Undermining Democracy - How the US breeds inequality at home and instability abroad"
"It seemed to me a sort of truism that illegitimate structures of authority shouldn't exist."
Change agents: think hard about what Chomsky and others like him have to impart. 'It's time to rush the field."
Tim DeChristopher
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NC: Any structure of authority or hierarchy or domination bears the the burden of proof; it has to demonstrate that that it's legitimate... If it can't, it should be dismantled. ...We should get rid of it in favor of a freer, more cooperative, more participatory system. ...
Power systems do not give gifts willingly. You will occasionally in history find a benevolent dictator or a slave owner who decides to free his slaves, but these are a statistical anomaly. ...
DB: [since it's incapable of meeting human needs] ...What sustains capitalism?
NC: There are two things. The first is the natural tendency of those with enormous power to secure and maximize their power. The second is the passivity or hopelessness or fragmentation of those forces that [Rudolph] Rocker was talking about, the people who could make a change if they rose up.
Predatory capitalism has become a threat not just to freedom but to our continued existence. ... The excuse offered [for destroying the environment - by eg extracting fossil fuel] is that this creates jobs, but that's not the real reason. ...jobs is a euphemism for an obscene 7-letter word politicians and corporations don't pronounce: P-R-O-F-I-T-S.
... Our form of capitalism has foundational properties that drive everything toward catastrophe. ... Can we change the system? Sure, because it's not a law of nature. It's another of those illegitimate structures of authority... It has no right to exist.
DB: Who do you see clamoring for change in this country?
NC: There are protests, but so far not at a scale that can compete with the vast economic resources and political influence of the major energy corporations. ...
DB: What role does the military-industrial complex play? The Pentagon is often called the number-one polluter in the world.
NC: Not only that, it's considered the number-one threat to the world. ... The US claims to be dedicated to democracy. ... there's the record: the more influence the US has on a country, the less democracy there is in it. You see this all over...
...the more concentrated economic power gets, the more it controls legislation. which drives the vicious cycle until you get to the mess the country is in now.
...
[re attacks on the working class:]
Anything that might benefit the general population has to be cut, because the goal of society must be to enrich and empower the rich and powerful. This is the obvious plan of people like Paul Ryan and other Republicans, but the Democrats are not so different. It used to be said 50 years ago that the US was a 1-party state - the Business Party, which had two factions, the Democrats and the Republicans. That's not quite true anymore. We're still a 1-party state, but there's only one faction. Both parties have drifted so far to the right that what we call 'Democrats' are really moderate Republicans. The 'Republicans' are off the chart.
... The attacks on food stamps and Social Security and schools are part of a broader attempt to undermine the heretical, subversive notion that you ought to care about other people.
[the powerful say] you should just care about yourself or the masters you serve. This view is called 'libertarian' in the US, but it's the most extreme anti-libertarian force that has ever existed. It's attitude is: "Why should i pay for anything that I don't directly benefit from? ... the moochers should get out and work, like i do, even though i'm making my money off the tax payers via the financial system."
DB: ... Louis Brandeis once said, "We can either have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of few, but we can't have both."
NC: ...Researches find in their polls that the attitudes of the poorest 70% of Americans have essentially no effect on policy. Those people are disenfranchised. It doesn't matter what they think. ...The problem has been exacerbated further by the private financing of elections, which has gotten out of control. Not only elections are being bought, but also committee positions in Congress.
... There's an extraordinary display of patriotism in the US. In other [?? or real] democracies people don't have flags all over or venerate their rulers. ..
...
[re Washington:] The Iroquois called him 'Town Destroyer", because he went on a campaign a campaign to, in his words 'extirpate' them. And of course he was a crooked land speculator. But he is the father of the country, so we have to venerate him.
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[and lots more, including Israeli apartheid; all in all, a wonderful, wonderful read.
So is the entire magazine! Every month. I'm not recommending this for any reason other than i love it.
So is the entire magazine! Every month. I'm not recommending this for any reason other than i love it.
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June interview in my all-time favorite magazine, The Sun.
"Personal. Political. Provocative. Ad free."
"The Sun magazine isn't likely to be found at your regular newsstand because it's not "commercial" enough: we don't carry advertising; and we regularly print pieces that are too risky, too personal, too sad, too something. Yet somehow The Sun magazine finds its way into the right hands; readers who appreciate writing that doesn't talk down to them or up to them, but meets their level gaze."
"The Sun magazine isn't "literary" or "political" or "spiritual" in the usual sense. It begins where those labels end, which is where life gets interesting. Each month, in essays, stories, interviews, and poetry, people write in The Sun of their struggle to understand their lives, often baring themselves with surprising intimacy. Our writers aren't afraid to take risks, to look at something ugly - or beautiful - and describe it honestly."
"Personal. Political. Provocative. Ad free."
"The Sun magazine isn't likely to be found at your regular newsstand because it's not "commercial" enough: we don't carry advertising; and we regularly print pieces that are too risky, too personal, too sad, too something. Yet somehow The Sun magazine finds its way into the right hands; readers who appreciate writing that doesn't talk down to them or up to them, but meets their level gaze."
"The Sun magazine isn't "literary" or "political" or "spiritual" in the usual sense. It begins where those labels end, which is where life gets interesting. Each month, in essays, stories, interviews, and poetry, people write in The Sun of their struggle to understand their lives, often baring themselves with surprising intimacy. Our writers aren't afraid to take risks, to look at something ugly - or beautiful - and describe it honestly."
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