Evolution of Consciousness

Excellent Chris Hedges interview with Brother Cornel West: “The Obama Deception.”

Also, a good meditation on irrationality from David Michael Green: “The Shame of Regressivism.”

Driving along the other afternoon, I turned on the radio to catch the tail end of this exchange (on NPR) betwixt Robert Siegel, Cynthia Tucker, and David Brooks…

SIEGEL: Here is a finding in that New York Times CBS news poll. People were asked about raising taxes on those who make over $250,000 a year. That is ending the Bush tax cuts for the well-to-do. The number who said, yeah, you should do that to help ease the deficit is 72 percent. That is not an insignificant number, but can Republicans in Washington just ignore that?

TUCKER: Well, so far it seems that they are. And while there’s plenty of blame to go around here, one of the reasons that the deficit debate hasn’t moved at all is because most Republicans have absolutely taken increasing taxes off the table. It is hard to see how we move from where we are, how we get the deficit under control if you say no taxes were raised ever on anyone. And it is another sign of dysfunction, I think.

BROOKS: Yeah, though I would blame the American people a little here. I mean, they want to see other people pay to balance the budget. A poll today underlines, once again, they don’t want it to have any pain for themselves. And so cutting defense is popular, raising taxes on the rich is popular. Everything else is unpopular. And unfortunately we really can’t make much headway without doing that other stuff.

At this point, I was giving my radio the finger, with verbal accompaniment.

Brooks has long been a mouthpiece for the Forces of Evil (Upper Twit Division) at the New York Times. I’ve read his nonsense before. So it wasn’t what he said as much as the sheer brazenness of it. It reminded me of Dick Cheney’s dismissive “So?” when told that a supermajority of Americans opposed his never-ending invasion of Iraq. These guys have been in power for so long, they feel invincible, like they can say and do anything they want, and suffer no consequences. Look at Goldman Sachs, outright criminality followed by outsized bonuses. This is the ruling class taunting us, flaunting their absolute power, daring us to revolt.

So here’s how the insipid chat concluded…

SIEGEL: And changing Medicare is sort of popular, sort of unpopular?

BROOKS: No, but I think pretty unpopular. I mean that’s – there is no education process that’s been done by people in Washington or anywhere else to educate the American people about what needs to be done.

SIEGEL: OK. Have a good weekend.

BROOKS: You too.

TUCKER: You too.

Upon re-reading this, what boggles me is the absolute lack of response (from Siegel or Tucker) to the outrageousness of Brooks’ declamations. “OK. Have a good weekend”? Is that the best we can do? Why not: Enjoy your extra dose of radiation, complements of GE, who paid no tax this year! or Have a nice vacation, flying over the polluted Gulf in your private jet! or Don’t let all those homeless people out on the streets get you down!

There comes a time to stand and fight. Methinks it approaches.

David Michael Green gets delightfully apoplectic in: “The Sole Remaining Stupidpower In The World.”

An excellent speech by Bill Moyers: “America Can’t Deal With Reality — We Must Be Exposed to the Truth, Even If It Hurts.”

A good pair of articles from David Rosen…

1. “The End of the American Century“
2. “Class War in America“