Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Those who wish to subjugate others frequently use a simple tactic that, perhaps due to that very simplicity, is often quite successful.  Create a false, highly esoteric model of a straightforward endeavor, then build an intimidating aura of complexity and difficulty around it that convinces most people it's something they're just not capable of understanding.  "Don't even think about this.  It's so complicated and so cryptic that you need a special education, a special language and a whole separate set of rules to even begin to understand."  

In some cases, science or medicine for example, the complexity and difficulty are often real.  In others, such as religion or politics, it's an artifice contrived to give the prevaricators free reign to make up the rules as they go along.

The acolytes of free market capitalism have applied this chicanery to economics.  Economics is bookkeeping, nothing more.  You put what you spend in one column.  You put what you earn in another column.  When you add everything up you hope the total you earned is greater than the total you spent.  That's it!

Over many decades devoted to greed and corruption the worshipers of Mammon have created a twisted labyrinth of cryptic devices and specious principles that have become a depraved religion of avarice with a prelacy that is evil incarnate.  In each case their machinations have been efforts to achieve some short-term advantage, which in turn necessitate further priestcraft to avoid prosecution for the earlier deceit.  All they're really trying to do is make sure the earned total is always much more than the spent total.  Sometimes they even manage to earn without spending at all!

Free Market Capitalists are just Libertarians disguised as humans.  Mammon in a new suit; it's a new label for an old evil.  The degree of hypocrisy practiced by the New Libertarians is breathtaking.  A great number of those advocating "Free Market" principles are also claiming to be devout Christians.  The two philosophies are mutually exclusive.

The essence of "Free Market Capitalism" is really pretty simple: A few "superior" people should own and control all goods and services needed by the worlds' population.  

The entire credo could read something like this:

1)    Those who possess wealth and power deserve nothing less because, being highly intelligent and ambitious, they are superior and should, in fact, own and control everything of value as only they are capable of deciding it's best disposition.  

2)    Despite their worth as human beings, no matter how hard they may strive, regardless of their contribution to the welfare of all, heedless of the fact that the very existence of "civilization" depends upon their labor, workers should live in poverty and deserve nothing more because, lacking intelligence and ambition, they are inferior.

Sort of flies in the face of the Christ himself wouldn't you say?  

"As you do unto the least of these my family you do unto me."

Matthew Chapter 25 41 17  

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'  44 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'  45 He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'  46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Now I know it seems I'm getting off into something of a religious tirade here.  Not my intention.  I would have to say, if asked, that I am an agnostic.  I merely feel it's worth comparing their claims of Christian enlightenment with the reality of their depraved, malicious actions.

Some are espousing the infamous, utterly fictional "trickle down" theory of the free market.  It's the proverbial rising tide that raises all ships.  The only ships raised by this tide are the ostentatious yachts of the obscenely wealthy.  All others are drowned in a flood of greed.

Take the old adage about self-reliance: "Give someone a fish and you feed them for one day.

Teach them how to fish and you feed them for life."

The Libertarian would add a third line something like: Acquire, by whatever means necessary, all the places where you can catch fish and then charge everyone exorbitant fees for the privilege of eating.

Put as simply as possible Libertarianism could be thought of as an existential utopian delusion.  It really comes down to anarchy.  It brings to mind Aleister Crowley with his doctrine; "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."  The main problem with the Libertarian fantasy is that, in order for anyone to survive it, everyone must be completely benevolent.  Otherwise it comes down to the last one standing.

The entire mélange of mind numbing statistics and theories, all the business jargon and economic mumbo jumbo of Wall Street and corporate "economists" is mostly smoke and mirrors conjured to convince the uninitiated that all is controlled by some mysterious, occult force;  "The Invisible Hand of the Market."  There are divine powers at work here, which only the High Priests of Economics can comprehend.  Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

Capitalism is supposedly based on competition, which is a euphemism for fighting and the ultimate fight is, of course, war.  The only war actually being waged is against the working people of the world.  There is only one objective: loot and pillage, everything.  All the tactics of the generals who wage this war, from the safety of their air-conditioned bunkers, arise from the most primitive reptilian part of the human brain.  Like some aggressive, rudimentary neural appendix, it regulates the basest, most savage and primitive urges of our pre-human instincts.  

Because these abhorrent miscreants act on such a primitive level they are very unified in their efforts.  They may be thought of as an especially malevolent and particularly aggressive cancer.  Their inhuman single-mindedness makes them a formidable threat to the welfare and even survival of humanity.  Their need for instant gratification and inability to think using long-term inductive reasoning makes them a danger to all life.  

The statement to the contrary not withstanding, one of the main goals of the free market is to totally eliminate competition.  Competitor is another euphemism and should actually be read as "collaborator".  A process of assimilation in the form of acquisition, merger, hostile takeover or some other act of accommodation usually results in the elimination of competition.  This illusory "competition" is only necessary to maintain a non-monopolistic facade when there is token government oversight of corporate criminality.  Once there is corporate ownership of government, and monopoly is permitted, these "eliminations" are merely formalizations that no "successful" capitalist opposes.

The other prime Libertarian objective is to "privatize" everything.  Free market believers really are certain that they have every right to the ownership of all the vital necessities of life.  No goods or services, however essential to human survival, should ever be shared willingly between or within "societies".  Everything can be owned and sold for profit and, therefore, must be.  Any attempt to prevent this process from becoming the global norm is considered subversive.  

Free marketers find most attractive those things which are absolutely vital to human survival; such as food, water, energy, clothing and shelter.  Services such as medical care are also not to be available to just anyone.  

In Bolivia, where the government was forced to sell the public water system to the multinational Bechtel due to World Bank pressure, the experience was even more disastrous. Not only were water prices doubled, local residents were even forced to buy permits to gather rain water on their own property. Water became more expensive than food.

Think of contemporary multinational corporations as a monolithic empire constantly maneuvering to create a global, economic hegemony with a starkly oppressive caste system and you will have a better idea of what "Free Market Capitalism" really is.  Libertarians long for a world which they own and a population whose sole purpose is to serve them.  There's nothing free about the "free market" except for those who control it.  All these rapacious parasites lust for the same apparently irresistible prize of endlessly increasing profit.  They will seek to attain this mythical, unreachable goal by all means conceivable, however vile or inhuman.  

The free ride will inevitably end however, at the brick wall of reality.  For the present, the oppressed pay all the cost of building this empire.  Aside from frequently sacrificing large numbers of workers, who are after all only data in a cost analysis, most of the casualties actually come, not from within the corporate ranks, but from the "civilian" population.  

There seem to be strong similarities here to our many glorious wars fought with munitions.  Those wars, which also mainly kill civilians, are of great benefit to Free Market Capitalism; but that's another story.

Free market ideology, being extremely shortsighted, assumes that capacity for growth is actually limitless, which allows for instant gratification and no concern for future consequences.  This is simply delusional.  There is no magic cornucopia of endless resources and no perpetual fountainhead of consumers.  To profit from the sale of goods and services requires someone to consume and use them.  In pursuing the blasphemous Ark of Total Ownership and the Unholy Grail of Infinite Growth, Libertarianism destroys that which gives it life.  That's just a little more religious levity there.

Every corporation in the free market is a pyramid scam.  Once such an entity is created, the first order of business for those in the highest ranks is to start looking for ways to cut operating costs.  That's what keeps them atop their particular pyramid.  They will cheapen goods and/or services by reducing quality while increasing the selling price.  They will find the cheapest environment in which to operate by relocating facilities and outsourcing jobs.  They will replace people with machines at every opportunity.  They will minimize or eliminate customer service in all but name.  

There are many ways to reduce costs but there can never be enough when pursuing the imaginary ne plus ultra of infinite growth.  When all other means of cost cutting have been exhausted the focus will be turned completely on labor.  Abusive and dangerous work environments will be created by forcing fewer people to do more work in less time with little or no concern for health or safety.  Payroll and benefits will be cut until the bulk of the labor force is indentured.  This is ultimately a no-win scenario.  The people who labor to create the goods or perform the services are the same people who buy and use them.  These same workers are victims of usurious practices and inhuman labor demands by the corporate hegemon.  Can you say catch-22?  This is a built in self-destruct mechanism and, in a society with a monetary system based on debt, the destruction is inevitable.

A natural consequence of the actions of corporations like Target, WalMart, Halliburton, Exxon Mobile, Coca Cola, Dow Chemical, Monsanto and a host of others, along with the politicians that serve them, is creation of a fascist, neo-feudal system or plutocracy that has basically four classes:

1)    The "Royalty"

This would be the titular head or heads of state who will have vast wealth but not necessarily any real power.  They are needed to create the illusion of "government" where none exists or, in the case of an actual dictator, maintain control through military force.

2) The "Aristocracy"

These are the Lords, Dukes, Barons and so on; Nobility.  They are the most compliant politicians, the CEOs and top executives of the corporate/fascist state.  This group will have free rein since they have, by whatever immoral and illicit means available consolidated virtually all wealth and power in their control.

3) The "Merchant Class"

They run business operations for the ruling class, using slave labor or indentured servants, to provide their lords with the goods and services desired.  They will be given just enough material wealth to keep them in fear and eager to please their masters, who have the power to strip them of all their possessions and reduce them to poverty at a whim.

4) The "Peasantry"

This is the rest of the population, the masses, the serfs, and all the unwashed sub-humans who are unworthy of a decent life by virtue of the fact that they produce rather than exploit.  They are fit only for labor and should be discarded the moment their productivity falls below the required level.  

These are the blue-collar workers, the once proud and vital American middle class that built this country to, and maintained it at, what was once a very high, if not the highest, standard of living.  They, their children, grandchildren and who knows how many generations are being condemned to poverty in the thousands every day.

The first two groups can basically be described as the Master Race.  That's often how Libertarians think of themselves.  The fourth class will simply be considered slaves.  The third class are not really masters or slaves but, if push came to shove, the Elite would certainly consider them slaves.  Cleaner, somewhat more tolerable slaves but slaves nonetheless.

Free Market Capitalism seeks a return to the conditions that brought about the American Revolution and nearly every violent and non-violent revolution that can be named before or since.  If we do not change this course soon, the goal will almost certainly be achieved with one significant difference.  For the first time in human history these conditions will be imposed on a global scale.  The people of America have been forcibly indoctrinated into a corporate/fascist state.  The cancer that has killed America is now spreading to every corner of the Earth.

With the Bush coup d'état in 2000, all pretenses at democracy in the U.S.A. have been abandoned.  The non-election of 2004 was a complete sham.  When all the wealth and power of a nation is controlled by a very small fraction of the population the resulting class system is nothing more than a slave state, which MUST INEVITABLY collapse under its own putrid, immoral weight, crushing the entire society in the process.  This time the implosion may destroy the rest of humanity as well.

Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

In a civil society, which America today certainly is not, provisions for the absolute necessities of life are the responsibility of everyone.  It is for this reason the people submit to governance in the first place.  They pay taxes to a duly elected body that is sworn to act in the best interests of the people and to ensure that those fundamental necessities for survival will be provided to everyone.  This includes even those who, because of advanced age, illness, injury or other circumstances beyond their control, may be unable to provide for themselves.  This is called compassion and is an absolutely essential element of any functional society.  These are concepts that are of no use to the Libertarian and are therefore nonexistent in their belief system.  To a true Libertarian there is only one motivation: voracious selfishness.  

Money is God.  

Ownership is tantamount.  

Power is life.  

Civilization is irrelevant.  

Society does not exist.  

Compassion is a meaningless word, a joke.  

These are creatures that oppress, deride, torment and even kill great numbers of human beings with great relish.  They do it because they can and that is the only self-justification they require.  The Libertarian is an existential, conscienceless, completely amoral abomination lacking the basic human ability to distinguish between wrong and right.

Among civilized people, cooperation, not competition, ensures survival.  Sharing, not starving is what promotes life.  People do not submit to governance for the privilege of being oppressed, driven into poverty, enslaved and deprived of their humanity so a few depraved phschopaths can live in opulence.