We Interrupt this National Decline...

It was once said that that all roads led to Rome. It was true figuratively and as well as literally. With some 100,000 miles of road, it provided direct access for the Roman legions to any hotspot within the empire. It established trade routes throughout the empire and eventually even connected to the Silk Road to the Near Eastern nations, India, and finally to China. But, as goes another old saying, as Rome's roads went, so went the Roman Empire and its ability to defend the empire and its trade routes, and with that, along with the decline in political stability thanks to the ineptitude and corruption of the political class and the financial elites, taxes, decline of the water systems, agriculture, decline in innovations, quality of the fight forces, increases in pirates and illegal immigration who didn't integrate, the rise of the poor amid the decline of middle and business class, ever more successful foreign invasions, devaluation of its currency, and a host of other factors---some major but most subtle, the glory and the might that was Rome gradually faded over the course of about 300 years until it became but it memory.

Much the same has been said America. Certainly, we face many of the same factors. Like Rome, we went from rule by a monarchy to a Republic and now to an oligarchy; controlled by transnational corporations which have no loyalty to either a nation or national ideals. Wealth--- economic and political control---is the hands of the top 1%. Our Middle Class is all but nonexistent while not the ranks of the poor increase, some communities and cities look like they belong to some third world nation, as social services decrease due to expense. We too experience a debt that not only can we never hope to pay, but is actually unsustainable. We too are being invaded by illegal immigrants looking for a better life, but few are finding it. They too are refusing to assimilate. While are military remains strong (though, like Rome, there is talking about incorporating illegal immigrants as an avenue to citizenship), it is ever more dependent on technology, which makes it vulnerable to shortages of those able to operate and maintain it as our educational system continues to decline.

Like Rome, we face a decline in social morals and a sense of community values in the name of "inclusion", or as we would say, "political correctness". Our roads, dams, electrical grids, bridges, and highways are crumbling too, and again, like Rome, a public reluctance to paying for repairs through higher taxes (they often did so out of the pocket of a government official, usually seeking higher office). Trade and often innovation has steadily shifted overseas, not for lack of resources, but avoidance of labor costs or in some cases taxes, and then reshipped back into America by these stateless corporations. Meanwhile, public funds are often diverted to pay costs they incurred or for poor management while local businesses struggle or are forced to close.

I could go on and on, but we all get the picture. It doesn't matter if you lean politically Right, Left, or like the majority of Americas, to the center and increasingly independent. We've all witnessed the rise of the Occupy Movement which opposes the economic and political control of Corporate America and the 1% while others, such as the Tea Party, opposed to over reach and intrusion of a growing federal government clamber for a return to the original intent of the Founders. Therefore, it seems to me that it's time that we refocus the discussion. We see what's wrong with America, though we may have different solutions. Perhaps it's time for changing America and move away from mere criticisms. The powers that be hold power largely because they've been successful in dividing us, which is ironic if you accept that we largely want many of the same things. We---as individuals and communities---have allowed ourselves to be pitted against each other across artificial divides. As long as we argue and fight each other we fail to see those who are not just the source of our misery, but profiting off of it.

Maybe it's time we reconsider if we want this to remain a single nation? Perhaps we time we go our separate ways. Or, as some contend, the Constitution (largely usurped already) is outdated; made obsolete by technology and societal changes unforeseen by our Founding ancestors? Perhaps a democratic socialist state which serves the needs of all equally is what we should strive for (and no, we aren't "socialist" now despite the talking heads on the Right. We are, however, increasingly fascist---corporation rule per its creator Benito Mussolini) or should we rely on our innate abilities embrace libertarianism as espoused by Jefferson? Some would argue that we've advance to far as society for that---an ideology best suited for small agrarian societies.

The demise of the oligarchy and restoration of the Middle Class are givens I think. How about freedom? How much do we want? How much can we stand? What kind of freedom to we want? China calls itself "free" and so does Holland. What form of government do we want now that we no longer have a democratic republic? Do we return to a democratic republic but with greater restrictions? Certainly ending gerrymandering, adding term limits, real finance reform and reversing "Citizens United" I hope; perhaps too, revising federal judicial appointments, including federal judgeships and the often out-of-touch Supreme Court. What about proportional representation like the other limited democracies have or mandating voting? Regardless, let's consider the America we want and not the one Washington is giving us.

The elites control us by controlling our ability to communicate. Did you know that only six corporations control our public media?

They attempt to mold and manipulate what we think and how we act. Mao Tse-tung once said that power came from the barrel of gun. Nowadays, it's more likely to come from the click of mouse. Within little more than a decade, we've witnessed how social networking and the Internet has brought down military dictatorships, theocracies and other corrupt governments. It's little wonder nations, including the United States, have banded together in an attempt to control, regulate, or monitor the Internet. The idea of people exchanging ideas and find a commonality brings fear to those who try to inspire fear and intimidation to their people. This may yet prove to be more powerful than Mao's bullets. This then is our best tool to molding a nation or perhaps a world into what we want. As has been said, people don't want wars. Governments and banks do.

And speaking of the world, we, as Americans, must understand and accept that we have no obligation or even right to impose our values, beliefs, or even our form of government on any nation or any people. All individuals have a natural right as human beings, to chose freely the form of government they want irrespective of what their neighbors desire them to have. Though not alone, America has interfered and attempt to impose its concept of Americanized government or worse, violent militarized juntas on people for the sake of economic profit and corporate control. If we demand freedom for ourselves, they we should do less than allowing others the right to chose their own governments whether we agree with it or not.

In our present military situation, our response to 9/11 was to find and bring to justice those responsible (and accepting, however painfully, the reasons why 9/11 took place). Beyond that, we proceeded for the sake of economic---corporate greed--while claiming the virtues of "freedom". Kuwait was not liberated for "freedom of Kuwaiti People" or even Royal promises of social, political or "gender" equality---none of which never materialized, but for influence and control of assets. The invasion of Iraq wasn't required. Saddam Hussein's Iraq was already impotent militarily and politically. It wasn't done for the sake of the Kurdish People who we've promised much and delivered little. It was for the sake of controlling Iraqi oil and gas. What it did, thanks to an incomplete and unrealistic occupational plan, was open an Pandora's Box that has costs the lives of thousands of brave military personnel while at the same time providing a gold mine for lobbyists, contractors, the WTO, the IMF, and others, not to mention a perfect sandbox for testing the military's latest toys.

The adoption of the never-ending "war on terror" and a terrorist or potential terrorist behind every tree mentality has also provided

a perfect excuse to impose restrictions on our freedoms which we never would have previously tolerated; surveillance of all/threat by few/denial for your own good is our new mantra, and a way to cover-up a weak economy racked by unsustainable debt and greed through a never ending supply of recruits to keep the employment numbers down and keeping the economy running on a artificially inflated "war economy". This too is something we must address since this conspiracy, which is not of the making of a few extremist crack pots, but adopted by both parties as cover for the oligarchs who now run our country. Meanwhile, endure those who have a visceral hatred of this country; who attempt to make profane the American Ideal and its symbols while pursuing every recourse to weaken and belittle this nation.

These are things we each see and mostly agree on. The powers that be will continue to obfuscate, distract, divide, frighten, or if necessary, threaten. It is also quite capable deceit, lies, of manufacturing evidence or worse. The question I repeat, is not to continue to debate the merits of what we all see, but to agree that we must begin to find ways of addressing them. Whether the status quo agrees is irrelevant. Ultimately the only real power it has is the power we cede to it.

The Game Plan

Let's assume illegal immigration and the blatant refusal of the US government to secure the border, is simply part of a secret agreement--an addendum if you will--to NAFTA, which at its heart was designed to create an open border between Canada, the US, and Mexico, was extended to some of other nations south of border. Suppose further that the Latin American nations have chosen either to enact that portion of the agreement that allows its citizens unrestrained access to the US either directly or indirectly through Mexico, and because Washington was unable to "sell" NAFTA (though it passed, it has remained unpopular)---for whatever reasons such as a downturn in the economy, job outsourcing, union opposition, crime, unexpected prolonged wars or especially open immigration, decided to "dump" their children on our border, perhaps as a pointed reminder, or frustration over Washington's foot dragging? If true, does the hidden terms work both ways? What if Americans or Canadians decided to "invade" Mexico or South America in droves? How would their governments react? One or two, or even a few dozen would likely be imprisoned since they have (ironically) a no tolerance policy for illegals or those who aide them in anyway. But what about a few hundred or even thousands? What if these illegal Americans or Canadians demanded access to public services--such as health care or education, and in English? If Mexico's refusal to release a single US citizen, US Marine Andrew Tahmooreisi, is any indication, neither the US or its Latin American neighbors are prepared to deal with reverse illegal immigration, but I think they'd certainly be willing to discuss the situation with us.

There seems to be a global interest in the concept of "democratic liberalism", or as it's sometimes referred to, "friendly capitalism without borders". Think of it as democratic socialism as practiced by, say, Germany as opposed to Scandinavia. Social services, now paid for by States or a federal government, would instead be paid for through a transnational organization of some sort, perhaps the UN or one of its agencies. There has been, after all, much interest in expanding its role along with the influence of the UN, WTO, and/or World Bank, which collectively already controls much of the world's finances (along with the Federal Reserve) and dispersal of capital.

How could this be accomplished? The simplest tool would be a tax levied on a federal government and thus either directly or indirectly on the public. State specific programs would of course remain in place. This transnational "public welfare" tax would detail its own unique qualifications, which would be resident neutral and administered by each host country (notice "host" as opposed to "sovereign"). Since this would eliminate all or most other federal programs, administrative costs should be generally cheaper. The formula for taxation could be based on GDP, which would mean poorer countries would pay the least while richer countries would pay the most. While one could argue against this loss of sovereignty, it could increase the globalization of the commerce and through its concept of "open borders", enhance the development of worker movements since movement of workers would be unimpeded; something I'm sure would be unintended by the powers that be.

But as alluded to earlier, something happened. The US isn't playing the game as it's supposed to. There's the fact that America is becoming more fascist; certainly more "police state" like. To be more precise, corporations are behaving more feudalistic. In keeping with the concept, our national government is assuming the role of a dukedom; that, they are acting like overlords or administrators serving their lieges and lords. There is nothing "democratic" or "socialistic" here since we are not becoming more democratic by seceding more power to the People, nor are the People more in control of their own collective destinies, while government serves less our needs and more the needs of K Street and the 1%. States are increasingly losing powers guaranteed under the Constitution as well and must beg with hat-in-hand on bended knee for the funds to keep local governments going.

Meanwhile, threats to the expanding modern feudal State continues. Putin's Russia, and to a lesser degree, China and India (which tends to hedge its bets thanks to job outsourcing), have resisted dominance by the global "McState" and are threatening to undermine the US dollar as the defacto global currency; a currency backed solely on the "faith and trust" of a bankrupt government--economically, politically, and morally. Should they succeed, it would collapse the US economy as our unsustainable debts become due but it would have dire consequences worldwide in this interconnected world economy, eventually collapse the economies of the rest of the world like a house of cards. As the saying goes, when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold, and this cold would be terminal.

Then there's the situation in the Middle East, which appears, at least to yours truly, to have been initally an attempt to increase control of oil reserves and oil production, by these feudalistic corporations and away from these artificially created nation-states, and now appears to have spunned out of control. We are now faced with brutal terror organizations which we helped to create, arm, train, and finance, to deal with the last terroristic organization which we created, armed, trained, and financed ad nauseam.

These terrorist groups, which are being portrayed by the corporate media, to operate virtually at will, could, in truth, be easily snuffed out by the power of the US military. But what's the point in that? At present, "terror" is a useful tool in the arsenal of the Corporate State. It inspires fear at home, and thus in the name of security, increases the "demand" for security, or to call a spade a spade, a police state. After all, businesses require stability in order to operate. People require a sense of safety in order to feel comfortable to go about their daily affairs, which just so happens to includes spending money, so what's the loss of freedom among friends...or big brothers? By the way, this "necessary evil" for the care and grooming of a fascist or feudalistic society is never a requirement for either a democratic or socialistic State. So much for the notion we're becoming "socialist".

So, there you have it folks; "the plan" as I've termed it, and an explanation in a nutshell. An addendum to an agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the US to do away with borders, and an apparent reaction by Latin American leaders to Washington's delay in implementing their portion of the agreement due to their (perhaps chagrin) inability to sell it to the US People. Russia, China, and to a lesser extent, India, resisting this latest variation of the game of Risk by the WTO among others while holding a gun at our heads and one at their own. A spiraling problem in the Middle East as the result of failed plans to secure oil reserves by destabilizing resistant governments with the use manufactured "terrorists" who aren't following the playbook. You would think that after Watergate, they would have stopped using amateurs. But, on the upside, using terrorists as sort of the all purpose bogeyman behind every lamppost, an opportunity to expand government monitoring and police power under the auspices of "security" while corporate control of Washington not only increases, but emerges from the shadows. So my fellow Americans, what are you prepared to do? And then what are you prepared to do?

That Sense of Uneasiness

Do you sense it? That feeling of uneasiness which seems as if it's soaked into everything like a faintly discernable odor, from the nightly news to random conversations with strangers while standing in line at the grocery store or sitting at the doctor's office. Nothing feels safe or secure. Very little, if anything, has that sense of familiarity or comfort to it any more. You subconsciously find yourself on guard every time you go out, or when your children go out to play or even go to school, or something as innocent as when you let your pets out at night. You're not sure what or who is safe anymore. Even the sacred has a sense of hollowness about it.

Corruption, crime, violence in government, schools, the courts, and even our places of worship has almost become commonplace and almost brazen; we barely take time to even register it unless it reaches a new level depravity. How often to do hear of a teacher raping one of their students? Now ask yourself how common that was when you were in school. Or what about the trusted pastor who has for decades used their religious authority to abuse children, only to see them moved to a new state or new church where they can continue while the victims are threaten and intimidated for saying anything. Or politicians sending naked pictures of themselves and showing remorse; no humility when found out. We see or hear practically every day about deeper levels of the debauchery that would have made Genghis Khan flinch so often we've almost become numb.

Society seems to be decaying. Our so-called political leaders are more concerned about their careers and pleasing the new crowners of power---transnational corporations while "We the People" have been stunned into apathy. We need to rebuild; to regenerate a society based on the traditional values or norms which have stood the test of the ages; which can provide the foundation to create a stable new society; norms like the family unit (and by extension, close friends), neighborhoods, and community.

We must find ways, large or small, to become less dependent on governmental institutions and the corporatization of society; to break the chain of control. We need to take only what works the best and leave the rest to rot in the wastelands of history. By that, I mean accepting from government only those things society can't do alone. We need to look to ourselves by volunteering, developing local networks for mutual support, shopping and buying local whenever possible, grow as much as we possibility, start our own cottage business if possible, and even barter.

The time has come when we need to circumvent a dying system; to ignore it; to refuse to acknowledge its authority over us. This is the same technique that other passive revolutionaries such as Gandhi used. Gandhi defeated the British Empire at its imperial height by convincing the Indian People to ignore it. After years of violence, the Irish employed similar techniques. Sergey Nechayev, the Russian anarchist, employed these techniques too, shaking the Czarist regime to its core so much so that Nechayev was declared the most dangerous man in all of Imperial Russia (Sergey was even denied his name. After being sentenced, he was henceforth referred to simply as "the prisoner in cell number 5". Nechayev also wrote the treatise, "The Revolutionary Catechism" which has been employed by nearly every group bent on societal change since its publication in 1869 ).

To refuse to accept the dominance of the system is to deny its power, and denying acceptance of this power is to deny its authority. Thus, to deny its authority is perhaps the ultimate act of non-violent revolution an individual can offer, though perhaps the word "revolution" should more properly be rendered as "devolution" since we're talking about return to our collective roots of community through acts of citizen activism.