A Nation Adrift

We've long known that America is adrift. I'm not sure about when it dawned on you or for that matter, most Americans, but for me the first indication that the proverbial "train was leaving the rails" was back in the mid 1970's and Jimmy Carter. Ole Jimmy was a likeable sort. He was elected as the "anti-candidate" or the "anti-insider" from Plains Georgia following a disastrous war in Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, the great betrayal that was Watergate, and the farce of Jerry Ford.

Of course, Carter was no better. In many ways he was worse. With Jimmy, we had a high inflation and unemployment, the OPEC oil embargo, gas shortages, high taxes, the Iranian hostage crisis and the grossly botched rescue attempt. America, it seemed, was trapped in kind of a malaise; a state of shock and exhaustion. Heck, we turned to disco and polyester suits for Pete's sakes. That's how bad it was!

We have witnessed our nation go from the heights of the "Greatest Generation" to the quagmire we see around us now, You can blame Trump, Biden, Obama, Hillary or fill in the blank. They aren't the cause. They are merely the misshapen symptoms of society.

We have transformed from a democratic or constitutional Republic into a Corporate Republic (better known as a neo-fascist Corporatocracy managed by an ultra rich oligarchy) which thrives on taxpayer money and tax exemptions.  Alternative solutions are routinely denounced, villainized, and ridiculed while "corporate socialism" is held up as the apex of capitalism.  

Laws are written by corporate lobbyists for the benefit of their corporate masters. The two political parties are literally bought and paid for by the same corporate paymasters. Thanks to Citizens United, they don't even pretend to hide it, except, perhaps, during election time, but even that's doubtful. It's all about lining pockets and giving voters the illusion of choice.

Partisan gerrymandering of districts all but assures indefinite partisan party control. Unlimited political terms play their part by ensuring special interests are not just protected,  but that the scam perpetuated on the public continues while both are rewarded at the public's expense. 

The media, which we could once count on for objectivity and honesty, is the defacto propaganda arm of the ruling political class. It manipulates our opinions, manufactures divisions and distractions to keep us from focusing on the real source of our troubles---the ruling elite.  It has been that way for decades now.

The internet was originally hailed as a way to bypass the myopic vision of a media controlled by the ruling elite by allowing a free flow exchange of information about what was really happening around the world, not just what the media wanted us to think was happening or why. It also held out the possibility that these ideas offered the prospect of new possibilities that would enable mankind to live better.

Such a promise as this frighten the ruling elites who saw this version of the internet as a threat to their vision of a benevolent authoritarianism they wanted us to accept as the only hope for Mankind.  The internet presented the possibility of making the global political class and emerging Corporatocracy obsolete.

At the very least, it made possible the exposure of their corruption, lies, greed, and opposition to democracy for all to see, and that must naturally not be allowed. Enter "community standards" and the "fact finder" who acts as gatekeeper and arbiter of what's acceptable and what's not.

Today, we joke about these arbiters of truth or being sent to a cyber "jail". We envision them as geeks out of "Revenge of the Nerds". Yet, is so far fetched as not to imagine something more sinister in the not too distant future should the neo-fascist Corporatocracy which has usurped our Republic continue to grow and tighten its grip unchecked? 

The internet is the greatest medium for the exchange of information the world has ever seen. It is said to contain the sum total of all human knowledge, and it's constantly ungraded every moment of every day. If there ever was the "Giant Brain" of science fiction lore, surely the internet is it. 

Thus, is any way the ruling elite would allow this to go unchecked given that they already control and manipulate nearly every aspect of our means of communication? Would they permit the unregulated exchange of ideas to freely take place without their direct control over the content?

Today, they shadow block, censor, ridicule, demonetize, twist, and delete what they perceive as threats to their control. Perhaps in the not too distant future, these "fact checkers" will serve as something akin to the "Thought Police" in Orwell's prophetic book "1984" where we are literally sent to "reeducation classes" or "disappeared" into the void of some cyber gulag where all our electronic connections---personal, financial and professional---are suspended or even deleted.

Imagine no form of electronic communication based on your "wrong think". No internet. No telephone. No way for you to connect with or by anyone.  No bank access, including the debt card you use to buy gas, food, or pay bills. No medical treatment or prescriptions refilled. Electronic deposits would be suspended (understand now what they're pushing for a cashless society?). No access to work done online since your ID wouldn't be accepted, etc.  In a increasingly electronically connected world, that's as good as a brick and steel prison.

Poll after poll reconfirm that our confidence in not just the political system is gone, but so too is our trust of the very institutions which serve as the foundation of this nation, especially the media.

According to a June 2022 Gallup Poll, 53% of those who responded said they had little or no trust in television reporting at all. 35% had only "some" faith in television reporting. That's a combined 88% of individuals who have little or no confidence in the truthfulness on television based reporting!

When it came to newspapers and the print media (which are both a rapidly dying medium), 46% had little or no faith in what was being reported. Another 37% had only "some" truth in what they were reading. But, again, that's a whopping 83% who just don't trust the print media. 

When it comes to partisanship, the distrust was across the board. For TV news, only 8% of Republicans trusted what they saw and heard. It's 8% for Independents and only 20% for Democrats. When we look at the newspapers and the print media, it's not much better. 5% of Republicans believed what they read compared to 12% of Independents and 35% of Democrats. In short, regardless of political ideology, the overwhelming majority of us know we're being lied to, which is actually a good thing.

America is a country adrift. Repeated polls upon polls have shown that we have no confidence in the political system or our institutions. Many of us try hard not to scoff loudly at political commercials or so-called "non-partisan" media endorsements just as we try to suppress our outrage for patriotic sounding wars overseas when we know they're simply for the benefit of the elites. We're tired of bleeding and dying for greater market shares.

Multiculturalism was originally based on the belief that individuals of differing cultures and religions were welcome to come to America where their culture and traditions would be added to the "melting pot" that was America in order to recreate a stronger and more vibrant nation.

But now multiculturalism has been corrupted into creating defacto enclaves within the U.S. which include traditions not compatible with the freedoms we value or even the democracy this country was based on. In many cases, they are encouraged to retain their own customs and languages with native born Americans expected to adapt to them!

Some come here with the expectation that they would be welcomed with open arms and given free housing, free medical care, and other taxpayer based assistance. They are told they didn't have to abide by our immigration laws; that if they could cross the border they would enter a world virtually paved with gold (sadly, it's been certain religious groups do the encouraging and even helping to circumvent laws and evade law enforcement).

At the same time, our education system has failed miserably. Children and young adults are no longer taught to be critical thinkers or encouraged to be self-sufficient and responsible adults. They are taught to believe in a grossly distorted version of America.

President John Kennedy asked us, at the beginning of the 1960's, "not to ask what America can do for you, but what can you do for America". He asked us to become a nation of servant leaders; to bear responsibility for making this a better America and better world for everyone. Somewhere along the way, that vision became corrupted.

Nowadays the youth and young adults shirk responsibility and demand entitlement. They are "offended" if someone disagrees with them. They refuse to hear ideas which might cause them to rethink ideas or shout down anyone who challenges their "Weltanschauung" or worldview, even if that means censoring free speech or expression. Again, shades of the "Thought Police" and conformity.

America, as a nation, cannot continue down this road. Many, and especially our foes, see us as empire in decline, and perhaps we are. All empires fade in time. We are no different. We no longer can or are willing to talk with each other. Instead, we talk at each other if we "talk" at all. We've lost faith in our institutions, yet we have nothing to replace them.

Some think they're "entitled" to something as a result of what may or may not have happened to their ancestors without considering that it was not the result of a single "guilty" people at a singular point in time or that it was their own people who placed them in that situation to begin with.

They also ignore the fact that it was the "guilty" people who not just removed them from the bondage forced on them by their own people, but removed all from bondage just as they ignored the historical fact that this construct has existed since the beginning of civilization and has affected all people, not just theirs.

The "entitlement" they've been told they were entitled to by certain groups has already been given to them. It was paid for with the lives who fought and often died for it. It's right there in front of them. It's name is "freedom", but they refuse to take it, expecting handouts instead. Their anger has been manufactured and manipulated.

We are divided not just along political lines, but along ideological lines. We are just as divided across economic class, as well as racial, urban vs. rural, cultural, and increasingly religious lines too. We don't even speak the same language, in some cases, literally. We've become unmoored as a nation with nothing to cling to.

The last time we were this deeply divided as a nation was in the 1850's, the decade preceding the Civil War. However, we don't have the vision and leadership of a Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun or Daniel Webster (collectively known as "The Great Triumvirate") to come and save us this time.

We are witnessing the balkanization of America. We need to pray that we aren't witnessing its permanent breakup too.  If we're to be saved, it must be the people of this country to do it. Partisanship can't. Washington can't and neither can Wall Street. They are in fact the cause, not the solution.  We must put aside our imaginary differences and come together. We must acknowledge the real enemy and act. If we can do that, we cannot just save our nation, but make it truly great once again.  

 

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Americans' Confidence in Media Falls to Record Lows, Poll Finds

Media Confidence Ratings at Record Lows

 

 

 

 

  

Censorship on Social Media: When 'Unity' Means 'Conformity'

 

A few days ago I found myself rather surprised. I belong to a national non-partisan political group which focuses on finding solutions to the many problems facing us. In fact, I've been a member of the group since they began, which is about ten years ago (I belong to a number of similar groups).

Someone posted a statement which was along the lines of going along with Biden's statement that now, since he was president, we should focus on "unity". Well, in theory that sounds pretty good, except for the eight years of Obama, those on the Right as well as those in the Center were ridiculed (remember Hillary referring to Trump supporters as "deplorables"?).

Then there was the four years of vicious attacks on President Trump that went on around the clock every day of the week. Every broadcast started, and most ended with, an attack on Trump or his supporters.  The Establishment Republicans were often just as nasty as the Establishment Democrats.

I thought to myself that there was no way in hell that the Democrats would have allowed the same treatment of Obama.  The corporate media did its utmost to ignore, bury, or twist the facts when it came to Hillary, be it her alleged "pay-to-play" schemes, Benghazi, unauthorized selling of weapons or strategic resources to Muslim terrorist groups, her illegal storing of emails, lying to Congress, or the Russians, and so on.

So, I responded to the comment by saying that after enduring years of abuse, I couldn't imagine Trump or his supporters were suddenly going to hug and play nice now that Biden was President. I added that respect was a two way street and that we should expect some sort of payback.

Much to my surprise, my comment was deleted! What did I possibly say to warrant my comment being removed? It was polite. It didn't attack anyone. It wasn't vulgar (my comments never are). I couldn't imagine that it was offensive in any way. I even had  several "likes" and "hearts". So, I reached out to the site administrators. Their response was to refer me to the site's guidelines.

I looked over them and found nothing out of line, so I asked them to look at my comment and enlighten me as to my great sin. What was so offensive about saying that I didn't expect Trump's supporters were likely to kiss and make nice? Did I "offend" someone because I said respect was a two way street?  

The site administrators, after several hours, agreed to reinstate my comment but warned me to be more "sensitive" but never explained my crime. I noticed another comment, one which I hadn't responded to, in which the author stated that the site appears to be becoming more Left oriented instead of non-partisan and asked if anyone else was noticing the same thing had also been removed.  Again, polite.

Then it dawned on me. It appears that my unknown co-conspirator and myself had inadvertently challenged the newly imposed acceptable narrative. Specifically, now that Biden and the Status Quo are back in charge, order will prevail. Dissent, however innocent, would not be allowed.

Those deemed as malcontents, or worse, as "domestic terrorists" will "unify" and "comply". Resistance is futile. For our accidental faux pas, we were merely censured this time. I suppose if this was Communist China I would be off to some prison sweatshop working on overpriced sneakers by now!  

A few day later I read a online post which I found incredulous. According to the poster, Katie Couric, a television and online journalist, had stated that Trump supporters needed to be "deprogrammed" from the "Trump cult". Really? And apparently her sentiments were echoed by other Establishment Democrats. I immediately had visions of Soviet era dissidents being hauled off to mental hospitals to be "reeducated".

 Those who recanted after months or years of being drugged and often tortured, were allowed back into society (with certain restrictions...naturally). Those who didn't conform were usually left to rot in these pseudo-mental hospital prisons.

For those who never conformed to their "reeducation" or "deprogramming" were generally taken to some cold dank dark room (like an abandoned shower in a basement) or an empty field and shot in the back of the head (the favorite form of execution by the KGB and totalitarian regimes everywhere).   

I couldn't believe that someone like Katie Couric, a Television Hall of Fame honoree, would utter such a remark, so I checked out it for myself. I was surprised on two points. One, that Katie actually said it, and secondly that the comment hadn't been purged by now.  If a conservative reporter had said that about Obama and his supporters, they'd be unceremoniously booted out of the TV Hall of Fame.

Then I thought "why not?".  After all, the major social media platforms have all denied the President of the United States access to the public via their sites, so why wouldn't other sites feel justified to deny the likes of me an opportunity to express my opinion, even if it was civil? Since the election, the same social media sites have aggressively gone after other sites to force them to comply to the new narrative of what's acceptable and what isn't.

So called "fact checkers", who, in the era before "political correctness", would have been called what they are---censors---are not so much there to verify facts as to "correct" opinions; what George Orwell called in his seminal book "1984" as "right think" by the Thought police .  The only acceptable speech "1984" was "duckspeak" which was defined as the "automatic" verbal support of the party line (I'm sure ole George is up there, somewhere, shouting  "I told you so!").   

Sadly, we may be entering an era of "duckspeak" as the Oligarchs behind the ruling Corporatocracy tighten their control on society. Already, not just critics or free thinkers being forced off platforms across the board, be it actual Conservatives or the Far Right (aka "Alt Right"), but so are those in Center (which is the majority of Americans), as well as those on the Far Left.

 Yes, even the extreme Left are being bumped from platforms in an attempt to silence their criticism of the Establishment Left, aka the Democrat Party.  We are being hemmed in by the Status Quo whereby the only accepted political thought lies between the Establishment Right and the Establishment Left. All other forms of political discourse are being silenced. We will support either the Democrat or Republican parties. No one else is allowed to speak, nor will they be heard.

Libertarians, Greens, and other third parties are viewed as outsiders. Independents, the nation's largest political bloc, are all but ignored; treated as if they are partisans who haven't made up their minds yet and not as individuals who've stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and rejected both wings of the same old corporate vulture. Independents, who are mostly Centerists, are also feared by the Status Quo since they are the ones most likely to be free thinkers; to do their own research and act accordingly. That's unacceptable.

Together, they are kept off the ballots, out of the debates, and most of all poor; receiving little to no donations which is the life blood of politics, especially since the passage of Citizens United which has reduced politics to a game between corporations.  In effect, all but silencing other schools of political thought the way they're now doing to ordinary individuals. How's that for conformity...err... "unity"?

What happened on January 6th in Washington is what the Status Quo fears the most. I'm not talking about breaking windows, stealing Pelosi's podium, or "the people" being in the "People's House" waving American or pro-American flags and banners without permission. I'm talking about being outraged and not holding back, not just at individual politicians or the two political mafia-like cliques, but at the corporations propping the dry rotted edifice of Congress up.

 We have to demand---not beseech on bended knee--change. That means term limits, ending partisan gerrymandering, rank choice voting, ending Citizens United, citizen ballot initiatives, and opening up elections to Independents and third parties by creating a level political playing field. We cannot have a real democratic Republic unless we allow every political persuasion to have a voice.

We need to create independent citizen boards not beholden to moneyed interests (such as electing citizens to zoning or utility commission boards). We, the ordinary taxpayers of this country, should have the final say when it comes to tax increases, rate or fee increases, and increases in salaries of elected officials. Otherwise, they will find a way to take every last dollar we have.

Politicians have long shown they can't be trusted with our money. We know it. It's even a common joke centuries old, and yet we tolerate it. Why?  As the commercial says, "it's my money and I want it now". It's our money and we should have the final say how it's spent. Our money. Our voice.

We need to find ways to challenge the Status Quo and let them know their behavior is not acceptable. It could be showing up at their staged media events, writing letters to editors (many newspapers have stopped printing any opposing views), but we still need to do it to let them know we won't acquiesce. We won't go away.

We need to support non-partisan and third party candidates, radio shows, authors, and blogs like this one (some bloggers charge for access to their articles. I don't. I only ask that you pass my articles along to as many people as possible. My sole desire is to get as many people as possible to think for themselves).  I'm sure there are a thousand ways to fight back. Pick one...or two...or three... just get busy!

Our Founding Fathers warned us about partisanship and political parties. They believed the parties would first divide us and then, finally, separate us from political power.  Well, they were right. Right now, many of our cherished rights bequeath to us in the Bill of Rights are under aggressive attack.

While all are important, none are more important in my opinion than the First Amendment and our right to freedom of speech and expression; our right to peacefully assemble or to seek redress of our grievances (and there are many) from the government (btw, it doesn't say or imply a corporate right to redress, but to our right---the people)  along the right to believe (or not) as we choose. We're seeing a full on press to curtail the right to express our opinions by denying us a platform and by censoring us.

The government no longer listens to us because they no longer fear us. Partisan gerrymandering has all but ensures that the party holding a seat will keep that seat. Campaigns are beyond the financial reach of the vast majority of Americans, thanks to Citizens United, and without term limits, they can stay in office for indefinitely regardless of the job they're doing (or, more aptly, not doing).

America has all but lost faith in the electoral process due to rigged elections and illegal election engineering; approximately 40% routinely stay home. That's due, in part, because we have no faith in the cardboard cutouts running for office. Campaign commercials routinely lie and distort.

Candidates will lie (especially incumbents). We have to challenge their claims, but we have to do our homework first and share it with others. Alternative parties and candidates are ridiculed or excluded altogether. We have to insist on election reform. Until they agree, stop voting for incumbents.

When social media platforms censor us, we need to fight back. Delete the censor's comments. Repost. Repost and keep reposting. Individually we're weak. Together we are unstoppable.  When they delete comments (like they did mine), challenge it. Make them prove their point. Of course, keep it civil and polite. Don't want to give them any excuses. That's what they're looking for. 

Lastly, don't give up. Don't back down. Don't give in. Don't back out. This is our fight as Americans to lose.

 

Meghan McCain responds to Katie Couric: "I don't need to be deprogrammed"

Katie Couric accused Trump's "Cult" members after saying they needed to  "deprogram"