a reply to:
Ghostsinthefog
The short answer, sadly, is yes, we are in a cycle of history where freedom is losing. And it is very close to being too late to resolve it in any
kind of civilized manner. It could still be done, but in the US for example, it would take the election of approx 600 people of real honor and
integrity, all in one election, to even have a chance. The best we can do here in any one election is 435 + ~33 + 2. That may or may not be enough,
but it would be a start.
But the political arena has become such a joke in the US that it is hard to find 6 people of honor and integrity that still want to get involved, let
alone 600. Or 470.
As has been mentioned, the corporate-driven propaganda machine has succeeded in convincing far too many people that government IS the problem (there
is no doubt that government CAN be the problem. We are seeing that right now). And given that, we have a nearly endless succession of clowns and
worse, being put into positions of power, when the average moral character of most of them would, in a decent society, mean they would make their
livings cleaning up after horses in a parade. Under supervision. It is a source of wonder to me that so many people whine about government having too
much power, yet they will turn around and genuflect at the feet of corporations having the same or even more such power. I've asked why before and not
one time has anybody provided a reason that even approaches coherency.
Wealth continues to be concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer, to the detriment of more and more. The really frustrating part is that it DOES
NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. There is wealth aplenty on this planet, and more on other planets, moons, etc. to support as many people as exist in
comfortable, meaningful lives.
But that small percentage of assholes that can't stand the population as a whole having such dignified and productive lives are the ones who scramble
after political and wealth power at any cost. And far too often, they succeed.
The US (the place I am most familiar with, but not the only place so affected) is repeating the same damned pattern as has been repeated over and over
in history... concentrate wealth in the hands of a few, the fewer the better. Spend massive amounts of said wealth on a military and police system
that is little more than an enforcement arm for policies that benefit only those few (note this is not an attack on the military or police, it is an
attack on those that control those organizations). Make multiple unnecessary enemies. Eventually said enemies, without regard to how poor,
disorganized and out-gunned they are, will topple the power structure, followed by several years/decades/centuries of barbarism, then the whole damned
cycle starts again, dominated by the same sort of assholes that always seem to dominate.
They are not smarter than the general populace, they are more greedy and less honorable. Which seems to work in the short term but never in the long
term.
Rant over.