Thom Hartmann: Time to Overthrow Our Rulers
By Thom Hartmann A...
Is it time to bring a monarchy to the United States? Or is it time to end one?
The New York Times recently ran a fascinating article by Leslie Wayne putting forth arguments from the International Monarchist League. Summarizing them, Wayne wrote, "Their core arguments: Countries with monarchies are better off because royal families act as a unifying force and a powerful symbol; monarchies rise above politics; and nations with royalty are generally richer and more stable."
What the author misses is that we already have an aristocracy here in the United States: rule by the rich. In fact, much of American history is the story of the battle between the interests of the "general welfare" of our citizens, and the interests of the #MorbidlyRich.
Here's where we are right now:
Read more here.
Comments
#2
And now... we want Oprah Winfrey to run for POTUS based on something she said at a Golden Globe award event
Can't say anything really other than "WHY"
We are just barking mad?!?!?!
#3
First we have to ask ourselves.... what is it that Fascist minded billionaires are so afraid of? Are they terrified of having to perform actual labor? Do they equate wealth with self worth? Do they fear the thought of having to beg for a job? Are they in a protected bubble from birth, one that has created phobias and paranoias of the working class world surrounding them?
Have they been brought up to be aggressively selfish in order to create and maintain a false sense of superiority? My money is on this guess. Being brought up surrounded by superficialities meant to signify and delineate one from average working people could easily create a head trip leading to the out of control behavior we see in many billionaires.
Thus what they fear most is the reality that they are no different or better than anyone else. Maintaining self puffery becomes an out of control way of life ... no distance from the average person or amount of wealth is ever enough.
The choice to live a life of madness like this only becomes a problem when it hurts humanity. Well it has hurt all of us, and as Thom so correctly points out...we need to stop it now.
To legislate against the inhumanity of greed is the primary reason we have democracy....to stop demagogues like Crooked Donny from rising to power.
We've definitely seen this movie before!
It will take a President Sanders to extricate us this time around.
#4
The 1% have taken over. They have so much money that they think nothing of dumping millions into elections at all levels. They own the mainstream media and brainwash the trolls on a daily basis. They own TV, Radio, Newspapers, Politicians and the Court system. They have such control that it may be impossible to ever get it back. They have militarized the Police to keep control. All you have to do is read the comments section on Fox News website to see how ignorant trailer park America has become.
#5
For years I lived with a Russian artist who had escaped the gulag, along with his white Russian Dad who considered a benevolent monarchy as a possible solution to governing. The monarchy had enough $$$ and it was their country too, so it would enact policies to make it healthy as a whole. Of course his hatred of Stalin, his policies and henchmen so was supportive of anyone who sought to counter them in the strongest possible way. His biggest shock upon coming to the US (it's a long story having escaped 3 dictators) was seeing Martin Luther King led away in handcuffs. One of his most popular and memorable paintings was of this event. However, he totally embraced the America of the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc. but began expressing big doubts when the GOP began embracing the restriction of women's reproductive rights, etc.
#6
#6. Your father is a wise man.
It not only "gets this bad," it has gotten much, much worse -- so bad that the fun little fascistic jaunt around the greedy millionaire board game of the late 19th century has morphed into sprawling billionaire empires spanning the globe, suffocating all other life and human endeavor, hurtling toward the 6th mass extinction.
The real "game" is not fun. The amazing woman who invented the board-game version of the sad reality of her era, Elizabeth Magie, was a socially-conscious, progressive feminist way ahead of her time.
Excerps from the following links:
"...Elizabeth Magie was introduced to the writings of Henry George by her father. She eventually became one of many people who took on the task of trying to teach others what she had learned from studying Progress and Poverty and George's other works."
"...her stated goal was to demonstrate the evils of accruing vast sums of wealth at the expense of others."
"...indulging its cutthroat, ruthless, greedy impulses" ... [The board game is a] "...practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences."
http://www.henrygeorge.org/dodson_on_monopoly.htm
Since those heady days of the Robber Barons, we've come full circle and then some. History demonstrates repeatedly that such evil behavior never reforms itself; left unchecked, it only gets worse. Ten thousand years of civilization, wealth concentration, and the resulting uncountable wars have taught every generation that the only way to halt the inexorable march toward fascism is for ordinary people to become deadly serious and strongly proactive, to communicate, organize, rise up, and overthrow their selfish, greedy, soulless overlords.
Now it's our turn.
#7
As my dad ( a buisness/economics degree, Northwestern University 1958) said to me and my siblings (as children) while we played Monopoly; " Im simpifying. But kids, in this game (as in life) when one player ends up with everything, and the other players are left with nothing... well, then the game is actually over for EVERYBODY!"
He then said; "lets hope kids...that in real life, it never actually gets this bad."
#8
Yes deepspace, he was a wise man. And he saw the writings on the wall in the 60s and 70s.
In the 80s he was absolutely beside himself... Shaking his head in disbelief, as he watched the "Reagan revolution"unfold, with its massive upper tier tax cuts and the drastic lowering of tariffs on imported goods....
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it) he didn't live long enough to see all the insane policies/ laws (free trade and then financial deregulation) that were enacted in the 90s (most of them passed bi- partisan) come to fruition.
He didnt live long enough to see the absolutely insane and totally illegal wars of the 2000s. He didnt live to see the stopgap bailout by the federal reserve to keep this country (and the rest of the world) afloat. No, he didnt live to see this country truly become a corporately controlled oligarchy...
He warned us kids... But l dont even think he envisioned it ever truly getting this bad. The shear magnitude of greed and power that has been amassed into the hands of a very few...
The "Merchant Prince's."
I cant even imagine what he'd be saying, if he were alive today.
#9
I hear ya. My dad died in 1984 and, mercifully, was also spared the worst. Their generation had to fight fascism to the death on two fronts, in Europe and the Pacific, so one can only imagine how they would have felt witnessing the takeover of their own precious democracy, for which they bled and died.
Great rant, jefflisse! I like the way you frame things.
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Mueller's favorite place to pray (written about in "Prophet's Way"), and the roof of the room where the Last Supper is reputed to have happened.
From Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"Hartmann combines a remarkable piece of historical research with a brilliant literary style to tell the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel."
From Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear. This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies."
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We are indeed doomed to repeat history again and again and again
Plato predicted that democracy would lead to nations being governed by bullies and brutes
http://classicalwisdom.com/plato-and-the-disaster-of-democracy/
Peace!