, it is a well-known
fact that people living in Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, Australia and other
nations, are way ahead of us when it comes to the ability to move from lower to
upper classes.
On this 4th of July we can certainly say we are free to cast our vote as
we see fit. However, our choices
are determined by the amount of money a given candidate can raise. This year we are seeing the fruits of
the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision, and they are changing electoral
politics completely. A handful of
billionaires are pouring money into campaigns and races for candidates who
promise to expand the opportunities for the 1% at the expense of everyone
else. Recently, the Koch brothers
held a secret meeting in San Diego.
The buy-in just to attend was $100,000. Their goal is to raise $395 million to elect politicians who
share their desire to destroy the New Deal and Great Society and return this
country to the glory of the Gilded Age.
(Lest you have drunk the Kool Aid and think Citizen's United allows
unions to spend as much as they wish to do the same thing, the money the Koch
brothers alone will raise in San Diego is more than every union in the nation
contributed to campaigns in the last four years and when you add in Karl Rove's
Crossroads Super PAC, and others, they will outspend unions as much as
10-1) Even if their is someone you
would like to support, and cast your vote, the economics of politics says this
person has little chance to get nominated and even less chance to get elected.
On July 4, 2012, the state of our independence is teetering at best and
in rapid retreat at worst. Our
civil liberties have been weakened to the point where they no longer protect us
from an invasive and oppressive government (regressives take note). Our economic future is cloudy at best if
you are poor or in the middle class, but glorious if you are in the 1%. The standard avenues for
advancement...education; hard work; perseverance; are pricing more and more
Americans out of their range or are irrelevant, and our political system is now
rigged so the 1% can control and elect those candidates who will continue their
hegemony over the levers of power.
(Just look at Romney's proposals to cut taxes on the rich further,
increase military spending and cut entitlements and ask who will benefit the
most?)
Lest you think there is no hope, let me offer some words of
encouragement on this Independence Day.
The 1% will only continue to win if voting numbers keep declining. If all eligible voters voted, their
power and money would be far less effective. There is an alternative press chronicling everything I have
written about here and you need to access it and then get involved. There are fights to be fought and won,
but you can't do it from the sidelines.
Pick a side and jump in with both feet. If you believe you can't make a difference...they win. If you get dispirited and give
up...they win. If you allow
yourself to feel powerless...they win.
Warren Buffet says there is a class war going on in this country and his
class is winning. On this Independence
Day, join the war...fight for this nation's future...never give up and find
others who agree with you. Once
it's gone, our freedom will never return.
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY...I MISS YOU.
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