Dear Editor,
John Cooper's description [What Profiteth it a Nation] of the state of American culture is extremely sad. That the manifest problems are allowed to fester he seems to regard as a sign of mass dementia: the people are "among the most ethically and morally challenged", and like the mythical lemmings, suicidally rushing toward the cliff.
However, remaining consistent with the observed cultural failings does not require one to damn 300 million people. There is an alternative.
The devil (the elite) made us (cover stories / propaganda) do it - for their benefit BUT NOT OURS. The iconoclastic case can be made that our government has always been one of the elites ruling Hamilton's beast. The sanctity of contracts - to preserve wealth - was written in Article I (Sect 10) of the Constitution, while slaves (black and indentured) and women remained as property, and "Indians" were nonpersons. The Bill of Rights - for the people - was forced by the states as the price of ratification. That the General of the revolutionary Army and first President, George Washington, was the richest man in the colonies was no accident. The violent forces of government (police and military) have since the beginning of the Republic been used as strikebreakers - in support of wealth: see "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn.
Starting early in the last century Hoover's FBI and the CIA have been undermining lawful popular protest. See Zinn and "War at Home" by Brian Glick. "Free speech zones" and arbitrary arrest have made a mockery of the 1st, 4th , 5th, and 8th Amendments for anyone even near a protest of elite activities: political, corporate or governmental.
In modern times the consolidation of most of the commercial media into the hands of a few mega-corporate owners has enabled a rich elite, with the ubiquity and impact of TV images, to control the popular culture.
If you avoid the commercial media, there is no question about the culpability of Bush & Co. for war crimes in Iraq. (Earlier, the Johnson and Nixon administrations were, in fact, equally guilty: the Gulf on Tonkin incident was fabricated, and about 3 million Vietnamese and Cambodian citizens were murdered.) However, if that gang were locked up - which they certainly should be - what gang would take their place? The deeper question, which Cooper tries to address, is what would have to be different for a successor government to actually work for sustainable peace and justice?
Toward the answers to those questions you might be interested in a couple of books I read recently. The answer to "Who would succeed?" is someone at least as bad - because the rich will still be waging a "war for wealth." This is suggested by the 32 year old "The Economics of the Rich" by Howard P Tuckman ($1.99 from Amazon).
The answer to "What would have to be different?" is suggested by "Economic Democracy: The Political Struggle for the 21st Century (3rd Edition)" by J.W. Smith http://www.ied.info/books/ed/contents.html Smith demonstrates that the current economic system has very deep roots, primarily what he calls "residual-feudal *exclusive* property titles," and that until they are cut, world economics will remain imperial.
The moral bankruptcy is not intrinsic to the common people, but it is to the current economic system and to the elite who enforce it.
We must undermine their power.
Kurt B. King
"'Classical political economy was, first and foremost, meant to be a formula for accelerating the overall accumulation process' and was meant to guide all wealth produced by the increased efficiencies of technology to the already wealthy." - J.W. Smith quoting Michael Perelman "Econominc Democracy"
Dear Kurt,
Thank you for your poignant and thoughtful letter. We agree that the people are the victims, not the perpetrators of these crimes - foreign and domestic. The system engineered by a few has gained influence and power over the people of the United States via legislation and the news and entertainment media. The common people of the United States, like all people everywhere, left to themselves want peace, security and a reasonable standard of living. Indeed, the moral bankruptcy can be easily traced directly to the few who could control and exploit the many. In recent months, we have become more and more excited about the popular movements in Latin America against the US-backed ruling elite. We savour the hope generated by their solidarity for liberation from oligarchy and self-governance. We are hopeful that the people of the United States will also learn to shed their sense of futility and helplessness and become empowered to govern themselves for the first time in U.S. history. With respect to the ruling elite and their system, "we must undermine their power" as you aptly wrote. Thanks again for your positive, encouraging letter.
Les Blough, Editor
Axis of Logic
Boston, MA
617-787-3498
