Well, I agree completely. But that isn't what I said. I said Democracy is promulgated. Republic is the official archaic narrative. Both are illusions. The majority never rule, the elite rule. The representatives sell out to the highest bidder and the illusion of Democracy is created. It doesn't really matter what you call it. The entire system, globally, has been bought and paid for. The rest of it is just show. There are real aspects of it but nothing seems real and it seems like the ones making the most noise get what they want, but they don't. The ones with the most money get what they want and they are not going to be the ones making noise or drawing attention to themselves.
Still, the art of governing - going all the way back to at least the Roman Empire - has been differing variations on a single theme: Please the mob. Sometimes that can be accomplished through illusion, which is probably the most effective way, but if the illusion doesn't hold or have the same staying power, then the ruling class will start to panic. That's kind of what we're seeing now. I think of that every time I see someone work themselves up into a lather over some kind of "conspiracy theory," as if their lives depend upon debunking anything that's critical of the government or ruling class.
Oh they wouldn't want that! Or would they?
Sometimes the people can be convinced to go along in a case of national crisis or emergency.
So, take it with a grain of salt.
I usually do.
But the Patriot Act was written in, what? The 1990's? When was that Sax player president? I think it was the 1990's. By Joe Bidden, if I'm not mistaken, which I wouldn't be unless it had been written in crayon and changed dramatically before coming to fruition. That doesn't seem to make any sense because I was being ironical. He didn't write it he was told to take credit for it.
The Patriot Act was enacted in October, 2001, when Bush was President. Although Biden did vote for it as a senator.
I hated it! That and the Smurfs. Equally.
Yeah, I remember Dick.
I had a similar experience. My Dad was a staunch Democrat and filled my young mind with stories of the evil rich and the downtrodden poor. But when I watched him I could see right trough it. He hated anyone richer or poorer than he was. He thought of himself as poor because he had been poor growing up but by the time I came along and was old enough to think for myself (6 years old) he was pretty well off. I think that pretty well sums up the Democratic party history. Slavery, Jim Crow, etc.
My dad was a bit more straightforward and level-headed on politics than many people I knew. He was a conservative Republican, but he came of age during the Eisenhower era. Eisenhower was more moderate than many other Republicans, and he was not inclined to rock the boat or change much that had already been put in place by the Democratic administrations of FDR and Truman. Even Nixon was probably more liberal than most of his successors, having started the EPA and imposing price controls during his administration. Not even Biden or Obama would impose price controls, so it just goes to show just how far to the right many Democrats have gone.
I don't think they always will.
The intrigue and dishonesty associated with politics and governance seem to be constants throughout history. Any human society with any degree of complexity has some aspect of this quality. I like your optimism that perhaps, someday, humans might be able to eradicate this part of their nature, but it seems endemic to our species.
I suppose. That's what I mean when I say the world is getting smaller. And I think they've got the new animal in it's paddock. It's only a matter of time to transition it to the stable.
Well, we could be entering a different era. The invention of the printing press led to a greater exchange of ideas and knowledge being more widely disseminated. The Powers That Be back in those days had a real tough time with the printed word. They tried censorship and other repressive means to silence any troublemakers or agitators, with limited success.
TV, radio, and film were actually easier to control since there were a limited number of outlets. Likewise, even with newspapers, to be able to reach that many people required equipment, technology, and investment which made it out of reach for most people. Even a printing press is not something that most people would actually own.
It's like anything else. When a charity becomes dependent upon money it's a matter of feeding the beast. It's corrupted. The same as religion, politics, science or anything else.
Jackson county Missouri, 1921. Kansas City. The American Medical Association is sued by a patient advocacy group - I can't recall their name. The court subpoena duces tecum reveals the recorded meeting of the AMA and doctors which clearly state that business was slow due to good health and prosperity. They needed a pandemic. So they advertised in local newspapers and flyers. They warned of a pandemic and set up public vaccine stalls throughout the area. The court found not one case in the city, county, state or region
until vaccines were administered. A vaccine, of course, is an injection of attenuated pathogen. So only after vaccines did people began getting sick. It shut down many businesses and the only ones seemingly not getting sick were the unvaccinated who then had to tend to the sick. And still didn't get the pathogen. I can't remember what it was. I'm thinking the swine flu. But that may be a later fabrication in 1976 when I was 10 years old. In that case there were, globally, only 4 unconfirmed cases. There were other cases. Most recently Sars, Zika, for example.
ETA: Excuse me. I have to get better at this. Words are very important to me. Grammar, editing, articulation, coherency, and cohesiveness, not so much apparently. I'll work on that.
Better Video (corrected URL: Bit Chute links are deemed inappropriate due to the combined spelling)
I remember back when the swine flu was a thing. I guess I never really paid that much attention to pandemics. I figured, if I get sick, I get sick. If I don't, I don't. I never felt the need to worry excessively about such things, and I've eaten and consumed many things that the medical profession would say are bad for you. I learned to roll my eyes at the anti-drug films they would show us in school, and I never really believed in that "reefer madness" talk any more than I believed in the anti-vaccine panic.
