Knowledge and Unity
The Untapped Power of the American People
In this year leading up to election 08', Americans are desperately in need of a slap in the face, or maybe a cold shower. Something to pull the whole nation out of it's slumber. The ignorance exhibited by the general public is disgraceful. The lack of willingness to learn about the country, it's government and history is disheartening. The rate of voter turnout is embarrassing. America may once have been the greatest nation on earth. Now it's just a nation of idiots. A sleeping populace on autopilot allowing the ship, this Titanic that is America, to go full steam into evermore treacherous waters.
Is it too late? Is America bound to sink to depths greater than those reached during the depression or the war between the states? Can the passengers aboard this vessel stop dancing soon enough, long enough, to take the helm and avoid the catastrophe that lies just ahead? Are they willing to? Are they even capable? Do they care enough?
Six questions. The first three have easy answers. No it's not too late. No this nation doesn't have to sink. Yes the citizenry can be up to the task. The answers to the last three questions are not so clear. But just suppose the answer is yes to all three. Just suppose there is willingness, there is capability, and enough concern. This then begs a seventh and eighth question. Where and how to begin?
These are the toughest questions to answer because, like the problems that face this country, the solutions are multi-layered and interconnected, wrapped up in a knot that seems impossible to untangle. There is however always a place to start.
To focus on the solution to any crisis, one must first understand the nature of that crisis. This then leads one towards education. Not classroom education, but investigative self-education. Education about Americas history, it's government and politics, it's media, it's perceptions and how they are formed, and the perceptions of the rest of the world concerning this nation. The proper investigative and introspective education is a tool that can be used to increase capability.
There are some perceptions that need to be forgotten in any attempt to negotiate the knot. The idea that America is divided into left and right camps only promotes conflict and tightens the knot. This focus on the differences between Americans keeps the population at odds with itself and only furthers the careers of political and corporate giants, including the media. Spotlighting the differences between the left and right is the easiest way to get Americans to forget that in the center is the heart of America, which is far more important to it's survival than political arms or wings.
This is not to say that there are no differences. The similarities, however, are far more important and far greater in number. The people do not benefit from dividing themselves, but the corporate politicians in Washington do. As long as a population is divided it can be played against itself over and over again while the stakes grow ever higher. As long as the concentration is on divisions there can be no unity. Without unity there can be no real progress, no real change in course.
Left and right , democrat or republican are not the only lines of division used to further the agenda of an increasingly corporate run government. There is also race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, and economics, just to name a few. These differences, and others, are wielded like a carving knife to cut the people of this nation, like a turkey dinner, into portions isolated from one another and ready for consumption. It's the differences that are concentrated on by the politicians and media, not the similarities. It's the similarities that will bring the people together and make them strong and capable.
Everyone wants and needs the same things, starting with the freedom to be themselves. Things like the desire for good health, enough food, education, the freedom to work in ones chosen field. To live without fear, make a decent living wage, and have a healthy and safe environment for ones self and children. Respect, recourse to the law, security, compassion, and love. Everyone wants the same ingredients to achieve a happy life. It isn't about who has more or less of these things, it's that everyone should have them.
Perceptions of the differences in Americans and their lifestyles need to change to an awareness of their similarities. The problem with most of these perceptions is that they are derived primarily from assumptions and fear, not from a loving or enlightened heart.
Beginning with the realization that Americans are more alike than different, a unity can form. This unity is the basic premise that America was created on. It is after all the United States of America, "United" being the key word. A government for the people, by the people. But this is only the beginning. Remember that action is the only way to get anything done and to act without knowledge is worse than not acting at all.
What knowledge does a united America need in order to act effectively to save herself? Simple knowledge about the workings of government and the role that large corporations play in that government is one course of study. Reading and learning about the policies, both foreign and domestic, that have been instituted in the name of the people is very important, yet no one seems interested. "Too busy," "it doesn't really effect me," "I got mine so I won't rock the boat," "It's not my affair," "let the government handle it, that's why we elected them," are all excuses for civic laziness. As long as the attitude is "I can't do anything about it" nothing will be done and the ship will sink.
Knowledge and unity, the beginning of capability. The action of voting can be a strong one if it is exercised. It isn't. Only 12 out of every 100 people regularly vote, this is embarrassing on a global scale. France in it's latest elections had a voter turnout of at least 87%. This is an example of capability and civic responsibility. But voting to maintain the status quo, no matter how many people vote, won't make the change in course that is desperately needed. Voting without an understanding of the issues, problems, and possible solutions to those problems could be termed civic masturbation.
This is a nation in which most of the population speaks in terms they have no grasp on. It is a time of patriotism, fervent to the point of nationalism. No one recalls history and the fact that the Nazi movement in Germany was born in such patriotism. The Dow has just marked the longest bull run in 80 years as foreclosures are at an all time high. Eighty years ago the market crashed. A democracy cannot survive a corporate, capitalist economic system. Free enterprise and capitalism are not the same. Neither is patriotism and nationalism. Supporting ones country does not necessarily mean supporting it's government. The powers that were entrusted to the people by the founders of this country rely on an understanding of the workings of government and exercising those powers.
When a government is as entrenched in corruption as the government of the United States, it is up to the people to take a stand. To take a stand the nation needs to comprehend the nature of the corruption and realize their power to end it.
America has a federal budget that covers things like Medicaid, Medicare, the national debt, and social security. This budget is mandatory and covers these programs by law. There also exists what is called the discretionary budget which congress and the president create each year. This discretionary budget covers things like defense spending, K through 12 education, children's health care, humanitarian foreign aide, job training, renewable energy research, and the environmental protection agency. Sounds good until one looks at the numbers spent on each area.
In the just concluded fiscal year more than half the discretionary budget, for a total of 463 billion dollars, went to the Pentagon. This does not include spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In relation to this, spending on K-12 education was around-38 billion, children's health care-50 billion, humanitarian foreign aide-13 billion, job training-6 billion, renewable energy research-2 billion, and the environmental protection agency-8 billion. When coupled with the fact that the 463 billion dollars spent by the Pentagon is more than the rest of the world combined spends on defense, it is exposed as gross mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.
In addition this gross mismanagement is exasperated by the fact that the Pentagon's books are in such bad shape that they cannot even be audited. Nor can they account for the money they spend. Congress gives them a pass on this because in every congressional district in the United States there is a plant that produces some part of some defense system. Cut the defense spending and you cut jobs in every congressional district, and that wouldn't be good for re-election.
Removing just 60 billion from the Pentagon's discretionary budget fund the United States could finance several much needed programs and account for the money. 9 million children, who don't have it, could have health insurance. Over a 12 year period America could rebuild the outdated school system that currently exists. A quarter million workers could be retrained, saving American jobs and boosting the economy. Dependency on foreign oil could be cut in half over 10 years. Money could be directed to Homeland Security for thorough inspection of cargo containers entering the ports of America. The federal deficit could be reduced and eventually eliminated. Medical research could be improved, and aide could be given to 6 million children world wide that die of hunger and related diseases each year. This would improve the perceptions of America in the eyes of the rest of the world more than the exportation of democracy at the end of a rifle.
These things could be done at no added expense to the taxpayer beyond what is now being spent and not accounted for at the Pentagon. Even after trimming 60 billion dollars from the Pentagon budget in this manner the United States would still spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined. America could use her money like this every year, not just once.
Another area of unchecked corruption is known as the revolving door. This is a maneuvering between decision making positions in government, such as congress or the office of the vice-president, and high paying lobbyist or corporate board member jobs. This creates a system of legal war profiteering that continually siphons funds from productive social programs and funnels those funds into making war for profit. The most obvious example of this is the Vice-President of the United States.
Dick Cheney served in both the Nixon and Ford administrations beginning in 1969 and ending as President Fords Chief of Staff in 1976. Following this tenure he became a congressman for the state of Wyoming, during which time he served as vice-chairman on the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal involving the Reagan administration. So far a seemingly straight forward political career.
When George H.W. Bush became President Mr. Cheney was handed the job of Secretary of Defense and was a major player in the Persian Gulf War. He also commissioned a study on privatizing much of the militaries logistic and support work. Paying a corporation known as Kellogg, Brown and Root 9 million dollars to do a study on whether or not the military should hire private companies like KBR to do such work.
When the Bush administration failed to secure the White House for a second term Dick Cheney went to work in the private sector as a top corporate executive with Halliburton, the parent company of Kellogg, Brown and Root. Technically an oil company Halliburton and it's subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root are also big defense contractors. This is Mr. Cheney's first obvious trip through the revolving door. When George W. Bush took office in 2000, he tapped Dick Cheney for the Vice-Presidency giving him his second obvious round through the revolving door. Halliburton, in the guise of KBR has since been awarded multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts in Iraq,
This presents a conflict of interest that in most areas of business would be considered illegal but is pushed "under the rug" at the federal level. Dick Cheney is the highest profile example of the revolving door, but there are many others on both sides of the aisle. At every level and in every branch of the government of the United States this practice is at work. It involves members of congress, congressional staffers, White House officials both elected and appointed, White House staffers, lobbying firms, think tanks, major corporations, and the banking, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries. The revolving door effects every aspect of federal policy and decision making. What this means is America is governed by corporations and the power of their money, not the people and the power of their voice.
Laws have been created and enacted by the same people who traverse the revolving door to keep the practice both legal and "ethical". Barely legal, it is completely unethical regardless of the spin or rules in place to protect it. Only big business large corporations, especially defense contractors, and career politicians benefit from the revolving door. The taxpayers, the citizens, bare the cost and most aren't even aware that the situation exists at all.
Aside from the defense and lobbying industries ability to profit from this situation there are other corporate beneficiaries of an American government controlled in this way. The people always lose however and the gap between the top 1% and the rest of the country continues to widen.
The privatization of government functions sounds good, sounds like government downsizing. Sounds like giving business to the private sector, but the reality is quite different. Privatization only benefits those at the top of the ladder and crushes those on the lower rungs. Once something is outsourced to a private or corporate entity it loses a great deal of government oversight. This means that although it is still paid for by tax dollars it is completely above the scrutiny of the taxpayer/voter.
