A STATE OF MIND by Murph

Today I don’t have anything pressing on me to get done, and I feel sufficiently motivated to write a new post. While I haven’t been putting up much in new posts lately, I have been spending time reading and analyzing what I can find out on the web concerning our state of affairs and where we are headed.

Some of the sites I wallow in frequently are coming out with all kinds of information. One of my favorites is LATOC (Life After The Oil Crash). Matt Savinar must spend 10 hours a day on the computer to keep coming up with the rather extensive list of links that are constantly changing. He covers a very broad range of subjects, most of them are flat out depressing to read, but do give a good indication of what is happening.

The Mogambu Guru has his take on the economic situation and The Independence Journal that he writes for has links all over the place concerning money and economics. Plus, Mogambu has a style of writing that is very different and entertaining.

Deconsumption and Cryptogon are putting out new stuff that takes hours to comb through.

I probably have 150-200 web sites bookmarked that I try and get to at least once a week, and never quite get through them all. Some sites I regularly do keep up on for a variety of reasons. The writing is so well done, the data appears compelling, the perspectives are unique. Joe Bagaent is one site that I try not to miss. His essays and the replies that he prints are great writing and very interesting perspectives.

In fact, the amount of material out there with perspectives on a very broad range of subjects seems to me to be growing exponentially. This has its good and bad points. The good part is that if you are into immersing yourself into a huge pool of observations, data and opinions, the pool has gotten very large of lately. The down side is the time to go through it all and trying to absorb it. Then, if you have an argumentative bent, replying to but a small fraction of it is more time if you try and be thoughtful in your responses.

I am going to focus on one little aspect that I am finding.

I am finding a lot of stuff written about voting lately. How we have to exercise our voting ‘privileges’ (geez, and I thought that was a right, not a privilege), how we have to change the direction of our government by voting, how favorite policies need to be influenced by voting.

With very little exceptions, I am finding most of this stuff to be naïve at best, and damaging at worst. The damage is caused by trying to convince folks that they can exercise their democratic options and expect some changes. The naivety is that these folks purporting this remedy have no idea what they are up against. That they can look at the 2000 and 2004 elections and think that voting will influence the workings of the government is astounding to me. Some of these writings point to the 2006 midterm elections as proof of change, the exhibit of the power of the people. There are times when I am not sure whether to laugh or cry over this kind of stuff. Cry because of the ignorance shown, or laugh at the obviously ridiculous conclusions.

In the coming 2008 elections, we have ample proof that those running for the office of president are all cut from the same cloth. Oh, they may differ on some side issues, but when you look carefully at what they say, their concept on governance varies not much. And before you jump up and scream about Ron Paul, or Edwards or any other of your favorite candidate, first take a look at the actual chances they have of winning a nomination or the election. Then look at voting records and who they are pals with.

First, take a look at Ron Paul. What he has said in his speeches and what he has written, I can, to a large extent agree with what he says. It is largely radical, and in all considerations, probably most of what he advocates SHOULD be done. Now what would have to happen for him to have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning? If he is sincere and being completely honest about what he stands for, who is he opposing with his stances? The big money people are not going to stand for it. Abolishing the Federal Reserve, ending corporate influence in government? Nope, not going to happen. If that is to take place, it will not happen at the voting polls. Why, you might ask? Because those two issues alone are two of the very basic issues that are influencing how the government works. Just how many people of voting age have even the faintest idea about those two issues much less how they work and the influence on the government? Oh no, what is going to be the hot issues is the war, abortion, gun control, immigration and god only knows how many other side issues they can come up with to keep us distracted from the basic issues, namely money and how that works. And it is not that these issues are unimportant, because they are. But they are side issues. Nothing significant is going to change in this government as long as we allow money to operate as it is.

It is fairly easy to lump all of the candidates into two groups; those that stand a chance and those that have no chance, at least under the current conditions. Then take those that appear to have some chance and compare all of them by what they say. Then start looking deeper into their background, the information is out there. You want a fear factor? Take a really deep look at Hillary, one of the current front runners. From my perspective, most of the candidates produce a fear factor in me.

We can read the statements; we can listen to the speeches by the contenders for political office. For me, the first thing to ask; is this how the contender really looks at the issue? It is naïve to think that these people do not say what any particular audience wants to hear. If you notice, their message changes depending on who they are talking to. And, none of the major contenders are going to address the basic issue at all. Just who do you think they owe allegiance to? How do they raise the huge sum of money it takes to run a major campaign? Folks, it is the big money people. The big money donations go fairly equally to both party candidates. If any one of them is cut off from this money flow, they are dead in the water. Now just what do you think is going to be a candidates allegiance? Us or the money flow? At this time in our history, the corporations have pretty much taken over the decision making of the government. The corporations control the media, they make the rules on voting, they rig the voting machines with no paper trail and they finance the runners for office.

We live in a democracy by name only. We live in a country run by a Fascist government. The only way voting will change anything is to have a ground swell of a huge majority of people that realize what the real issues are and are willing to stand up for it. Do you really see that happening before the next election? How are you going to get even a modicum of political savvy in the voting population that can’t identify where Iraq is located, or know how many sides a triangle has? I am not exaggerating about the lack of information or misinformation there is out in our society. The deliberate dumbing down of the population through our educational system has been systematic and with malice.

So does this mean that you shouldn’t bother to vote? Well, I will probably continue to vote, and I know Freeacre will also, even with the realization that it has no practical chance of making a significant change in anything. But, our main emphasis is now centered on local issues and organizing the local community. If any one of the big changes (climate, oil to name only 2) that we have no control over at all come at us and begin to be felt in earnest, the local organization is going to be what is viable if there is to be any viability at all.

I presume all of you have heard by now of the law Bush signed just lately. It gives him and Cheney absolute power (dictatorship) over the country for any sufficient excuse that Bush wants to use. Bet you haven’t heard that bit of news on TV. Notice the fact that the Dem majority in both house and senate aren’t saying anything about it either. Does that tell you whose side they are really on?

Darn, I keep waiting to be voted in as world dictator for life and that doesn’t seem to be happening either. Maybe I am aiming too high?