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We Can Fix America If We Focus on What ALL Americans - Liberals AND Conservatives - Want
While there are some things that Knowing the many things we agree to While the mainstream political parties try to sell us on their brand, the truth is that "poll
liberals and conservatives will never agree about, there are many things
that we already all agree on.
empowers us, because it helps get us away from the distractions so that
we can realize that there is much common ground among all Americans, and
that if we work together, we hold a very strong position. If we shelve
our irreconcilable differences for a little while and join our voices
together on the issues we agree on, the sound will be so loud that it
will shake down the walls which are holding us back.
after poll shows that both national parties are deeply unpopular with
an electorate looking for something new and different". This essay focuses on what people want.
Break Up the Unholy Alliance Between Big Government and Big Banks
Conservatives tend to view big government with suspicion, and think that government should be held accountable and reined in.
Liberals tend to view big corporations with suspicion, and think that they should be held accountable and reined in.
Irreconcilable difference?
Not really.
Specifically, a Rassmussen poll conducted in February found:
70%
[of all voters] believe that the government and big business typically
work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.
(and see this).
Remember that the government helped and encouraged the giant banks to get even bigger, and then has hidden their insolvency and shielded them from the free market, and helped them grow even during the severe downturn.
In return, the big banks and giant corporations have literally bought and paid for the politicians.
Conservatives might call it "socialism" and liberals might call it "fascism" - they are the same thing economically.
But all Americans - conservatives and liberals alike - can agree that it is not capitalism, and it is not American.
As
just one example, the list of prominent economists and financial
experts calling for the too big to fails to be broken up is wholly
bipartisan:
- Nobel prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz
- Nobel prize-winning economist, Ed Prescott
- Nobel prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman
- Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan
- Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker
- Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich
- Dean
and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School,
and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George
W. Bush, R. Glenn Hubbard
- Simon Johnson (and see this)
- President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig (and see this)
- President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard Fisher (and see this)
- President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Thomas Bullard
- Deputy Treasury Secretary, Neal S. Wolin
- The President of the Independent Community Bankers of America, a Washington-based trade group with about 5,000 members, Camden R. Fine
- The Congressional panel overseeing the bailout (and see this)
- The head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair
- The head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King
- The leading monetary economist and co-author with Milton Friedman of the leading treatise on the Great Depression, Anna Schwartz
- Economics professor and senior regulator during the S & L crisis, William K. Black
- Economics professor, Nouriel Roubini
- Economist, Marc Faber
- Professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the Chicago Booth School of Business, Luigi Zingales
- Economics professor, Thomas F. Cooley
- Economist Dean Baker
- Economist Arnold Kling
- Former investment banker, Philip Augar
- Chairman of the Commons Treasury, John McFall
Throw the Criminals In Jail
Liberals
tend to believe that the public should be protected against harm,
while conservatives tend to believe that people should be left free to
buy what they want.
Too far apart to ever agree?
No.
Conservatives believe that people must be held responsible for their
actions and punished for their transgressions. Indeed, some 82% of the American public wants tougher regulation of Wall Street.
Moreover, even for those who don't like the government sticking its nose in our business, liberals and conservatives agree that if a
company chooses to make a representation about something, it can be
sued if it is a lie. In other words, all Americans agree that fraud
laws should be enforced against everyone from
the homeowner who fills out a mortgage application on a small house to
the head of a giant bank who makes false statements about the bank's
balance sheets and the quality of it's investments.
Everyone agrees that financial scammers must be tried and put in prison.
(And
whether people believe in liberal Keynesianism or conservative Austrian
economics, we should all be able to agree that a free market without
bubbles is not possible without strong laws allowing prosecution of criminal fraud).
Audit the Fed
Both liberals and conservatives agree that the Federal Reserve should be audited. The bill to audit the Fed passed in a bipartisan landslide, and the overwhelming majority of Americans
favor a full and complete audit. Given that the Fed has such a
powerful influence on the economy, credit, unemployment, and which
sectors and even which individual companies win or lose, the audit - and
indeed whether or not the Fed should continue to exist - is a very
important issue.
Safe and Healthy Food and Water
Americans want to be free
to live our lives without being poisoned. We agree on safe food, clean
water and a healthy environment.
For example, polls show:
- A large majority of Americans want strong food safety rules, and want genetically modified foods to be labeled
- Most Americans are worried about water pollution
- Americans don't want to be exposed to toxic pollutants
Freedom and Fair Elections
All Americans agree that personal liberty and freedoms are vital.
We all agree that our own government should not murder us and then falsely blame others for it.
And we all agree that there should be free and fair elections. That is why - according to ABC News and the Washington Post - 80 percent
of all Americans oppose the Supreme Court's recent decision allowing
unlimited campaign contributions. Americans understand that - unless we
take the flood of money out of elections - Washington will represent
special interests, and not us.
And we all agree on publicly
verifiable, automatically audited paper ballot elections with reasonable
ID requirements, so that we assured that no party can manipulate
electronic voting results.
Whether the above list of common
positions seems modest or ambitious, the fact that we can all - liberals
and conservatives - agree on them is very powerful.
Because once we realize that we agree on them, and decide to rally behind them to restore prosperity to America, we will have a much better chance of turning our country around.
You
still might think that the people across the aisle are fanatics,
nutjobs, flakes, sinners or scoundrels on some issues. But remember
that - to the extent that they are working for the same goals you are on
the issues mentioned above - they are your valuable allies.
Big hat tip to Moneymutt for his help on thinking through areas of common ground.
- advertisements -
As each side wants the other dead, I fail to see how this helps.
I vote: kill the Libs.
Thank you for providing a living tesitmony to GW's point.. :|
GW, on the one hand, I am totally sympathetic to what you are wanting to do. I'm completely with it - it needs doing and must be done, as you suggest. On the other hand, I think your approach is simplistic. I don't want to get into a big rap on this, but I'd like to make a few points though.
I suggest that there are several levels of partisans involved in this from a political standpoint and that it is complicated by the two party system, which guards the status quo of the electoral process, a not dispassionate media and academia and a largely dumbed down populace. I suspect that, to a considerable extent, much of this is old news to you.
I think that the said levels are pretty much symmetrical on both sides of the aisle. There is, however, a significant segment of the populace that is essentially apolitical and pretty much disconnected, until their economic ox gets gored good and hard. Then they'll get mad and probably flail about ineffectually unless they're somehow sufficiently steeped in possible worthwhile alternatives to actually flail in the right direction. The internet media resources may help in this regard. At this time, these good people could give a shit! They hate or ignore politics and all that it entails. The conservative/libertarian grassroots may largely agree with you, but I doubt that the proposed coalitions will gain the attention of the "liberal" grassroots yet. I doubt that the failure of the current economic order is apparent to them yet. They are still willing to give Benny, Timmy and Barry their head and I think ending the Fed isn't really on their radar screens. For these folks, there isn't anything that more regulation won't help. It is definitely on paleoconservative/libertarian radar screens. I think the balance of Tea Party is being informed, but even they are not sufficiently at consensus on this. Additional failure in the economy will turn most of the rest of their heads and begin to get the attention of the more financially (investment) savvy liberals, who will have to capitulate on Keynesianism if they are rational (some of the posters around here, perhaps?).
Break Up the Unholy Alliance Between Big Government and Big Banks
I think that the leadership of both political parties supports the status quo and their elites benefit by it. The socialist ideologues (intellectuals) can range from nearly neocon to full bore Marxists, to include the sundry pedigrees of progressive, and all of these may or may not be part of their elite. Others are essentially useful idiots. I think that their more thoughtful ideologues recognize that there is no way they can eliminate the socialist elite. Even a dictatorship of the proletariat will have an elite that, while nominally equal, is "more equal than the others" - leaders are leaders and caviar is caviar.
Throw the Criminals In Jail
The socialist grassroots will likely agree right now if they are vulnerable heads of corporations. I think some will be thrown under the bus. Others will likely be deemed "Too Big To Jail." The important ones will be let off the hook, if not protected outright. Most of the insider political crooks will be protected. Heck, they can't even get rid of garden variety crooks like Rangle. These will have to be voted out of office. I think that if the Republicans pursue window dressing for two years and are ineffectual, then relief in 2012 is not a certainty. It will likely take some time and I hope it isn't a luxury. Many liberals think corporations are merely a necessary evil and are variously fun to milk. They're fond of subsidizing their favorite corps. Fascists like them! Keep fighting though. I will.
Your getting closer GW. Keep it up.
Edit: Hey GW, you should get some of your friends over at the Huffington Post to get on board with buying some silver.
know thine enemy.
http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-leaders-roosevelt.html
I retract my criticism of the lukewarm - better to have them than a gaggle of psychopaths bashing Gandhi or trying to prove FDR is Jewish.
I'm not bashing Ghandi, merely pointing out that his "strategy" did NOT work.
There is hardly peace between Pakistan and India. In fact they are both shelling eachother daily.
Both are now armed with Nuclear Ballistic Missiles. Those missiles target eachother.
Had India not given in, there would be Indian Muslims and no Islamic bomb pointing at them.
They would have been FORCED to learn how to behave like Humans or kill eachother in more intimate (and thus repulsive) ways than Nukes.
Eventually the problem would solve. Even a stalemate is better than what exists today.
So "Be the change you wish to see in the world" in the meantime Criminals will run roughshod all over your ass.
Now psychopath... Everyone has one, I keep mine well trained, fed and caged up for use when needed.
I don't do Nazi's or Jews... Well if I have, I still don't know about it and there were no complaints when it happened.
Good and Bad, come in all sex, size, shape, color, religeon, etc... Look at the Individual, don't let the BS obfuscate reality.
to bash Gandhi righteously one would have to lead
a nation in defiance of a world empire and then not
only win but survive. no one i know of can say that.
just sayin. and with your only weapons being your mind,
your heart and your body. your word/s.
Everyone hide your gold, I'm back! But seriously, as much as I have ferocious arguments with 90% of the folks on this site, I have to admit that most zero-hedgers are people who bother to think things through and who value ideas; the arguments we have just don't matter to the vast majority of Americans. I've seen people flip from one ideology to another because a man who is passionate about one thing can be passionate for another; but the lukewarm are awfully tough to get into action.
I like to think that I go to bat everyday for everyone posting here. I couldn't imagine a better group of folks anywhere.
I might argue with 'em about stuff... But that's what we do here, it's part of learning.
They are all thoughtful enough to have found this place!
ZH'ers are thinkers... Wily, Dangerous, Free-range Thinkers.
I'd be willing to bet this translates into some Fantastic real world occurrences across all kinds of disciplines.
This IS THE crowd sourced think tank that everyone has no idea about!
The intellect on tap here on a good day would eclipse a half-dozen of the best Universities in the country working together.
It is because of people like ZH'rs that this country even has a chance...
Love your brothers, even if they drool non-sensically once in a while.
At some point this great discussion will have to move from the virtual world or Ethernet and continue in person, not facebook or twitter where it can be monitored.
I have begun this dialog with my postman, barber, neighbors, friends and family.
The family part is the most difficult but is improving,
This "revolution" will not get going until we move it to the real time, face to face, think Old South Meeting House in Boston, Samuel Adams.
Assembly bitches!
A +++++++++++ to all.
Nice GW.
Extraordinary work, sir. Especially the bipartisan list of "experts" in favor of breaking up the banks. Quite astounding to scroll through considering how unanimous the MSM has been on calling that idea "un-American".
Nice try George, but I’m sorry to say I can’t see it happening. Been living on this ball for over half a century and have watched our moral and social compass deteriorate like cheap Chinese drywall. We can’t fix shit.
I applaud you for trying, I have too in my own way, but I have pretty much given up. I now see people who were friends for years not speaking to each other – over fucking politics for Christ’s sakes. Me included. It is hopeless, depressing, and futile I’m afraid.
All “We the People” will accomplish now is to kill each other. I must give the TPTB credit, they have done a masterful job over the years to divide us. It is now to the point the hate and contempt is beyond repair with no room for tolerance or rational thought. We will have a civil war between us before we ever march or protest on DC or Fraud Street.
Hell, just read Zero Hedge. You can see in just about any article posted the divide and contempt. The “other side” is the enemy, not the damn bureaucrats, banksters, or corporate goons who run the country.
What a fucked up fucking mess.
A compliment to your post:
http://ascolibooks.com/truewords/?p=61
CH1, mucho gracias for sharing this. that alpha beta gamma post in particular is filled with juicy nuggets:
Thomas Hobbes taught that men in their natural state would fight, murder and steal endlessly. (He is the source of the common quote of life being “nasty, brutish and short.”) Hobbes taught that a supremely powerful state was required to keep men from destroying themselves, and that the masses should submit to this “Leviathan” for their own good. In other words, Hobbes divided men into a few Alphas and a large mass of Betas. And he gave them reasons to praise themselves (as being enlightened) to find themselves in either role.
John Locke taught men that they had “natural rights,” and that these rights were inherently theirs: They could never be separated from them. That meant that when they functioned as part of a larger group, it should be only by their explicit agreement.
...
A central Gamma statement is “live and let live,” and this is far more potent than often understood. By saying that you “live,” you are seeing yourself as an independent, self-functional creature; you presume ability, judgment and that you are basically a beneficial actor on earth. By saying “let live,” you are seeing others as equal to yourself and are laying a foundation for respect, compassion, appreciation and love.
that is to say, the only true revolution is an internal revolution within oneself.
spekin' of nasty, brutish and short...
.
come on up to the house .. t.w.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GugzLSbOQE
I have a tab there open and bookmarked...
I will hit it soon.
Thanks!
Don't give up. It is a fucked up mess.
Keep trying different things until something works.
Keep working the problem until solution or death.
No Citizens are wanting to kill each other that I know of (lots of shit talk, but nobody want to make the first move... I guess an armed society IS a polite society). Yes there are dip shits on both sides of politics... Hell I'd say if you are in politics at all you are a dip shit.
If we let it collapse all the way down without having some local structures in place to fall back into... Then I can see some score settling ahead.
That is why I'd love to see peeps like GW put together some kind of document or framework that can be carried into local government when the time comes and give us something to start working with. Fixing the Fed system is a waste IMHO.
Research has shown that someone who has never Killed will find it hard to do so.
Conversely, people who have killed find it easier each additional time.
Think "soldiers"
"That is why I'd love to see peeps like GW put together some kind of document or framework that can be carried into local government when the time comes and give us something to start working with."
We already have it...we just need to reclaim/enforce it.
Within it is the 10th. Amendment;
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
For all to observe...the Constitution (our contract with them) only allows 18 things to be done by the federal government.
Period...end of story.
They are listed here;
http://constitutionsentinel.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/the-limited-powers-of-congress/
+10(th)
Thanks,
I will read up.
But the 10th being granted to you obviously, how are we going to get there?
I am not a theory guy, but I do use them as tools.
Can you enumerate and share any theory, strategy, tactic, or mechanism that can be used to help realize the 10th Ammendmant?
Seriously and Thanks
duplicate
Your welcome.
"But the 10th being granted to you obviously, how are we going to get there?"
Nothing is "granted" to the people in the founding documents...this is an elitist & media misrepresentation...always has been.
"I am not a theory guy, but I do use them as tools.
Can you enumerate and share any theory, strategy, tactic, or mechanism that can be used to help realize the 10th Amendment?"
The three documents are taken as a whole contract. The announcement to the world that a former contract is null & void and the reasons for it (the DoI)...and the other two, the Constitution creating a new government...and the rider of consent by us, the people, to do so under our terms(the BoR).
They are, on the whole an acknowledgment of what is, that is, that the people are sovereign beings, endowed by their Creator with these rights...nothing can be "granted" to us because it is already there. The documents merely codified it.
In fact, if you go back and read what our forefathers wrote & said during their struggles to create a unified >>>federal<<< government you will find they were doing something the people were...in the majority...openly suspicious or even contemptuous of doing.
Thus, without the Bill of Rights (to accompany the Declaration of Independence and to reinforce the words "that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it," the Constitution (our binding contract with a federal government) would not come into being.
Put another way, the level of distrust with centralized power was so great that without the Bill of Rights "acknowledging" our rights as being within us already, not granted by any man/king or organization, our representatives were forbidden to sign the Constitution that would even create a federal government.
One example is the Second Amendment.
In order to further shackle a beast they knew they must create out of necessity, the people who are in fact the militia, were acknowledged to have a right to bear arms.
No other government contract with it's people on the planet, up to that point in time, had ever been so implicit in it's wording of Natural Law...that is...everyone has a right to self defense...whether it is against common criminals or government itself, who was or might become nothing but a gang of criminals hiding behind written law to suit their purposes.
Which is where we are now...LOL.
Further...I and many others feel so strongly about the Second (and of course by extension all of the BoR) that...even criminals themselves have a right to self defense, that is arms. It is Natural Law in it's purest state. But of course so do the law abiding and there will always be more of us than more of them and government (judicial law) is instituted among us to recognize the difference.
The Federalist Papers are indispensable to understanding the intent of our forefathers when they (being true revolutionaries) chose government over anarchy...particularly Madison and Jay...but we all have our bias's ;-)
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/
Furthermore...whenever you hear or see the phrase "negative liberties" as has been uttered by our current president, you can be assured you are reading or in the presence of, a blithering statist idiot who has no concept of the individual at all...only of an elitist all powerful state and it's attendant departments who are, in fact, shackled by liberty itself.
OK and agreed.
To me this all means that Any right I choose not to excercise will atrophy and no longer be availible?
I have always owned guns, I have never submitted to search without warrant, I know and excercise many of my rights.
I also know they are only as good as the courts that will hear the claim of violation.
What can the Average Joe do?
Who is going to enforce these "contracts" when they are deemed invalid?
That is what people are looking for.
I like simple and sometimes the simple answer gets the point across better, but does not capture the nuance of what it really means.
"To me this all means that Anyright I choose not to excercise will atrophy and no longer be availible?"
No.
I will use the metaphor of king instead of government...they are interchangeable.
Inalienable rights means just that...cannot be taken away by kings law.
As to kings law itself...in a practical sense...it's against the kings law to kill the king...but the kings law has never stopped it from happening which is the other side of the coin.
"Who is going to enforce these "contracts" when they are deemed invalid?"
We, the people do.
We ignore them being deemed invalid just as we ignore their propensity to destroy the value of our past labor by debasing the common currency.
Point being...when "kings law" becomes to onerous to comply with it will be simply ignored by the people.
A reversion to the mean occurs...there is nothing magical about man made/kings law, it changes constantly...justice (right & wrong) does not.
However, there is something magical about killing the "kings deer" to feed your starving family as no jury of your peers will ever convict you if caught ;-)
Go get'em young Jedi. I'm old, tired, and the frame is all broken down. No battles left.
It's up to the young guys to fix what my generation fucked up. For that I apologize.
Please don't make the same mistakes we did, and good luck.
No way...
You learned wayyy too much watching all this shit happen.
We need that wisdom 1000's deep SB.
I am NOT that young, and my frame has been recostructed 2x now.
I have enough experience to know I don't know shit.
As far as I am concerned, none of the older generations failed us.
They were sold a bill of goods by some slick mobsters.
I wouldn't want my Dad fighting in the streets for my rights.
Your generation ain't off the hook, you are stuck in the shitter too.
At least find some local lads and talk some sense into em when the opportunity arises.
Never Give Up!
Ever.
"Hell I'd say if you are in politics at all you are a dip shit."
Geez, thanatos, that's a little rough on Ron Paul. He's been a real trooper.
My Humble apologies to Dr. Paul.
He is a true Patriot to swim in that whore-shark tank and try to bring some sanity to it.
I do like him.
There are a few others too... Out of 10's of Thousands.
I don't mean the average federal worker either.
I personally know Peoples that have broken down in tears over what is going on in their agencies!
Big, Tough, Smart dudes that just can't take it. There are some tortured mid level folks out there... These people are an asset to this country and they are even more fed up with it than you could imagine.
You know there are professionals who work for the TSA who are seriously questioning what in the fuck is going on. They are more than disturbed about it but can't really say shit.
One of these days...
Just like the typical local banks Banker. He is not from Wallstreetington D.C.
I digress.
+1776
I agree, never give up! Ideas appear passive and futile at first glance and can be extremely frustrating when they seemed doomed within an echo chamber. But, they always have the potential to spread, grow and physically manifest into action. But only if we keep at it. Our history proves that a determined and unrelenting minority created a Republic - now that was one hell of an outside-the-box idea that had many a naysayer and seemed futile. Excelsior!
Never give up does NOT mean "stay within the system," or at least should not.
The system is rigged and is NOT that of Jefferson, et al.
We'll have to create it anew if we want the system of 1776 or 1789. "Repairing" the existing is a fool's errand - it is not the thing you want anymore. Stop servicing the collective and hit the Reset button.
+ a lot
Couldn't agree with you more, CH1..
Someone's debasing the currency, My Lord. Kumbaya!!
This is a good laundry list. The question is how to get them done...
I know what the Liberals AND Conservatives want and what make them all feel happy!
FREE STATE SUBSIDIZED PORN!!
FREE PORN FOR ALL!!
And that's what Bernanke is doing. He's going to give EVERYBODY the feeling that they are being fucked without really fucking them!!
THE MAN IS A GENIUS I SAY!
A ALBERT BERNANKE EINSTEIN E=MC² !!!
Yeah I think DARPA took care of the free porn thing a while back... we're good.
Extenze=More C....?
Help me out here, please.
Dood, they did that already.
There is more free pron on the interwebs than you can fit on the NSA storage arrays...
All we got was a spike in P&G from KY sales and a few BPS up on Kleenex usage.
"...I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and a Christian, and a Jew...and so are all of you..." (Ben Kingsley as MK Gandhi)
Good and important piece GW. We must not let the naysayers and rageful spirits destroy this essential idea. This struggle is not about ideology: it is about truth.
I am a human being... A Man.
All that other shit is meaningless to me.
I sure as hell won't be spoken for by some actor playing the role of a magician.
Let me state for the record:
Ghandi didn't speak for me. If he says he was, he is LYING. I am TELLING YOU he doesn't speak for me.
You will get it one day... Your gonna get eaten, you can lay down on the lions plate or you can try and jam your arm bone through his skull. Perhaps you will kill the lion and live to see another day? Not if you lay down on the plate. My human spirit tells me to fight for all I am worth.
I don't lay down. I look at people who do as less than Men. They are PUSSIES. And being PUSSIES they get what PUSSIES have coming to them...
A good FUCKING.
Your post is abusive and offensive. This is the first time I have encountered this type of posting at ZH. Lots of vulgar, sexual innuendos (graphic and otherwise), which are ok and very funny (it would be nice if banzai would put in a little "eye candy" for the opposite sex, but so goes life), but never anything this ugly and rank.
Your post should be removed.
Sorry,
Didn't mean to offend you.
I will try to keep in mind that we have "Polite Company" on board.
I think your handle should be "Athanatos" for your eternal spirit.
Cheers mate.
Thanks. :)
I am a walking paradox.
And an Idiot of giant proportions.
A man.
Great post, G.W., thank you for your efforts to raise the bar. There is so much potential at our fingertips if the people at large,
1.) Understand how much actual power they truly hold.
2.) Focus that power on the common themes you highlighted.
Godspeed the Revolution*
*of thought and principle - foremost - more unconventional means if necessary. 'The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants'. -T.J.
"The only thing I want to be free 'from' is the government fucking with my life, taking my money, and telling me what to do, at least to whatever extent is practical."
.... and, to what extent would that be? Is there a point at which being free from the goobermint is "impractical"? What point is that?
Only anarchy will solve our problems. The Marxists actually want this, but they will be outgunned, and outmanned. Sorry SEIU, you don't have the cajones to take on the righteous.