Fredfredson
07-07-2004, 06:10 PM
From EnergyResources
Why We Must Support John Kerry
By Alan E Lewis
In a recent interview, Chalmers Johnson suggests that the
American Empire may be within 5 years of collapse [1].
This is unacceptable.
The Empire -- the neo-liberal Imperium and associated machines
and institutions, on which each person reading these words
depends for his/her prosperity and comfort -- MUST be
sustained.
The problem is that Dubya's rash, intemperate policies are
putting The Empire at risk. With Dubya at the helm,
international credibility is abysmal, serious and
uncontrollable "blowback"[2] from U.S. policies is likely, and
there is a distinct risk of the whole global situation
spiralling into chaos -- just as suggested in Kaplan's "The
Coming Anarchy" [3], but with the addition of other and grave
factors not cited by Kaplan.
Further, the deficit spending, trade imbalance, and debt
build-up under Dubya have been colassal and unprecedented, and
are obviously unsustainable. Near-term economic collapse, on
the current trajectory, is also a distinct possibility.
Economic collapse would likely synergize with Kaplanian and
other factors to create a wild and chaotic situation.
Clearly, CONTROL is at risk, and CONTROL MUST BE ASSURED.
That is the first order of business.
And that is why we must get out and vote for John Kerry. We
need a more refined and subtle and skillful Emperor to keep
the great game going, to secure (steal) the resources so as to
keep us all rich, to further develop the police state
infrastructure, &tc., and also to defuse any pesky
revolutionary energies -- any *serious* challenge to
business-as-usual -- that might otherwise crop up.
We need a liberal Democrat to keep the war machine going, and
to expand it, with the support of a majority. As Dave Stratman
points out in "Beware the Liberal War on Terror"[4]:
. "Only a Democrat with liberal credentials can lead the
. American people in sustained military conflict. This is true
. for two reasons. Only the Democratic Party has deep and
. extensive ties with labor unions and with black, white, and
. Hispanic workers -- in other words, with the people who will
. do the fighting; without effective working class support, no
. military effort can long be sustained.... US success in the
. war depends on liberal leadership."
Besides, Bush's popularity has been sinking like a small rock,
over the last year. Everyone to the left of the Republicans
can't stand him. And many Republicans, and all true
conservatives, can't stand him.[5] It is obvious to the rest
of the world, and increasingly even to the people of the U.S.,
that Bush is both a liar and an incompetent. Even (some)
staunch Republicans are viewing him as a blithering idiot, a
corrupt scumbag, or some combination. This is not a
sustainable situation.
To sustain The Empire that holds our best prospects for a rich
and comfortable life, (read: CHEAP PETROL, STRONG DOLLAR),
we've got to have a CREDIBLE leader with a popular mandate for
maintaining the War On Terror And Towel-Heads, for supporting
the military-industrial behemoth, for encircling Asia and
stealing its resources (see: The Grand Chessboard, by
Brzezinski [6]), for strengthening the domestic police state,
and generally for ensuring the continuity of the whole modern
welfare/warfare state agenda. We also need a leader who will
not allow the debt bubble to spiral out of control quite so
quickly and alarmingly. With Kerry et al, The Empire (and its
currency, the dollar) might be sustained for another 10-15
years, maybe more. That means that we would get to stay very
rich (at the expense of the rest of the world, and at the
expense of the possibility of rapid recovery after the crash)
for another 10-15 years, maybe more. Think about it! The ass
you save may be your own!
If you know what is good for you (i.e. that which will KEEP
YOU $$RICH$$), you will shed any sentimental and frivolous
ideas you may have had about voting for justice, truth and
equity, or about significant change. You will also take care
to FORGET about the resource and sustainability implications
of another decade or two of unstinting devotion to the
"progress" juggernaut -- another decade or two with less risk
of economic collapse, as Kerry will assure. That will mean
another decade or two of irreplaceable resource-stripping,
topsoil depletion, aquifer exhaustion, food-chain poisoning,
unsustainable population growth, and general drawdown of
natural capital, further overshoot,[7] and long-term or even
permanent crippling of regenerative potentials. Future
generations will pay dearly for this -- billions of them with
their lives -- but that is not your concern. The crash will be
harder and faster (and more irretrievable) for liberal
Democrats having postponed it for a decade or two, but that is
not your concern, either.
FORGET all that bleeding-heart tree-hugger stuff, and GET YOUR
BUTT INTO THAT POLING BOOTH AND PULL THE LEVER FOR JOHN KERRY!
Don't hesitate! Don't flinch! JUST DO IT! If you have any
residual misgivings, just repeat this simple, reassuring
mantra: "ANYBODY but Bush! ANYBODY but Bush!"
Alan
Notes:
1. See: Dissing the Republic To Save It - A conversation with
Chalmers Johnson
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/32/features-cooper.php
2. See extensive excerpts from Chalmers Johnson's "Blowback: The
Costs and Consequences of American Empire" here:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Blowback_CJohnson.html
Johnson's more recent book The Sorrows of Empire is probably also
worth checking out. See review here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo02172004.html
3. The Coming Anarchy, by Robert D. Kaplan -- "How scarcity,
crime, overpopulation, tribalism, and disease are rapidly
destroying the social fabric of our planet":
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/foreign/anarchy.htm
See also the work of Thomas Homer-Dixon:
http://www.homerdixon.com/
http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/6640.html
4. Beware the Liberal War on Terror, by Dave Stratman:
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_9668.shtml
5. See, for one example, the website of authentic conservative
John Buchanan (no relation to Pat): http://johnbuchanan.org --
and if you visit the site, scroll down to the little chart
titled "Who is the REAL Republican?", comparing "Core
Republican Values" with "Bush's Anti-Republican Record". You
will be amazed at how much you resonate with the "Core
Republican Values" mentioned.
6. An introduction to Brzezinski's geostrategic ideas is here:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/RUP111B.html
A nice BRIEF set of snippets from The Grand Chessboard is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a-albionic/message/527
7. See William Catton's "Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of
Revolutionary Change". Extensive excerpt is here:
http://dieoff.org/page15.htm
or check out essays by Catton:
http://www.greatchange.org/ov-catton,denial.html
http://www.npg.org/forum_series/catton_malthus.htm
Why We Must Support John Kerry
By Alan E Lewis
In a recent interview, Chalmers Johnson suggests that the
American Empire may be within 5 years of collapse [1].
This is unacceptable.
The Empire -- the neo-liberal Imperium and associated machines
and institutions, on which each person reading these words
depends for his/her prosperity and comfort -- MUST be
sustained.
The problem is that Dubya's rash, intemperate policies are
putting The Empire at risk. With Dubya at the helm,
international credibility is abysmal, serious and
uncontrollable "blowback"[2] from U.S. policies is likely, and
there is a distinct risk of the whole global situation
spiralling into chaos -- just as suggested in Kaplan's "The
Coming Anarchy" [3], but with the addition of other and grave
factors not cited by Kaplan.
Further, the deficit spending, trade imbalance, and debt
build-up under Dubya have been colassal and unprecedented, and
are obviously unsustainable. Near-term economic collapse, on
the current trajectory, is also a distinct possibility.
Economic collapse would likely synergize with Kaplanian and
other factors to create a wild and chaotic situation.
Clearly, CONTROL is at risk, and CONTROL MUST BE ASSURED.
That is the first order of business.
And that is why we must get out and vote for John Kerry. We
need a more refined and subtle and skillful Emperor to keep
the great game going, to secure (steal) the resources so as to
keep us all rich, to further develop the police state
infrastructure, &tc., and also to defuse any pesky
revolutionary energies -- any *serious* challenge to
business-as-usual -- that might otherwise crop up.
We need a liberal Democrat to keep the war machine going, and
to expand it, with the support of a majority. As Dave Stratman
points out in "Beware the Liberal War on Terror"[4]:
. "Only a Democrat with liberal credentials can lead the
. American people in sustained military conflict. This is true
. for two reasons. Only the Democratic Party has deep and
. extensive ties with labor unions and with black, white, and
. Hispanic workers -- in other words, with the people who will
. do the fighting; without effective working class support, no
. military effort can long be sustained.... US success in the
. war depends on liberal leadership."
Besides, Bush's popularity has been sinking like a small rock,
over the last year. Everyone to the left of the Republicans
can't stand him. And many Republicans, and all true
conservatives, can't stand him.[5] It is obvious to the rest
of the world, and increasingly even to the people of the U.S.,
that Bush is both a liar and an incompetent. Even (some)
staunch Republicans are viewing him as a blithering idiot, a
corrupt scumbag, or some combination. This is not a
sustainable situation.
To sustain The Empire that holds our best prospects for a rich
and comfortable life, (read: CHEAP PETROL, STRONG DOLLAR),
we've got to have a CREDIBLE leader with a popular mandate for
maintaining the War On Terror And Towel-Heads, for supporting
the military-industrial behemoth, for encircling Asia and
stealing its resources (see: The Grand Chessboard, by
Brzezinski [6]), for strengthening the domestic police state,
and generally for ensuring the continuity of the whole modern
welfare/warfare state agenda. We also need a leader who will
not allow the debt bubble to spiral out of control quite so
quickly and alarmingly. With Kerry et al, The Empire (and its
currency, the dollar) might be sustained for another 10-15
years, maybe more. That means that we would get to stay very
rich (at the expense of the rest of the world, and at the
expense of the possibility of rapid recovery after the crash)
for another 10-15 years, maybe more. Think about it! The ass
you save may be your own!
If you know what is good for you (i.e. that which will KEEP
YOU $$RICH$$), you will shed any sentimental and frivolous
ideas you may have had about voting for justice, truth and
equity, or about significant change. You will also take care
to FORGET about the resource and sustainability implications
of another decade or two of unstinting devotion to the
"progress" juggernaut -- another decade or two with less risk
of economic collapse, as Kerry will assure. That will mean
another decade or two of irreplaceable resource-stripping,
topsoil depletion, aquifer exhaustion, food-chain poisoning,
unsustainable population growth, and general drawdown of
natural capital, further overshoot,[7] and long-term or even
permanent crippling of regenerative potentials. Future
generations will pay dearly for this -- billions of them with
their lives -- but that is not your concern. The crash will be
harder and faster (and more irretrievable) for liberal
Democrats having postponed it for a decade or two, but that is
not your concern, either.
FORGET all that bleeding-heart tree-hugger stuff, and GET YOUR
BUTT INTO THAT POLING BOOTH AND PULL THE LEVER FOR JOHN KERRY!
Don't hesitate! Don't flinch! JUST DO IT! If you have any
residual misgivings, just repeat this simple, reassuring
mantra: "ANYBODY but Bush! ANYBODY but Bush!"
Alan
Notes:
1. See: Dissing the Republic To Save It - A conversation with
Chalmers Johnson
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/32/features-cooper.php
2. See extensive excerpts from Chalmers Johnson's "Blowback: The
Costs and Consequences of American Empire" here:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Blowback_CJohnson.html
Johnson's more recent book The Sorrows of Empire is probably also
worth checking out. See review here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo02172004.html
3. The Coming Anarchy, by Robert D. Kaplan -- "How scarcity,
crime, overpopulation, tribalism, and disease are rapidly
destroying the social fabric of our planet":
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/foreign/anarchy.htm
See also the work of Thomas Homer-Dixon:
http://www.homerdixon.com/
http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/6640.html
4. Beware the Liberal War on Terror, by Dave Stratman:
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_9668.shtml
5. See, for one example, the website of authentic conservative
John Buchanan (no relation to Pat): http://johnbuchanan.org --
and if you visit the site, scroll down to the little chart
titled "Who is the REAL Republican?", comparing "Core
Republican Values" with "Bush's Anti-Republican Record". You
will be amazed at how much you resonate with the "Core
Republican Values" mentioned.
6. An introduction to Brzezinski's geostrategic ideas is here:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/RUP111B.html
A nice BRIEF set of snippets from The Grand Chessboard is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/a-albionic/message/527
7. See William Catton's "Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of
Revolutionary Change". Extensive excerpt is here:
http://dieoff.org/page15.htm
or check out essays by Catton:
http://www.greatchange.org/ov-catton,denial.html
http://www.npg.org/forum_series/catton_malthus.htm