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What Will Become of Us, of Americans, If We Continue on This Path?
In 2006, David Grossman addressed a crowd that had gathered on November 4. November 4 is the date that Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. It is important to note, if you read through the entire speech (and please, please do so), that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was in the crowd.
And these are some of the reasons that, in an amazingly short time, Israel has degenerated into heartlessness, real cruelty toward the weak, the poor, and the suffering. Israel displays indifference to the hungry, the elderly, the sick, and the handicapped, equanimity in the face of, for example, trafficking in women, or the exploitation of foreign workers in conditions of slave labor, and in the face of profound, institutionalized racism toward its Arab minority. When all this happens as if it were perfectly natural, without outrage and without protest, I begin to fear that even if peace comes tomorrow, even if we eventually return to some sort of normality, it may be too late to heal us completely.
This diary is not intended as a criticism
of Israel. It is intended as an appreciation of a beautiful speech that
is itself a reflection of what happens to a country, to a people, who
are continually at war.
In that respect, I read it as an opportunity to ask what will become of us, of Americans, if we continue on this path that we have set out upon, or, if you prefer, that has been laid out for us by those who seek to foment continued division among Muslim and Christian, Muslim and Jew, Jew and Christian, and all of the rest of us who do not count ourselves among any of these religions, but who do consider ourselves to be Americans.
In the past 100 years, I wonder how many armed conflicts we have engaged in. (Anyone? I know there's an historian out there who can give me that exact figure.) And I'm not just talking about our official wars. I mean the unofficial ones, too. The "police actions" in the Dominican Republic; the interference in elections in Chile; the intervention in the former Yugoslavia.
Our need to take up arms, to have an enemy, to step into the perceived "fray," regardless of whether it, in fact, exists.
How much of our refusal to deal with our own racism, with poverty, with the suffering of our own people is a direct result of the constant distraction of war? Do we not care that immigrants toil in our cities for close to nothing? That our toys and knick-knacks are made by slave labour? That women in this country slide ever closer to their former status as chattel? That our elderly choose whether to pay for prescriptions or food?
One of the harsh things that this last war sharpened for us was the feeling that in these times there is no king in Israel. That our leadership is hollow, both our political and military leadership. I am not speaking now of the obvious fiascos in the conduct of the war, or of the way the rear echelon of the army was left to its own devices. Nor am I speaking of our current corruption scandals, great and small. My intention is to make it clear that the people who today lead Israel are unable to connect Israelis with their identity, and certainly not with the healthy, sustaining, inspiring parts of Jewish identity. I mean those parts of identity and memory and values that can give us strength and hope, that can serve as antidotes to the attenuation of mutual responsibility and of our connection to the land, that can grant meaning to our exhausting, desperate struggle for survival.Today, Israel's leadership fills the husk of its regime primarily with fears and intimidations, with the allure of power and the winks of the backroom deal, with haggling over all that is dear to us. In this sense, our leaders are not real leaders. They are certainly not the leaders that a people in such a complicated, disoriented state need. Sometimes, it seems that the public expression of their thinking, of their historical memory, of their vision, of what really is important to them fills only the tiny space between two newspaper headlines. Or between two police investigations.
Who can lead if one's leadership comprises the constant refrain of "Be afraid. Be very afraid?" Who can lead if one's response to people tearing themselves apart is a passive apathy? Who can lead if one seeks to stoke that anger? Who can lead if one's finger is constantly pointing at some other and emphasizing the differences rather than the commonalities? Who can lead if one asks others to do what one is not willing to do oneself?
I am not just talking about the President; he is not among those who do some of the things I have alluded to. But we do have people amongst us who want to step forward and lead ... what? Lynch mobs? What is the next step for these people? Will they follow Sarkozy, and expel those he deems less than human? (For Sarkozy, there is no excuse: he knows what expulsion leads to.)
Is that not what Arizona is doing now? Where, exactly, do they expect the people they "round-up" to go?
We have no leadership. We have corruption. And fear. We have no history. We have no vision. We have only the blaring of headlines that distract us; we look away from the bloodshed and the suffering of others in order to participate in the pornography of celebrity, of the news of the fantastical, the marvelous, the grotesque.
We have become Rome at its decline. Distracted by panem et circenses, calling for the blood of the gladiators on our television screens, crying out to see our internal enemies rounded up, humiliated, perhaps even... what? What is that those who oppose the mosque want? Blood vengeance? We mock the poor. We deny quality education to some of our youngest and brightest. We turn a blind eye to the fact that many of our neighbors are hungry.
But Grossman reminds us:Just as there is unavoidable war, there is also unavoidable peace. Because we no longer have any choice. We have no choice, and they have no choice. And we need to set out toward this unavoidable peace with the same determination and creativity with which we set out to an unavoidable war. Anyone who thinks there is an alternative, that time is on our side, does not grasp the profound, dangerous process that is now well underway.
Peace is possible. Our administration tells us that it is not--at least not yet. That we must be ever vigilant against those who would destroy us. But it is that constant vigilance that does destroy us. We lose a part of our souls each time we stand in line at a security checkpoint. What must we do to make peace a reality? If war is the not the answer, what then must be done to find another solution? We lose our souls when we compare Muslims to Nazis . (As I asked a former history colleague last night: How long before we repeat the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 and demand that Muslims wear "distinguishing signs?")
Again, Grossman:
From where I stand at this moment, I request, call out to all those listening -to young people who came back from the war, who know that they are the ones who will have to pay the price of the next war; to Jewish and Arab citizens; to the people of the right and the people of the left: stop for a moment. Look over the edge of the abyss, and consider how close we are to losing what we have created here. Ask yourselves if the time has not arrived for us to come to our senses, to break out of our paralysis, to demand for ourselves, finally, the lives that we deserve to live.
Amen.
136 Comments so far
Show AllZoltan Grossman, who teaches geography at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wa., has complied a list of 136 conflicts that the United States has been involved, both domestically and abroad, since the late 19th century till 2003 ["Let the Bloody Truth Be Told: A Chronology of U.S. Imperialism- From Wounded Knee to Iraq"]. As he notes, this guide does not include:
* mobilizations of the National Guard
* offshore shows of naval strength
* reinforcements of embassy personnel
* the use of non-Defense Department personnel
[such as the Drug Enforcement Administration]
* non-combat mobilizations [such as replacing postal strikers]
* the permanent stationing of armed forces
* covert actions where the U.S. did not play a
command and control role
* the use of small hostage rescue units
* most uses of proxy troops
* U.S. piloting of foreign warplanes
* foreign disaster assistance
* military training and advisory programs
not involving direct combat
* and many other military activities
http://www.jaysleftist.info/invade.htm
Of course, there is also William Blum's "Killing Hope - US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II".
Everyone should read it if they haven't already.
Blum's most relevant Killing Hope [which I have] is also listed as an additional source on the link that I had posted.
Gore Vidal listed more than 200 US military interventions in foreign countries in the 20th century alone ("Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace or How We Came To Be So Hated", 2002).
Blum's book is excellent, as is Vidal's.
I would also add to the list Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, by Stephen Kinzer. He limits the list to those government's we have overthrown, and doesn't really include all the extra-curricular activities we all know have occurred (touched on by Blum and Vidal), but a great book nonetheless.
A better question would be: what will become of the world if it continues on this path? I tend to agree with George Carlin about nature being able to take care of itself. But nature doesn't need humans, and those species that don't measure up to their potential don't last long. Humans are busy destroying the habitat that they live in. If we fowl this nest, what other do we have to move on to?
Is it my imagination, or are we seeing more disasters, more signs of global weather changing, more indications that the ecosystem is being tampered with? It's not the apocalypse, as fundamentalists would have it, but it is the end times for humanity.
" it is the end times for humanity."
No loss. Eventually we will be replaced by something, probably insects, which will be capable of surviving in whatever conditions we leave. Carlin was right: nature doesn't need our help.
Cats won't be happy, who's going to open all those cans? But yea sharks don't care if they get a week or not. And I don't see the rain forest getting upset at the idea either.
>^^<
It's not your imagination. What's happening to the climate no longer requires the confirmation of thousands of reputable scientists, which in fact it has. All you need is simple common sense and the ability to face reality.
agreed cwb; i'm sick and tired of being called a pessimist!! when in reality, i'm a realist..............
Crying parents tell their children
If you survive don't do as we did
Son exclaims, there'll be nothing to do
Her daughter say's, she'll be dead with you
opening lyrics: "Stand or Fall" by The Fixx
"to demand for ourselves, finally, the lives that we deserve to live"
To whom do we address these demands?
It's called the ballot box! Volunteering to help someone less jaundiced and more humanistic is a good place to begin. Try voting women into office. We might not get as much done, but maybe that's not a bad thing! Look up 'If Women Ruled The World' on PBS TV for the basis of this.
It's no longer possible to "vote" our way out of this mess. The system is rigged.
Thanks ColdWarBaby, this vote idea is part of the problem. Even if the voting system weren't mortally compromised, a vote's not worth anything without a lobbyist and a PR firm to go with it.
One night I laughed myself to sleep thinking about "the power of the vote."
Holy cow, folks, it's over.
Peace anyway,
Jack
Without a determined and possibly violent effort to identify and eliminate from any source of power the sociopaths and psychopaths among us, we're doomed and also probably is the planet as a life-sustaining construct.
I think we've learned enough psychology to identify these people and we know where they live and work. All it would take is enough people to risk everything to eliminate the present batch and prevent the next generation of them from taking over.
See Derrick Jensen's "Premises" for why this will be challenged at every step of the way. THEIR rights are what are now important. OURS are not.
Is it not completely obvious to everyone that the people in power are insane? They care more for money than they do the land base which supports them.
Ballot box only gives two answers, D or R, neither address my problems, in fact the only issues they do address are their own. Then they want to pretend their issues are the countries issues.
At least I can vote no on all the crazy propositions they turn loose in on us in Ca.
Otherwise I might as well sit home and watch Faux Business on the TV.
>^^<
Both D and R DO address your problems...both make them worse.
You're kidding, right? Women? Any less violent? Madeleine Albright ring a bell?
Lesley Stahl: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?
Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.
The U.S. congress and the MIC is full of violent women.
Given the plight of the African-American in this nation's history, I thought perhaps our illustrious president would bring some compassion and humility to the table this go round. Boy, was I fucking wrong.
As others have said, voting is not an option or an answer to this rouge nation of ours, be it female, black, yellow, red--whatever-- and surely not one of us male crackers holds any promise. (OK, Nader is the exception, and when he's gone, we're really screwed.)
P.S. For the most part, PBS is full of shit, anyway.
See Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War. And Hillary Clinton, who spoke of "eradicating" Iran.
Witness the women who were in charge at crucial posts in the Nazi death camps.
That pointed out, it is also true that men are generally much more violence prone than women, and that the bulk of the world's carceral population is made up of men and that men commit most of the murders anywhere.
Ms. Albright is a woman trying to be a man, just like Hilary Clinton, or Condaleeza Rice. When a woman is being true to her nature, when she is intelligent, awake, and in possession of the love that is in her heart, she can transform the world. It is precisely because women have been demonized and marginalized in this country, that we are in this mess. Its a man's world alright, and just look at it! I guarantee you, if women had equal input we would NOT allow testosterone to dominate the discussion. If men continue to devalue and exploit women, this country will not make it, and it will not deserve to make it.
Might there be a pillar of salt in our future?
I'm afraid that to "stand for truth and justice" will always involve opposing those in power. Or at least my study of history has made it appear so.
My studies concur with yours blythespirit. More's the pity.
I noticed this too. Why in hell would she exclude Obama from the legions of perpetrators of lies, war mongers and corrupt leaders? He deserves to be at the TOP of the list. Does she really think Obama is simply powerless to do anything, hence blameless in the litany of horrors she alludes to?
If a standing US president has no power to stop the wars this writer decries as making all our lives unliveable, who precisely does have that power? "The people"? Yeah, that's working out swell.
It jumped out at me too!
How does the author rationalize Obama being the first president to appoint his opposing party predecessor's war secretary?
Same here! That, to me, was somewhat startling, as it seemed to be sort of a devious glitch in an otherwise excellent article. Sorry to rain on your parade, Lorraine, but Obama has continued with many, if not most of G. W. Bush's worst policies, including his attacks on Civil Liberties, his continued voting, supporting and escalating our wars, and to either cravenly and/or cowardly sit back while torturing, renditioning, water-boarding and other abuses continue.
His healthcare "reform" bill that was just passed and signed into law by Obama and his Administration is a warmed-over 20-year-old GOP Bill that not only will not kick in until 2014, but is so devoid of cost controls that people will continue to pay exhorbitent co-payments, deductibles, premiums and prescription prices, and will choose not to use it, especially since it gives very inadequate coverage. The fact that it's illegal NOT to buy healthcare insurance is ludicrous and dangerous on the face of it, especially being fined or jailed for it. Moreover, the fact that abortion rights were taken off the table in order for this toxic POS healthcare "reform" bill to be passed and signed into law was beyond disgraceful. The fact that Obama threw single payer under the bus even after campaigning for it as a POTUS Candidate is also disgraceful. Had Obama and the Democrats in Congress had any intentions of passing a really genuine healthcare reform bill, they would've gone back to the drawing board, really put their heads together and constructed and implemented a healthcare reform bill that entailed Single Payer with Universal Healthcare for all Americans. Instead, they took the easy way out by passing that toxic GOP Healthcare "Reform" Bill that really has far too much wrong with it to be feasible.
More to the point, this Administration hasn't even had the gumption to tell Israel, under no uncertain terms, to get their troops and rightwing Israeli Jewish settlers the hell out of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem and allow the Palestinians their independence, sovereignity and nation-statehood alongside Israel in those territories.
As for the recent oil-gusher in the Gulf, the fact that the Obama Administration kept most of Bush's GP minions on and appointed a guy like Ken Salazar in the first place was bad enough, but allowing them to proceed with an extremely dangerous and risky deepwater, off-shore oil-drilling job that was at least 100 miles offshore and therefore in much deeper waters, causing much damage and destruction to the Gulf, the ecosystems that sustain all other forms of life, and the lives, health, welfare, well-being and livelihoods of thousands, if not millions of people residing in the Gulf area, and then allowing BP to continue to manage this horrible man-made situation in the first place was also beyond disgraceful.
Moreover, the people that Obama appointed to his Administration for his economic policies (Geithner, Summers, Rahm), were the same people in the Clinton Administration who helped get this country into the mess that it's presently in in the first place.
Sorry, Lorraine, but having said all of the above, I cannot and will not buy into the idea of exhonerating Obama from the kind of actions (or inactions) and behaviour that you describe in your otherwise excellent article.
The Czar is good: It's his officials who are to blame. Aside from that sentiment, an excellent article.
As we struggle to survive, perhaps the most difficult obstacle we must face is mankind’s religious arrogance. For the most part, we now live under a God we created in man's image, conveniently precluding any need to take responsibility for our actions.
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction"
Pascal
MLK warned us that peace is more than the absence of war, that we have to constantly strive for and study peace. Our propoganda machines--education and media--do all they can to encourage division, selfishness, hatred, and fear. It is up to all people to encourage the opposite wherever and whenever possible. Our institutions will not do this for us. Our schools do not intend to teach our children to think, and our media is designed to confuse and obfuscate, at best.
And Martin Luther King, Jr, was the living and "living" reminder of so much GOOD - repeatedly OFFERED to America -- and America REJECTED them.
Noun 1. indoctrination - teaching someone to accept doctrines uncritically
I recommend that all Americans learn Chinese and practice the kowtow.
Like the Roman Empire before you, you will soon be reduced to making Gellatos for you new masters.
In a class/hierarchical society, which America is, fear is a necessary tactic used by the upper classes to keep the lower classes in line, unquestioning, obedient, accepting. Unfortunately, the lower classes are usually too stupid to recognize this ploy, so they fall for it everytime. They succumb to racism, zenophobia, sexism and religious bigotry because they mistakenly believe that those "Others" are their real enemy (and if we could just get rid of them, we'd be safe)--instead of seeing the upper classes as the problem. So, fear is a necessary tool for the rich and a shackle for the poor.
I agree with your assessment Jill.
I am always left completely perplexed as to how this cycle has been repeated so many times throughout history. How do the most worthless, ignorant and unproductive individuals always manage to ascend to dominance, however temporary?
What is it about the majority of humans that allows them to be repeatedly overcome by the same parasitic element?
Most disturbingly, the scenario today, for the first time in history, truly encompasses the entire Earth, not just some kingdom or nation in isolation.
It IS most perplexing. At times I am convinced that man has divided into two seperate species.
Have you ever tried to THINK as a Cat thinks? It next to impossible to do.
So is thinking as a pyschopath and the pyschopath is not only more common then we think , they tend to be running things.
How can anyone look at images of Children with limbs blown off and not feel utter horror and shame? Yet people are able to do it. They are not only able to do it but the welcome it and pursue policies that will lead to it.
They will even use their talents and ingenuity to "invent" ways to make this killing "easier" and more "efficient".
What great mind thought up the Cluster Munition ?
"What great mind though up the cluster munition?"
or Napalm, or nukes?
Ans: a few Ivy leaguers with government funding
"At times I am convinced that man has divided into two seperate species".
As I stated above it has always been: Sentient Beings vs. The Lizard People. The human condition contains both elements, hardwired so to speak. I can only speculate as to what part of the brain established this paradox or gives a preponderance to one over the other. These hardwired conflicts exist because they are essential to the health of the reasoning part of the brain. Man can appear to be divided into two seperate species but it's more likely a case of a man losing his ability to reason and maybe his intelligence along with it.
One theory of how man aquired intelligence, awareness, suggested that it was not until primitive man learned how to kill other humans and secure their camps at night. This allowed man to get into deeper states of sleep which allowed them to dream. In dreams they found creativity which tiggered intelligence. Murder led to intelligence was the theory, and yet provides another paradox and more questions, can we be intelligent without being enlightened? Does enlightment come from intelligence or from some other part of the brain or universe entirely?
BADGER & GW: I don't mean to be crude, but there's really no other way to convey it. Your OTHER head is getting in the way of your reasoning here.
Badger's entire posts speaks of "man" and within this term all women and womanhood itself is subsumed. This is precisely why there is a redundancy to HIS-story. The error is not even noted! It's become such a fundament of Western culture!
Yes. Women have made major strides and seen progress in the past century, but they have largely fit themselves into the grooves made available by a pre-existing set of societal structures that disallowed their input for centuries. Those women who achieve high status must generally pass snuff or academic tests that present them with a pedigree largely to the extent they will conform to, once again, a pre-existing establishment and its norms.
These norms are based on conditioning that first arose from patriarchal religious constructs. These at one time alleged that women had no souls, that they had lesser intellects, that they were not fit to vote, own property, choose lovers, or make viable decisions of their own. The same type of arguments have been used to similarly oppress Blacks, people of color, Native Americans, and whoever else is being expertly kept outside the box of privilege.
It is NATURAL for violence to ensue when privileges and necessities are not evenly or fairly disbursed. If I am born into a ghetto where I must sell drugs to survive, then I will sell drugs. Limited access along with proscribed options leads many to lives of crime. Then these unfortunate souls are blamed, the experts show up to calculate their various mathematical theses, and nothing changes to alleviate the circumstances that largely forced this necessity upon too many. Injustice functions as a virtual institution in America!
Until men fully come to grips with what it's meant to the human design, to have had only white men, frequently those of some financial privilege, determine all rules to the game, rites of passage, rights of access, etc. they will never understand the dynamics that led us to the cusp of the abyss.
Just as persons of either gender who challenge the status quo find themselves marginalized, few women that attain positions of influence will or do rock the boat. Men see THESE women in seats of power and console themselves that the field is now level. Hardly. Nor do present appointments lend much insight into the type of terrain negotiated that got their numbers there.
Most theories about human nature are devised by men who don't recognize their own latent sexism, nor give enough thought to the UNBALANCED conditions that have resulted in what I term "Mars rules" style outcomes. Until this obscured factor is taken out of the closet, HIS-story is destined to repeat.
GW: I have noticed that you have more insight into this than most men.
SIOUX
Kindly insert the word human in place of man or mankind. Otherwise, the unintended misnomer, my comment and the subject of sexism, intrinsic as it may be to other posts, are extraneous.
You stated: "Until men fully come to grips with what it's meant to the human design, to have had only white men, frequently those of some financial privilege, determine all rules to the game, rites of passage, rights of access, etc. they will never understand the dynamics that led us to the cusp of the abyss".
To understand the dynamics that led us to the cusp of the abyss does speak more to my point but 'white men', 'financial privilige', 'rights of passage' and 'rights of access' are contemporary symptoms of certain ancient themes.
"What is it about the majority of humans that allows them to be repeatedly overcome by the same parasitic element"?
The reappearance of certain themes, or 'parasitic elements' as you call them, simply reveal universal and everlasting truths about mankind and 'nations in isolation'. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that "An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide". The looming question now is, will archaeology intimate to future intelligent life forms that all great planets commit suicide, or just the inhabitants?
If the human race is earth's attempt to gain consciousness I think there will be other attempts. In the battle of Sentient Beings vs. The Lizard People, the Lizards are winning.
"I am going to try this via radio"
Not sure what you have in mind, but wanted to offer you some encouragement. Please keep us posted on your efforts. I'm sure there're folks reading this site who'd support them.
Speaking of radio…..How do we find out or stay connected? Will it be by XM, satellite, iPod, semaphore flag waving, or a string tied to a tin can? I will bet it will be the less technical means that will keep us connected. The less sophisticated the means of communication the less likely for it to be brought down by the authorities.
In the olden days, the pamphleteers prevailed. Like-minded people will find a way. The stupid will sit and wait for god to take them to heaven.
When it is finally realized that this will not happen…..you will hear from across the country a collective and very loud ….OH SHIT!
I recently read the book "Spirit Level" which shows through the latest studies that the more unequal a society is, the worse things get. America has been from the beginning founded on the idea of the "Almighty"(dollar) not on the idea that we are all here in this lifeboat together. Until that underlying value system changes, there is no hope for us.
You say "the lower classes" are stupid?
Why don't you read your elitists bullshit back to yourself and get a clue.
I make exactly $260.00 a goddamed month, I'm on food stamps.
Every person I know is in almost exactly the same position.
It's being uninformed, or misinformed that's the freaking problem.
But your kind of attitude is a part of the problem.
Quit bitching about "stupid" people and educate them about the issues.
Also, the poor are the ones who will eventually demand and Get change. We are the ones who have NOTHING to lose. We are the ones dying. The only ones who will eventually willingly die for that change if worse comes to worst.
Remember all the poor largely unamed people who died trying to end segregation?
Or the original tea party which eventually led to revolution?
Who dies first?
The angry poor people.
So again, yell it from the rooftops, tell anyone who'll listen; educate as many as you can about what's really going on.
The media sure as hell won't.
I have to admit, My surprise at not seeing masses of poor people demanding things. I mean as long as you have a lot of time on your hands anyway, why not do something with it.
I think I understand a bit, I tried for months to orginize "Furlough Friday" marches in Sacramento around the Capitol. State Workers were off anyway. Why not do something! I couldn't get more that a handful interested, no help from the Union. As Americans say, Why Bother.
Since then the Union and State have gone into partnership to get a 15% pay cut. Nobody seems in particular worried about that either. Sad.
>^^<
This is why the lower class will eventually lead us nowhere. Here you are, falling right into the "us against us" masturbation the upper class has used to fractionalize the poor for millenia, and you think you're making progress.
So, now it's the dumb poor against the not-so-dumb poor. You're the best argument against your argument.
Grant yourself the intelligence to know when you are deluding yourself. Who do you think needs to get up from their TVs, but continuously fails to do so? Who do you think eventually eats their own?
It wasn't the poor who started the "cultural revolution" of the 1960s. They were busy sitting at their TVs cheering the National Guard for shooting college kids who didn't want to go die in a rice paddy for Dow Chemical. It was the children of the upper class who rebelled against their own ennui.
Who ushered in the "New Deal"? It was an apostate son of the upper class - Franklin Roosevelt. Even his elitist cousin did more for the poor than the first working class president, who proceeded FDR . Who turned the country back over to the upper class? A poor-bred, humble haberdasher from America's breadbasket - Harry Truman.
What did another poor-born president do? Bill Clinton sold your jobs to China and India. How about the next. Barak Obama has sold your health care to the insurande companies, sold your sons and daughters to the military meat-grinder and sold yout job training to India and East Europe.
Yeah, the poor working class may have started the labor movement. But who are most against unions? The damn working class - because they have to pay dues, and believe the propaganda that unions don't work for them.
Your vaulted poor won't lead us anywhere except to the next circus.
Go Team!
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same for any country."
Herman Goering to Gustave Gilbert at Nuremberg, 18 April, 1946
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
And:
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”
Joseph Goebbels, MiniProp for Hitler’s Third Reich
1897-1945