tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32858026.post116228022391466383..comments2021-01-30T03:50:43.034-05:00Comments on earth as it is in heaven: Mike Broadwayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11777637165653734261noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32858026.post-1162394331898320762006-11-01T10:18:00.000-05:002006-11-01T10:18:00.000-05:00Thanks, Bruce. I agree with this general understa...Thanks, Bruce. I agree with this general understanding about power in the nation-state. What lasts from regime to regime, or as we like to say, from administration to administration, is the regulatory bureaucracy which is dominated by the interest groups it is supposed to regulate. Now that money has taken over national elections and many statewide elections, the plutocracy is almost complete. To quote a slogan I like (from the great political philosopher, Dr. Bumper Sticker), "This is not a democracy. It's an auction."<BR/><BR/>Well-funded, combined with well-organized, beats well-organized and disorganized almost every time. With a well-funded regime in place, well-funded forces of neo-conservatism are overtly and covertly changing the laws of the land to serve their agendas. They throw a few bones to the Reconstructionists and other wrong-headed so-called Christians, and keep their hopes up. They fund a few TV preachers with the understanding that the regime's policies will be supported and never contradicted. It has the potential to unfold as a Handmaid's Tale scenario.<BR/><BR/>My reservation about the nation-state's power is that government umpired pluralism will not on its own prevent such a devolution. Strong voices of opposition, alternate centers of power, and speaking the truth to power are also required. Again, they alone will not prevent the devolution. <BR/><BR/>There is no fool-proof so long as the fools continue to say in their hearts that there is no God, and the other fools continue to say, "Lord, Lord," when they are serving Self, Mammon, Mars, Manifest Destiny, Fear, Hate, Demagoguery, and all the idolatrous Pantheon.<BR/><BR/>While not wanting to be identified as either Republican or Democrat, I am sure there is a drastic change needed now. Regime change starts at home, to quote another slogan. But simply removing one lobby-bought government and replacing it with another lobby-bought government will not solve the problem. People will have to speak to Congress and potential presidential candidates clearly <BR/><BR/>against torture and for transforming initiatives for peace, <BR/><BR/>against prostituting the churches and for churches caring for their neighborhoods because it is their calling, <BR/><BR/>against starving the poor to feed the rich and for a social safety net that creates opportunities, <BR/><BR/>against destroying the health care system for half of the US and for a healthy workforce and society, <BR/><BR/>against local and global exploitation of workers and for living wages and health benefits,<BR/><BR/>against starving the public education system until it dies and for recreating public education through a curriculum and smaller schools that serve everyone,<BR/><BR/>against a court and penal system that warehouses unemployed minorities as forced labor and for recovery and re-entry programs that end the revolving prison doors.<BR/><BR/>And we have to hold them accountable. One vote every two years is not accountability. Organizing local groups across racial and ethnic lines about the common interests of the community, demanding that the public officials listen to OUR agendas, and working with them to see the agendas come into being is the best way to rebuild democratic institutions.Mike Broadwayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11777637165653734261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32858026.post-1162385450646498922006-11-01T07:50:00.000-05:002006-11-01T07:50:00.000-05:00Mike,You are right about a lot of things in this p...Mike,<BR/><BR/>You are right about a lot of things in this post. Particularly about the country being fairly evenly divided in polls and elections.<BR/><BR/>Political power, however, is not so evenly divided. Spoils go to the victor in politics. <BR/><BR/>Half the nation or more may be against the war, but the entire nation is behind the war effort.<BR/><BR/>Half the nation or more may support the Geneva Conventions and the work of the United Nations, but the entire nation is being led by people who don't.<BR/><BR/>Half the nation or more may be against the politicization of religion and government funded proselytization, but the entire nation is being led by people who are doing it.<BR/><BR/>Half the nation or more may support public schools and oppose vouchers for religious schools, but the entire nation is being led by people who don't.<BR/><BR/>Half the nation or more may expect the government to provide a safety net for the disabled, unemployed, and impoverished, but the entire nation is being led by people who don't.<BR/><BR/>Half the nation or more may expect the courts to be fair and impartial toward the poor and/or powerless, but the nations' courts are being stacked with judges who are partial toward the interests of wealth and/or power. Those judges serve life terms.Bruce Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09120022296004446232noreply@blogger.com