General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why Libertarianism Doesn't Work [View all]napoleon_in_rags
(3,991 posts)"Make for thyself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety" -Marcus Aurelius
"have been spinning their asses off to distort the President's policies" -ProSense.
Yes. So what is that in its nudity, as Aurelius would say? Its deception. Its perception management. Its "PR" as a few anorexic old blondes who specialize in ruining people's lives still call it. Its about concealing the truth.
I was looking at a chart the other day, US debt to GDP ratio. It has this huge spike around 1944, WWII. Basically you had every aspect of everybody's lives locked up in the war effort: you'd carpool with all your neighbors to save gas for the effort, Lucky Strikes green had gone to war (and all kinds of products were effected) 16 MILLION people were in the military to fight, much more than today. Women working in the factories that had been converted to make tanks and planes. (Rosie the riveter) etc. And the whole thing funded by more debt than the country had ever gotten in, a GDP to debt ratio of over 100%. After that, the chart shows the fruits of the war effort and peace, as the debt declines over the next century. Until the present, where we now have national debt of 15 trillion and 14 trillion GDP, giving us a ratio of over 100% again, meaning that in terms of borrowing, we are now at WWII crisis level, with no end in site. No post war construction, no influence that comes from being the worlds only nuclear power, no plentiful resources and influence spanning half the globe. No magic bullets.
You talk about people who should know better than to hype Libertarian efforts. I suppose I would fall in the group you intended. My life exists, such as it is, because of big government: I help mentally ill/disabled people live fruitful lives in the community. The funding comes from the state. Also there was a time awhile back when I was on Washington state health assistance, and was afforded quality health care with the help of state subsidies and reasonable payments. My partner got in a pinch, and needed food stamps some time ago. ER hospital bills from an accident I had before I had health insurance were paid by a mysterious force once I proved my nominal income to the hospital, that force was probably the state. I get it. I am loyal. I see the good. I had hard times and got through them because of these policies, because of the state.
But the stakes right now are higher than they have ever been, we are in a different kind of situation than previous politics have prepared us for. Having just seen the 1-2 punch of Obama not being able to stop Bush tax cuts, and Republicans not being able to raise payroll tax or change social security/welfare without violent threats from their own base, I realize there is no force in DC which can stop the current crisis. We as a nation simply don't have a political system which provide us with a leader who can be a long term asshole when a long term asshole is needed.
When I say that, I mean there are two ways forward: The first is a Ron Paul path, which massively cuts both welfare and warfare while keeping taxes marginal. This will piss people off as their government benefits disappear. The second is the left wing path that currently has no Dem standing up for it, but basically means massive tax increases to pay for the current system. This is what I advocate, because social programs are my bread and butter. But it will piss people off, and it will take an anti-corruption movement the likes of which this country has never seen to restore the lost trust in government so that people don't feel robbed paying the taxes, feeling like they will go to bailouts or Cheney or revolving door. IT will take a big cleanup, but I feel its worthwhile.
What's not an option is pretending to tell people they can have the longest war in US history, plus all these programs, plus these tax cuts, as the country sinks into WWII national crisis debt levels and nobody in congress can act because doing anything is too unpopular. What's not an option is pretending that perception tricks to keep people voting "sane" will deal with the insanity of this status quo.
So do you see? This won't go away, with any manipulations of public opinion. There are some things that don't go away when people stop believing in them. This country is headed toward a systemic break down, the Republic, for the first time in 250 years, is seriously at risk. If a manipulator of public perception is hearing this, he or she won't understand. We all project ourselves outward, so he or she will hear an attempt to manipulate public opinion from me. I've done everything to mitigate this, naming myself after a madman from a Bob Dylan song, posting only in a whisper at the bottom of threads, never an OP. To let those with an ear to hear that this is serious, that the weight of true words persists no matter how silently they are spoken. If the current path of telling the American people what they want to hear, without regard to the truth, if the current path of perception management, of "PR" (as a mentioned in the beginning of this thread) is pursued, then eventually reality will burst through in a most uncomfortable manner, and the likely reaction of the newly awakened American people will be a new reign of terror, a revolution. Deception always bites one in the ass. The collapse of all faulty models, played out in the streets in blood.
Gandhi's path of peace was the path of uncomfortable truth. As a child, he stole money from his father to buy some trinket. His father fell ill. Gandhi new he had to confess before his father died, so he told him his shame, what he had done. He confessed his evil. When he confessed, his sick bed ridden father showed great love, embracing his son. In the days and weeks that followed, he healed. This was when young Gandhi understood that truth was something bigger, something that could heal us. May God give us all the same insight now.
PEace