“The Congress is government. I worked for the government once. Indians! Indians were the issue in those days. I can assure you, gentlemen, there is nothing quite so grotesque as the meeting of a child with the a bullet; or an entire village slaughtered while sleeping. That was the Government’s resolution of that particular issue and I have seen nothing in its behavior since then that would persuade me that it has gained either in wisdom, common sense, or humanity.”

I was already in a pretty low state, terribly frustrated with our government and with life in general. The film, while enjoyable, hardened my resolve about my own path, and the incredibly beautiful cinematography made me long, even more, for the wide open spaces of the American west.

It seems clear to me that the government of the United States is one of the great evils in human history. Edward Abbey said, “All forms of government are pernicious, including good government,” and as hard as I’ve tried, I can’t dispute his statement. For years, I kept trying to deny it, constantly seeking and desperately clutching positives like Social Security, the Postal Service, the National Parks and the CCC. I’d say, “See, this is government working for good.” I kept telling myself it was just a few bad apples, not government itself, but the historical record suggests the problems are way beyond a few bad apples. I wanted to like or love my government, but I kept finding too many reasons to not like it.

I once had childhood dreams of going to West Point, of being a great soldier and leading armies like Lee or Patton. But as I grew older, better educated and confronted the undeniable truth of our history, those dreams faded to nothingness. Any good our government created was overshadowed and eventually drowned out by the inescapable pernicious reality of its main purpose. It became clear the positives weren’t worth the price.

The purpose of government is to be the advance guard and protectorate of capitalism. The United States government essentially stole the continent, was and remains an aiding and abetting agent of genocide, and now spreads its terror across the entire planet via the greatest military apparatus the world has ever seen. It has stolen the resources of its citizens and used those resources to spread death and misery while fattening the pockets of the greedy, phenomenally evil human beings that it serves.

From Wounded Knee to Fallujah, the story is the same. Untold human suffering, torture, the killing and murder of women and children and not just in “isolated incidents.” It’s systemic.

Do I hate my country? No. The country is the land and its inhabitants, not the government. It’s the canyons, mountains, rivers, forests and mesas. It’s the community of life, both human and non-human.

There are good people in America. Honest, hard working people that want peace. It is my hope that people of this land will bond together and create a sustainable, democratic society, but in order to do it, they’ll have to first turn their backs on Washington and Wall Street.

Some maintain that the government is the only protection we now have against growing corporate power. I maintain that the government could be a bulwark against corporatism, but as it stands today, it’s clearly not, and it shows no sign of becoming one. Today, the government and the private sector are virtually indistinguishable. Oh, the government puts on a good act in a pathetic attempt to make itself look like it’s doing its job, but it’s a ruse. Just look at the Gulf of Mexico. It’s open for business again, despite the lingering, long term effects of the BP spill and the fact that there are still insufficient safeguards against another major spill. And nothing is being done about the very real and potentially catastrophic threat of nuclear power. Once again, it’s open season on wolves and the government has stamped Monsanto and its Frankenstein food with its imprimatur, a pass card that will allow it to not only control food production but perhaps make permanent, unnecessary and potentially genetic changes to our food.

Where is this mighty protector?

I will no longer support this idiocy. I will no longer be caught up in this ridiculous, never ending cycle of voting for “the lesser of two evils.” I will, to my last breath, remain an anarchist revolutionary, opposed to corporate power and to the centralized government that supports it.

I’ll stand for what I stand on and be what I was always intended to be, not a soldier, but a revolutionary, perhaps like the Mexican anarchist Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón, a real man, or like Ludlow, a fictional character that stood firm on convictions based on real observation and experience.

Thanks for feeding the nation a line a bullshit only a fool would believe. And thank you, Dennis Kucinich, for telling the plain truth about things.

Sorry no one listened to the only thing worth hearing.

Nothing in the United States will ever change as long as the existing power structure is in place and growth economics is our raison d’être.

Seems there’s little more to do than focus on a few local things we can protect and improve and turn our backs on the cabal that’s hellbent on making everyone on the planet miserable. Nothing can stop them short of economic collapse or oil pushing past $200 PB.

I’d go down to Wall Street and offer prayers for collapse, but what good would that do? No one is listening and we’re basically getting skull fucked.

For now….

From Democracy Now:

CBS: Obama to Send Up to 40,000 Troops to Afghanistan

More reports are emerging that President Obama has decided to send as many as 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. CBS News reported last night that Obama plans to send four combat brigades plus thousands of additional troops beginning in early 2010. Over the weekend, the McClatchy Newspapers reported Obama would send 34,000 more troops. The White House is denying these reports, claiming that the President has not yet made a final decision.

So, on this Veterans Day, the beat goes on. We should recall Smedley Butler, the most decorated Marine in history, a retired Major General. Some may remember his 1935 book, War Is a Racket, where he “presented an exposé and trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare.”

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

As it’s often said on the streets of Memphis, true dat shit, Smedley. True dat.

How do we stop it? Will protests work? Doubtful. Obama seems to be cut of the same cloth as previous puppets, committed to the war machine. Pray that oil hits $200PB sooner than later? Perhaps, but the U.S. juggernaut is poised to control vast supplies and keep things rolling along for years to come.

‘Bout all we can do is stop buying the oil and other things in an attempt to bring the locomotive to a screeching halt. After all, the beast is fed by our purchases.

That, and stop supporting the Democratic party members that continually lie and willfully ignore the desires of their electorate. Quit sending money to them, and let Goldman and the Wall Street Mafia pick up the bill.

Thank you again, Ed, for the reminder.

I’ve been reading a lot about the Mexican revolution lately and wondering what conditions, if any, could return the U.S. to the point of revolution.

Probably none. At least not armed revolution. Like in the Mexican revolution, there’d be too much fissiparous sectionalism, and in armed revolution you need money for arms. Major armaments. You’d need parts of the military to defect, although according to one of my military moles, there’s sufficient reason to think certain National Guard segments have been thinking along those lines. Then again, even the best equipped National Guard battalion wouldn’t last long against a group of sufficiently equipped Marines. The National Guard units that have even quietly discussed rebellion are doing so in response to the “socialist scare,” according to my mole.

And while it’s sometimes fun to ponder, the romanticism of it quickly fades once you know the real history of such endeavors. There’s rape and murder, towns and villages burned to a crisp, forced inscription and anyone that attempts to straddle the fence runs the risk of being executed by either side. Daydreaming about charging in on your horse with your saber hoisted high are just that, daydreams.

“The revolution? When the shooting stops, and the dead are buried, and the politicians take over, it all adds up to one thing: a lost cause.” Burt Lancaster as “Bill Dolworth” in The Professionals

There is, however, another path, a peaceful path to revolution. To stand against the status quo, to speak out against militarism and capitalist conquest via our everyday actions. To reject the lank language and empty promises of the economic and political elite and insist upon respect for all life, human and non-human. To live a life of honor by living light, not like a fat pig, and by promoting democracy and fairness in our homes, workplaces and communities.

Those of us that speak up for the voiceless and for the downtrodden, we’re bonded together in a revolutionary struggle. We’re brothers and sisters, often connected by a digital network but more importantly by our hopes, dreams and our unyielding spirit.

We must remain strong and buoy one another upward, even when things seem to have reached the point of no return. It’s the good fight and in the long run, the earth is on our side, and she will emerge victorious.

And people with cognitive challenges. Like Sarah Palin. 

Someone, anyone, please just wake me up and tell me this is just a bad dream. I keep thinking it is, but I never wake up. Maybe I’m dead and the Christians were right. I’m in hell. 

Palin says God blessed America with oil and gas

“God has so richly blessed this land, not just with the oil and the gas, but with wind and the hydro, the geothermal and the biomass,” Palin said. “We’ll tap into those.”

“She’s a hunter. She opposes abortion. She’s religious,” said John Shirley, 63, of Pittsboro, who cited those issues as among his top concerns. “She reflects a lot of the values we have here in the South.”

Hunting, abortion and Jesus are his top concerns? That, and perhaps making sure we keep the White House white?

It’s all about god, guns and gas folks.

What the hell is “the hydro?” Does she mean water?

I’d love to ask her for a definition of biomass. I’m sure she’d say something like “Yeah, that’s all of it. All of ‘em in one big mass.” 

America, I really don’t know how it could possibly get any worse than this. Have we really fallen this far? Even Barry Goldwater must be turning over in his grave.

I had an interesting exchange with someone on a discussion list this week. I don’t really know this person well, but assume he’s young, probably in his 20′s, highly idealistic, full of energy and ready to storm the Bastille.

There was a time when I was exactly the same way, and on some days, even at the ripe old age of 46, I still feel the same way. But as time passes, testosterone levels decrease and wisdom increases. Or we at least get a better balance of both.

My young conversationalist, Michael, wants to change Washington. Change the world and bring down the ruling juntas. Protect his “shrinking freedoms.” Noble ideas and understandable, but hopelessly doomed to failure. There are multiple reasons, not the least of which is the size and complexity of these centralized systems of dominance. They’re run by people that were willing to do damn near anything to get there, and you can be sure they’ll be damn willing to do anything to remain in power. Even if it means taking a trillion dollars or so from the citizenry and passing it on their friends. All to save us, of course.

And as I’ve stated before, the ability for the citizenry to violently seize power from the state pretty much ended with the invention of the Gatlin Gun. From that point onward, the state had more fire power than the citizenry and if that wasn’t enough, air power certainly sealed the deal.

My advice to Michael was to focus on the things he can change. Himself, his home and his community. We can’t change Washington! It’s never represented the people of this nation and never will. It’s always been there to protect private, propertied interests and to use whatever methods are necessary to extend economy hegemony for a few at the expense of many.

As my friend Hayduke often says “I don’t want better bad system. I want a better new system.” Or something to that effect.

That’s actually a very keen observation, one we should all take a moment to consider. The idea of building a better, new system in parallel to the existing one that resists change and cannot be changed. I don’t care what Obama says.

Hayduke always said democracy begins between the ears and that’s a simple yet profound truth. Once we understand democracy and embrace the concept, we begin to practice it in our homes and neighborhoods. We build self-sufficient, egalitarian communities and then extend these ideas to the bioregion and perhaps even the continent. The concept of “thousands of little communes.”

We can’t dismantle the current, centralized and coercive system, but we can decentralize and build independent systems of self reliance in preparation for its ultimate downfall. And the first step is to stop doing the same old things!

We build greenways, bike lanes, establish neighborhood committees for schools and community gardens. We form cooperatives for food, clothing, energy and services and we build community owned transportation. We do without things that we cannot produce cooperatively or obtain via fair trade with other regions and boycott corporations and businesses that do not treat workers fairly or offer ownership to employees.

We can have laws and rules we decide upon democratically. We can have effective self-defense. We can do all of these things without Washington!

We practice democracy every day in our daily lives. That’s freedom and the only way to insure you keep freedom.

I talk a lot about cooperatives and the importance of cooperatives in our communities. Here are the basic principles of cooperatives. As you read them, think about how many organizations and institutions you’re involved with that embrace these principles:

1. voluntary and open membership
2. democratic member control
3. member economic participation
4. autonomy and independence
5. education, training and information
6. cooperation among cooperatives
7. concern for community

Now, contrast that with the Washington supported financial debacle where a handful of powerful people sitting at the top of a hierarchical system where you’re not even a blip on the radar. I suppose you did have economic participation because you paid the bill! Concern for community? Who really believes that any of these rich muckety-mucks has any concern for their community! Information? Yeah, we got full disclosure on this deal. Just like Iraq.

If you want freedom and change, stop doing what you’re doing. Stop sending these people your money and keep your money in your community. Build economic stability at home.

The other choice is to keep doing what you’re doing and get nowhere.

So we now have angry mobs at McCain rallies shouting non-sense and lies and even booing their candidate when he attempts to say something rational. What’s this country coming to?

I’m alarmed at the level of anger in our society right now. I think it was always there, percolating beneath the surface, but now it’s really starting to ooze outward. We saw some of it with Bush and Clinton, but now it’s really pouring out.

Even if people tone it down at the rallies, the sentiments and feelings will still be there. Hatred, ignorance, rage. People will still be calling Obama a “nigger” and a “terrorist” in their little private cliques. People will rage against “socialism,” without really even understanding it, and wrongly blame “socialists like Obama” for their 401K and real estate losses. We first saw these attacks levied at Hillary Clinton, and while I was not a supporter of hers, I felt the attacks were puerile and in extremely poor taste.

Don’t kid yourself and think it’s not happening. It is happening. It’s like we haven’t moved an inch past Kent State or Birmingham. It’s like we’re going backward, or maybe we never made any progress at all and just thought we did. And the worst part is people are just ignorant, and their ignorance fuels their rage.

The wild-eyed camo-clad, Humvee driving pseudo-militarists have been out there for eight years just chomping at the bit. Now their wives are getting in on the action, an angry brigade of Jesus inspired hockey and soccer moms ready to hurl cupcakes at us.

Obama will win, and eventually they will see that he’s not what they thought he was. They’ll find he’s just another Washington politico working to keep the status quo in place, not a reformer attempting to create a more equitable society. Growth capitalism, militarism, fear mongering and healthcare for those that can afford it.

On a related topic, my friend Hayduke has recently posted some interesting comments on the financial crisis, however, I don’t think he goes far enough in his critique of capitalism. You know, with all of this ridiculous talk about socialists taking over the country, why not put something else out on the table: private property, specifically land ownership.

There are some uncomfortable but undeniable truths about the private ownership of land. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Have I been drinking the red Kool-Aid? No. I’m not a communist, but I do think about things and try to get to the root cause of issues. And when I think about hierarchy, coercion and the current financial crisis and trace all this back to what really makes it possible, I keep coming back to private ownership of land.

Private property contributes to or makes a lot of things possible. The establishment of hierarchy, followed by coercion and the emergence of non-egalitarian systems like growth capitalism. When you own land, especially vast tracts of very expensive land, you hold a lot of power. It’s the most precious commodity anyone can control, and it makes everything else possible.

The United States is perhaps the best example of how private ownership of land contributes to all these issues. Just consider development and the effect of development on ecosystems, and then consider all the other vices made possible by control of land. It’s a valuable resource, our most precious resource, and it has been a vehicle for the establishment of prodigious sums of wealth in our country.

Once upon a time on this continent, we didn’t have such a thing as private land ownership. American Indians found the concept foreign, although they did certainly have territorial boundaries, often protected with violence. But they essentially held land in a “commons” where all people had equal access to the land and its resources, and where no one person or group could misuse the land at the expense of all others.

I’m not advocating Soviet style communism, but I am advocating an eco-anarchistic re-establishment of the commons. I don’t believe people should “lose all their land,” but I do believe in its redistribution and the establishment of a “right to use” lease whereby people can continue to live as they do now, albeit with a few more restrictions. And it would obviously no longer appear on the balance sheet, so yes, billions of dollars of wealth would in fact disappear. If there’s any left after the current crisis….

I honestly don’t know what else to do, and see this as a core problem in our inability to establish a sustainable society. It bothers me, but intellectually, I can’t get past all the problems it causes. I’m firmly in agreement with the American Indian concept of land stewardship and subsistence economies.

You can own your business. Your car, your bike, whatever. Make a fair profit. You just shouldn’t be able to own the land any more than you can own the air or the water ways. Water rights? How ’bout land rights bound by community based and democratically decided upon controls?

The nation would in a sense be a giant commune, where we all worked together for the common good, and the single most precious common resource would be equally shared and cared for by all. This would be made possible by eliminating the single most powerful asset that prevents this from happening and by placing that asset back in the hands of the public trust.

Until this happens, I don’t believe we will ever have an equitable, sustainable society.