[Anyone] "empire"

[Mike in Taos]

tommy you and Chris Hedges probably have a mental disorder I think both of you should have a check up.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats. This relationship between party identification and reports of excellent mental health persists even within categories of income, age, gender, church attendance, and education.




> Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:02:30 +0000
> To: anyone at laplaza.org
> From: totem at laplaza.org
> Subject: [Anyone] "empire"
> 
> 
> > 	
> > 
> > 	America in the Time of Empire
> > 	    By Chris Hedges
> > 
> > 	    Monday 26 November 2007
> > 
> > 	This column was originally published by the Philadelphia
> > Inquirer.
> > 
> > 	    All great empires and nations decay from within. By the time
> > they hobble off the world stage, overrun by the hordes at the gates or
> > vanishing quietly into the pages of history books, what made them
> > successful and powerful no longer has relevance. This rot takes place
> > over decades, as with the Soviet Union, or, even longer, as with the
> > Roman, Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian empires. It is often imperceptible.
> > 
> > 	    Dying empires cling until the very end to the outward
> > trappings of power. They mask their weakness behind a costly and
> > technologically advanced military. They pursue increasingly unrealistic
> > imperial ambitions. They stifle dissent with efficient and often
> > ruthless mechanisms of control. They lose the capacity for empathy,
> > which allows them to see themselves through the eyes of others, to
> > create a world of accommodation rather than strife. The creeds and noble
> > ideals of the nation become empty cliches, used to justify acts of
> > greater plunder, corruption and violence. By the end, there is only a
> > raw lust for power and few willing to confront it.
> > 
> > 	    The most damning indicators of national decline are upon us.
> > We have watched an oligarchy rise to take economic and political power.
> > The top 1 percent of the population has amassed more wealth than the
> > bottom 90 percent combined, creating economic disparities unseen since
> > the Depression. If Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes president, we will see
> > the presidency controlled by two families for the last 24 years.
> > 
> > 	    Massive debt, much of it in the hands of the Chinese, keeps
> > piling up as we fund absurd imperial projects and useless foreign wars.
> > Democratic freedoms are diminished in the name of national security. And
> > the erosion of basic services, from education to health care to public
> > housing, has left tens of millions of citizens in despair. The
> > displacement of genuine debate and civil and political discourse with
> > the noise and glitter of public spectacle and entertainment has left us
> > ignorant of the outside world, and blind to how it perceives us. We are
> > fed trivia and celebrity gossip in place of news.
> > 
> > 	    An increasing number of voices, especially within the
> > military, are speaking to this stark deterioration. They describe a
> > political class that no longer knows how to separate personal gain from
> > the common good, a class driving the nation into the ground.
> > 
> > 	    'There has been a glaring and unfortunate display of
> > incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders,' retired
> > Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the former commander of forces in Iraq,
> > recently told the New York Times, adding that civilian officials have
> > been 'derelict in their duties' and guilty of a 'lust for power.'
> > 
> > 	    The American working class, once the most prosperous on
> > Earth, has been politically disempowered, impoverished and abandoned.
> > Manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas. State and federal
> > assistance programs have been slashed. The corporations, those that
> > orchestrated the flight of jobs and the abolishment of workers' rights,
> > control every federal agency in Washington, including the Department of
> > Labor. They have dismantled the regulations that had made the country's
> > managed capitalism a success for ordinary men and women. The Democratic
> > and Republican Parties now take corporate money and do the bidding of
> > corporate interests.
> > 
> > 	    Philadelphia is a textbook example. The city has seen a
> > precipitous decline in manufacturing jobs, jobs that allowed households
> > to live comfortably on one salary. The city had 35 percent of its
> > workforce employed in the manufacturing sector in 1950, perhaps the
> > zenith of the American empire. Thirty years later, this had fallen to 20
> > percent. Today it is 8.8 percent. Commensurate jobs, jobs that offer
> > benefits, health care and most important enough money to provide hope
> > for the future, no longer exist. The former manufacturing centers from
> > Flint, Mich., to Youngstown, Ohio, are open sores, testaments to a
> > growing internal collapse.
> > 
> > 	    The United States has gone from being the world's largest
> > creditor to its largest debtor. As of September 2006, the country was,
> > for the first time in a century, paying out more than it received in
> > investments. Trillions of dollars go into defense while the nation's
> > infrastructure, from levees in New Orleans to highway bridges in
> > Minnesota, collapses. We spend almost as much on military power as the
> > rest of the world combined, while Social Security and Medicare
> > entitlements are jeopardized because of huge deficits. Money is
> > available for war, but not for the simple necessities of daily life.
> > 
> > 	    Nothing makes these diseased priorities more starkly clear
> > than what the White House did last week. On the same day, Tuesday,
> > President Bush vetoed a domestic spending bill for education, job
> > training and health programs, yet signed another bill giving the
> > Pentagon about $471 billion for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. All
> > this in the shadow of a Joint Economic Committee report suggesting that
> > the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been twice as expensive than
> > previously imagined, almost $1.5 trillion.
> > 
> > 	    The decision to measure the strength of the state in
> > military terms is fatal. It leads to a growing cynicism among a
> > disenchanted citizenry and a Hobbesian ethic of individual gain at the
> > expense of everyone else. Few want to fight and die for a Halliburton or
> > an Exxon. This is why we do not have a draft. It is why taxes have not
> > been raised and we borrow to fund the war. It is why the state has
> > organized, and spends billions to maintain, a mercenary army in Iraq. We
> > leave the fighting and dying mostly to our poor and hired killers. No
> > nationwide sacrifices are required. We will worry about it later.
> > 
> > 	    It all amounts to a tacit complicity on the part of a
> > passive population. This permits the oligarchy to squander capital and
> > lives. It creates a world where we speak exclusively in the language of
> > violence. It has plunged us into an endless cycle of war and conflict
> > that is draining away the vitality, resources and promise of the nation.
> > 
> > 	    It signals the twilight of our empire.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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