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PatrickforO

(14,514 posts)
9. Krugman is one of my favorite economists.
Tue Aug 13, 2019, 04:28 PM
Aug 2019

And he's right on the money here.

It's ironic to me - after the Powell Manifesto in 1971, which laid out the blueprint for basically gutting the New Deal, we've had decades of corporate funded propaganda designed to make us hate and mistrust each other; to program us to not want to share anything with anyone else; to program us to believe we are all 'rugged individualists' who never got help from anyone and pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps.

This has created a society of angry men and angry women - mostly men. These people walk around with rage simmering just beneath the surface. They drive meanly. They own guns. They engage in a wide variety of addictive behaviors as a form of escapism - opioids, other drugs, alcohol, video games, sports, reality TV, gambling, porn and sex.

Why are they trying to escape? Because their subconscious minds, perhaps their spirits or souls, know deep down that this life is empty; that the mindless pursuit of wealth and power is hollow at best. Like Trump, you might poop in a gold toilet (I still am appalled by this), but in the end you die.

And you know what? The only thing you take with you is the love that has been given to you, and the love you have given to others. This shared love is EVERYTHING. It really is. There is something freakish, parasitical, about these billionaires - people who feverishly amass billions of dollars in wealth. For what?

See, I believe that this system we have has two levels:

The first level is what I just described. The dog-eat-dog, loveless, competitive existence of everyday people. Like in the song - we are all 'modern day warriors, mean mean stride; today's Tom Sawyer, mean, mean pride. So we try and escape. Some have now escaped into white nationalism because they have convinced themselves (with lots of well-funded help from the corporate-funded AM talk radio, Fox and other right-wing organs) that they must fear 'other' because 'other' is taking their jobs, their culture, their very existence away from them. This is why they chant blood and soil.

The second level is the billionaires. The people who really call the shots. The people who have bought the Republican party lock, stock and barrel, and have arranged for giant tax cuts, forever wars and a constant transfer of wealth to fewer and fewer people. They have created the first level, because people who hate and mistrust one another are unlikely to identify the real enemy, which is the billionaires picking our pockets.

Unfortunately, a growing white nationalist movement is sort of like a stampede. It is truly destructive and will take out everything in its sick path. Sadly, when we look at Germany, many of the rich capitalists weathered the Second World War quite well. That class takes care of each other without regard to national boundaries.

But now, the growing white nationalist movement is worldwide. They are preparing the way even now, with the recent Rasmussen survey, and others - 59% of all voters fear violence from people opposed to Trump! Think about that for a minute. We will be blamed if it breaks out.

It has always been that way. The left is always blamed for violence, even if fomented by Trump and his right wingers.

Long post, I know, but then I am rather verbose. And I do know it wasn't cheerful. But there is hope! We may yet make it through, save the republic, save our species and keep the world from becoming uninhabitable. We cannot give up, and must keep fighting the good fight.

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