Sunday, December 11, 2016

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton, British historian

In an example maybe you won't expect, let's go with Valerie Plame, the CIA officer who was turned out by Dick Cheney because her husband didn't kowtow to the Iraq lie.  (WIKI:  Valerie Plame)

Valerie Plame is a sophisticated and highly-educated woman who speaks three languages.  In contrast, Dick Cheney repeatedly flunked out of Yale and ended up with his degrees from the University of Wyoming.  The only languages Cheney knows are wanton murder and snarling.

Although Dick Cheney got five draft deferments to get himself out of Vietnam, the cowardice of his turnaround from that to one of the worst warhawks in modern history is not typical of Republicans in general.  I do not have a citation but Pink is a reliable source and he advises seventy-five percent of the military is comprised of Republicans now.  The only way Cheney can dare to call himself one of them is unimaginable arrogance.  When he was sending many to their deaths, he reached a level of callousness only humans, the worst of us, can summon.

Note:  that 75% of the military is shifted to one political persuasion is inherently dangerous but that topic can be addressed separately.  We saw an example of that in repeated disloyalty toward Obama from Republican generals.

Note 2:  Obama failed utterly.  When Harry Truman had an errant general on his hands, MacArthur was fired.  Once you let the Pentagon own the White House, the game is over.


It's the stated intention of the really far right Republicans that dominating the world with military power in the world is America's best objective.  See above about absolute power as the American military has almost nothing to do with defense, notwithstanding the sanctimonious speeches from Washington.

This kind of thinking is hidden far below the stated objectives of the White House but it's always been there with it the worst now it's ever been.  The Democratic Party nearly rolled over for it, once again, with Hillary Clinton but, thankfully, she was soundly rejected by Republicans and Democrats.

Note 1:  we don't count neoliberals as Democrats as they're easier to gull than children by offering them candy.

Note 2:  we can't explain why Elizabeth Warren got so confused since she's an intelligent woman and has been on the fair side of everything else.

Ed:  what side is the 'fair' one?

The one which works for equality and peace for everyone.


The most disingenuous candy of all was the way Clinton was giving candy to women in terms of making things better for them.  She gave fiery speeches (sort of) on the matter but the fact is did you ever hear her talk about the Equal Rights Amendment?

Right.  Neither did I.

In terms of throwing swine before pearls, Hillary Clinton is a regrettable example.  You are the pearl and definitely not the politicians.

You are the pearl.  Believe it.

Clinton had no significant plan for tax changes which showed she had no more intention of paying for anything than Obama and Republicans have never had any intention of paying for anything as we see going back to Reagan.  Kill the taxes and increase spending.  That kind of logic only makes sense to children.

The general premise is the lower tax rates will work if Washington reduces spending but the fact is Washington never does that.  (Ithaka:  America Was Never Great But It Had Potential)

The concept is valid but, for over thirty years, no President has ever lived up to it.  The standard is impossible to reach when the Pentagon dominates the White House and the military spending dominates everything else.

As evidence of Obama's complicity, there's the recent announcement of starting on the B-21 project, as if America really needs another long-range nuclear bomber.

Whomever made the following B-21 video was not even American and you can tell by the spelling.  Unless you see anyone spelling 'defence' that way in America, whomever did it is most likely a Brit.




How many billions they will waste on this one can't even be estimated and a classic failing example is the F-35 boondoggle.


In your own life, it's the same principle as becoming a professional musician:  you can't make the cut to full-time unless you're pulling at least the same income as you were making in your ordinary job.  That's why the major importance of doing it while you're young or otherwise you get hooked on the money and it's a bitch to get out.

Witness Washington.  Every musician on the planet knows the truth of what I just wrote but only an extreme few in Washington even have a clue of it.

We deserve better, mates.  We worked hard to build America and, yah, even me as how much deeper into the belly of the demon can anyone get than working for a bank.  We worked hard, almost all of us, and we do deserve better than what Washington has been doing to the country.

Moreover, it's not just a few of us who deserve better but everyone.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you seen Hillary's America??

http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/top-10-highlights-of-hillarys-america/

What an eye opener. If you are crying because she did not win--it would be helpful to watch. ML

Unknown said...

Nope, I'm not weeping but many are crying a river online. They get abused a lot (larfs).

I wasn't being dramatic in the estimation she's more likely to get us radioactive than Obama. She was notoriously aggressive militarily and that's the last thing the world needs relative to Russia, China, etc. It doesn't matter much to me since a nuke war would be cool to watch but I'm not having the idea of blowing up any children.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the thought!