![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kmo who got it from this article) is why I have been and remain ultimately unexcited by Obama's presidency:[Sheldon S. Wolin] does not hold out much hope for Obama. "The basic systems are going to stay in place; they are too powerful to be challenged," Wolin told me when I asked him about the new Obama administration. "This is shown by the financial bailout. It does not bother with the structure at all. I don't think Obama can take on the kind of military establishment we have developed. This is not to say that I do not admire him. He is probably the most intelligent president we have had in decades. I think he is well meaning, but he inherits a system of constraints that make it very difficult to take on these major power configurations. I do not think he has the appetite for it in any ideological sense. The corporate structure is not going to be challenged. There has not been a word from him that would suggest an attempt to rethink the American imperium." (emphasis mine)
And this explains why I don't vote for presidents:
[As to our] corporate state. It purports to cherish democracy, patriotism and the Constitution while cynically manipulating internal levers to subvert and thwart democratic institutions. Political candidates are elected in popular votes by citizens, but they must raise staggering amounts of corporate funds to compete. They are beholden to armies of corporate lobbyists in Washington or state capitals who write the legislation. A corporate media controls nearly everything we read, watch or hear and imposes a bland uniformity of opinion or diverts us with trivia and celebrity gossip. In classical totalitarian regimes, such as Nazi fascism or Soviet communism, economics was subordinate to politics. "Under inverted totalitarianism the reverse is true," Wolin writes. "Economics dominates politics—and with that domination comes different forms of ruthlessness."
Do you really think the answer to these problems lies in the deliberations you make over whether to vote Obama or McCain?
"Our political culture has remained unhelpful in fostering a democratic consciousness," he said. "The political system and its operatives will not be constrained by popular discontent or uprisings." Wolin writes that in inverted totalitarianism consumer goods and a comfortable standard of living, along with a vast entertainment industry that provides spectacles and diversions, keep the citizenry politically passive.
As the pointless pseudo-participatory climax to the media entertainment spectacle we call the national election, the diversion we call voting is your highest act of political passivity, sold to you as the complete opposite. Sold by the same amazing marketing that sells you all the other crap you thought you couldn't live without that clutters your dwelling or sits in storage. Obama had better branding than Apple.
"But what else can I do?"
a). Human rights or human riots. Bash back:
"The puzzle to me is the lack of social unrest," Wolin said when I asked why we have not yet seen rioting or protests. He said he worried that popular protests will be dismissed and ignored by the corporate media. This, he said, is what happened when tens of thousands protested the war in Iraq. This will permit the state to ruthlessly suppress local protests, as happened during the Democratic and Republic conventions. Anti-war protests in the 1960s gained momentum from their ability to spread across the country, he noted. This, he said, may not happen this time. "The ways they can isolate protests and prevent it from [becoming] a contagion are formidable," he said.
b). Regime change begins in your head:
"I keep asking why and how and when this country became so conservative," he went on. "This country once prided itself on its experimentation and flexibility. It has become rigid. It is probably the most conservative of all the advanced countries."
c). Do something real. "Politically active" doesn't mean you consume corporate media, vote for corporate candidates, and donate to corporate lobbyists. That's political passivity, and if you've never voted for a third party presidential candidate, see option b.
The left, he said, no longer has the capacity to be a counterweight to the corporate state. He said that if an extreme right gains momentum there will probably be very little organized resistance. "The left is amorphous," he said. "I despair over the left. Left parties may be small in number in Europe but they are a coherent organization that keeps going. Here, except for Nader’s efforts, we don’t have that. We have a few voices here, a magazine there, and that’s about it. It goes nowhere."
I will not spend my energy on anything less than real, big picture change.
Obama's already told you to get active... so get active and tear down the structures that elected him, and Bush before him, in the first place. Start in your head.
If you have little to no experience with metaprogramming (reprogramming your own head), seek professional help. There's a reason we have all of these psychotherapists, coaches, hypnotherapists, NLP practitioners, energy workers. Let me know if you need a referral.
Profile
- bunnykitteh
- bunnykitteh
Comments
Non-US forces must be out of the country by July 31, 2009 full stop. The only non-US forces remaining are from the UK, Australia and Romania. The other (more than 30) countries that had sent troops have already withdrawn.
So at least that whole mess will be over soon (though not soon enough, to my mind). And I hope like hell that Obama puts his foot down against the neocons' desire to invade Iran. We have absolutely no business there whatsoever.
Anti-war protests in the 1960s gained momentum from their ability to spread across the country, he noted. This, he said, may not happen this time. "The ways they can isolate protests and prevent it from [becoming] a contagion are formidable," he said.
This just blows my mind. Maybe we need to start borrowing from the Anonymous playbook. I'd love to see flash protest mobs coordinated over Facebook and 4chan.
It is probably the most conservative of all the advanced countries.
I reserve that dubious honor for Britain, myself, mostly because of the way they're so hell-bent on putting surveillance cameras every place imaginable. Dear UK: Nineteen Eighty-Four is not a manual for statecraft, kthxbye.
Maybe we need to start borrowing from the Anonymous playbook. I'd love to see flash protest mobs coordinated over Facebook and 4chan.
YES! I <3 Anonymous, *and* this idea reminds me that in places like Egypt activists are using Facebook toward overthrowing oppressive governments... here in the US we use it to Super Poke our friends?
"Join Facebook to connect with your friends and use the Protest Organizer application. Fill out the form below to get started (all fields are required to sign up)."
That makes me giggle with delight.
I am not much of a details person/organizer... southernpm might have an answer from his activist days. Who else on our f'list are activisty like this?
In all seriousness, though, this is a fine place to brainstorm. Poke
The system works pretty similarly in Spain, according to my husband's Spanish co-workers, and I get the same impression for Italy based on what I read in the news.
I really think ranked choice voting is one of the major steps to moving US politics in the right direction.
If you're ever in the area, though, feel free to drop by -- u can haz futon.
Ranked choice voting works great in Australia and in the Hugo awards, I'd love to see it in the US. (Oh, and in Belgium, as in Australia, voting is a civic duty, as in "you get fined if you don't".)