Monday, April 14, 2014

"Anarchy" in the USA?

In the event I came off as too "statist" or "authoritarian" before, let me put it this way: In a profoundly non-revolutionary age, such as the Present in these United States, it's completely unrealistic to think we can: 1. Scrap all or even most regulatory authority over a very, very dangerous, virulent, unrestrained, pathological extreme strain of Capitalism. What would we get in exchange? Only a number of WILDLY unconstructive delusions, like the following: "Laissez Faire Capitalism (that FOUL creed now killing the Planet!) in its "tender mercies," will somehow PROTECT us." Now how daft can a person get? "Laissez Faire Capitalism" is notorious for its inherent destructiveness, and its utter lack of any altruistic motivations whatsoever! Case in point, and a strange one considering the parties involved: The reason the Three Mile Island accident wasn't as devastating in 1979 as the Chernobyl disaster was eight years later has a lot to do with the need for effective regulation. American nuclear power stations are under the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And for whatever reason, they operate shielded by "containment domes." Apparently Soviet reactors weren't subject to such a requirement - at the very least, sensible regulations governing atomic power generation weren't ENFORCED in the USSR. Humanity's technological obsession (and its resulting achievements and pitfalls) has gone too far - we do indeed live under the threat and promise of many sophisticated technologies that allow of such drastic "deregulation" only at our extreme peril. We left "the Garden," the "Simple Life," at least a century or two ago. 2. Were we to TOTALLY scrap our environmental and regulatory scheme, in favor of the "Invisible hand of the Free Market," WHO would stand to benefit? The very same "One Percenters" who are NOW benefiting so obscenely by the increasingly unrestrained ebb and flow of predatory global Capitalism. The Kochs, the Sheldon Adelsons, that's who would benefit. Even more than they do now. Within the current socioeconomic arrangement, in which so many "Citizens" have been so debased; where ignorance characterizes the majority; where education is an expensive and difficult commodity to acquire, typically sold to the highest bidder; where violence is as prevalent as Apple Pie... in this kind of a society, the People must be protected FROM the Corporations. We live in a land of institutionalized inequality and almost total political subservience, or at least mass indifference. It seems pretty evident that the people MUST retain the LEGAL right to prevent Laissez Faire Capitalism from destroying this very planet! Capitalism is not, and never has been, the social system one could reasonably trust to solve the Global Crises of Climate Change. Capitalism is the single entity most culpable for causing climate change!* Whatever your political philosophy: Scores of nations (regrettably perhaps) DO EXIST on Terra Firma; they must possess the ability to engage in meaningful negotiation, the aim of which could be to ratify binding treaties aimed at saving the Earth. Domestically, consider the people who contracted mesothelioma due to corporate malfeasance with respect to asbestos-related mining and manufacturing. Screw "tort reform!" May we never see "trial lawyers" perish from the face of the Earth! 3. While I do believe that we could - and SHOULD - eliminate more than 99% of the present statutes governing non-violent, "victimless crimes," (i.e., those "offenses," lacking a real victim or culprit, in which no physical harm transpires) it sickens me at heart to concede that we would have a damn hard time of it, were we to eliminate EVERY American police agency. I'd love to believe we could somehow achieve an Anarcho-syndicalist "non-society" characterized by universal Harmony, Peace and Freedom. My experience of Massive American violence and criminality - which permeates the culture at all levels - suggests that now is not that time. Sadly, 2014 isn't the "Utopian" sort of era in which any and all such "authority" could be abolished. Not without subsequent mayhem, perhaps on a scale unprecedented thus far. I know you America - you CAN'T be trusted. You can only be restrained. *The following is the text of the 9th Amendment of the Bill of Rights: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” So it must surely follow that The People need to get up off their collective behind and retake the machinery of government! How can we blame the Ruling Class for our plight - if we "Average Joes and Janes" allow them to get away with their crimes!? If we're not going to have a revolution - and I think the prospect of THAT is a distant one at best - then we damn well better have a fundamental transformation! Move to Amend!

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