Citizens Media Resource: The Death of the Republic

Monday, May 22, 2017

The Death of the Republic

Author and prize-winning former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges lays out why getting rid of Trump, as some want, will not fix the fact that democracy is dead. We are living in a shadow democracy, where we give lip service to constitutional rights from time to time -- even though courts have largely neutered them -- and we have what's left of the trappings of democracy, like periodic access to voting for some.

Police Department Sniper in Ferguson, MO

Just like when narcisistic Roman emperor Commodus was replaced in the year 192, things did not get better for regular citizens. The Pretorian Guard, counterpart to our over-militarized policing, soon took over Rome and sold the position of emperor to the highest bidder.

There are more of Us, regular citizens who are in the same boat, than Them, a Ruling Class that can operate with unimaginable power, wealth-gathering and impunity. Recommended reading:

'The Death of the Republic' published at Op-Ed News.

https://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Death-of-the-Republic-by-Chris-Hedges-Deep-State_Fascism-Cant-Happen-Here-170522-917.html

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Wish List of Research

1. Who makes money on war? And on military buying, protecting and occupying? Yeah, we already know, but let's audit this with excellent research that lays out who profited and continues to profit from our invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afganistan....or any other military activity and occupations, past or present. We have at least 823 foreign bases that the U.S. admits to; those are paid for by taxpayers, and the military bases are there principally to guard the oil for Exxon-Mobil. I believe we will find that taxpayers spend a huge amount on corporate welfare and subsidies to giant corporations, whose profits obviously are more important than the lives and limbs that are sacrificed in military actions. While we are at it, we should study who makes money from natural disasters, and how they get handed huge government contracts---in a no-bid rush, of course, since it is an emergency. There are capitalistic exploiters who feed off this as an industry; they are just not so long-established as what President Eisenhower called "the military-industrial complex."

2. Economic impact of legalizing use and sale of marijuana. There's another economic stimulus and revenue raiser. It would be regulated for safety and legal for individuals and small outfits to grow and sell. With the chance for broad participation, and the exclusion of monopolistic takeover of the market, many Americans would have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs.