by stuart on 06/03/08 (1 of 1 people found this comment informative)

more from the article until we have real election reform, until we make it possible to run for national office without candidates kissing the rings of Tillersons, Iranis and Hacketts to get hundreds of millions of dollars, this rape of America will continue. FDR wrote: The first truth is that the liberty of democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism -- ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. The second truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if its business system does not provide employment and produce and distribute goods in such a way to sustain an acceptable standard of living. "Before they seize power and establish a world according to their doctrines," Hannah Arendt wrote, "totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself; in which, through sheer imagination, uprooted masses can feel at home and are spared the never-ending shocks which real life and real experiences deal to human beings and their expectations. The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda -- before the movements have the power to drop iron curtains to prevent anyone's disturbing, by the slightest reality, the gruesome quiet of an entirely imaginary world -- lies in its ability to shut the masses off from the real world." Human beings are not commodities. They are not goods. They grieve and suffer and feel despair. They raise children and struggle to maintain communities. The growing class divide is not understood, despite the glibness of many in the media, by complicated sets of statistics or the absurd, utopian faith in unregulated globalization and complicated trade deals. It is understood in the eyes of a man or woman who is no longer making enough money to live with dignity and hope.

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by Naz on 06/09/08 (0 of 0 people found this comment informative)

Wow, Stuart. If I hadn't been sitting as I read this article, I might have fallen down from being smacked upside the head with Hedge's brutal honesty. Yes, the article about the rise of tyranny is disheartening to read, but it is compelling, honest and insightful at a time when little else is. Please read it - suggestions for immediate action include: (1) voting is not enough, we must lobby, organize and advocate against WTO and NAFTA; (2) repeal Taft-Hartley, obstructing the organization of unions; (3) transfer control of pension funds from mgmt to workers; and (4) impeach Bush and hold him accountable for his crimes.

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