Evolution of Consciousness

“Do Not Pity the Democrats,” by Chris Hedges, looks at ways to address the deep problems we have in this country.

Here’s my Voter Guide for a New American Century: “D” is for disappoint and “R” is for regress. Those, sadly, are the two major-party choices in this country, which is why we all need to start voting for independent, or third party, candidates in the coming elections.

The important fact is that both major parties serve the same master: Big Money. A vote down either rathole garners the same result: more of the same. That is why the ruling elite — the only ones happy with the way things currently are — would like to see you continue worrying about Ds and Rs.

It’s like professional wrestling, where the promoters care only about the take at the gate, not the outcome of the match. The “fight” is merely an act, put on to capture the crowd’s attention, to the point where they become invested in the outcome. In the long run, it doesn’t matter who wins or loses each match as long as the performers put on a good show and keep the marks coming back for more.

I don’t think Not Voting is the answer, that just makes it easier for the status quo to keep itself in power. The answer, short of actual revolution, is voting independent. Individually, it’s a small thing, but voting is where our power lies, and many of us, acting together, could make it a big thing. The freedom to do so comes from the real understanding that it doesn’t matter if a D or an R wins. That is a trap, and remains a race to the bottom. As Noam Chomsky likes to say, “voting for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.” We can do better than that, and we should.

DMG (David Michael Green) goes on a quick tour of the past thirty years of regressive American politics in “Mission Accomplished:
The Reagan Occupation and the Destruction of the American Middle Class.” Until a majority of Americans understand the basic premise of this story, we’re going to be stuck in it.

Outstanding essay by Chris Hedges called “This Country Needs a Few Good Communists” gets to the heart of the matter. It’s about what happened to the once robust left in this country, and how Americans now need to find their way out of the grip of the Corporate State.

Dean Baker, in “Why Should We Listen to Deficit Hawks?,” questions the wisdom of taking advice from those who are only interested in picking our pockets once again. It’s time to smarten up, people, or whither away.

These are interesting times we live in.

We are currently being presented with some momentous decision points concerning government and economics, so it is becoming more and more important for people, the masses, to understand what is happening at the foundational level.

If we continue passing through these crises largely unaware and misinformed (Hello, Teabaggers) we could go the way of the Weimar Republic (totalitarian fascism). That is what ignorance could bring.

On the other hand, this is also a golden opportunity for us to take an evolutionary step in a much more positive direction, but in order to accomplish that we must have some basic understanding of the actual forces involved. We need to attain a critical mass of consciousness about what is currently happening.

Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007) provides excellent background on this subject, and here’s a few more recent discussions on the latest events…

• “Austerity Does Not Produce Prosperity” by Robert Kuttner
• “The Greeks Get It” by Chris Hedges
• “Euro-Bankers Demand of Greece” by Michael Hudson