By Ezrah Aharone 2/10
During President Obama’s first State of the Union address, there were over 100 applause lines, no shouts of “you lie,” and no reality show contestants (that we know of) breached security on a schmooze mission.
Aside from these successes, the Union is being politically burglarized and is in immediate need of rescue – Rescue from the collapsing weight of national debt and unregulated greed throughout America’s “Free Market Capitalism,” and rescue from the fast-sinking quicksand of military mishaps. This plundering for profits and power, long superseded Bush’s arrival and will long subsist beyond Obama’s departure.
World capitalism (costs of labor, value of currencies, controls over resources) did not evolve haphazardly in isolated fragments that are unrelated to coercion, occupation, and military might. With few exceptions, nations with the strongest currencies also have the strongest militaries and records of hegemony. Capitalism euphemistically has “free markets,” but as Ron Jacobs wrote in CounterPunch, capitalism is neither moral nor immoral – it is “amoral.” And “in order to survive, it must expand . . . The fact that the US spends more money on weaponry and war is directly related to this phenomenon.”
America was not only born with foreign debts from war-costs of its revolution, but it has bled annual debts in all but two years since its founding. Of the $3.8 trillion in Obama’s proposed 2011 federal budget, $738 billion is for defense and over $1 trillion will be borrowed from foreign creditors. Now with double-digit unemployment and a $12 trillion national debt, at least 45 cents of every US dollar is owed to governments like Kuwait and China.
Sovereign Wealth Funds (financial institutions of foreign governments that invest in other nations) are pouring into America faster than immigrants. At one point from November 2007 to January 2008, the governments of Kuwait, China, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and South Korea invested over $40 billion in US banks. Since 2001, the dollar has tail-spun in value to the point where it is no longer the world’s strongest currency. And if you notice, some US businesses will now accept payments in Euros.
In a Charles Darwin-like fashion of “natural selection/survival of the fittest,” the financial services industry has subsequently resorted to cannibalizing the financial meat off the bones of the disadvantaged public, via subprime mortgages, usury interest rates, excessive penalties, Ponzi schemes and predatory lending practices. Consumers who’ve lost homes, investments, and retirement funds have had little government recourse, unless you count state-operated Power Ball lotteries.
Had this burglary been orchestrated by individuals instead of institutions, it would be criminal. But under the guise of “too big to fail,” rather than prosecuting, the government is subsidizing some of these same institutions with billions in tax-funded bailouts. And in a classic case of “wolves watching the henhouse,” some of the same Wall Street execs are being rotated into musical-chair appointments as “experts” to run the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and other fiscal agencies.
But how could the so-called best and brightest people of government and Washington think tanks, who supposedly safeguard society, sit back and watch clusters of companies become “too big to fail” in the first place? Whether it’s incompetence or complicity, here’s what they should know before more ransom is given to bailout corporations that later split multimillions of loot “bonuses” among execs – If any business, in any industry, is deemed “too big to fail,” then that alone should stipulate it as a “modern-day monopoly” which, under expanded Antitrust Laws should subject it to be broken-up long before its failure can burglarize society.
As for healthcare, once you mix corporate greed with the political influence and endless lobbying dollars of the insurance industry, it’s easy to understand why “affordable” insurance is so controversial among congressmen who already have comprehensive (tax-funded) coverage. Remember, capitalism is amoral. So, because of “profit motives” your health is secondary to money. Therefore, whenever a healthcare bill does pass, the pendulum will surely swing to favor money-hungry companies that delay and deny needed approvals to the sick. Not to mention “drive through” surgeries.
The coziness, favoritism, and profiteering between government and corporations are known practices of “dollars and dealings” within a thriving plutocratic culture, where society’s elite moneychangers engage in “Pay-to-Play Democracy” to influence policymaking, party platforms, and election outcomes. Bluebloods who “donate” $25,000 per-plate to attend political fundraisers, don’t waste their “bargaining chips” by trying to moralize capitalism. Besides, it would be rudely inappropriate to advocate for the burglarized public while plutocrats dine on braised stuffed pheasant.
Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from Civil Rights to Sovereign Rights (2009) and Pawned Sovereignty: Sharpened Black Perspectives on Americanization, Africa, War and Reparations (2003). He is also a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Placebos of Black Political Leadership
By Ezrah Aharone 11/09
The election of President Barack Obama is shifting America’s axis of race in ways that have yet to be politically quantified. But from a standpoint of Black political leadership, it signals a definite “changing of the guards.” The once-popular preacher/protester ilk of leadership from the 1960s finds itself gasping for 21st century oxygen, as young Black leaders are card-carrying democrats who can now “eyeball” whomever they please.
Perception suggests that African Americans are finally becoming politically powerful as a people. But every industrialized nation with an ethnically diverse population has a general “pecking order” of power, starting with the dominant group most able to leverage capital might into political influence that shapes foreign, domestic, and military policies. All other simulations of power (freedoms of speech, press, assembly etc.) are like political window-dressings of democracy that may boost patriotism, but lack utility for minority people to command such influence.
Similarly, people who’ve taken “Placebo” sugar pills, sometimes experience boosts in health, being that they psychologically expect and believe the tablets contain “medicinal properties” to cure them. In much the same way, America’s placebos (civil rights, integration, citizenship) have given us expectations and beliefs of power, when in reality, they lack the “political properties” of control (sovereignty, independence, statehood) wielded by Euro-Americans . . . Which is exactly why our centuries-old ailments remain largely uncured.
Although upcoming generations of Black leaders are digesting Americanization more easily, I’m reminded of Winston Churchill who once remarked that Euro-Americans will always “do the right thing, after they’ve exhausted all alternatives.” And so, racial progress and the rise of Black political leaders cannot be disconnected from America’s habitual militarism and its 21st century requirements for economic survivability . . . Honestly, how much longer could we be coaxed into voting for White multimillionaires and fighting ambiguous wars abroad if we still faced stark Jim Crowness here?
But whether you believe it or not, there remains unvoiced resentment towards civil rights leaders for pricking lasting nerves. Euro-Americans have a known nationalist tendency of not liking to be cited or corrected of their political flaws and flagrances. So naturally this establishment welcomes fresh, race-neutral Black leaders who skillfully steer around the systemic/endemic nature and ramifications of America’s racial inequities, which Obama faultlessly personifies.
Part of his ascension involved soothing the historical burdens of White guilt, while keeping civil rights leaders at arms-length to prevent staining his political immaculacy of White acceptance. As such, he cryptically foretold during his campaign that “he’s rooted in the Black community, but not limited by it.”
My question is – What crime did we commit as a people where someone would have to present such a political defense for himself? If everyone is “equal” why then, conversely, is he “not limited by the White community” since he’s also half-White? Most troubling however is the unseen, unchallenged “source” that compelled him to make this disclaimer since it holds proven capabilities to diminish us, as Black people, beneath the respect and political worth that all people deserve.
Despite such subliminal credence to Whiteness, the repercussions of centuries of Euro-American greed and immoralities are heading homeward to roost. Not only is America experiencing an internal crisis of leadership and financial upheaval, its international integrity and superpower image are jeopardized, as the world community frowns upon its brash war escapades. In response, it has become strategically expedient for Euro-American males to deflect the government’s aggression away from themselves.
Similar to the Lone Ranger designating Tonto “the leader” (after being surrounded by angry Indians) the establishment hopes Obama and other Black leaders like Attorney General Eric Holder and UN Ambassador Susan Rice, can convey a “placebo appearance” that the US government is no longer a big, bad, all-White wolf with the blood of Black and Brown people dripping from its fangs. Together, they put a converted face of “change” on what otherwise is a contiguous history of “Euro-American hegemony as usual.”
Yes, America is multicultural. Yes, Africans in America are making progress. But in our honest pursuit of political power – via the leadership tutelage of Euro-Americans – it is our spiritual responsibility to question if we, in the process, are becoming proxy participants in a 21st century continuation of the same “interloping for resources” that initially barbarized us and Native Americans, under the pretext of “freedom and democracy.”
Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution and Pawned Sovereignty. He is also a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org.
The election of President Barack Obama is shifting America’s axis of race in ways that have yet to be politically quantified. But from a standpoint of Black political leadership, it signals a definite “changing of the guards.” The once-popular preacher/protester ilk of leadership from the 1960s finds itself gasping for 21st century oxygen, as young Black leaders are card-carrying democrats who can now “eyeball” whomever they please.
Perception suggests that African Americans are finally becoming politically powerful as a people. But every industrialized nation with an ethnically diverse population has a general “pecking order” of power, starting with the dominant group most able to leverage capital might into political influence that shapes foreign, domestic, and military policies. All other simulations of power (freedoms of speech, press, assembly etc.) are like political window-dressings of democracy that may boost patriotism, but lack utility for minority people to command such influence.
Similarly, people who’ve taken “Placebo” sugar pills, sometimes experience boosts in health, being that they psychologically expect and believe the tablets contain “medicinal properties” to cure them. In much the same way, America’s placebos (civil rights, integration, citizenship) have given us expectations and beliefs of power, when in reality, they lack the “political properties” of control (sovereignty, independence, statehood) wielded by Euro-Americans . . . Which is exactly why our centuries-old ailments remain largely uncured.
Although upcoming generations of Black leaders are digesting Americanization more easily, I’m reminded of Winston Churchill who once remarked that Euro-Americans will always “do the right thing, after they’ve exhausted all alternatives.” And so, racial progress and the rise of Black political leaders cannot be disconnected from America’s habitual militarism and its 21st century requirements for economic survivability . . . Honestly, how much longer could we be coaxed into voting for White multimillionaires and fighting ambiguous wars abroad if we still faced stark Jim Crowness here?
But whether you believe it or not, there remains unvoiced resentment towards civil rights leaders for pricking lasting nerves. Euro-Americans have a known nationalist tendency of not liking to be cited or corrected of their political flaws and flagrances. So naturally this establishment welcomes fresh, race-neutral Black leaders who skillfully steer around the systemic/endemic nature and ramifications of America’s racial inequities, which Obama faultlessly personifies.
Part of his ascension involved soothing the historical burdens of White guilt, while keeping civil rights leaders at arms-length to prevent staining his political immaculacy of White acceptance. As such, he cryptically foretold during his campaign that “he’s rooted in the Black community, but not limited by it.”
My question is – What crime did we commit as a people where someone would have to present such a political defense for himself? If everyone is “equal” why then, conversely, is he “not limited by the White community” since he’s also half-White? Most troubling however is the unseen, unchallenged “source” that compelled him to make this disclaimer since it holds proven capabilities to diminish us, as Black people, beneath the respect and political worth that all people deserve.
Despite such subliminal credence to Whiteness, the repercussions of centuries of Euro-American greed and immoralities are heading homeward to roost. Not only is America experiencing an internal crisis of leadership and financial upheaval, its international integrity and superpower image are jeopardized, as the world community frowns upon its brash war escapades. In response, it has become strategically expedient for Euro-American males to deflect the government’s aggression away from themselves.
Similar to the Lone Ranger designating Tonto “the leader” (after being surrounded by angry Indians) the establishment hopes Obama and other Black leaders like Attorney General Eric Holder and UN Ambassador Susan Rice, can convey a “placebo appearance” that the US government is no longer a big, bad, all-White wolf with the blood of Black and Brown people dripping from its fangs. Together, they put a converted face of “change” on what otherwise is a contiguous history of “Euro-American hegemony as usual.”
Yes, America is multicultural. Yes, Africans in America are making progress. But in our honest pursuit of political power – via the leadership tutelage of Euro-Americans – it is our spiritual responsibility to question if we, in the process, are becoming proxy participants in a 21st century continuation of the same “interloping for resources” that initially barbarized us and Native Americans, under the pretext of “freedom and democracy.”
Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution and Pawned Sovereignty. He is also a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Vices of American Values
Besides occurring on the same day, what does Michael Vick’s release from prison for funding dogfights have in common with President Barack Obama and Dick Cheney’s dueling speeches over Guantanamo prisoners? . . . Both incidences display elements of a deep-entrenched breach between the “values” that America claims, and the “vices” that America commits.
Speaking at the National Archives with pomp images of America’s founding documents in the background, Obama said closing Guantanamo would “enlist America’s values.” Cheney professed to uphold “American values” too, as he repudiated Obama’s objectives as “recklessness cloaked in righteousness.” Though their conflicting versions of values involved 21-century torture, the head-on moral collision between America’s “creeds and deeds” dates back to when the founding documents were conceived.
When critiquing “American values” you must admit, there’s something troubling about enslavement ending in 1865 after 15 presidents, while the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was established the next year in 1866. An additional 19 presidents with these same values would then watch a century of lynching and legalized segregation, as legislation was simultaneously petitioned to criminalize the mistreatment of animals. Fast-forward to today and it’s not unrelated that dogfights and other animal stories can plaster headlines, while society yawns with apathy over incessant Black-on-Black murders and warehouse incarcerations of Black youths.
Have you noticed that it’s quite popular nowadays to be seen or photographed with pets? . . . As though this somehow signals that a person is “humanized.” Statistics show that 42 percent of American pet owners sleep in bed with animals. Pet industry revenues of $41 billion, exceed the GNP of all but 64 nations. I’m not against pets, so don’t email PETA. My point is that – Perhaps if government and society’s concerns for animals were ratably reflected historically in genuine democracy and humanity, there’d be no troubling record of slavery or segregation yesterday and there’d be little racism, militarism, and torture today.
Obama’s pitch on values may sound good – after 43 other presidents – but by consequence of its vices, America has assorted varieties of dirty laundry in its basement. Like, for instance, the Iran-Contra Scandal where the aftermath ripple-effects of crack cocaine remain menacing and unaddressed in Black communities. Certain nations and groups however with unsettled gripes (call them terrorists, insurgents, enemy combatants, Axis of Evil, or whatever) are not as “politically congenial” as African Americans. Right or wrong, some are willing to respond with their own forms of “fighting for freedom.”
Cheney’s pitch on values may sound sinister, but he stands on the fact that America hasn’t been attacked since 9-11. It’s unknown whether this is attributed to waterboarding or running POW facilities like male strip-club joints. What is known however is that, if an American slips on a banana peel planted by “terrorists,” fingers will point and blame Obama saying “We told you so.”
At this stage, America is too deep into the global chess-game of power to suddenly become moralistic. And it certainly cannot afford to lower its guard, which is evidenced partially by Obama’s recant on releasing new photos of “enhanced interrogations,” as well as the Senate’s 90-6 vote to deny funding to close Guantanamo.
US citizens may swallow benevolent versions of America’s values, where firemen rush to rescue kittens from treetops, and Michael Vick volunteers at animal shelters to show he’s “rehabilitated” enough to “throw a football.” But from a US government and security standpoint, war and power is a ruthless business where values apply upon convenience, mostly for the media and textbooks. Remember, America did not amass its “superpower” status by adhering to the nonviolent values of Dr. King or “turning the other cheek” of Christianity. Thus, as the 44th president, when it comes to the sovereign survival of this European nation called America, Obama is a fragmental part of a political continuum of vices that he can neither temporarily escape nor permanently change.
Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution and Pawned Sovereignty. He is also a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org.
Speaking at the National Archives with pomp images of America’s founding documents in the background, Obama said closing Guantanamo would “enlist America’s values.” Cheney professed to uphold “American values” too, as he repudiated Obama’s objectives as “recklessness cloaked in righteousness.” Though their conflicting versions of values involved 21-century torture, the head-on moral collision between America’s “creeds and deeds” dates back to when the founding documents were conceived.
When critiquing “American values” you must admit, there’s something troubling about enslavement ending in 1865 after 15 presidents, while the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was established the next year in 1866. An additional 19 presidents with these same values would then watch a century of lynching and legalized segregation, as legislation was simultaneously petitioned to criminalize the mistreatment of animals. Fast-forward to today and it’s not unrelated that dogfights and other animal stories can plaster headlines, while society yawns with apathy over incessant Black-on-Black murders and warehouse incarcerations of Black youths.
Have you noticed that it’s quite popular nowadays to be seen or photographed with pets? . . . As though this somehow signals that a person is “humanized.” Statistics show that 42 percent of American pet owners sleep in bed with animals. Pet industry revenues of $41 billion, exceed the GNP of all but 64 nations. I’m not against pets, so don’t email PETA. My point is that – Perhaps if government and society’s concerns for animals were ratably reflected historically in genuine democracy and humanity, there’d be no troubling record of slavery or segregation yesterday and there’d be little racism, militarism, and torture today.
Obama’s pitch on values may sound good – after 43 other presidents – but by consequence of its vices, America has assorted varieties of dirty laundry in its basement. Like, for instance, the Iran-Contra Scandal where the aftermath ripple-effects of crack cocaine remain menacing and unaddressed in Black communities. Certain nations and groups however with unsettled gripes (call them terrorists, insurgents, enemy combatants, Axis of Evil, or whatever) are not as “politically congenial” as African Americans. Right or wrong, some are willing to respond with their own forms of “fighting for freedom.”
Cheney’s pitch on values may sound sinister, but he stands on the fact that America hasn’t been attacked since 9-11. It’s unknown whether this is attributed to waterboarding or running POW facilities like male strip-club joints. What is known however is that, if an American slips on a banana peel planted by “terrorists,” fingers will point and blame Obama saying “We told you so.”
At this stage, America is too deep into the global chess-game of power to suddenly become moralistic. And it certainly cannot afford to lower its guard, which is evidenced partially by Obama’s recant on releasing new photos of “enhanced interrogations,” as well as the Senate’s 90-6 vote to deny funding to close Guantanamo.
US citizens may swallow benevolent versions of America’s values, where firemen rush to rescue kittens from treetops, and Michael Vick volunteers at animal shelters to show he’s “rehabilitated” enough to “throw a football.” But from a US government and security standpoint, war and power is a ruthless business where values apply upon convenience, mostly for the media and textbooks. Remember, America did not amass its “superpower” status by adhering to the nonviolent values of Dr. King or “turning the other cheek” of Christianity. Thus, as the 44th president, when it comes to the sovereign survival of this European nation called America, Obama is a fragmental part of a political continuum of vices that he can neither temporarily escape nor permanently change.
Ezrah Aharone is the author of two political books: Sovereign Evolution and Pawned Sovereignty. He is also a founding member of the Center for Sovereignty Advancement. He can be reached at Ezrah@theCSA.org.
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