Understanding the Role of Religion in Today’s World of Power Politics: Are We the Player or the Played?

Religion, in its various manifestations, is supposed to bring us a measure of comfort and reassurance. It was also intended to explain essentially everything such as the stars, how we got here, why life is so tough, and so forth.  However, it’s institutionalization has simply provided a degree of control and ability of manipulation, promising something which is unmeasurable and illusionary in the “hereafter” for you obedience in the here and now for a handful of individuals.

 Of course, what’s a system of rewards---eternal happiness, meeting up with departed friends and family, singing hymns and playing harps ad nauseum, 72 virgins, and so on without a corresponding systems of punishments---a lake of fire, the smell of sulfur,  eternal torment by demons and pitchforks, endless reruns of “I Love Lucy”, those hymns and harps ad nauseum again, and having to put up with 72 virgins?

It’s always about rewards and punishments. The stick and carrot (or apple I suppose in this case). Countless institutions and individuals have made a pretty good living as this. The Vatican for instance, is one of the richest and most powerful corporations on the planet.  They’ve amassed a level of wealth that would have Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Exxon, and Google look like paupers. Most estimates put its wealth at around $10 to $15 billion dollars, plus they pay no---zero---taxes on that wealth, not to mention priceless artifacts and documents. For centuries it’s also been the great keeper of secrets.

This has ranged for the ordinary peasant confessing his or her lust for the neighbor’s crops, cows, or son/daughter all the way up to the plans of princes and princess. Kings and queens have been made to grovel on the bellies to the papal throne. It’s been the power mover behind the scenes in global politics for over 2000 years.

It’s given legitimacy to kings and governments for thousands of years, raising some up and bringing many down. No other institution has welded such power over its fellow human beings.  Of course, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t gone unchallenged. There has been numerous political ideologies which has tried to supplant religion down through the centuries.

Take the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great for instance. He conquered hundreds of nation-states, empires, and tribes during his brief reign. In each instance, he would often leave much of the old government and religion in place with only minor changes. The Roman Empire did much the same, asking only that the Emperor be acknowledged as the supreme secular power. Genghis Khan, who amassed the largest land empire in history, followed pretty much the same political philosophy.

However, there has been numerous schisms, reformations, separatist movements, protests, and so forth which has rejected the institutional power of organized religion such as the “Great Schism” (aka “The East-West Schism”) of 1054, separating the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church (a fight essentially over power, giving a “holier than thou”  authority of the Bishop of Rome over other Bishops), Martin Luther’s Reformation of 1517, King Henry VIII’s Reformation of 1527 (aka “The English Reformation”), and countless others, There’s the Sunni and Shia split of 632 CE which is still being battled everyday on TV screens and across the internet.

 Hinduism, the third largest religion behind Christianity and Islam, dates back some 4000 years, has experienced four major internal breaks with dozens of subsets. Buddhism, known for its peaceful philosophical doctrine, had its first schism just one hundred years after Buddha died in 483 BC. Christianity at least waited three hundred years before it began purging competing ideologies like the Arians, Gnostics, and so forth.

So, with all the reformations, schisms, and other breaks, how many religions are there today? Although no exact number is possible, there’s an estimated 10,000 distinct religions in the world today. They range from having thousands of deities to alleged having one (or is it three with a subset of hundreds of the lesser divine?) while others have no specific entities, preferring nature or the natural world. Most (though not necessary all) have their sacred texts or spoken traditions, holidays/festivals, morals, values, and mythologies.

Of all of them, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are the largest, representing 77% of all religious followers. Broken down by the numbers, Christianity, which represents about 32% of the world’s population, has 2.2 billion adherents. Islam, which has 23% of the global population, has roughly 1.6 billion followers, and is the fastest growing organized religion in the world outside of the Middle East.

Hinduism has about 1 billion followers and makes up 15% of the world’s population. Buddhism has about 500 million followers although the number may be higher since adherents may follow Buddhist teaching as either a religion or as a philosophy.  Lastly, Judaism, which is the smallest of the so-called “Great Religions” and certainly one of the most influential, has about 14 million adherents although many consider themselves as “non-religious” or “not practicing”.  Just 0.2% of the world’s population are Jewish.

It bears mentioning that historically, more people have died in the name of religion than any other cause. So, how many people are we talking about? While there’s no way to provide an exact number of deaths, conservative estimates put the number of dead at over 195 billion in deciding who God loves the most. A few examples include the Crusades which killed an estimated 6 million Muslims and Jews. The Thirty Years War killed some 11 million men, women, and children.

The Congolese Genocide (led by King Leopold II of Belgium) resulted in the deaths of 13 million. The ongoing Islamic War has murdered (since 2000) approximately 150,000 and thousands condemned to slavery (mostly Shia’s, Kurds, Yazidis, and Coptic Christians). About 20 million Native Americans died as a result of continental expansion in the name of “Manifest Destiny” (and disease). The Muslim conquest of India took somewhere around 80 million lives. In Africa, due to Church prohibition of birth control (including condoms), some 30 million Africans died of AIDs.

Of course, about 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust.   The French War of Religion killed some 4 million French Protestants and led to exodus of tens of thousands so-called “Huguenots”. By comparison, 5000 Jews were killed during the Spanish Inquisition (although almost every Catholic country carried out its own inquisition), and these are but a few example.

It bears mentioning that there’s been other, more lethal, causes of human death down through history such as malaria (which is the single cause most responsible for human death), the Black Plague, starvation due to crop failure, drought, and other forms of natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanos, tornados, hurricanes, storms, etc.).  The Spanish Flu of 1918/19 killed over 500 million people worldwide. That’s roughly 1/3 of the global population at the time, making it the deadliest pandemic in recorded human history.

These, however, were largely outside of our control. At best, we could only take precautions. Economic wars, fought for the control of land or resources, are the ones we’re most familiar with (ie: Kuwait or Iraq were fought mainly over the control of oil production) and they often go hand in hand with religious war, which both go to control---political, economic, and social compliance.

According to a 2024 Pew report, religious freedom is in decline. 92% of the 190 countries looked at---183---restricted religious freedom in one way or another. In the 20 countries comprising the Middle East and Northern Africa, there was at least one instance each of religious harassment. The same was true for 43 of 45 European countries as well as 33 of the 35 nations in the Americas, 44 of 48 sub-Saharan African nations, and 43 of 50 Asian/Pacific countries.

The decline of religious freedom was, in fact, the lowest recorded since 2007, when Pew began tracking religious freedom. 55% (or 29% of the total) had “high” or “very high” levels of government imposed restrictions on religious freedom (most of these were in the Middle East and China).  

The countries with the highest rates of religious freedom included Australia, Canada, Japan, Finland, South Africa, and along the western coast of South America such as Peru, Chile, Columbia, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Ecuador and Honduras in Central America.  The United States was listed as being a “moderate” when it came restricting religious freedom.

43% (or 22% of the countries studied) had “high” or “very high” levels of social hostilities against minority religions. These “hostilities” included violence against private individuals and groups, religiously affiliated organizations including schools, as well as religious places of worship. The worst offenders were Egypt, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan due to the very high level of religious persecution socially and governmentally imposed.  So, what religious groups were most affected?

According to the 2024 Pew survey, Christians were the most heavily persecuted religious group, despite being the world’s largest faith. Persecution was the worse in predominantly Muslim nations, and in areas where Muslims were in the majority , including in the UK and Europe, which have been historically Christian.

Muslims, the second largest religion in the world, were also the second most religiously harassed population. However, most of that harassment came from other Muslims (such as Sunni vs Shia) or more accurately, Muslims vs. Islamists.

Muslims tend to follow the Koran or teachings of Muhammad while Islamists tend to promote a radicalized political philosophy using the corrupted version of the Koran’s teachings. Islamists tend to not only oppose other Muslims, they oppose Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and especially Jews. In fact, Islamists pretty much oppose anyone who isn’t them.

The third most harassed group, and the smallest of the “Great Religions”, was Judaism. Jews have long been one of the most hated religious groups in history, regardless of where they live or how much they’ve tried to integrate. Fourth were largely the much smaller religions such as Zoroastrianism (which is the common “grandparent” of most religions including the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), the Sikhs, Baha’i, etc.  

They are closely followed the fifth most harassed group, the traditional Chinese and Japanese folk religions such as Confucianism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tengrism, Native American spiritualism,  Australian Aboriginal spiritualism, Wicca and paganism.

The last two most harassed religions were the Hindus and the Buddhists, which, despite their size (third and fourth largest religions respectively), tend to be relatively unbothered, but when they are, it’s mostly in countries with large Muslim populations. Finally, the least harassed group are the non-affiliated. While as a group they tend to be largely left alone, But when they are harassed, it has tended to be by those who are most strongly affiliated with a religion in general rather than any one specific religious group.

Religion, especially organized or “dogmatic” religion, is a fickle thing.  Historically, it has usually sought to justify its existence by claiming or doing one thing while seeking another. I cannot imagine a benevolent deity sanctioning intolerance, hatred, or the horrific acts mentioned above to be committed in their name, nor can I imagine such an entity even creating a species with those attributes. 

Mankind has changed little over time, and like little children, we tend to blame someone else (“I don’t know” did it) rather than except responsibility for our actions. In this case, we blame some invisible entity who we know won’t contradict us, especially if we’ve imbued it with inordinate power. All we have to do is shift the blame when things go bad or take the credit when things work out.

Then again, what if all these wars and atrocities were indeed the wish of some deity? What if Humanity was convinced to play “Risk”  while this entity or entities play a cosmic game of chess and Humanity is their pawn?  What, when the game is over and we exist no more, the deity (or deities) simply moves on to the naïve species somewhere in the galaxy to start a new game? Either way, I don’t care much for either scenario. For some reason, I think it’s time we should light a candle for Mankind.

 

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Can We Still Save America?

Today we're faced with a whole litany of troubles. It seems that we just jump from crisis to crisis every day. Sometimes it feels like its hour to hour! Many of us have all but stopped listening to the media's "Crisis du Jure", which attempts to tell us who to hate today and what causes or issues we should be for or against. We just can't take another minute of this negativity anymore. So, what do we do?

They whip our passions using fake patriotism, images of charred houses, and the ubiquitous impoverished children and heartbroken women. We turn to distractions like our "smartphones", video games, brain dead television programs which conditions us when to clap or laugh thanks to their programmed laugh tracks.

We even focus on sports to the point of obsession. Our discussions often become so intense you'd think we had a financial stake in the outcome. Why? Because we know that ultimately the outcome of some game doesn't really affect us. Our attention has carefully been turned away from the issues which truly matter such as rising prices, the declining value of our hard earned dollars or the loss of any benefits  we may happened to have had.

We work longer and harder and earn  less. Did you know that today's average worker's income, after adjusted for inflation,  has the same buying power as it did in 1979? Prices haven't remained the same, and hence finding households where both adults work, and some are holding down two or three jobs!

In fact, we now bring home less than our parents or even grandparents did in the 1970's! When adjusted for inflation, worker wages have only increased 15%. At the same time, the income of CEOs and their ilk have increased 1,209 % since 1979.At the same time taxes and prices continue to rise and yet multi-billion dollars conglomerates pay little or nothing. Do you think that's right?

Divisions among class, race, religion, and ethnic group are worse now than they have in decades. As long as we're divided and fighting among ourselves, it's so much easier to control us while they are free to pull the strings. After all, as long as we're fighting each other, the ruling elite can do as they please. Face it,  those with the real power are playing our manufactured fears like a fiddle from Hell. 

The mainstream media publishes or slants the stories the ruling class wants us to hear. Propaganda is all about perception. Wars, for instance, are usually framed in such colorful phrases  such as "freedom", "democracy", "free enterprise", "obligation " and "duty". They try to  connect our revolutionary war to whatever cause their pushing in order to create a link. It's almost always accompanied by imagery intended to play on our emotions and patriotism. But just how sincere is their message?

More often than not, the answer is it isn't.  Everything always comes down to economics. It's often about forcing a sovereign nation to open its markets to U.S. and Western corporations under the not so subtle veil of a U.S. military invasion.  If it weren't, then why do we prop up undemocratic autocracies like Kuwait or Saudi Arabia just as we did for South Vietnam, Iran, Cuba, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Nicaragua or Panama. Iraq and Nicaragua were praised as allies until they stopped following directions.

Take for instance Iraq. Saddam Hussein (who we helped into power) invaded Kuwait, a key provider of oil and gas. That triggered a rise in prices. So, after a propaganda campaign to manufacture consent by the American People, we were fed a bunch of BS about  promised democratic reforms by the Kuwaiti monarchy such as allowing women to vote and sharing power. You know what happened after we "liberated" Kuwait? Nothing.

Most of these were the result of coups following democratic elections in which we didn't like the outcome.  In their place, we installed ultra conservative military juntas who opposed anything democratic! However, invasion isn't always or even mostly the end result.

In the majority of cases good old bribery and kickbacks do the trick in the form of economic aid. Of course, this works both ways such political donations to various foundations, insider tips on stocks or seats on boards of directors, or being hired as a "consultant".  It's called "pay to play" and the typical American doesn't have the cash to feed the pot.

We talk about being the land of opportunity, yet so many family farms and "mom and pop" businesses are forced to close because of big box stores. Did you know that only 4 companies control 65% of the food market or that other four control 95% of the world's fertilizer and seeds? That represents 65% of the global food supply. Nationally only 5 banks dominate the U.S. financial market---Chase Bank, Bank of America, U.S. Bankcorp, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. 

Just six corporations dominate the pharmaceutical industry and can virtually dictate the price of medication (as an aside, several medical industry research studies have been published which show that 70% of the price increases of prescription medication are not supported by medical research or demand). Shareholders of "Big Pharma" stock saw a 400% increase in payouts from 2000 to 2018.  Government regulations attempt to regulate our ability to cultivate our own gardens or collect rainwater. It's all about dependence.

While the largest producers of oil and gas are Russia and OPEC, the U.S. is a strong contender, yet, when we talk about those companies with control over the spigot, 10 companies overwhelming dominate the market. Together they represent roughly 90% of oil and gas market.

Any new green technology is quickly bought up or "boo hooed" as unpractical  and back up using paid for research papers. That doesn't mean there aren't windmill farms and the like, but there are too few to make much of a difference. They use their influence to divert federal aid from projects that would improve mileage or lower energy costs.  

We now have five corporations controlling 96+% of our media from print and digital to radio and TV. They are behind the shows we watch nightly, the movies we see, the games we play, and even our access to the internet. Just five technology companies dominate 33% of the global technology market, and so the story goes.

Many of these conglomerates have more money than some countries. When comparing economies of size, Apple's revenue is larger than the individual economies of Italy, Canada, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Spain, and others. Microsoft is financially bigger than nine countries including Russia, South Korea, and Mexico. The same goes for Amazon, Facebook, and Saudi Aramco. Only seven nations still has economies larger than these corporations --- U.S., China,  India, and the UK, but that doesn't mean their governments are in control.  

Is it any wonder then that America has undergone a silent coup in slow motion and become a corporatocracy? It was done in such a way that most Americans never even noticed.  And the best part about this silent slow motion coup is that there are those who still denied it ever happened. That's when you know your coup was successful.

The "Republic" is held up as mask to pacify the naive. Our new "America, Inc" is managed by a handful of these meg-rich individuals --- aka "Oligarchs" (or plutocrats if you prefer).  They serve the interest of Wall Street, not Main Street America. Both political parties are quite literally bought and paid for. Consider the "Citizens United" blunder for instance.

Corporations are nothing more than legal fictions. But under Citizens United, they don't have just the same rights as you and I do (an absurdity in itself), but more. How so? Because money is now defined as "free speech" and  you can bet that they have far than we do. Secondly, these "fictional persons" can donate basically whatever they feel like to a issue, party or individual.

Ordinary citizens are capped at an insignificant  $1000 in donations per election cycle. Compare that to Bloomberg Lp which donated just under $93 million to Joe Biden in 2020. The Las Vegas Sands gambled $45 million on Trump . Congressional Leadership PACS (basically "slush funds") received a total of $40.5 million dollars from Big Business, with most of that going to the Republican Party. But what about unions?

The power of organized labor has been broken since the 1960's. Once, they were protected workers and were actively involved in social issues. Nowadays, they are more interested in keeping workers on production lines rather than picket lines. When it comes to donations, corporations give nearly ten dollars for every dollar unions give.

Look at illegal immigration. This has been a national security crisis since the 1980's. That's over 40 years ago. If government really wanted to resolve the issue you'd think four decades would be ample  time. The truth is that they never had any real intentions to resolve the problem. The influx dilutes the workforce, thus driving down wages and benefits (and in some cases, eliminating them altogether). 

It makes employees more concerned about keeping a job than improving their working conditions.  What the ruling class wants is a workforce just smart enough to keep their heads down, do their job, and don't ask questions, which happens to be exactly what public education has participated in creating--- a dumbed down workforce of economic serfs. An unengaged citizenry allows those in power the freedom to do as they please without interference.

Writing legislation has become increasing a corporate lobbyist function rather than that of Congress while using their large staffs to reviewing proposed bills and make recommendations to the House or Senate member on how to vote on any given issue. That frees up the elected representative to spend more time raising money for party leadership.

These corporate lobbyist are also known to provide first rate perks, grease palms, and most importantly, underwrite their elections and provide opponent research.  No wonder members of Congress  have a 98% reelection rate despite having an approval rating of 13% (in November 2013 it was 9%). Think about those numbers for a moment. These are Soviet Era rates! This is what you'd expect in the old Soviet Politburo, China's National People's Congress, or North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly.  They are the percentages of failed democracy.

It's obvious therefore why there's no shortage of willing takers! Why else would already wealthy individuals spend millions for a job that pays just $174,000 or less than what an medium size company president makes? A sense of civic duty? Noblesse oblige?  As the expression goes, the winners write the history...and the game rules. So, in case you're keeping score,  the American People aren't winning. Is there anything we can do to save any part of our remaining Republic?

Well, the answer is a qualified "yes", but there's very little time remaining in the hourglass of our once great nation. Key is that we have to stop bitching and actually do something. We need to stop voting for the "lesser of two evils". Evil is evil. We need to break up the political duopoly. We need to think and vote outside the box. 

While we may be too late to save the federal government, we should focus our efforts on local and state elections. We need to support third parties and Independent candidates in any way we can. We need to force state legislatures to permit citizen initiatives (if you already have one, count yourself lucky). We need to press for term limits, changes in our campaign financial requirements, adding third party and Independent representative to local boards of election.

We need to eliminate partisan offices on non-policy making offices such as county clerk or attorney, the offices of Secretary of State, Agriculture, or Treasure. Newly elected officials should be required to resign from whatever party they belong to and take an oath to represent everyone in the district, not just fellow partisans.

We must build stronger local communities and demand more from our boards of education, police department, as well as reforming our taxing authorizes. No rate or taxes increases without voter approval. While these are just a handful of changes we can make, to set back and do nothing is not an option any more. You don't have to do all of them. Pick one. Get involved. Be the change we must have. It's time to come home to our roots.

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Let Them Eat Cake! The Decline of the American Voter

We're all familiar with the phrase "let them eat cake". Legend has it that French Queen Marie Antoinette was said to have uttered as she looked out over her balcony at Versailles Palace and watched the revolution unfold.  Of course, historians debate to this day whether or not she actually said those words or something similar.

But, nevertheless, what has never been in doubt was her attitude toward the masses (along with the rest of the ruling elite), nor its outcome, the loss of her head along with that of her husband, King Louis XVI and hundreds of exceedingly wealthy aristocrats.

By the time the "Reign of Terror" was over,  almost four hundred thousand were dead, exiled, or imprisoned. Some were part of the upper crust, including members of the clergy. However, many hundreds of others were simply caught up on the wrong side of "Monsieur Guillotine".  

The French Revolution represented a seismic shift in French society, born out of many of the same ideals which prompted our own revolution just a few years before such as the notion equality under a common law, taxation with representation and, of course, the impact of the Enlightenment.

The America which came out of our little "dust up" with Great Britain in 1783 was intended to be a democratic Republic based on a written Constitution and  backed by a Bill of Rights. It replaced the Articles of Confederation which was seen as to weak. It served as the first constitution from 1781 until 1789.

France adopted their constitution in 1791, which created a constitutional monarchy. In 1789, France ratified the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which served as its national Bill of Rights and served as the preamble to their constitution. Nevertheless, the damage was done and a dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte, waited in the wings for his moment to arrive.

As an aside,  while the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788, it wasn't the oldest constitution. That honor belongs to San Marino, a tiny country in northwestern Italy. Their constitution was ratified in 1600. Poland's constitution was ratified shortly after ours in 1791. England had the first Bill of Right, which was signed into law in 1689 following the "Glorious Revolution" which ousted King James II. Ours was adopted in 1791. 

America  also differed from other nations in that its creation was organic, meaning that instead of evolving into a nation over time, as other countries had, America, like the mythical Athena who was born fully formed from the brow of Zeus, burst into existence as a wholly formed nation based on the lessons gleaned from ancient Greece and Rome, the indigenous Algonquin Federation, and the ideals of the Enlightenment. 

Today, America is no longer a democratic Republic. It's a neo-fascist Corporatocracy under the leadership of a handful of mega rich Oligarchs. Congress no longer represents the average citizen. It serves the needs of Wall Street. What the average citizen want or need is of little interest to Congress. Academic research has shown that ordinary citizens have virtually zero impact on issues as far as Congress is concerned while the elites have significant input on issues they regard as important.

 Corporate money openly fund both political parties and their candidates. They sponsor getaways, hold fundraisers which regularly raise millions of dollars.  Corporate lobbyists routinely write or help write legislation while federal contracts worth billions are awarded with alarming regularity. The government is no longer our own.

The media is controlled by just five corporations. Worse, they've come to operate more as propaganda machines whose aim is to frustrate, confuse, and manipulate the masses. They distract us from the real issues with manufactured news and mindless entertainment. Once upon a time, the media was seen as the purveyors of truth. Today the media has become the profaners of truth. 

So, what do you suppose our "overseers" think of us (not that it really matters)? According to a recent Scott Rasmussen survey conducted (ironically) on behalf of the "Committee to Unleash Prosperity", a conservative " economic supply-side" think tank with close ties to a number of libertarian leaning organizations as well as the Koch Brothers, Steve Forbes, Arthur Laffer, and Steve Moore,  the ruling elites don't think much of us.

The report starts out be defining who the "elites" and "super elites" are based on their incomes, zip code, and academics. It should be pointed out that the report erroneously classifies the "elite" as those making over $150,000 annually, having at least one post-graduate degree from a leading college like Columbia or Harvard, and living in a zip code where the population density exceeds 10,000 per square mile.

A majority of other studies identify "elites" as those with income levels of at least $600,000 and a net worth of $10 million or more (compare that to a median U.S. household income of $55,000 and a net worth of about $70,000).  Those in the top 5% tend to have annual incomes of $335,000, while the top 1% pull down around $820,000 a year and those at the apex---the 0.1%---bring in over $3 million annually.

Nevertheless, according to the Scott Rasmussen survey, the elites  or top 10% are seeing their earnings grow. They are also happy with the performance of economy and Biden. Meanwhile, roughly 40% of average Americans report that they are financially struggling. An article by Business Insider takes it further by saying that by mid-2024, 99% of Americans will be financially worse off than they were pre-Covid.-19.

The article, written in conjunction with JP Morgan, added that most Americans have already gone through most of their savings.  22% of Americans don't have enough money for emergencies.  43% couldn't cover an emergency over $1000. Bloomberg backed that up by pointing out that as of November 2023, 80% of Americans were already worse off than they were pre-Covid-19.

The article pointed out that only the top 20% were doing well financially. It should be mentioned that according to a October 2023 Harris Poll, 65% of Americans acknowledged living paycheck to paycheck. 35% regularly have more month than money!

The Rasmussen report goes on to point out that 77% of the top 10% and 89% of the top 1% believe that there should be "strict rationing of meat, gas, and electricity" for the average American family.  Approximately 81% would ban the use of gas power cars, forcing the "masses" to use battery powered vehicles, but that's not all. 55% of the top 10% "elites" and 70% of the "super elites" would restrict non-essential travel for average Americans. I guess that keeps them from having to rub elbows with the "unwashed masses" at all the resorts.

When it came to politics, it shouldn't come as a surprise that to learn that over half of the elites believe that government affords average Americans "too much freedom". Their solution? Some surveys suggest increased usage of surveillance cameras, increased use of facial recognition software, improved tracking devices on cell phones and cars,

Many favor tighter internet access such as limiting search engines, greater restrictions on gun/ammo ownership, further restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, and of course, closer "cooperation" between Big Business and government (which is the definition of fascism). Although often overlooked, we can't forget eliminating the use of cash in favor of electronic accounting.

Perhaps we'll soon see a day where government will electronically take out its estimated taxes and fees before you ever received your electronic paycheck. Utility and credit card companies will require payments be automatically deducted along with your rent or house payments and insurance. What's left (if anything) is what you'll use to buy groceries, clothes and whatever...all electronically so it can be tracked, recorded, and anticipated.

Your medical, financial, and employment history will all be collected and stored in a "super cloud". Businesses will know your medical and credit history before deciding to hire, promote, or retain you. Even your school grades will be recorded, along with what clubs you belonged to. No doubt your aptitude scores will be kept with your actual or estimated IQ score, Myers Briggs profile, or Enneagram.  

Every late payment, work infraction, and traffic ticket will be linked to your "national security data"  on the super cloud, which will monitor the sites you visit, the books or magazines you read, comments you made online, and even your buying preferences.  

These are just a few of the ways your freedoms can curtailed with you barely noticing if the elites have their way. Scary isn't it?  Yet the technology is already there, and in many instances, already being employed. Welcome to the machine.

We also need to bear in mind that the top 1% ---or about 735 billionaires--- have more money than the entire bottom half of American households. That's about $43.45 trillion dollars. According to a 2021 Credit Suisse report, the top 1% globally controlled nearly half of all the wealth on the planet or roughly 46% while one in ten individuals globally get by on just $2 dollars a day.

As for Congress, its job is to represent the American People, and yet numerous surveys show that Congress regularly vote in favor of what various organized special interest groups and the wealthiest top 10% want while the interests of the remaining 90% are typically ignored. Surprised? You shouldn't be.

The majority of Congress---50%---are millionaires (compared to only 5% of Americans in general). Even those who aren't millionaires when they enter Congress, nearly all are by the time they leave despite a annual salary of just $174,000. Both political parties are heavily funded by Big Business. 

Political campaigns, "leadership" PACs, "educational" junkets, and so forth receive nearly unlimited funding by Big Business thanks to the Supreme Court's 2010 "Citizens United" blunder; a decision which gave corporations nearly unlimited financial influence over government.

In 2022, both parties received a combined $8.9 billion dollars from Wall Street for midterm congressional races. About 45% went to Democrats while 55% went to Republicans (the National Association of Realtors was the largest donor at $36. 4 million).

Legislation is often written entirety or at least partially by corporate lobbyists. These same lobbyists help navigate bills through the maze of committees, often chaired by members whose campaigns they funded. As an aside, these lobbyists typically provide members of Congress (or their staff) with bill summaries and "recommendations" on which bill to support. They also help legislators with a little "under the table" wheeling and dealing, which gives them firsthand knowledge on all the dirt.

When members of the 115th Congress (or key staffers) decided to leave office in 2019, over 59% took a short drive over to "K" Street and signed on as a corporate lobbyist (some making three times what they did in Congress). Some become a consultant or adviser while others land very lucrative positions on various boards of directors or as senior partners in  high dollar law firms. This is the nefarious revolving door of politics, and it's why government serves the interests of Wall Street, not Main Street.

We have more wealth and income inequality than at any time over the last one hundred years. Company CEO's are making 350 times more than their average employee earns, and nearly 50% of all new wealth goes to the top 1%. The top three richest individuals in America have more wealth than the entire bottom half of America households, which adds up to over 160 million Americans.

Washington D.C.  bears a striking resemblance to the politically decadent and corrupt world of the ill fated Queen of France,  Marie Antoinette, and her husband, King Louis XV. Like the elites of her time, 72% of elites  today say they are superior to average Americans. Washington has developed a presumptive "ruling class" mentality by virtue of their education, family connections, and access to immense wealth, but are they our "betters"?

When we see the likes of a Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George W. Bush, Bill or Hillary Clinton, do we honestly believe these are the best America can produce to guide our nation? Given that the approval rating for Congress  is in low 30's and Biden's approval rating is lowest of any president in 15 years, the obvious answer is "no", and yet Congress has a 98% reelection rate. Do you think that's by accident?

Our political system isn't broken, it's been changed to suit the needs of a ruling class; an oligarchy which has substituted our democratic Republic for a neo-fascist corporatocracy. It's past time that the American People embrace the strength and courage of our Founding Fathers and do something about it.

 

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The Real Story of Two Americas

New York Post: Shocking survey reveals the reason elites are out of touch---and it isn't what you think

Committee to Unleash Prosperity

Committee to Unleash Prosperity

American Upper Class

A staggering 80% of American households are worse off...

Internet Censorship in China

Living Paycheck to Paycheck is Common, Even Among Those WhoMake More Than $100,000

OpenSecrets: Which Party Receives MoreCorporate Donations

Who Really Controls Our Lives? It May Not Be Who You Think

 

America isn't a democratic republic any longer. It's a corporatocracy. I think we all understand that by now. Most studies now list us as a "flawed democracy". We've devolved into a neo-fascist state which in many ways resembles the feudalism with its two tier legal, political, and economic systems. In lieu of feudal lords and ladies, we have the super wealthy who own the two main political parties as much as they do the government, legal system, and the media.

They control the economy, set domestic and foreign policy, while their lobbyists write legislation which become laws and you can bet they don't benefit us. They've become our overlords, whether we call them oligarchs, kleptocrats or plutocrats, their goal is all the same---control, be it assets, resources, or us.   

Collectively they've stripped us of many of our freedoms, and continue to do so. They've turned us against each other because divided we can be easily manipulated and pose no threat to them. They've turned our nation into a surveillance state where we're perpetually watched, tracked, and monitored. We're so frustrated and confused we don't know who or what to believe.    

While researching my next article, I came across the video below entitled " The Illusion of Democracy: Who Really Controls Our Lives". The video, which runs 1:18.13  was posted by Best Documentary. It was originally put out under the title "Freedom of Choice" in 2014, includes the following description:

" Life is about choice. What we eat, what we read, who we elect; every day we make choices that determine how we want to live. But what if these choices are just an illusion? In an era where regulations and red tape rule every industry, where lobby groups and big business wield more influence than ever before, our daily choices have become increasingly limited. Focusing on key areas such as food, medicine, finance, and media, Freedom From Choice provides viewers with a glimpse at the myriad of ways their lives are being dictated, and tells us who stands to gain."

I encourage you to set aside some time to watch this highly informative video even if you have to do so in short 15 minute segments. I think it will help to you to understand what has been going on and continues to be going on. You may find that your suspicions have been correct all along.

Video: The Illusion of Democracy: Who ReallyControls Our Lives

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Socialism or Neo-Fascism? Which Way Is America Going?

 

It seems that the Right is perpetually speaking about Democrats leading us down the road to socialism's perdition. When Donald Trump was in office, the Democrats and those on the Left kept comparing "The Donald"  with Hitler and Republicans with the Nazis. It seems that neither side is familiar with history.

 First off, there's no way those in power on the Left or Right would allow this country to become "socialist", Communist or anything else that requires them to surrender their wealth or power to the State. Secondly, the two party system is a farce. Wall Street owns both parties. 

The only real difference between the two parties is the two competing corporate cliques. Citizens United has ensured corporate control of the political system. It has put political reform all but out of reach of the average American. Corporate lobbyists write the laws, leaving voters with the illusion of choice. 

National Socialism (or "Nazism") was a fascist partnership of sorts between the government and Big Business with the latter assuming a junior role,  and we all know Wall Street would never go for that today.   By the way, the "socialism" part of National Socialism didn't mean what most people today assumes it meant.  For the Nazis, it meant a community of like-minded people or "Volk".

Actual  socialism, which remains an abstract idea, means that the people essentially  own everything.  Power and the control of wealth is in their hands. Businesses and corporations would be typically employee owned and run while others, particularly essential businesses, would be run by the State.

Nevertheless,  I don't see Wall Street or their K Street lobbyists allowing anything like that to happen do you?  Certainly not after  the "Citizens United" or "McCutcheon's" decisions by the Supreme Court gave them carte blanche to the halls of power and the public trough.

What passes for "socialism" today is an admixture of capitalism, democracy, and a welfare state comprised of social programs  under the heading of "Democratic Socialism", which is common in Scandinavia and places like Germany and Netherlands. Think of it as "capitalism with a friendly face".  

 Nevertheless, despite high taxes (especially on the wealthy and corporations), the democratic socialist form of government have proven to be quite popular with the masses, with practically everything being subsidized. However, it requires everyone to pitch in and contribute back into the system. But when you have a mass of people who draw on the system without contributing to it, it fails, which is what seems to be happening in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe.   

Under Communism, which is often---though incorrectly--- used interchangeably with socialism, there are again no privately own properties, especially corporations. The State owns everything. Everyone works for the State. The State is everything. Do you see corporations and the rich---people like Zuckerman, Musk, Bezos, or Buffett  surrendering their power and wealth to Washington? So, what is America is morphing into? The answer is a Corporatocracy, which is a de facto form of neo-fascism.

Fascism is, as its founder Benito Mussolini said, was more accurately described as "corporatism". Specifically, Mussolini said this "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power". Novelist Upton Sinclair called fascism "capitalism plus murder" while Vladimir Lenin referred to fascism as "capitalism in decay".

Politically, it borrows some of its goals and techniques from the Left and some from the conservative Right, including militarism. It grafts various national traditions and values to its cause as needed and jettisons what is no longer of use.  Corporatism is, if nothing else, adaptable. It's objective, however, is always corporate control plain and simple. The role of government is to serve as the lesser partner and "middleman" between the "elites" and masses. It's objective is to serve the rich. 

Under a Corporatocracy, there is little to no strong middle class; certainly not in the way we're used to. There's the insanely rich and then there's everybody else. Sound familiar? Can you see the one percenters giving up their money; their penthouses; their private planes and yachts?  Under socialism, they'd have to; the same under Communism.

Consider this too, while Unions exist in a Corporatocracy, they are weak and fairly ineffective. A far cry from the unions of old. Their prime purpose to keep the masses in their place---on the job and off the strike line---while generally backing the decisions of the corporate bosses.  They serve the interests of the corporation, even if it means cutting benefits, pensions,  and hours.  

Under Communism, the State serves as the union and if you work, you automatically belong to it. But again, no strikes and no complaining, and a set wage. Under socialism, there are wage differences based on the job, but no broad income disparity, at least not like we have today where the top 10% own 52% of all wealth.

So in reality, we are morphing into a neo-fascist corporate State.  Corporations, using the government, previously pushed us to the Right and now is pushing us toward the Left, but the ultimate goal is to diminish the power of the individual while increasing our dependence on the State, which in turn, is controlled by Wallstreet and the corporate elite.

 In short, we're to become economic serfs with the government serving as the overseer and corporations as the owners of us all. Of course, the "big prize" is the creation of a single interlocking global corporation. That means creating and using  global organizations to serve as the intermediaries on global projects and national one's on more regional projects.

Under corporatocracy we can expect national governments, like Washington, become ever more pervasive in the role of overseer while local and state governments become weaker and more dependent on the federal government.  This role also enables corporations an ever growing access to taxpayer money to acquire resources domestically and globally while at the same time shielding their intentions behind the illusion of a sovereign government.  

They can also use the national government take other actions on their behalf, like wars, trade agreements, or treaties, to enhance their wealth and power on the taxpayer's dollar.  In further defining corporatism, its founder, Benito Mussolini said, “Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity, quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace.”. In short, war and the threat of war is good for business.

Il Duce is also talking about is the concept (novel for his time) of the implied foreign policy we're now experiencing, that of perpetual war---like the "war on terrorism"---to maintain control over the population and the exploitation of resources by corporations, be they natural resources or national resources for the sake of the bottom line. It artificially stimulates the economy, masks actual unemployment numbers, and allows for near unlimited deficit spending.  Sound familiar?

As an aside, what did Mussolini think of socialism? After all, his father, Alessandro,  was a prominent Italian socialist and Benito started off his political career as a socialist. This was his opinion, "Socialism is a fraud, a comedy, a phantom, a blackmail".

So, when someone starts complaining about America becoming "socialist" or "Communist", remember that famous line from movie "The Princess Bride" as utter by the swordsman Inigo Montoya (played brilliantly by Mandy Patinkin), "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means".  

 

If you want to know more about this article's topic, please check out the links below. If you enjoyed the article, please consider passing it along to others and don't forget to subscribe. It's free! Lastly please be sure to "like" us on whatever platform you use to read anotheropinionblog.com. It helps with the algorithms and keeps our articles in circulation. Thank you! 

 

Whyinequality is growing in the US and around the world

Eight Billionaires Own asMuch as the Poorest Half of Global Population

 

The Rich 1% Own Almost Half the World's Wealth & 9 Other Mind Blowing Facts About Wealth Inequality

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/wealth-inequality-oxfam-billionaires-elon-musk/ 

America's Changing Body Politic

Did you know that the top 1% now controls 70% of all wealth in this country? That's the most of any country at any time in history. In addition, almost all of this wealth is derived from inheritance and rent and not earned income.

The top 1%  constitutes about 1.5 million households owns more than 15 times the bottom 50%.  Their combined wealth is approximately $34.2 trillion dollars while the bottom 50% is roughly 2.1 trillion dollars. The upper 10% hold more than 88% of the total equity of all corporations and mutual fund shares.

Over the last 30 years, the wealth of the top 10% has increased by 69% while for the bottom 50% it has actually decreased by half, from 3.6% growth to only 1.9%.  The average net worth of the top 1% is 11.1 million dollars.  Wealth for the 1% has increased 160% from 1979 through 2019 while the bottom 90% saw an increase of just 26%.

The widening disparity between the elites and everybody else stems from several factors. The most notable being their dominance of public and private equity, and extraordinary generous tax breaks. The net worth between the richest top 10% and the bottom lowest 10% has more than doubled between  1982 and 2016. The largest jump coming after 2010 when the Supreme Court upheld Citizens United which gave Corporate America its personhood and defacto card blanche control of politics.

Citizens United allowed corporations to dominate elections by allowing them to donate virtually unlimited amounts of money while simultaneously capping the average voter. It also put the cost of mounting an election out of reach for the average citizen.

Thinking about running for Congress? The average cost is just over $2 million dollars...and that's for a two year term which means you'll constantly be in "fundraising mode" not just for you, but for the party and its chieftains as well. And the pay? Just $174,000. 

The U.S. Senate has been called "the most exclusive club in the world". To buy a seat will set you back an average of $15 million, with some seats going for as much as $28 million, and this is for a single six year term and it doesn't anymore than the House.

The total cost of Congressional elections prior to the 2010 Citizen United mistake was $2.48 billion (2008). By 2012 it was $3.66 billion. As of 2020, that figure ballooned to $8.73 billion. Presidential elections went from a total of $2.79 billion in 2008 to $5.70 billion in 2020.  

The average cost of running for governor is north of $15 million. In the 2018 race for Governor of Florida, Democrat Andrew Gillum raised $55,062,506.00 while his opponent (and eventual winner), Republican  Ron DeSantis ponied up $58,847,418.00. In Wisconsin, the cost to run for governor went from just over $35 million pre-Citizens United to around $93 million in 2018.

Where's all this money coming from? Well, a good chunk of it is coming from the candidates themselves. Practically everyone running for governor, and certainly Congress is at least a millionaire (Senate is a private reserve for multi-millionaires). In 2020, over half of all members of Congress are millionaires. Some are richer than that. Take Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) for instance. His net worth is over $344 million.

The rest of the money, however, comes from these corporate "Frankensteins" which the Supreme Court declared to be "people" and whose wealth is the equivalent to free speech.. They "contribute" (which sounds much better than saying "buy") the seats and those who fill them.

The largest donors usually come from Wall Street, following by high powered law and investment firms, Big tech, energy, healthcare, and defense industries. Much of it depends on  the committees an individual sits on.  Don't forget too that corporate lobbyists funneling money and perks to these individuals in the form of speaking engagements and dinners at $100,000 per seat, seminars at resorts, and donations to their "leadership" PACs.

Meanwhile, these same lobbyists often write the bills and shepherd through all the various committees which will get voted on and become laws. As an aside, as these pieces of legislation wind their way through the Byzantine corridors of power, committee members often like to tack on their own perks for taxpayers to pay for. Some of these are designed to make them look good to voters back home, while others are in-kinds payments to various generous donors.

Here's something to consider. Did you know that Congress has a retention rate of over 90%? Fewer than 10 seats at any given time are in jeopardy of a turnover. I find that utterly amazing given that Congress has a disapproval rating in the 70's (during the first week in January 2021 it was 80%). Its highest approval rating in the last decade has only been 36% (March 2021). That still means that more 60% of the public think they suck at their jobs!  So, how do they manage to have a 90+% retention rate if something shady isn't going on?

Well, besides the obvious---money---there's also gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is where the two corporate owned parties get to redraw districts every ten years in order to pick their voters. No, seriously. It allows them to draw districts in all sorts of convoluted ways to ensure that they the appropriate number of partisan voters to keep the seat.

With Independents being the country's majority political bloc and growing while the numbers for the Republican and Democrat parties crash, it's going to be interesting to see how much longer this charade will be allowed to go on.

As an aside, it's worth nothing that in 2020 report by the Center for Public Accountability, corporations who publicly call for racial equity routinely donate to candidates, PAC, and groups which promote racial gerrymandering.  So, despite their "feel good" advertising, many of those same corporations are buying politicians who will support redrawing districts to reduce the influence of minorities.

Going hand-in-hand with money and partisan gerrymandering is the lack of term limits (we can also include referendums, rank choice voting, voter ID, and ballot initiatives). Politicians and their corporate masters have a good thing going. They don't want to keep having to retrain newly elected candidates.

They'll tell you it's all about relationships and for once they're not lying. It's about knowing whose back to scratch and whose pocket to pick. It's about knowing how the game is played and who the players are. They don't want change (although you wouldn't know it by their campaign rhetoric!). They like it the way it is. No new ideas. No "reformer" troublemakers. They want to keep the status quo just as it is. They benefit from the laws they write and they know the levers to keep the unwashed masses (that's us) in line.  

This applies to referendums, rank choice voting, and ballot initiatives too. They don't want to hear from you. They don't really want your opinions. They don't want to risk being booted out by being "ranked" lower than some newcomer.  They don't want the voters submitting and voting on changes they can't control.

Another thing they oppose is those pesky Independents and third parties. Independents have been the nation's largest voting bloc for some time now. Currently, just over 40% of Americans are Independent, but you won't hear them admit it. They want you to think that Independents are closet partisan voters, which couldn't be further from the truth.

They don't want Independents or third party candidates running for office if possible, like requiring them to have 50 or 500 signatures to get on the ballot while a Democrat or Republican needs only three. They'll keep them out of debates whenever possible. The establishment media will typically ignore them, or treat them like a clown show. But to allow the voting public to take them serious is strictly verboten!  Of course, they keep the money away.

78% of the public believes that the two political parties and their politicians don't give a hoot about the public.  This includes 68% of Democrats, 82% of Republicans, and 83% of Independents. Personally, I think 78% is a low number. Americans have long been fed up with our broken system. We know no one is serious about fixing it. We've allowed ourselves to become apathetic.

America is no longer a democratic Republic, although we still pretend it is because we're too proud (and stubborn) to admit the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that we were the world's richest and most powerful nation. We enjoyed a degree of freedom and quality of life unmatched in human history. And while we were intentionally or perhaps willfully distracted, it was stolen away from us.

We've allowed the country to become a neo-fascist Corporatocracy wrapped up in an American flag just as we were warned about decades ago. We've allowed ourselves to become a surveillance state out of manufactured fear and the false promise of security.  We've been made afraid of words and being called names, Perhaps worse of all, we've been made to forget what it meant to be an American. 

We've replaced "citizen" with consumer. We've substituted "patriot" with globalist. We've confused equal opportunity with equal outcomes. We've been conditioned to see our differences instead of our commonalities. Conformity has replaced independence of thought. We've chosen the low road of mediocrity instead of the vistas of greatness. 

America was founded on the premise of being a nation governed by and with the consent of its citizens. That was the "Great Ideal" America offered to the world; that government should serve its people. Not the other way around. Today, it's ruled by a political class which is little different from the one our Founding Fathers had sought to vanquish over two centuries ago.  We can still turn this around, but only if we come together. We've been intentionally divided along artificial fault lines. Divided the ruling elites control us. United there is nothing that can stop us. What will it be America?

 If you want to know more, please take a look at the links below. If you enjoyed the article, please consider passing it along to others and don't forget to subscribe. It's free! Lastly please be sure to "like" us on whatever platform you use to read A/O. It helps with the algorithms and keeps our articles in circulation. Thank you!

 

State of Money in Politics: The Price of Victory is Steep

 

Cost of Election (1998 - 2020)

 

Which Industries Are Giving the Most Money to PACs, Parties,and Candidates?

Corporate Political Spending Is Bad Business