It’s all in the marketing; and it’s all marketing. We still have a democracy, in a way, but the votes are counted at cash registers and “Buy” buttons online, tabulated by corporations and divided between how much they want to spend to own their representatives and how much they have to spend to sell products. Usually, the two things coincide (and are tax-deductible as business expenses).
The biggest disinformation campaign we suffer is the income tax code. It’s the tool used by politicians to pretend they care and to manipulate votes, and it’s the tool used by corporations to manipulate politicians and their own bank accounts.
We are feeling used and exploited whether we’ve spent our time in the military, on a farm or just shopping for a truck to get some work done (avg profit on a truck/suv is $17,000).
The American public doesn’t see the costs of cheap food , useless products and war when they spend money, so we continue to spend money and empower the ‘swamp’ that isn’t just in D.C.: it extends to every city through canals of cashflow that represent the masses of people laboring to remove our grandchildren’s resources from the ground and turn those resources into yachts and bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. This is The Invisible Hand Job at work.
Democracy is alive and well: one dollar = one vote. The problem is that the dollars keep voting for the other dollars.
The opposite of this ‘capitalism’ is not socialism; it’s sales taxes. It’s the one thing that both sides hate: informed voters. The rich get richer because we buy their stuff and work for them, instead of keeping resources near to hand and away from hierarchies:
“To the extent that we believe we need them, exactly to that extent will we continue our dependence upon ruthless, murderous plunderers, people entirely opposed to our needs and deepest longings. As long as we believe we need them, exactly that long will we live life on our knees, begging — as Mickey Z. says — for crumbs from their table.
The depth of our apparent need is the measure of their height above us. The nightmare of our poverty is our dream that they have a right to take our money. The illusion of our impotence is the chimera of their monstrous strength. We shall be slaves as long as we’re convinced that we have masters, and not one moment longer.
Time to wake up, time to grow up. We’re not children. We do not need to ask permission to live like sane, reasonable, thoughtful, compassionate human beings. We do not need to beg or bow or kneel. We do not need to look to government or to experts or to the rich and famous. Whatever we need, we can get it ourselves. Whatever we want to stop — we can stop it ourselves. Whatever must be done, we can do it ourselves. We do not need them; we need each other.” — Joe Carpenter
