The Sack of Washington (essay, long)

[arendt]

The Sack of Washington
by arendt

...."The first thing you do when you put a city to the sack is melt
....down everything you can't carry off. You saw those men in the
....church; they can't go around showing they've stolen the pyxes
....and the patens from the tabernacles. Melt everything down: and
....quickly!...A sack is a serious job - at least if you want to make
....sure that in the city not a stone remains on a stone...

...."In a proper sack you have to clean the place out immediately,
....house by house, and the fun comes afterwards; otherwise the
....smartest get all the best stuff.

- "Baudolino"
by Umberto Ecco

1. Bread and circuses

It is vertigo-inducing to observe the rate of societal breakdown in
America. For the last twenty years, most Americans have uneasily tried
to keep their eyes focussed on media circuses and financial crap
games. They seem to have accepted the corporate propaganda
that cheap hamburgers and beer, affordable car payments, and
lots of sex and violence on TV are the apotheosis of democracy.

In reality, cheap food and electronic media/finance are fairly obvious re-
creations of the Roman Empire policy of "bread and circuses". That Roman
policy evolved from earlier "games" used by Roman politicians to buy citizens
votes. As more Roman citizens were made unemployed by the growth
of slave farms (latifundia), it became necessary to keep these
"deserving" citizens from rioting by feeding and entertaining them.
By some estimates, at the fall of the Western Empire, staging
games in its various arenas constituted roughly 50% of the economy
of the city of Rome.

Why did the Roman Empire devolve to bread and circuses? Because it
was a large-scale kleptocracy. The Roman Empire lived by looting.
In one year as governor of Spain, Julius Caesar extorted the equivalent
of tens of millions of modern dollars for his personal purse. Roman tax
collectors and army confiscations were hated throughout the Mediterranean
world.

As long as there was someone to loot and enslave, the Empire need not worry
too much about industriousness. Slavery was an added inducement for
the luckily-born population of the city of Rome to accept their mere
unemployment, which was a much better state than slavery. (Sort of like,
"shut up and eat, or we'll send you to Gitmo.") Kleptocracy worked until the
Romans ran out of people they were capable of either looting or keeping
at bay, i.e., the Germanic barbarians of the Fourth Century CE.

Today, whether it admits it or not, America lives high on the political and
economic subjugation of workers in Latin America, the sweatshop labor
of Communist China, the cheap, choice pickings of the educated elites of
the former psuedo-socialist Eastern Bloc and India, and the underpriced
oil of the militarily impotent producing regions around the globe. In
short, the whole world pays a financial tithe to America. Some of this
tithe has been the use of our de facto reserve currency as a vehicle to
export our inflation. Some of the tithe has been extracting by union-busting
local dictators, trained at the infamous SOTA and backed by the threat
of direct US intervention ala Plan Columbia. In the former Soviet Bloc, the
low-wage tithe is extracted by the ex-communist mafiosi which the US
allowed to loot the Soviet-era assets.

Increasingly, this corporate latifundia slavery is finding its way inside
America. The corporations are repealing overtime laws, gutting health
and safety regulations, and deliberately bringing in increasing numbers
of illegal aliens. As this slavery undermines American productivity and
social cohesion, we are rapidly approaching the tipping point where we
do not have the economic and social capacity to maintain our military
grip on the world that we have enslaved. Bush's cavalier squandering
of our military, economic, and diplomatic resources have brought that
tipping point much closer.

----------------------------

...."In the 1980s, capitalism triumphed over Communism. In the 1990s,
....capitalism triumphed over Democracy."

- "When Corporations Rule the World"
by David Korten

2. Tribute only postponed the looting

America's troubles began in earnest when the Reagan Campaign used
cashiered CIA agents to undermine Jimmy Carter. From then on, the
GOP have treated democracy like a date to be raped(by their own admission).
The sliming of democratic institutions and of the working man began under
Reagan with massive giveaways to the super-rich, coupled with union
busting, outsourcing, downsizing, and media takeovers.

These financial and political power grabs were covered by a strident,
yet cynical, foreign policy of massive military spending against an
already moribund Soviet Union, the fomenting of an illegal guerilla war
in Nicaragua paid for by illegal arms sales to our supposed enemy Iran,
the enthusiastic support for the now-reviled Saddam Hussein in his war
against Iran, and the covert creation and support of the very same Islamic
fundamentalist network which today is touted as our greatest enemy.

Such was the coordinated nature of the corporate barbarian incursion
into American democracy. Just like Rome, except on a time scale
of 20 years instead of 200 years, America failed to curb these trespassers
who cared nothing for its social ideals - democracy, education, a
fair society. Instead, both political parties paid these barbarians
tribute in many forms: deep cuts in corporate taxation, dismantling
of government oversight, privatization of government functions,
ever-loosening rules on political contributions and media ownership,
ever-wider powers of corporate "personhood".

Until, in the end, the American state was a fiction on a map. In reality
corporate barbarians roamed as they pleased, looted where they wanted.
The government machinery only functioned insofar as rival corporations
used bought-and-paid-for lawmakers to fight over lucrative contracts and
rules. Finally, in 2000, the corporate barbarians grabbed complete conrol
the City of Washington. For the past three years, they have been sacking it.

Once you see the current situation as a sacking, it makes perfect sense.
The pathological lying and intimidation of the Bush Administration is only
matched by its frantic naked greed. In three years they have changed
the US budget from Trillions in surplus to even more Trillions of deficits.

The greed is so naked because they have no intention of sticking
around. That is why they are sending our jobs overseas. That is
why they are rigging the currency markets to cash out now, then
make sure the dollar crashes so they can buy back in cheap. As one
wag observed, "Bush drives America like he stole it."

But, it is not enough for them to simply loot everything that the American
worker built over the last two centuries. They have already done that
through crooked corporate buyouts, self-compensating corporate boards,
the creation of stock market and real estate bubbles that bankrupted honest
investors, and the forthcoming insolvency of the major pension funds.
All that is still not enough for these pathologically greedy control freaks.
So, they have to figuratively rape the American economy.

----------------------------

...."Past administrations from the time of Alexander Hamilton have
....on the average run responsible budgetary policies. What we have
....here is a form of looting."

George A. Akerlof
2003 Nobel Laureate in Economics
Interview in Der Spiegel, 8/3/2003

3. The Great "En-dark-enment"

In ages past, invaders would simply loot the gold in the treasury. But, in modern
times, since William Patterson invented the Bank of England, the wealth of a country
lies in the soundness of its credit. So, whoever said "George Bush just charged
$1,000 on your credit card, gave $950 to his buddies and $50 and the bill to you"
was dead on target. This is the only way to loot a country's credit. You ruin it. It is
Enron writ large: cook the books, hand the cash to your buddies, and flee town
before they catch you. The Libertarians are right on this one: "the last act of
any government is to loot the treasury."

And the amazing thing to watch is how absolutely clueless the American
public is. It is as if, during the Dark Ages, when the Viking ships landed
to loot a town, the locals simply left their valuables lying out in the open
to be stolen. Perhaps, like those ignorant peasants, the American public
is totally outclassed by the financial, media, and political weaponry of
these freebooting international berserkers. Perhaps they are waiting for
a non-existent Roman Army to defend them from these lawless men.
Certainly, like those peasants, they are shocked and unprepared for the
unprecedented ferocity of the tactics employed against them. It took peasants
many painful lessons to learn how to build defensible citadels into which
they might retire and at least frustrate, if not defeat, the Vikings.

It is unutterably sad to watch America stand dumbfounded in the face of
this most blatant, vicious attack on its government, its economy, its
long history of fair and honest dealing, and its English Common Law
traditions of legal and free speech rights. It is downright creepy to
watch half the country sing the praises of a rank coward, three time
business failure, incoherent, snide, vicious punk as if he were Jesus
Christ and Julius Caesar rolled into one. It is impossible to believe that
in my lifetime, we were the richest, best educated, most peaceful, most
powerful country the world had ever seen. Now, all that is ashes.

But, that's what Dark Ages look like. And I think we are entering one now.
Defeating Bush will be like staving off one barbarian siege. There are an
infinite supply of corporations, but only a finite supply of human beings.

To have Bush polling anywhere above 10% on any topic after the three
most hideous years in American history speaks volumes about the
state of the average American. I mean, at least Hitler produced jobs for
his people during the Great Depression. Bush has produced nothing
but unemployment and war in the midst of peace and prosperity, yet
this new peasantry endures it all and wishes boons for their king.

You can call me an elitist, but at this point, you have to be incredibly
stupid or religiously insane to believe that Bush is good for America
or that America is doing just fine. Unless whoever the Democratic
nominee is manages to stand up to the $200 Million full-spectrum
smear job that Karl Rove will unleash, it is 476 CE for America.

So, people with a little foresight should be looking to find some bolthole,
like Celtic Ireland in the Dark Ages, before the corporate tax collectors
come looking to foreclose your house and send your college educated
children to some unsafe sweatshop.

Or, you could check out the modern equivalent of the Byzantine Roman
Empire - Europe. The Byzantines hung on for a thousand years after Rome
collapsed. They saved Europe from being overrun by Islam, and they kept
ancient knowledge safe for its return during the Rennaisance. Of course,
one of the major causes of their final demise in 1453 was the sacking in
1204 by the Christians of the Fourth Crusade, which is the setting of the
initial quote of this essay.

----------------------------

Postscript

Are you shocked at my pessimism? Good! Maybe you will finally wake up
to the stakes we are playing for. We are talking about the position of America
in the world for the next couple of centuries, assuming that the crazos in power
today don't pollute us or nuke us into oblivion in the next few decades.

Do you think the barbarians were smarter than the Romans? Did they
know how to do anything but fight and destroy? No. But the later Romans
were lazy, corrupt, and self-absorbed. Plus, it is so much easier to destroy
than to create. The lack of higher purpose on either side guaranteed that,
once the golden eggs had been grabbed and the goose that laid them had
been cooked, there was nothing left but tribes of ignorant rabble led by brutal,
greedy thugs. It took Western Europe 500 years to dig itself out of that hole.

Only people who have forgotten history can be so unaware of the express
train about to run them over. One final scream: Do something while you still
can!

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. very good: a minor correction

the Bank of England was founded by William Paterson, not William Pitt.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/history.htm

[arendt]

7. Thanks, correction made n/t

n/t

[IrateCitizen]

2. Not a cause for pessimism, but rather an opportunity

Arendt, you raise many good points in this essay, as you usually do. I have long believed that the "bread and circuses" of the Roman empire is much like the current state of the decaying American Republic. Freedom is no longer defined by such noble attributes as civic involvement, freedom of speech, freedom from exploitation, and so on -- but rather as the simple and ignorant "freedom to consume".

But, I must disagree with your pessimism. I think you're looking at things from the short-term view a little too much, and losing sight of the tremendous opportunities that will be provided by the eventual fall of the Ameri-corporate empire.

If you keep still and listen, you can hear (and FEEL) an important global movement emerging. There are people all over the world who are not content in the old systems based on greed, exploitation, excess and militarism -- and are instead seeking to forge organizations, communities and even nations on cooperation, compassion, nonviolence, sharing and hope. This is apparent through the outpouring of global anti-war sentiment last year. It is evident through the World Social Forum growing as a counterweight to the push for corporate globalization (and its accompanying rule of the planet).

Does my optimism mean that I expect everything to be rosy? Of course not. Things will get a LOT more difficult before they get better. But yet, in the face of the hardship that lies ahead, there is still hope. Community networks are being formed that reject the politics of isolation that result from a corporatized landscape, and instead people are rediscovering the connections we have with each other than make us human. People are rejecting "consumerism" in increasing numbers and opting instead for a simpler, more fulfilling (and earth-friendly) life. People are opting for locally-grown organic agriculture over agribusiness produce laden with pesticides and chemicals.

These networks must continue to grow, however, if the upcoming shock is to be ridden out. That's the hard work to be done in the upcoming years. But in the end, such work will be well worth the effort, because it could stand to usher in a whole new era, not just for America, but across the globe.

[arendt]

8. I'm a "hope for the best, expect the worst" kind of guy

The Dark Age is what I expect. What you suggest is what I
hope for.

But, I am afraid, as in the runup to World War I, when they
start beating the war drum, socialists become soldiers and
socialism becomes treason.

My feeling is that it is very late in the day. People need to
wake up right now. My pessimism is meant as a dose of
smelling salts - bitter but invigorating.

All the stuff you mention is good, positive, and constructive.
The Bush Cabal is nasty, negative, and destructive. The
problem is that its so easy to destroy. A street punk with
a $50 gun can kill a highly-educated doctor. A mindless
mob can torch the Library of Alexandria.

What scares me is how accepting of all this media brainwash
the American people have become. They parrot the lines:
the news media is liberal, the Dems are traitors, Bush is holy,
Dean is crazy. How can anyone with a brain put up with this
diet of insanity? That is why I'm so pessimistic.

But, I will try to pursue your positive ideas.

arendt

[IrateCitizen]

12. There will be no "dark age" in a tripolar world, arendt

That's where the correlation of the US with the Roman Empire falls short. At the fall of the Romans, there remained the barbarian hoardes -- who flung all of Europe into a Dark Age of hundreds of years. Today, the US is no longer the world's only superpower, at least in a total rather than simply military sense. A unified Europe and the Pacific Rim have emerged as increasingly independent players on the world stage.

Things in the US will not be good at the time of it's rapid decline -- that much is certain. But I just don't think we'll be plunged into total darkness the way you seem to imply. Rather, I think it will be a time in which the US is greatly humbled, and forced to re-engage the rest of the world from much more of a position of equality.

And if a new order of cooperation and decline of militarism can emerge in the process, all the better for the world and the human race.

[arendt]

14. Where do you think the crooks are taking the money?

They are buying the Pacific Rim. They have set up sweatshops
all over East Asia. They do business with the Burmese junta.
They jump-started the Asian tiger economies. The Chinese are
deeply, deeply in bed with these crooks.

When America tanks, the crooks will have move their floating
crap game to Asia, where profit margins are higher and human
rights are lower. They will be like pigs in shit. Their money is
completely international "hot money". They don't care about the
US dollar, except as a speculative play.

Of course, the Chinese are pretty subtle. They are in the process
of fulfilling Kruschev's ? Lenin's? claim that "when we go to
hang the capitalists, one of them will sell us the rope". But,
the Chinese won't go after the small number of uber crooks.
All they are interested in is geopolitical power. They will take
all the factories that America has so stupidly handed to them
and become the world's leading economy.

But, if the neocon crooks still control the US military, then the
Chinese can't double cross those cosmopolitan bastards quickly.
But, the Chinese are masters of the slow undermining and cooptation
of invaders, like the Mongols.

So, I see the whole scenario taking more than my lifetime to
play out. During that time, America will be down the shitter.

I have no problem with your long term optimism. Its just that,
in the short term, if we don't get rid of Bush now, the short term
is going to be God-awful.

arendt

[IrateCitizen]

16. I think you overestimate their control of the Pacific Rim

If anything, the Pacific Rim has become increasingly independent in recent years -- particularly following the financial crisis of 1997. There was one country in East Asia that came out of that crisis relatively unscathed: Malaysia. Why? Because they basically told the IMF (which is really an arm of the US Treasury) to go pound salt. The countries that listened to the US and IMF were hit hardest. The powerhouses in the East -- Japan, China and South Korea -- all took note of this and pretty much determined to start charting their own course.

China, of course, is the 800-lb gorilla seated in the middle of the room. You can't simply discount 20% of the world's population very quickly. And you are correct in assuming that China is more interested in geopolitical power than anything else. But one thing you failed to mention is that those US companies who have been quite cozy with China to make their products still are reliant on US markets in which to sell those same products. Without those US markets, China has little use for those US companies.

Europe is an entirely different ball of wax. When I visited Europe, I found that many of the finished goods sold there were also made in Europe -- particularly clothing. It's also a developed economy, so it's probably in the best position to weather the diminishment of the US marketplace.

The only way that the US military machine will survive is if the defense contractors are allowed to finally go global, as they have been itching to do for quite some time. If that happens, I can only wonder what kind of havoc will be wrought throughout the world. At that moment, we will need international institutions to really exert influence and stop a maddening march toward even greater militarism.

The neocons are the captains of a ship who don't realize that they've hit an iceberg and are rapidly taking on water. They're going down even if they don't realize it. The question is, how many of us will recognize this on our own and have the foresight to jump in the lifeboats in time? Or will we simply perish with the rest of the crew and passengers?

I think we're not necessarily in disagreement here -- we just are viewing the future through slightly different lenses. While I don't necessarily believe that I will live to see the dawn of this "new order", I also don't fear for my own mortality in the accompanying process. Rather, I view it all from a more cosmic point of view, trying to do the most with the time that I am given to make the world a slightly better place when I leave it.

[KoKo]

26. Irate, the IMF and the rest of the "Unseen Financial Controls" are working

day and night to rebalance the worlds economies to avoid disaster.

The "fly in the ointment" is that some of their members have their hands in the pot of money and have been up to skullduggery the likes of Enron and so they are really going to have a hard time from stopping a World Wide Depression when the US Consumer can no longer afford to pay for anything with their Credit Cards to the Max and their houses financed beyond anything resembling their worth in a depression economy. And, when the interest rates tick up as they will have to do...at some point and US consumer falters then 75% of our Gross Domestic Product is gone, and without manufacturing to fall back on where are we...and were are the rest of the world's economies when our obsession with "good times consumerism" can't buy their products? China being #1.

However! Since we have been busily sending jobs to India and their economy is booming they may be able to take up our slack in being able to afford China's cheap goods. And,in a pinch, the textile business in India can probably compete with China for cheap clothing so they can buy China's electronics which they've stolen from us through loose patent protection and with their booming economy India, and the Pacific Rim Islands can probably trade back and forth very sucessfully without us and Great Britain which Blair has put in a hole by tossing in with the Chimp!

Oh.....it will be interesting to see how it all goes. I hope they pull something off, but I don't have high hopes. If they manage to stave off disaster til the Chimp is re-elected it won't be too soon after that with his continuation of "bankrupt policies" that we indeed are beholden to the emergin growth countries.

[KoKo]

3. We who see "it" are trying to stop it.....but it will take decades to undo

what's already been done. Now that what's happened is finally becoming visible to more and more folks our problems are coming into focus clearly. I think Kevin Philip's book on the Bush Dynasty plus a little of O'Neil's Dumbya characterizations and economic facts in "The Price of Loyalty" have come out at the perfect time and are written in such a way that people who don't have much understanding of history, will at least get a rough idea of what's going on. Maybe more of the sleeping folks will wake up and join us. Let's hope our access to instant information will allow us to tackle the reforms that must be made and stave off a century of darkness and unenlightenment.

Nice post, Arendt! :-)'s Not much else I can add because I agree.

[IrateCitizen]

4. I wouldn't necessarily count on that, KoKo1...

Maybe more of the sleeping folks will wake up and join us. Let's hope our access to instant information will allow us to tackle the reforms that must be made and stave off a century of darkness and unenlightenment.

Sadly, most of the "sleeping folks" aren't going to wake up until we're in the midst of a full-blown crisis. That's the problem with the diet of "bread and circuses" on which they are currently feasting -- there seems to be an almost natural aversion to weaning yourself off of it, because every hour of the day you're told that it is the only option.

The key lies in laying the groundwork for a new beginning after the fall of the present order. I talked about this a lot in post #2, if you're interested.

It's not a time for mourning and hopelessness, but rather an opportunity to embrace hope -- provided we're willing and able to weather the storm that's approaching on the horizon as we lay the foundation for a new order.

[KoKo]

21. Thanks....just got back here and will go up and check your post. BTW,

haven't seen you around in awhile. Nice to see you!

[Cleita]

5. Right on the money.

I have been advocating changing the way we work by forming employee owned cooperative businesses to compete with the WalMarts and bring back jobs to America. Also, if we get another corporate whore for President, even a Democrat, and we know who they are, we should start an underground economy by using a barter system.

Many businessmen today barter services for goods. No money changes hands and no taxes can be collected. I don't really advocate this except in the case where the government is corrupt and looting the treasuries, like what is happening now. This is your bolt hole so to speak.

[IrateCitizen]

6. DING DING DING!

I have been advocating changing the way we work by forming employee owned cooperative businesses to compete with the WalMarts and bring back jobs to America. Also, if we get another corporate whore for President, even a Democrat, and we know who they are, we should start an underground economy by using a barter system.

Barter systems don't necessarily need to be underground, Cleita. There are many emerging right now completely above the surface.

For example: What if you know how to do automotive repair but need a babysitter somewhat regularly, and your neighbor has free time but can't fix their car or perform maintenance on it? In the current system, you hire a babysitter or take your kid to day care and your neighbor takes their car to a garage -- and both of you pay through the nose. What if, instead, you were to offer your automotive repair services to your neighbor in exchange for child care services. That way, neither of you have to spend a dime, nor are either of you grossly inconvenienced.

Networks like this are being set up in communities all over the US. What we need to do is simply expand on this kind of cooperative spirit. Who knows -- we may actually find our lives more fulfilling by creating real, viable communities with lots of interaction between neighbors in the process!

[Cleita]

9. The only thing I have against it, is that it cuts tax revenue

that we need for social programs like health care, etc.. However, considering the looting of our Treasury that is going on, it may be the only way to break the corrupt corporate stranglehold on our money until we put laws in place that will prevent this in the future.

[IrateCitizen]

10. Actually, I see it as boosting such causes...

... because it's laying the groundwork for a truly cooperative economy. So long as we continue to look at things through the old lenses, our vision will be clouded by the fog of exploitative capitalism.

Try on your new lenses and begin to cut through that fog. :D

[Cleita]

11. That's okay for young people because you guys

think you are immortal until the first arthritic joint settles in. We need social programs for those who don't have family and neighbors to help them and also for those whose burdens would be overwhelming if the government doesn't give them a helping hand. This requires the collection of taxes and redistribution of the money where it is needed.

[IrateCitizen]

13. Agreed. But that will never happen anyway...

... until we see an end to the fiscal black hole of militarism that bleeds ALL of us dry. In a more cooperative society, you'll see more efforts being diverted toward the kinds of things you describe. Under the neocons, you're going to just be shat upon. I don't like putting it that way, but it's the simple truth.

[Cleita]

15. No argument from me here.

My first memories are of war, of being told to make sacrifices to protect our country, blah, blah, etc.

[KoKo]

22. Irate and Cleita, if you know where these communties are PLEASE tell Me!

I don't see it where I am. My neighbors don't speak to each other, their children don't play with each other. Some go to private schools, some go to "year round schools" some go to "Magnet Schools" some go to Charter Schools and their vacations never coincide, nor do they ride the same school buses or have the same sports facilites/after school activities in common. They are all programmed to the max!

The people where I live go out in pairs to dine, or in "work group after hours." And, when they do go eat it's at some fast food place where you eat quick and get the heck out. Same canned music and food that comes in bags that the folks in the back room prepare in a microwave. The other places are Steak House/Sports Bars where beer and the Ball Game du jour are blasting on four screens.

I don't see any community spirit because people are working too hard and they want to get ahead, make money to pay the mortgage on the McMansion or in general could care less about each other.

It's all quite bizarre where I live. But where I live would be considered one of the best, most pleasant top Growth Ciites in the New South!

I remember what you are talking about maybe 20 years ago...but not now..not what I've seen. :shrug: You all must truly live in a utopian, idealistic wonder world if you are seeing what you say!

And, Good for you that you've found it! :-)'s

[Cleita]

25. We don't live in them.

We are talking about forming them. I am seriously trying to learn all I can about cooperative businesses. I think the answer in the future to breaking the corporate stranglehold is employee owned companies. I'm too old myself, but if I figure it out that I could probably act in a consultant basis. I have owned my own small businesses in the past so I have some idea how hard it really is. It is easier to work for someone else, but the world has gotten to a point where the worker is going to be no more than a slave so as a nation we are going to have to change that and it will be a big challenge.

I closed one of my stores, because a huge chain moved into my area and offered what I had been offering at discount prices calculated to put me and others in my line out of business. I didn't even fight it. I closed up shop and got a job. I was already getting too old. But this can be fought by young people. They need those of us with the experience though to help them along.

[IrateCitizen]

32. I haven't found it -- I want to help rediscover it!

A lot of it ties in with many of the books I've read over the past year, which in turn are reflective of many of the changes I felt I needed to make in my life. Some of them are Affluenza, The Politics of Meaning and Your Money or Your Life -- for starters, in case you're interested.

My town in Westchester County, NY probably isn't a whole lot different than where you live. It's a nice town -- don't get me wrong -- and we can walk to just about everywhere we want to go, but there is definitely a sense of community lacking. Perhaps it's because the vast majority of the town's residents spend a large chunk of their day making the hour-plus commute to NYC each way on the train so they can afford the outrageous expenses required to live there.

Personally, I've had enough. I'm in the process of leaving my present career as an engineer as soon as I have my classwork completed for a teaching certificate. Then, my wife and I will move to a town a bit further "upstate" and take advantage of the free time teaching offers to get more involved within our community and help establish some of these networks.

I don't kid myself that it's any kind of utopia -- but it is much closer to the more natural condition of community from which people find much more satisfaction.

[donsu]

17. you have to add Peak Oil to the formula

seven to ten years and we crash

plus

in seven to ten years the glaciers will have melted

[cryofan]

18. "Bush drives America like he stole it."..... wow!

Great essay, as long as we keep in mind that the situation is much as it was in the slavery-South: only a small percentage of the population are the barbarians, or are reaping the benefits of the sacking.

And I agree that Europe should be our model for reform...

[IrateCitizen]

19. KICK!

:kick:

[sweetheart]

20. pockets of light

You have a brilliant and eloquent mind there beautiful hannah.

There are two natural responses to your accurate remarks, personal survival and social akido.

Some on the thread believe that opposition to this sacking will eventually win, and i have no such views. There is no evidence, except pockets of light, perhaps even represented here by the few souls in an otherwise dark america with the courage to speak out against the sacking and burning of alexandria's library. Those positives are however tiny and relatively weak compared to the overwhelming momentum of the sack. In britain, they say, "who do you think you are, king canute?" This refers to a king who, upon being told he was all powerful had his throne placed in front of the rising tide. He told the tide not to rise and was rather disappointed that his advisers were wrong. Methinks the pollyanna wish that a come-from-behind win by democrats will reverse the rising tide of darkness and the greater sack, as in my view, the real sack has only begun.

A hundred years hence when people are doing subsistence farming using oxen on the washington mall, they'll ask what used to be inside those crumbling buildings. I'm missing the last chapter of your essay, the sack and fall... as all we have truly arrived at now is the sack. The fall will be swift and much uglier than the sack.

It seems people have two sorts of preparations. THe very wealthy figure they can buy their own city state and defend it against the dark tide, like bill gates with his neighborhood and his own city and education system to protect him. Others choose the monastic community option, like findhorn in the UK (www.findhorn.org)..

These pockets of light could survive the sacking, and the wise individual, gets their family out of rome before the daughter is raped and the life savings stolen. So many have no sense of immediacy, as if the lethargy of their television set has made them move in slow motion, hoping for a return to the past, all the while the degeneration is breathtaking. When i heard the SOTU on the BBC world service, the scariest thing was the screaming of the hoard in the background, as it did not sound like civilization, but a foaming mass of vengeful barbarians screaming their tribal hate before going berserk on the final raid.

I think they'll raid for 10 more years until they force a standoff with the rest of teh civilized world, and that there will be a nuclear war when they force it to a head. This will, in a final act of brutality, wipe out the last vestiges of civilization from both europe and america, as america herself will target europe to make sure the byzantine emprie does not outlast them. The final horror of nato will be to discover american nukes hitting london, frankfurt and paris.

The far east, is entirely built on a system of feudal exporting to the hegemon empire, and will survive the collapse, but only shortly, as without the export market, japan will collapse and the entire region will go back to scrapping and race warring like it has for 2 millenia before.

Akido then, is to get your family to safety given the fact of the rising tide. It does not matter what you support or say, as long as you can get them to safe harbour. It means being willing to surrender the attachment to place, property and the illusion of permanence... as the hoarde will forever disavow those who depart as traitors and failures....

I have taken my family out of the US to safe harbour in the remote highlands for this reason. The sacking affects me, yet in the worst instance, the land is fertile, and the monastary secure by the temporal boundaries of the atlantic, british and scottish nation states. I'm not so sure canada will be secure because of boundary concerns. New zealand and australia maay be... but australia will probably break down in to regional anarchy when the US collapses beyond recognition.

For those who stay and fight, i have only admiration. Its a sort of sad reflection, for those who want to die the death of "i am spartacus" but we all die anyway.

THis is a bit morose.. i realize... however i'm curious your missing last chapter... what is the fall?

[arendt]

23. Whoa! And I thought I was pessimistic!

Hi, there sweetheart-

The fall will come from some chaos that is unforseeable.

The looney tunes in charge will push too hard, piss off
someone who is as crazy as they are, and there will
be an "incident". Since the PNAC crowd is legally
insane, and convinced either of their own immortality
or their right to take the rest of the world with them,
the incident will be met with overkill, which will be
escalated by opportunistic intelligence agencies from
both abroad and at home. If you thought it was hard
to get the truth about 911 with a functioning society,
wait til some post-apocalyptic Saint Liebowitz tries
to figure out who pushed the button on the big day.

Right now, the US government resembles the way it
was portrayed on X-Files - various paramilitary cabals
slugging it out amidst night and fog while the clueless
citizenry chomp their ersatz food.

As the news media becomes ever more colonized and
neutered, it becomes impossible to find out what is
really going on.

So, I just stick to what has already happened while
looking for someplace beyond fallout and beyond
potential secret police. But, the world is so interconnected,
that such places are hard to come by.

Did you choose your location based on how the world
would be AFTER the nuclear exchange?

Sunshine to you,

arendt

[sweetheart]

29. fallout shelters

Nuclear fallout will have to cross the atlantic and go north to get here, as no nearby place would get nuked... even in an allout strike, say glasgow and edinburgh got nuked... still 350 miles south of here and the cloud would blow with the prevailing winds towards the continent... not north to the highlands. The nearest military base is near glasgow, (submarines) so that is a non-event.

There is a decommissioning facility nearby, but it is a low priority target unless a nuclear war is striking every holding location for uranium the world over... low priorities... striking the higlands is like striking rural nebraska... a waste of a warhead from a military planner's POV.

Certainly the southern hemisphere would be better, but there is also that distance-to-civilization factor, and new zealand is a gazillion miles from anywhere.

Yes, After a nuclear exchange. The highland peoples are very independent and could give a toss whether london went away tomorrow, or edingburgh for that matter. This independent nature in people is cool. I just made dinner with a suede (turnip) someone gave me, some trout someone else gave me extra from their catch, and some potatos another farmer had extra... it was outstanding, basic, but outstanding. The same ecofood systm would survie any war... as people have been inhabiting this region for 12,000 years+ Okney is a very ancient seat of civilization... and it is right off the coast, like catalina is off LA (if you can see it in the smog).

I agree such places are hard to come by. If you research the ones that ARE there, which i spent several years doing, you'll discover the highlands.

Thanks for the sunshine... its pitch black outside (no light pollution) with a carpet of stars from horizon to horizon.

Namaste,
-sweetheart

[KoKo]

24. Are you happy where you are? Do you feel you've escaped? I'm curious

because others on DU, myself included, have talked here about where would we go "if the Fall comes." Followed by the Winter...

Canada was the most popular with South America next and New Zealand, I believe following that.

But, in the end..is any place safe? And are remote parts of the US even more safe than other countries? Places where one can hide out and live relatively obscurely. :shrug:

How is it "really" where you are in the Scottish Highlands is it? Sounds lovely.

[sweetheart]

27. my dinner with andre

IF you have a chance to watch this film, it is somewhat prophetic the conclusion andre comes to by the end.... pockets of light.

Making life in a new country is hard going, no bullshit. I am an "outsider" and face sceptical local people who have over years now come to find me and my family very sincere and filled with goodwill, yet it is slow going.

That said, the mackay clan (the dominant clan of this area) is very close knit and we are already sort of adopted mackays. There is no property crime or anything round here, as the clan watches out for its own... i really like that.

The community has huge tracts of land around it called "common grazing"... land without fences... so that if you have sheep in your pen, you let them out in to the commons.. and this common land is the basis of the community. Everyone watches over the roaming animals like a surrogate shepard, and we all know the markings of other's stock.

Most of our income is from contract work we do on the continent in germany, france, romania and italy. I hate the vibes i get when people fix my american accent, that is a downside... as wherever you go, the acquaintances 'll fix ya as a bloody american bush-wanker.

I've learned about raising sheep from my neighbor, and have helped him with the hoggs, the tupp, feeding, shearing and hearding. The open land looks like a national park by the ocean, and i can not complain at all about this.

I miss people like "you guys"... but i missed you also when i lived in america, to be honest... so DU it is. I have good medicine for my athsma which i never got in the USA, and the medical service has been a real beautiful thing (socialized medicine).

It has been the best part of my life. The dogs roam free without collars or leashes. There are no violent haters or thugs and the local folks are very well educated... just they are from a culture that thinks Edinburgh is a big city... and that tony blair is a bad leader for lying... and i feel jaded in this regard.

I think that when the fall comes, no part of the USA will be safe except perhaps the american indian reservation areas (if you're with them) and the hawaiian islands (if you're with the local people on kawaii or hawaii big island)... perhaps alaska if you're a cold-body.

THe problem with the land-based future is roaving gangs of freepers with guns who will come after they've finished their theft of the cities to do rural plundering... The USA has everyone "mapped" and even the best erasing of personal records can't excape the monitoring and virtual enslavement that is part of the problem discussed.... They just declare you a criminal, use fake laws to take away you're property and throw you away in prison... there is no guarantee of justice...

New zealand is my second best choice... as the roving gangs won't get you.. in a postnuclear survival issue, and if you make a healthy life with local folks in a rural area, the likelihood of having a healthy long and decent life are high... just like here...and no surpirse many new zealander's are scottish ancestry, it is the southern hemisphere's scotland. Australia is a tossup, perhaps tasmania, as the island factor is a big deal with "road warrior" gangs looking for food and spoils. Radiation clouds will be lesser in the southern hemisphere..

All it all, it is Tough, but exceptionally beautiful. I wish that this was more like findhorn and that more folks like yourself were about, as i will never not love america... it is in my blood.

PM me if you ever want to visit the far north.

[KoKo]

28. Thanks for your reply. Your life is so interesting there, but understand

that there's always challenges no matter where you are. I've moved alot, so I understand what you say. Even here in the US there are social and cultural differences to overcome. And when one moves out of one society one isn't easily accepted in another without a period of "trust building."

I hope it doesn't come to what you feel it might....but if there's even a possiblity (which no one would have even thought of back in the 60's it being quite THIS DARK) then we need to think about our options.

I think it's possible folks will go back from Cities or Suburbs to rural areas...if any are left which can be used for agriculture.And, that there is some possibility that folks aren't going to tolerate Walmart and McMansions or living in serfdom to the McMansions much longer. Even that folks who have mortgaged to the hilt can't AFFORD the McMansions and will need to find another way to get along.

A great upheaval could come. But, then, I remember the hopes of Communal Living from the 60's. All the great plans....and somehow even then...people just can't get along with each other.

Something new will come....or our planet Earth won't survive....that's for sure.....

[sweetheart]

30. communal living

I used to think this was a farce, but now i think it an issue of space per person. For it to work, you need at least a hectare per person. As you squeeze the rats in to denser and denser populations, you get insanity and cannibalism.

Space makes a huge difference. Water makes a huge difference.

My mystical voodoo theory about water is that it neutralizs bad vibes, and that places with lotsa rain are better for less hatred.... nature gets along with itself fine, and people in tune with nature do pretty well also.

Though my buddhist training is tantric and i am very comfortable in downtown manhattan finding equally total sanity available there (though not present amongst many granted) i find the rural space to be the natural equivalent that so many people work soooo hard to get in them big cities.

We get along with others when we make peace with ourselves. I guess when you have enough space, even that peace is a function of simply being faced with you and nature alone. You can beat your fists on the ground for a few weeks, and finally the flowers cut in to your poets heart.

peace,

[arendt]

31. Kick

Interesting that this essay has attracted the
post-apocalyptic crowd. It is amazing that
we almost got rid of the nuke nightmare;
but now its back, big time.

In my mind, Bush should burn in hell for
re-starting the nuclear arms race single-
handedly.

arendt