The Limited Minds Of The American Elite
Make No Mistake. America invades foreign
lands, kills their people, supports their tyrants and dictators -- and incites
revenge and resistance. We create the terrorists and we are the terrorists. That is a sad fact of life in the United States. That's what we do.
The inconceivable dynamic of permanent war has become an absolute reality in my last years on earth. We are permanently in permanent war.
When I was a kid growing up with the very real experience of the Vietnam War which we actually watched on television, unlike today where war isn't broadcast, I witnessed the end of a terribly unfair war in which 2 million innocent people were killed and 50,000 American soldiers died. I thought we learned a lesson. We didn't.
That's because the elite don't fight wars. The poor and middle class send their kids off to die while the wealthy go to college. If there were a draft today the war resistance would be heated like it was during Vietnam because wealthy kids, some, those that weren't able to escape the draft through family connections, were dying. Not today.
Today, well not actually today but tomorrow, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be cut. Now that isn't something most of you are worrying about right now but I'm eligible for all of them and I'm worried. By the time YOU worry about them they'll be non-existent and like Thomas Jefferson said, you'll be out on the streets in the land you were born in. What will YOU do when you're 65?
lands, kills their people, supports their tyrants and dictators -- and incites
revenge and resistance. We create the terrorists and we are the terrorists. That is a sad fact of life in the United States. That's what we do.
The inconceivable dynamic of permanent war has become an absolute reality in my last years on earth. We are permanently in permanent war.
When I was a kid growing up with the very real experience of the Vietnam War which we actually watched on television, unlike today where war isn't broadcast, I witnessed the end of a terribly unfair war in which 2 million innocent people were killed and 50,000 American soldiers died. I thought we learned a lesson. We didn't.
That's because the elite don't fight wars. The poor and middle class send their kids off to die while the wealthy go to college. If there were a draft today the war resistance would be heated like it was during Vietnam because wealthy kids, some, those that weren't able to escape the draft through family connections, were dying. Not today.
Today, well not actually today but tomorrow, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be cut. Now that isn't something most of you are worrying about right now but I'm eligible for all of them and I'm worried. By the time YOU worry about them they'll be non-existent and like Thomas Jefferson said, you'll be out on the streets in the land you were born in. What will YOU do when you're 65?
War, Budgets and Blind Ambition
The Limited Minds of the American Elite
by Chris Floyd
The American elite's unbounded, unquestioned, indeed unconscious sense of imperial entitlement and dominance -- based ultimately on war, the threat of war and the profit from war -- is one of the defining characteristics of our age. And if you would like to see
a glaring example of this attitude in action, look no further than the
front page of Tuesday's New York Times, where one David Sanger gives us
his penetrating "news analysis" of the Administration's just-announced
$3.8 trillion budget.
Sanger focuses on the huge, continuing deficits that the budget forecasts over the next decade. Completely ignoring the plain truth that his own expert source tell him later in the story -- that
"forecasts 10 years out have no credibility" -- Sanger boldly plunges
forward to tell us just what it all means. You will not be surprised to
hear that the upshot of these big deficits is that neither Obama nor his
successors will be able to spend any money on "new domestic
initiatives" for years to come. But let's let Sanger, savant and seer,
tell it in his own words:
"In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power.
"The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the
United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation
that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending
abated.
"But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to
what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. …
"For Mr. Obama and his successors, the effect of those projections is clear: Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises, creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there
is virtually no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his
successors. Beyond that lies the possibility that the United States
could begin to suffer the same disease that has afflicted Japan over the
past decade. As debt grew more rapidly than income, that country’s
influence around the world eroded."
What is most interesting here, of course, is not Sanger's noodle-scratching over imaginary numbers projected into an unknowable future, but his total and apparently completely unconscious adoption of
the mindset of militarist empire. For as he puzzles and puzzles till his
puzzler is sore on how in God's name the United States can possibly
find any money at all to spend on bettering the lives of its citizens
over the next 10 years, it becomes clear that Sanger -- like the rest of
our political and media elite -- literally cannot conceive of an end to
empire. Our elites and their courtiers literally cannot imagine life
without a permanent war for global dominance, fueled by a gargantuan war
machine spread across hundreds and hundreds of bases implanted in more
than 100 countries.
And so this consideration, this possible outcome, does not figure in Sanger's "analysis" because it cannot: it lies far outside the scope of his consciousness. The only possible alternative he can
conceive to the empire's bloody and bankrupting business as usual is
some kind of divine intervention, "miraculous growth" or some
"miraculous political compromise."
And make no mistake: the "miraculous political compromise" he is talking about has nothing to do with ending or even trimming the empire. A "compromise" on this issue could only be posited if there was
some present conflict over it. But both parties are deeply committed to
increasing spending on the wars and the war machine.
No, by "compromise" Sanger means some sort of "Grand Bargain" between the parties to cut Social Security and Medicare, along the lines of the "blue-ribbon panel" of entitlement cutters now being
pushed by the Obama Administration. The first effort to impose this
elitist, unaccountable commission failed in the Senate a few weeks ago
-- although the Republicans have proposed such panels before, they
didn't like this one because Obama proposed it -- but the idea will keep
coming back, and Sanger and the elite will doubtless get their
"miracle" of slashing the remaining bits of the safety net to shreds in
due time.
These are the only possibilities for deficit-cutting that Sanger can even remotely contemplate: some whiz-bang new gizmo -- or maybe some hot new "financial instruments" cooked up by Wall Street --
that will goose the economy with a bright new bubble ... or else finally
telling our old, sick, vulnerable and unfortunate to just crawl off and
die already. That's it. That's all that our elite can envision.
Yet the ending of the imperial wars and the dismantling of America's global military empire -- and its global gulag -- would save trillions of dollars in the coming years. Not only from direct military
spending, but also from the vastly reduced need for "Homeland security"
funding in a world where the United States was no longer invading
foreign lands, killing their people, supporting their tyrants -- and
inciting revenge and resistance.
This would release a flood of money for any number of "new domestic initiatives," while also giving scope for deep tax cuts across the board. Working people would thrive, the poor, the sick and the
vulnerable would be bettered, businesses would grow, opportunity would
expand, the care and education of our children would be greatly
enhanced, our infrastructure could be repaired and strengthened, our
environment better cleansed and cared for. In short, people could keep
more of their own money while government spending could be directed
toward improving the quality of life of all the nation's citizens.
This is no utopian vision. Many problems, much suffering would remain. But it would be a better society -- more humane, more just, more secure, more peaceful, more prosperous than it is now. Such
an alternative is entirely achievable, by ordinary humans; it would
require no divine miracles, no god-like heroes to bring it about.
But such a society is precisely what our elites cannot -- or, to be more accurate, will not -- imagine. Because, yes, it would "erode" their "influence" around the world to some extent. Although they
would still be comfortable, coddled and privileged, they could no
longer merge their individual psyches with the larger entity of a
globe-spanning, death-dealing empire -- a connection which, although
itself a projection of their own brains, gives them a forever-inflated
sense of worth and importance.
And on a more prosaic level, the end of empire would mean an end to the horrendous economic distortion wrought by our war-profiteering industries. Other businesses would inevitably come to
the fore, economic activity would be spread more evenly across more
sectors. And so, yes, those who have feasted so gluttonously for so long
on blood money would not be quite as rich as they are now.
A better world -- not perfect, by no means perfect, but much better -- is entirely possible. We could easily dismantle the empire -- carefully, safely, with deliberation -- over the next ten
years. It is a reasonable, moderate, serious option. It would not
require violent revolution, or vast social upheaval. But our elites do
not want this. They can no longer fathom life without the exercise --
and worship -- of power that empire entails. They will not accept -- or
even contemplate -- any alternative to it.
And thus every option and policy we are offered -- whether from right-wing Republicans or "progressive" Democrats, or from "serious" news analysts on "serious" papers -- must fall within these
pathetically cramped, constricted mental horizons. Empire -- the
imposition of dominion by violence and threat of violence, and the
financial and moral corruption this breeds, the example it sets at every
level of society -- is the canker in the body politic. Until it is
dealt with, there will be no healing, no hope, no change -- just more
degradation and disaster all down the line.
Chris Floyd is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. His blog, "Empire Burlesque," can be found at www.chris-floyd.com.
The American elite's unbounded, unquestioned, indeed unconscious sense of imperial entitlement and dominance -- based ultimately on war, the threat of war and the profit from war -- is one of the defining characteristics of our age. And if you would like to see
a glaring example of this attitude in action, look no further than the
front page of Tuesday's New York Times, where one David Sanger gives us
his penetrating "news analysis" of the Administration's just-announced
$3.8 trillion budget.
Sanger focuses on the huge, continuing deficits that the budget forecasts over the next decade. Completely ignoring the plain truth that his own expert source tell him later in the story -- that
"forecasts 10 years out have no credibility" -- Sanger boldly plunges
forward to tell us just what it all means. You will not be surprised to
hear that the upshot of these big deficits is that neither Obama nor his
successors will be able to spend any money on "new domestic
initiatives" for years to come. But let's let Sanger, savant and seer,
tell it in his own words:
"In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power.
"The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11 percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the
United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation
that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending
abated.
"But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to
what are widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. …
"For Mr. Obama and his successors, the effect of those projections is clear: Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises, creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there
is virtually no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his
successors. Beyond that lies the possibility that the United States
could begin to suffer the same disease that has afflicted Japan over the
past decade. As debt grew more rapidly than income, that country’s
influence around the world eroded."
What is most interesting here, of course, is not Sanger's noodle-scratching over imaginary numbers projected into an unknowable future, but his total and apparently completely unconscious adoption of
the mindset of militarist empire. For as he puzzles and puzzles till his
puzzler is sore on how in God's name the United States can possibly
find any money at all to spend on bettering the lives of its citizens
over the next 10 years, it becomes clear that Sanger -- like the rest of
our political and media elite -- literally cannot conceive of an end to
empire. Our elites and their courtiers literally cannot imagine life
without a permanent war for global dominance, fueled by a gargantuan war
machine spread across hundreds and hundreds of bases implanted in more
than 100 countries.
And so this consideration, this possible outcome, does not figure in Sanger's "analysis" because it cannot: it lies far outside the scope of his consciousness. The only possible alternative he can
conceive to the empire's bloody and bankrupting business as usual is
some kind of divine intervention, "miraculous growth" or some
"miraculous political compromise."
And make no mistake: the "miraculous political compromise" he is talking about has nothing to do with ending or even trimming the empire. A "compromise" on this issue could only be posited if there was
some present conflict over it. But both parties are deeply committed to
increasing spending on the wars and the war machine.
No, by "compromise" Sanger means some sort of "Grand Bargain" between the parties to cut Social Security and Medicare, along the lines of the "blue-ribbon panel" of entitlement cutters now being
pushed by the Obama Administration. The first effort to impose this
elitist, unaccountable commission failed in the Senate a few weeks ago
-- although the Republicans have proposed such panels before, they
didn't like this one because Obama proposed it -- but the idea will keep
coming back, and Sanger and the elite will doubtless get their
"miracle" of slashing the remaining bits of the safety net to shreds in
due time.
These are the only possibilities for deficit-cutting that Sanger can even remotely contemplate: some whiz-bang new gizmo -- or maybe some hot new "financial instruments" cooked up by Wall Street --
that will goose the economy with a bright new bubble ... or else finally
telling our old, sick, vulnerable and unfortunate to just crawl off and
die already. That's it. That's all that our elite can envision.
Yet the ending of the imperial wars and the dismantling of America's global military empire -- and its global gulag -- would save trillions of dollars in the coming years. Not only from direct military
spending, but also from the vastly reduced need for "Homeland security"
funding in a world where the United States was no longer invading
foreign lands, killing their people, supporting their tyrants -- and
inciting revenge and resistance.
This would release a flood of money for any number of "new domestic initiatives," while also giving scope for deep tax cuts across the board. Working people would thrive, the poor, the sick and the
vulnerable would be bettered, businesses would grow, opportunity would
expand, the care and education of our children would be greatly
enhanced, our infrastructure could be repaired and strengthened, our
environment better cleansed and cared for. In short, people could keep
more of their own money while government spending could be directed
toward improving the quality of life of all the nation's citizens.
This is no utopian vision. Many problems, much suffering would remain. But it would be a better society -- more humane, more just, more secure, more peaceful, more prosperous than it is now. Such
an alternative is entirely achievable, by ordinary humans; it would
require no divine miracles, no god-like heroes to bring it about.
But such a society is precisely what our elites cannot -- or, to be more accurate, will not -- imagine. Because, yes, it would "erode" their "influence" around the world to some extent. Although they
would still be comfortable, coddled and privileged, they could no
longer merge their individual psyches with the larger entity of a
globe-spanning, death-dealing empire -- a connection which, although
itself a projection of their own brains, gives them a forever-inflated
sense of worth and importance.
And on a more prosaic level, the end of empire would mean an end to the horrendous economic distortion wrought by our war-profiteering industries. Other businesses would inevitably come to
the fore, economic activity would be spread more evenly across more
sectors. And so, yes, those who have feasted so gluttonously for so long
on blood money would not be quite as rich as they are now.
A better world -- not perfect, by no means perfect, but much better -- is entirely possible. We could easily dismantle the empire -- carefully, safely, with deliberation -- over the next ten
years. It is a reasonable, moderate, serious option. It would not
require violent revolution, or vast social upheaval. But our elites do
not want this. They can no longer fathom life without the exercise --
and worship -- of power that empire entails. They will not accept -- or
even contemplate -- any alternative to it.
And thus every option and policy we are offered -- whether from right-wing Republicans or "progressive" Democrats, or from "serious" news analysts on "serious" papers -- must fall within these
pathetically cramped, constricted mental horizons. Empire -- the
imposition of dominion by violence and threat of violence, and the
financial and moral corruption this breeds, the example it sets at every
level of society -- is the canker in the body politic. Until it is
dealt with, there will be no healing, no hope, no change -- just more
degradation and disaster all down the line.
Chris Floyd is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. His blog, "Empire Burlesque," can be found at www.chris-floyd.com.
Comment
-
Comment by Jeff on February 9, 2010 at 4:47pm
-
Peaceful means (I know you mean to ask Chris but it's hardly likely he comes here)?
Well, A nuclear bomb on Washington that actually detonated while Congress, the House and the Senate were in session and the president was home would work. Short of that I would suggest we're fucked.
-
Comment by youhavetoforgiveme on February 9, 2010 at 4:04pm
-
Agreed.
So tell me Ahab (Chris Floyd)...whatcha got in mind? You know...as a solution?
Hell, I'd even entertain peaceful means if I thought that they would work and get the ball rolling on a better America.
It's really frustrating to read the world's greatest article that identifies the problem, but poses no reasonable solution-- even an untried one.
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