We need to stop making the irrational and unfounded, anti-empirical assumption that the corporate and financial elite are stupid – they are demonstrably sociopathic, but they are not stupid, as a class – and it would be stupid of them to not cooperate and coordinate, orchestrate, plan and carry out broad agendas based on their shared, common class interests, despite the obvious fact that they do compete with each other, as well. Of course they have broadly shared class interests, and of course it woulf be stupid of them to refuse to cooperate and coordinate broad agendas based on those shared interests. Therefore it is stupid of us to assume they do not act, in powerful ways, with coordinated, planned agendas, now globally, to further their shared interests. How is this not patently obvious and a matter of simple common sense?
There are only a few hundred power elites dominating most of the world, directing the biggest 1,000 corporations, the IMF, World Bank, WEF, WHO, G7, BIS, ECB, Fed, Big Ag, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Oil, the military-industrial-surveillance complex, the NGO-industrial complex, the major media, Blackrock and the big banks, and all major systems and institutions globally, as Peter Phillips showed in his recent book, Giants: The Global Power Elite. A terror and phobia of conducting such sociological, classed-based, systems or institutional analysis, is what has blinded the mainstream, academia, and particularly the left, for a long time now. Enough of that. Yes, the plutocrats have a plan, and no, it is not good for the people and the Earth. In fact, it is genocidal, ecocidal, war-mongering, imperialist, neo-colonialist, and fascist. To avoid all discussion or even thought of that obvious and by now undeniable fact, is simply foolish, and a matter either of a confirmed Stockholm syndrome, or sheer denial. It’s not merely an elephant in the middle of the room, which the public, the academics and above all the left refuse to acknowledge. It’s a mutated giant vampire squid in the middle of the room, so to speak, staring us in the face, though always camoflauged – and it is feeding off humanity and the Earth, and devouring both, along with our freedom, our human rights, our democracy, our future, our world, and with transhumanism, our very humanity itself. It’s time to deal with reality. Stop skirting the central issue of our time. A corporate-fascist coup is underway, and if we don’t admit it, then defeat it, our future will be dystopian and bleak, neo-feudal and horrific, followed by civilizational collapse, and quite possibly, the slow, agonizing death of the human species.
Time to face reality, head on. We can defeat this latest of empires, but only if we choose to deal with reality, by looking it straight in the face.
– J. Todd Ring, Author of Enlightened Democracy, The People vs The Elite, The Collapse of the West, and Slavery Or Rebirth
Villa Samadhi,
Uruguay,
December 24, 2023
(Btw, Christmases will be merrier when we rip the vampire squid off our face.)
“Progressivism” as social engineering for billionaire elites’ increased power and control – that is its history and origin, and that continues to be its nature today.
But don’t take anybody’s word on things. Examine things for yourself. Think for yourself. Question everything.
See also, my essay, When Liberals and The Left Lose Their Minds.
And again, bravo Doug Mckenty, my friend, for the brilliant discussion in the video below, which inspired this brief, pithy post!
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And yes, we must unite all forces of opposition to tyranny in any form, be it fascism, communism, technocracy, colonialism, neocolonialism, neoliberalism or neoconservatism, all of which are simply forms of tyranny, empire and authoritarian rule.
That means we must unite the grassroots libertarians, populists and decentralists, of both the left and the right – who represent the sentiments of the growing majority of the people globally.
The spirit of the time is towards freedom, diversity and decentralization. The age of empires is beginning to collapse. Simultaneously, the global awakening and new renaissance has already begun, and will triumph in the end.
That does not mean, however, that we can afford to be complacent. We cannot. The time to slow down, pause, decouple and disconnect, in order to deeply reflect, and thereby be able to truly reconnect – to our deeper selves, one another, nature, our own inner power, and our reality – is now. And likewise, the time for clear-minded, open-hearted action, is now.
A new world is being born, out of the collapsing dystopia of the presently ruling imperial system. We must now become the stewards, catalysts and midwives, to the birth of the new renaissance, and to a better world for all, in the spirit of freedom, compassion, ecology, and peace.
JTR, December 2, 2023 Villa Samadhi, Uruguay
Post-Script:
Watch for my newest books: Slavery Or Rebirth, And The Collapse Of The West.
My books, interviews, podasts, bibliographies and articles are on Rumble, WordPress, BlogSpot, Substack, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Nolan Chart, Youtube, Spotify, Facebook and Twitter.
Thomas Frank gives a good definition of populism in the US tradition: populism is a working class movement that seeks to reform capitalism. It is not anarchist or socialist, but simply seeks a greater fulfilment of the democratic dream, and a greater empowerment of the working class, or the 99% who are not among the ruling elite.
Not only is populism not to be equated with racism, xenophobia, demagoguery and authoritarianism, movements which often falsely present themselves as being populist to win public support; but in fact, populism gave birth to the labour movement, or at least tripled its ranks in the 1930s, resulting in the critical mass needed for FDRs New Deal, which ended the Great Depression and reformed Wall Street, and gave rise to what is today referred to in the US and its nearest vassal states as progressivism.
Did that come across clearly? It needs to. Populism gave birth to what is now called progressive politics. Let that sink in.
Populism therefore, far from being the great evil of the world, along with FDR, the New Deal and the broader labour movement, created the middle class. It forced a more just compromise between the ruling business elite and the other 99%. It also gave renewed life to democracy and countered the rising power of elites. For all these reasons, the elite have despised populism, for the same reason that they despise nationalism and they despise democracy: because it limits their oligarchic power. And yet, air head liberals, progressives and intellectuals on the left have been duped into using the term populist as a synonym for the dangerous violent mob – precisely the Orwellian propaganda misusage of the term invented by the same rabidly anti-democratic elite. Dumb move!
As I have been saying: accepting the elitist derogatory and vilifying use of the term populism as a synonym for all that is evil in the world is playing into the hands of the plutocrats. Yet, leading figures, groups and media sources among progressives, liberals and the left fell for the psyops bait en mass. Not surprising, given their mass failures on other major subjects, such as Obamamania, Russiagate, the Ukraine coup, Syria and the OPCW, the War On Terror, covid-1984, which is the new pretext for the continuing class war and the war on democracy…and on and on.
We need to do better. The people and the planet are being devoured by the global corporate fascist empire, and the propaganda must be seen through, not aided and abetted.
What’s wrong with the left? It’s the faux left, is the problem, more often than not. It is liberal centrist and pseudo-democratic elitist. And remember, the political spectrum has been driven far to one extreme over the past 50 years of the slow motion corporate coup. What is called the centre is now the far right: cosmopolitan, yes, but authoritarian, and fascist.
The true left seeks to empower the 99%. The faux left presents that facade, but like the faux populists on the right, offers simply a different flavour of elite rule. Wall Street Democrats, and the Liberal party of Canada since 1979, represent a smiley faced, deeply Orwellian, globalist neoliberal corporate fascism. Make no mistake. The Republicans and Conservatives are even further to the extreme right.
But even where and when the left is not faux left, the failure is in a lack of critical thinking. Even the better thinkers, activists, journalists, media sites and groups on the left, tend too often to be uncritical of elite-driven propaganda narratives. This must change, or we are dead in the water.
To clarify further, and distill it down as concisely and clearly as possible, we can say this. Populism is any popular movement which genuinely seeks to empower the great majority, or the 99%, who are not among the ruling elite, and which seeks a more participatory and robust form of democracy, as opposed to elite rule, authoritarianism or oligarchy.
If you are opposed to participatory democracy, then you are opposed to populism, and you are an elitist, if not an authoritarian – which is usually the case with elitists, almost by definition.
Again, the important point is what this Orwellian doublespeak, propaganda and confusion of terms reveals. It reveals: a) a long-standing and highly conscious class war waged by the elite against the 99% (see Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions, and Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine); and more disturbingly, b) it reveals a shocking lack of critical thought among liberals, progressives and the left. We are far too credulous. But oh, are we so very self-righteous in our foolish and dim-witted credulity.
Again, this must change, or we are doomed.
Think for yourself. Question everything.
JTR,
September 22, 2020
By the way, I am not on the right, nor a Trump supporter, as trolls and fools might accuse or assume. I am democratic libertarian socialist, or libertarian progressive, if that is more understandable. (And no, none of those terms are in conflict, as people with some understanding of history, political philosophy, or political economy, understand very well.)
From Good Reads:
The People, No – by Thomas Frank
“Rarely does a work of history contain startling implications for the present, but in The People, No Thomas Frank pulls off that explosive effect by showing us that everything we think we know about populism is wrong. Today “populism” is seen as a frightening thing, a term pundits use to describe the racist philosophy of Donald Trump and European extremists. But this is a mistake.
The real story of populism is an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all. Taking us from the tumultuous 1890s, when the radical left-wing Populist Party—the biggest mass movement in American history—fought Gilded Age plutocrats to the reformers’ great triumphs under Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Frank reminds us how much we owe to the populist ethos. Frank also shows that elitist groups have reliably detested populism, lashing out at working-class concerns. The anti-populist vituperations by the Washington centrists of today are only the latest expression.
Frank pummels the elites, revisits the movement’s provocative politics, and declares true populism to be the language of promise and optimism. The People, No is a ringing affirmation of a movement that, Frank shows us, is not the problem of our times, but the solution for what ails us.”
In addition to the giant blunders that I’ve already written about, and the clear absence of leadership on the left, there is the even more glaring indictment, which is this:
The US Democratic party, including all major self-proclaimed “progressives”, just voted unanimously, along with the Republicans, to give a $4.2 trillion bailout to the Wall Street corporate elite (after they crashed theeconomy by invoking the lockdown which caused the economic meltdown).
But, the fake left got the people a one-time $1,200 check per person – which won’t do anything – for which they are praising themselves like they are true messiahs.
That was, as it has been said, the cheese that baited the trap. But when the mousetrap snaps shut, as Jimmy Dore said, millions of heads will be crushed.
Millions of families are going to lose their homes – even more than the 5.1 million families who lost their homes in the last crash, in 2007-2009, when the faux left under Obama chose to bail out Wall Street instead of the 99% – which the faux left has just now done again.
Will someone please explain to the left, as well as the centre and right, that trickle-down economics don’t work? If you give billions or trillions to the business elite, it just makes the richest 0.1% richer – it doesn’t help the poor or the middle class, and it doesn’t stimulate the economy.
$20 trillion was transfered from Mainstreet to Wall Street between 2008 and 2010. It made the billionaires and the corporate giants even more astronomically wealthy and powerful. It caused stocks and assets to become super-inflated in an even bigger bubble (through stock buy-backs, which in an earlier era would have been called fraud). It post-poned the structurally inevitable major market correction, aka, crash. But it failed to revive the economy, which has remained in global recession since 2007. The richest got richer, while the 99% continued to be devoured.
Giving $20 trillion in debt relief to the poor, the middle class, and to small and medium business, instead of the Wall Street elite, would both help the people greatly, and also massively stimulate the economy – because they will spend the money, as they have to, to survive; whereas the elite just line their pockets further if you give it to them.
A Green New Deal to build renewable energy and transportation infrastructure would do the same – help the 99% greatly while powerfully boosting the economy – while creating millions of jobs.
For the $4.2 trillion that was just handed to Wall Street, both a job-creating, true economic stimulus of a Green New Deal, as well as debt relief for the struggling majority, could have neen done. Instead, the people have been looted, lied to, and swindled again.
Repeating the same failed multi-trillion dollar wealth transfer from the 99% to the ruling 1% in 2020 is not going to help the people or the economy this time, any more than it did the last time. In factm it is a giant swindle. It is economic warfare: class war. And “the left” legitimized it, and helped make it happen.
Disgraceful.
In the biggest single transfer of wealth from the 99.9% to the top 0.01% in history, “the left” was unanimously on board, just like the centre and the right. Clearly “the left” is, at present, devoid of leadership. Clearly, in fact, it is the faux left. There is no courage, vision, or leadership there.
Is the left leadership corrupt, cowardly, or simply deer caught in the headlights, momentarily shellshocked into a stupor of paralysis and brain fog? I don’t believe it is the first, in general. Let’s hope it is the last explanation, not the second. That would be the most promising.
Whatever the causes of the pervasive failure of the left, we need to correct it, and soon. Things are clearly in dire straights. Moreover, the people need to question everything, and everyone – including their “leaders”.
JTR,
April 9, 2020
Post-Script:
Immediately after writing this short essay, I see the announcement: Fed To Approve Another $2 Trillion In Stimulus. The business elite are tripping over themselves to give themselves ever greater wealth transfers from the people. They jusy can’t plunder the people fast enough, it seems.
(My apologies for the strange formatting again – WordPress gets glitchy on me and refuses paragraph spacing, forcing me to use awkward-looking stars. Bear with me.)
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The left is loudly proclaiming, amidst the coronavirus (largely manufactured disaster capitalism) disaster: bail-outs for the people not the corporate elite, health care for all – and a green new deal!
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Yes, that is entirely sensible. But what about civil liberties for all, basic constitutional law, and functioning democracy, all of which requires a functioning resistance to the clear and present, unfolding imposition of neoliberal fascism, as a solution for a vastly exaggerated health crisis – fascist measures which are not likely to be reversed after the crisis has passed.
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Without those three things – civil liberties for all, basic constitutional law, and functioning democracy – all your wishes and demands – for universal health care, aid to the people and not just big business and the rich, and a green energy infrastructure and jobs program – are just pipe dreams.
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With real democracy these things and more are all possible. Without standing up for these three essentials, they are nothing but that – pipe dreams.
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But to ask the left (or “progressives”) for presence of mind is something that is too much to ask, it seems. They can quote Marx, but they really need to be quoting Huxley, Orwell, or Thomas Jefferson right now – and they seem to realize it not, but are oblivious.
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It is well-documented that US and other Western elites have armed, trained, funded, used, and colluded with Islamic terrorists for murderous geopolitical and imperial objectives for decades. There is no question that Western elites have for decades, and repeatedly, lied to the people, falsified evidence, colluded with terrorists, and engaged in mass murder for oil and other resources, while imposing a kind of global economic apartheid and predatory economic imperialism upon the world, resulting, among other things, in the on-going deaths of 20,000 children per day due to hunger, in a world that produces enough food for all. Yet the people broadly, and the left in particular, are quite cheerfully willing to believe that the same Western elite are telling the truth now, while they use the present coronavirus crisis to usher in literally fascist measures, and to believe that they have only a deep and abiding concern for human health as their motivation. Clearly the people, including the left, have lost all capacity for rational thought, and have temporarily lost their minds.
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We need a little more Sun Tzu, and a little less Homer Simpson here, people. Think! Wake up! Question!
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If this doesn’t soon change, we are doomed to slavery under a corporate-run, technocratic, neo-feudal Orwellian order which I and others have warned about for decades – and it will not be pretty, I assure you, but will make COVID-19(84) look like a child’s picnic.
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Unless, of course, this is just the warm-up, the prelude to the final putsch: in which case, the people are being conditioned to accept “emergency” fascist measures, so that whenever the elite feel the need, they can flick the switch again – and this time, people disappear for good, and en mass (think Jakarta, or labour camps) – dissidents, activists, anybody who gets in the way or opposes the elite’s rule in any way. And nobody questions enough to stop it, until it is too late. If that is what we are experiencing, it is perhaps even more dangerous.
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In any event, complacently and meekly, slavishly, obediently, foolishly allowing our civil liberties to be stripped away, while sweeping, literally fascist powers are granted to, or usurped by, elites both West and East, is terrifyingly dangerous in the extreme.
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We should not be so foolish as to be complacent about this. How much can that be emphasized? Not possibly enough.
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JTR,
April 3, 2020
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Post-Script:
Naomi Klein wrote the book that best describes what we have been experiencing since 9/11, with the “war on terror”, the “regime change” wars that resulted, and the war on democracy which it represented, and the rise of disaster capitalism – The Shock Doctrine: the book that still, to my mind, best describes what is happening right now. We need to make sense of this, in the most obvious sort of way. How is this not obvious that it is another power grab? A real event, hyped to the maximum degree possible, is being exploited by power hungry elites in the West, as in the East. This is not complicated to understand.
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PSII: Karl Marx, as well as being brilliant (as a sociologist, though a daft philosopher and a terrible political theorist), was fiery as well. He managed to piss off virtually the entire left of Europe. But a fiery spirit goes with the left, generally speaking. Look at Tommy Douglas, or Martin Luther King Jr. These guys were not pussy cats. Fiery is what we need. So, sorry if I ruffle feathers at times. It is not my intention, but it is sometimes unavoidable. Truth comes first. Always.
Bernie Sanders was effectively silenced and blacked out of the media, by and large, for a long time, until he became too popular and too prominent to ignore. Now, the only candidate who is not a Wall Street hireling, hack or shill, the only candidate who is willing to take on the central problem of our society, which is its take-over by big business, has become prominent and powerful enough that the business elite and their loyal prostitutes in politics and the media are gunning for him. And of course, many among the bleating herd – including many seemingly intelligent commentators, pundits and members of the public – will simply believe anything they are told, and will trot along in obeisance to the growing propaganda/disinformation campaign that is being mounted against the only true progressive – or democrat, for that matter – in the US presidential race. But, fortunately, too many people have retained or recently rediscovered the lost art of thinking for oneself. Bernie will not be easy to defeat. In fact, he just might win.
I would say that Bernie Sanders is not only a good candidate for US President, and beyond that, the only serious candidate for the people, since he is the only one who is not thoroughly indebted to the Wall Street money masters, owned by Wall Street, and in service to Wall Street; but he would be the best US president since FDR, and arguably, since Thomas Jefferson.
Of course, it is Congress which holds the greater power, and not the President, but having a true populist progressive in the White House would be an enormous stride in the right direction – especially when it is one who is so passionately and fiercely determined to reign in Wall Street and get big money out of politics.
I realize that conservatives tend to despise FDR, or at least despise his policies, but they should remember that it was FDR’s policies which got the US out of the Depression, put millions of Americans back to work, and, along with the labour movement, helped to create the middle class – which is now being systematically eliminated by the neoliberal/neo-fascist/globalization policies of the super-rich billionaire class of business elites, the very people that both FDR and Bernie Sanders so fiercely oppose.
(And no, war did not end the Great Depression, as some people imagine. The policies of FDR, and his very real stimulus package, which built or re-built the US infrastructure and put millions of people back to work (unlike the current neoliberal “stimulus” packages which rob billions and trillions of dollars from the treasury and the people and give it to the super-rich banking elite) is what began the long road to US and global economic recovery. Once the economic recovery was underway, WWII began, and the US prospered from it – mainly for three reasons: one, the US did not suffer the disastrous effects of waging a war on its own soil, as the European powers did; two, after the war, the US emerged as the world’s “first truly global super-power” and globally dominant power, precisely because war had left the great powers of Europe in ruins; and three, because US business elites profited handsomely by trading with the enemy, (that includes George Bush’s grand-daddy, Prescott Bush) and by selling to both sides – for example, IBM providing the office machines and data management for the extermination camps and gas chambers. War is disastrous to economies invariably, except for these very unusual conditions, and in any event, the economic recovery was well under way before the war even began.)
More to the point, the majority of Americans, well over 70%, are not conservatives, but center-left in their views, as poll after poll has shown for decades – so if Bernie Sanders does become the next President of the United States, conservatives will simply have to – pardon my expression – suck it up.
But it is also a fact that many sensible conservatives, and even many sensible Republicans – and yes, there is such an animal, believe it or not – support Bernie Sanders, or at least respect and admire him for his integrity, and his honesty and courage. They may not like all of his policies, but they realize that he is the best choice available at this time, and the only candidate who is willing to stand up to the greatest threat facing the country and the world – Wall Street and the international corporate elite. The more sensible also recognize that the Republican candidates, along with Hilary, represent the interests of the same crypto-fascist (and more and more brazenly fascist) corporate oligarchs and plutocrats. In short, Bernie is not only the best the people have at this time – he is all the people have at this time, at least in terms of presidential candidates.
“Before you Republicans and Hillary supporters say anything about Bernie, let’s look at his history. He was the only one in Senate to stand up for gay soldiers in 1995. He actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement along with Martin Luther King Jr. He voted against the Iraq War. (Which Hillary still considers a “mistake”.) He practically predicted the Wall Street Crash of 2008.He has been consistent with his political views for the past 30 years [and] ever since he joined the senate. He is the longest serving independent in Senate history. He believes climate change is the most threatening problem we have today. He has over a million individual donations from actual people donating whatever they can to support the campaign without any Super PACs. (Rest of the candidates would be struggling to equal Bernie’s collections without SuperPac money.) I just have to say Bernie is the real deal. Believe it or not.” – Arnav Garg
Actually, it’s 2.5 million individual donations now, which Bernie has raised, averaging less than $30. (And Bernie is setting all new records for the fastest rate of raising individual donations in US history.) All the other candidates are deeply indebted to Wall Street, and in service to Wall Street. Bernie is the only serious candidate for the people. Period.
#FeelTheBern
What is more, now that Bernie Sanders has begun to unite progressives, liberals, the left, environmentalists, labour, large segments of the black community, including, most notably, leading black American scholar and activist Cornel West, along with many sensible conservatives – due to his fierce opposition to Wall Street, big money in politics, and the increasingly fascist police state which Bush and Obama have created – Bernie stands a serious chance, not only of winning the next US presidential election, but winning by a landslide – as he should.
This is enormously significant: Robert F. Kennedy, leading black American activist and scholar Cornel West, and now, the major US progressive organization, Move On, amongst many others, including diverse figures ranging from actor John Cusack, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, have come forward to endorse US President – oops – US Presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders.This could be the straw the breaks the back of the ruling political elites and their Wall Street masters, and puts a true progressive populist democrat into the White House. Let us pray we are so lucky – or so determined.
“MoveOn has spent more than 17 years bringing people together to fight for progressive change and stand up against big money interests. MoveOn’s fight to give the American people a voice in our political system was reflected in the group’s internal democratic process. I’m humbled by their support and welcome MoveOn’s members to the political revolution.”
– Bernie Sanders, As reported by Fortune Magazine
(I would like to see Bernie seek out and receive the support of Ron Paul, by the way: the maverick, anti-establishment conservative Senator who consistently fought for the people, and against the same crypto-fascist, pro-war, neo-feudal big money interests which Bernie so strongly opposes – a person who has tremendous integrity, and who also has tremendous support among conservatives and many thoughtful people on the grassroots right. This, Sanders should do, and do immediately, and this support he should gain. Someone please notify Ron Paul that his help is needed here, and now.)
I also realize the some people on the left are very critical of Bernie Sanders, feeling that he is not radical enough for their liking. But while such individuals have valid points to make, and useful criticisms, they too will, I am afraid to say, and will bluntly say, have to suck it up, because the policies of Bernie Sanders, while they do not go far enough in some important ways, not only represent a very good starting place, but are also supported by the majority of Americans.
The criticisms from individuals on the left with regards to Bernie’s foreign policy, where he is admittedly weak, are particularly valid and important; but frankly, despite that valid criticism, I think that Bernie’s critics on the left are not only throwing the baby out with the bath water, but are simply out to lunch, and out of touch with reality. And there is one simple reason for that statement.
At this time, when a crypto-fascist corporate oligarchy has taken over the nation, as well as the economy, the financial system, the monetary system, most of the media, the culture and the political process, there are only two options available to the American people – at this moment at least. One is revolution – and as much as I have been urging revolution, I do not think that there is reason to believe that the American people are yet ready for it. The other is Bernie Sanders. Say what you will about Bernie, but he is the best hope for America at this time.
Do I think that Jill Stein would make a better president than Bernie Sanders? Possibly she would. Do I think that Jill Stein has any chance of becoming president at this time? No. Therefore, I will support Bernie Sanders, as the only legitimate choice amongst candidates who stand any chance of winning the election – and again, a person who would make the best president since FDR, if not Thomas Jefferson. Is he perfect? No, but I, for one, am not looking for a messiah, but simply a person who will serve the people, as Bernie Sanders has done for over 30 years, and will continue to do. There will always be critics. Let’s just get the job done, shall we, and get on the with urgent business of creating, at least a starting point, for some urgently needed social change.
What would be wise for Bernie to do is to continue to reach out to the black and Hispanic communities, immigrants, progressives, labour, environmentalists and the left, as well as independents; but also to reach out to sensible conservatives and people on the grassroots right, who share his passionate opposition to the domination of Wall Street and corporate America over the economy, the political process and the country.
If he does this, Bernie Sanders may very well become the next president of the United States. And that, I would say, would be a very good thing, and the beginning of some very hopeful, and very real change.
J. Todd Ring,
January 12, 2016
For more analysis and social commentary, see my recently published book, Enlightened Democracy: Visions For A New Millennium – available now on Amazon.com.
Bernie Sanders? This man deserves to win – and he just might.
He should also read my book, Enlightened Democracy: Visions For A New Millennium. We’re very much on the same page, in most regards, except that I tend to contextualize things with a broader and longer term vision, and a more philosophical and historical context. But from all that I have seen, Bernie Sanders would be a great president, and would probably help to bring about some much-needed, and in fact, urgently needed changes.
I sincerely hope he wins. Certainly, Hillary Clinton and the Republican candidates are in no way supportable, due to their lack of strength – to put it mildly – on environmental issues, and due to their penchant for war; to say nothing of their taking big money from Wall Street and corporate America, and being, by all indications, wholly subservient to their corporate masters.
Bernie is different. Bernie is a veteran, long term activist with a remarkable record of consistency in fighting for the middle class and poor. While most politicians line their pockets by playing the servants of the super-rich and the billionaire class, Bernie has consistently fought for the 99% of the people who are not among the elite.
Bernie is anything but establishment – he is the true anti-establishment candidate. Trump poses as the anti-establishment candidate, but he’s a billionaire corporate vulture, so who takes that seriously? And Hillary poses as an environmentalist and progressive populist, but is clearly owned by Wall Street.
Bernie is a true democrat, a genuine populist – not a fake one, like Hillary or Obama – and a definite friend and ally of the people. He is the only candidate for the US presidential election worthy of support. So of course I hope he will win. And I think he can – and will.
J. Todd Ring,
October 2, 2015
The evolution of Bernie Sanders’ wildly popular campaign – in pictures
The Guardian
The Independent Senator from Vermont, and US Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, is riding a fast-growing wave of popular support across the United States. Sanders is getting ten times the turn-out for rallies as any other candidate, and the momentum continues to build.
Bernie Sanders is getting higher turn-outs to rallies than the Republican candidates, even in conservative strongholds. And Hillary still hasn’t had any turn-out that comes remotely close to those of Bernie.
If elections really were free and fair in the United States, Bernie Sanders would almost certainly win. But they are not. They are owned and controlled by Wall Street and the super-rich.
Beyond this, 90% of the media is controlled by the same large corporations and corporate elite who control Wall Street, the economy, the financial system, the electoral system and the major political parties. So a free and fair, open, democratic debate on the issues, or any free and fair, open discussion or coverage of elections, politics or any issues in the country, is very near to impossible. Propaganda, spin, noise and distraction, gossip and sensationalism are the rule, and this is very hard to break through.
There are excellent sources available for news and analysis, discussion, commentary and debate – sources which are not controlled either by big business or the government – such as Global Research, Trends Journal, CounterPunch, Z Magazine and The Real News Network; and the audience for independent media continues to grow rapidly and exponentially, while people continue to walk away in droves, in a virtual mass exodus, from the network media and the corporate press; but it still remains the fact that the corporate elite control the mainstream media and the major news outlets today: which means, they dominate and shape the public discussion, and to a great degree, control what can and cannot be discussed.
Until we have major media reform – meaning, most essentially, that anti-trust laws are applied to the media empires, and they are broken up – democracy will continue to be more theory than reality in the United States and other “leading” industrial nations. So media control and media monopolies are a major barrier to getting any decent person or party elected to government, including Senator Bernie Sanders.
If the corporate media don’t like you, then you are at a tremendous disadvantage – and if you don’t cater to the whims and the demands of the corporate oligarchy, then the corporate media are going to shut you out, ignore, marginalize or silence you, or else attack you, and try to portray you as irrelevant at best, if not something far worse than that. The gatekeepers of the establishment within the media play to the gains of their masters, and they will attempt to keep all doors closed to any real change.
Furthermore, the Democratic Party elite are terrified of Bernie Sanders. Why? Because he would return the power to the people. That means the Wall Street gravy train ends. And that means the gravy train for the party establishment ends. The party elite know who butters their bread. That’s why they don’t like Bernie.
But what if Bernie wins anyway? It is a long-shot, and Bernie is a definite outsider from the ruling elite circles and the establishment. But we need someone who is not an establishment man or woman, as Trump and Hillary are. And long-shots can, and sometimes do, win. Obama was a long-shot. Carter was a long-shot. And they both won, of course.
Bernie Sanders is climbing rapidly in support.
Bernie has won the support of veterans, because he fought tooth and nail for them.
Bernie is winning the support of labour, because he has said he is opposed to the TPP, which is yet another corporate rights agreement that will be disastrous for jobs and the 99% of the people who are not among the economic elite. Hilary is owned by Wall Street, and is silent, unsurprisingly, on the TPP.
Hilary laughed maniacally in a Reuters interview clip about the proposal to attack Iran, and was eager to attack. Bernie opposed the war in Iraq, and is still pro-peace.
Trump is a slime-ball corporate vulture, to be perfectly frank. Hilary is a hawkish Wall Street hack, eager for war.
Bernie Sanders is a grassroots populist who is committed to peace, environmental sustainability, a more equal society, the defence of freedom and civil liberties, universal health care and free education for all, the rebuilding of America and the US economy and infrastructure, and the removal of big money from politics. This is why he is so wildly popular with the people – because he resonates with their values and what they want. They want a peaceful and free, sustainable and democratic nation, with liberty and prosperity for all – not a war-obsessed gulag with increasing abuses of civil liberties and human rights, rule by the super-rich, the destruction of freedom and democracy, as well as the environment, and poverty or insecurity for the great majority.
Bernie Sanders is the only progressive candidate – and for that matter, the only one seriously opposed to big money controlling politics, to war, to the surveillance state and the destruction of civil liberties, to the obliteration of the middle class and the abandonment of the poor, and to the demolition of democracy in the name of profits, or for any other reason.
Bernie Sanders is the only US presidential candidate at all worthy of support. And if he continues to build momentum like this, he just might win.
Everyone said Obama had zero chance of winning in 2008. Everyone said Hillary would definitely win. But Obama came from out of nowhere, and won. Everyone said Jimmy Carter had zero chance. But he won.
Everyone said Bernie could never win and become mayor of Burlington, Vermont. But he did. Then the establishment said it was a fluke. Then he won two more times. It was no fluke. Then they said he could never win as a Congressional candidate. But he did. And then won as a Senatorial candidate, and is now the longest serving member of the Senate.
Bernie has a proven track record, not just of fierce integrity, honesty and courage in politics, not just in a five decade long record of consistency, but in winning, when everyone said it was impossible for him to win. This man is a lion – and a lion for the people.
I heard a great comment recently about the good Senator. “Bernie Sanders is the next most popular socialist after Jesus.”
One commentator put it ironically, and well, and said essentially the same thing. He said, “You have a problem with him (Bernie) being a socialist? Jesus was a socialist. Would you rather have Donald Trump?”
Or how about Hillary, bomb-em-now, Clinton, and her Wall Street cabal?
The Red Scare tactics simply don’t work on the majority of the people anymore. This is not 1955 and the midst of the McCarthy era. People look to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, or Canada, with their democratic socialist traditions which are blended with a capitalist economy, and they think, “Well, democratic socialism seems to work just fine there – in fact, it works better for the people than what we have here.”
Some people will say, “Ok, the man has good values and strong ethics, and he is admirable, and maybe would make a great president – but he doesn’t have a chance of winning.” I can understand this view, and there are certainly some good reasons for thinking this way, but I disagree.
A very dear friend of mine, and a very intelligent, well-read woman, basically said this of Bernie Sanders: that she respects his values and his ethics, but he doesn’t have a chance of winning. To which I said the following: I really hope you’re wrong. I think you might possibly be right, but I really hope not. And even if there is only a slim chance that he could win, I want to support him. In any event, win or lose, as Chomsky has said, the very fact of his running brings up facts and arguments and ideas that otherwise would not be discussed – so even if he loses, we all win, to some significant extent at least.
And as I write this, and look further into what is happening with the US presidential primaries, I find this startling piece of information. As of August 14, Bernie Sanders had passed Hilary in the polls in New Hampshire. Remember that New Hampshire is the first primary race. Winning in the first primary goes a long way to building momentum. Bernie could take New Hampshire, and conceivably, take it all the way to the presidency.
Let’s hope the US, and the world, are so lucky.
As one savvy political observer has said, “Bernie Sanders is the guy Barack Obama pretended to be in 2008.”
Go Bernie. The people need a champion in the White House who will fight for them, and not for the ruling oligarchy of the Wall Street elite.
Frankly, I have a feeling that Bernie Sanders is going to win. I pray that I am right. A change in the presidency of the most powerful nation on earth is not enough in itself to accomplish the major changes that are needed now in the world today, or even within the United States, but it could be a tipping point, and a decisive turn of events.
Go Bernie.
J. Todd Ring,
August 21, 2015
Update, September 18, 2015:
Sanders takes the lead in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, leading over Clinton by 10 and 20 points, respectively. I think he’s going to win. I certainly hope so.
Here he is on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And the crowd loves him!
Millennials are now the largest voting block in the US, and they are lining up behind Bernie Sanders. So too are progressives, labour, environmentalists, and people like prominent black American scholar Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Meanwhile, Bernie still leads over Hillary in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the key primary states, is drawing bigger crowds than any candidate, and raising more campaign funds than any candidate, despite his rejection of the billionaires’ money. This is looking interesting, to say the least.
Senator Bernie Sanders nails it, in this two minute video from C-SPAN, from over 20 years ago – just as he did before that, just as he has done since then, and just as he is doing now. Watch this short clip to see who Bernie Sanders really is, and what he stands for. I think most people will agree, Senator Sanders simply makes sense. And he has the guts to fight for what is right, what is good, what is sane, and what is meaningful – the guts to fight for the real changes that we urgently need today.
Bernie Sanders: Where is the leadership? (C-SPAN, 6/4/1992)
On Friday, presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton addressed a hand-picked audience at a Dartmouth College campaign event. She lied calling Iran an “existential threat to Israel… I hope we are able…
Rachel Maddow traces the political history of Bernie Sanders, from small city mayor of Burlington Vermont, to congressman, senator and upstart presidential candidate, all while staying consistent on a core set of issues – msnbc.com
Bernie Sanders: “Let me tell you something that no other candidate for president will tell you”
Bernie Sanders Unveils Racial Justice Platform
Bernie Sanders On Meet The Press
Good background info on the fast-rising tide of support for Bernie Sanders (from July 1):
Huge Crowds For Bernie Sanders Should Terrify Hilary Clinton
Bernie Sanders Surges Past Hilary In The Polls
Hillary Clinton’s Keystone Crisis – Common Dreams Hillary waivers, waffles, obfuscates, evades, and refuses to take a stand, while taking big money from big oil
Canada and the US have the largest trading relationship in the world between any two countries, as well as the longest undefended border in the world, and share a great deal in common as friends and neighbours. The public opinion polls have shown repeatedly and for decades that, like most of the world, the values of the great majority of the people in both countries are centre-left, and frankly, democratic socialist – although most people, especially in the United States, are unaware of this fact; mainly because they get their “news and analysis” from the corporate and state-run media, and have been brainwashed and indoctrinated to believe, at least in the US, that socialism is the equivalent of Stalinism – which of course could not be further from the truth.
(Since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, when Leninism was finally thoroughly discredited, most socialists around the world have been highly wary of state power, and highly opposed to authoritarianism or tyranny of any kind. And for the far larger number of people world-wide who hold socialist values – the values of compassion, cooperation, solidarity, freedom and equality – but would not call themselves socialist, the same is true: there is a healthy skepticism and wariness toward government and the state, and a strong aversion and opposition to any form of tyranny, authoritarianism or abuse of power of any kind. This is what I mean by socialism being fundamentally at odds with such tyranny as we saw in the former Soviet Union.
Yes, the Soviet rulers called themselves socialists, and they called their gulag empire socialist – and they did that because they wanted to enhance their credibility with the people. And the Western powers, being pro-corporate, liked to call the Soviet tyranny by the name of socialism, in order to discredit socialism by associating it with tyranny. Both the Kremlin and the Western corporatists were lying however. Soviet style totalitarianism has nothing to do with genuine socialism. It was simply another form of neo-feudal elite rule, and the tyranny of the few over the many. Socialism is about freedom and the emancipation and empowerment of the people, or it is about nothing at all, and does not deserve the name.
Prior to the collapse of the Soviet empire and the final discrediting of Leninism, there were two camps of socialism, from its inception, which came out of the Enlightenment. There were those who followed Marx and later Lenin, and who were definite statists with a strong authoritarian, if not totalitarian streak; and there were the libertarian socialists, following in the tradition of Bakunin, Kropotkin, Rocker, Bookchin and Chomsky, who were and are adamantly opposed to the statists and to authoritarianism or tyranny of any kind. After the fall of the Soviet Bloc and the final, thorough discrediting of Leninism, outside of a few small pockets, such as North Korea, only the latter kind of socialists remain, by and large, and the vast majority of socialists now are passionately opposed any form of excess or abuse of state power.
But let’s stick to specifics, and skip over the labels and isms, which tend only to cause schisms, and lead to further misunderstanding.)
The great majority of the people in both Canada and the United States, as with the majority of the people in most nations today, are in favour of strong social programs to help the poor and the working class; a fair and equitable distribution of both wealth and also power; authentic, participatory democracy; rule by constitutional law, with respect for freedom, civil liberties and minority rights; strong environmental programs and regulations; peace, and an end to war and militarism; universal public health care; jobs for all, and other centre-left policies.
But despite what the people want, the corporate powers have taken over, and they rule the two countries to their pleasing, compromising with the people only when they feel they have no other choice, and only for as long and to the extent that they feel they must.
Still, there are, of course, major differences between Canada and the US, as well as commonalities, and these do not end with the very differing views and culture with regards to guns.
Here is a rough translation of Canadian political culture for Americans and others who may be unfamiliar with the political landscape of the second largest country on earth, the holder of the largest oil and mineral resources on earth, the pantry to the American empire, one of the richest nations on the planet, and a member of the G7 group of nations.
Generally speaking, a conservative Canadian = a very “progressive” Democrat. A liberal Canadian today – after the major slide of all of the major North American political parties to the right over the past thirty years – is to the left of that, but still centrist and pro-corporate, wittingly, or more often, unwittingly. A New Democratic Party supporter in Canada is minimally left of centre, on average – when viewed by world standards of course, and not the extreme right wing politics that now dominate both parties of the US – though NDPers are typically wishy-washy and passive, and by and large are content to moan from the sidelines, and let the two major parties of corporate rule, rule.
Far right Republicans seem to most Canadians to be straight out of Dr. Strangelove – there really aren’t many people in this country that would even call them sane. We kind of look at them as something akin to Frankenstein’s monster – surreal, almost a comic book fiction, but frightening and disturbing nonetheless.
Not that anyone in Canada with half a wit of political savvy is any fan of Obama now, if they ever were, with his incessant and ever-expanding wars, his murderous drone campaign, his shredding of civil liberties and the Constitution, his support for a global surveillance state and also fracking, the Keystone pipeline and generally ecological holocaust-inducing policies, or his on-going massive bail-outs and protection for the Wall Street elite and big banks who funded his election and put him in power, but that is an aside.
We must note also, at least in passing, though it is beyond the scope of this short article, that with the signing of the SPP, the “Security and Prosperity Partnership”, Canada and Mexico agreed to a “deep integration” with the United States in a new “Fortress North America”, as the elite who thought up and pushed through the agreement called it: a deep integration in the realms of economics, law and regulations, military, security and intelligence services – meaning, an essential union of the three nations, without calling it a union – the fate of Canada is now tied to the sinking ship of the United States, and worse, to the corporate powers which rule over it: at least until and unless the people decide to assert and to actively reclaim their sovereignty, and say no to the dissolution of national democracies and their submergence into larger power blocks under corporate rule. I have written on this extremely important subject elsewhere, so I will say no more about it here for the moment. I would urge all Americans, Canadians and Mexicans to look into the subject for themselves, however.
All that being said, and with the acknowledgment that US politics are far to the right of Canadian politics, to say nothing of Europe, it must be understood that neoliberalism, or the ideology of the super-rich who dominate and rule the country – which means, corporate globalization and corporate rule, or more simply, freedom for the ruling corporate elite to do as they please, and subjugation, soup lines and sweat shops for the rest – this corporatist ideology has, for the moment at least, conquered Canada, just as it has conquered the United States and most of the world.
The people of Canada, as in the US and most nations today, do not believe in the ideology of corporate globalization, neoliberalism, corporatism or corporate rule – which are essentially different ways of saying the same thing. This ideology has lost the battle in the propaganda wars, the battle for the hearts and minds of the people. The ideology of the ruling elite has been thoroughly defeated. But, and this is the big “but” – the corporate elite have seized power, and have put their ideology and their agenda into practice, the people be damned, and they are advancing it further every day. And they continue to rule, which means their failed and failing ideology continues to rule, despite the deep and growing crisis of legitimacy which they face; simply because the people have not yet embraced their power, but instead, passively acquiesce and do not challenge the illegitimate and unjust, frankly suicidal and ecocidal rule of the global corporate and banking elite.
The corporate coup has taken over democracy here in Canada, and it is actively tearing it to shreds and devouring it, just as it has done and is actively doing in the US and most nations in the world today. The major difference between Canada and the US is that the drive towards full corporatization of the society is less brutal here than in the United States, primarily because Canada has a long tradition of tolerant, freedom-loving, constitutional social democracy, and the valuing of compassion and mutual aid; and the people would not stand for a gloves-off, rapid fire destruction of all social programs and safety nets, or a more rapid move towards stark neo-feudal corporate rule. But make no mistake: we are heading down the same road – and will continue to do so, until the Canadian people find their cajones, and stand up.
The same is true in America and Europe, and most nations world-wide.
Writings of J. Todd Ring 