Government is a tool of the rich and powerful. It belongs to them.
Votes don't matter in a democracy, when money buys votes.
That's why calls for, "Power to the people," & "We need a democratic socialism," are foolish. The powerful must find that amusing, even comforting.
We have Corporatism in the West, a partnership of business/banks and government, with government as the junior partner.
That's why Barack Obama, who ran to the Left of Bernie Sanders, wound up governing like G W Bush.
The lazy man's answer is, "More government, but controlled by the people." That's lazy because they want to continue all the free stuff and the protections for the poor and disabled, but without Corporate control.
The only workable answer is LESS government...LOCALIZED government.
The Libertarians, specifically the Paleo-Libertarians like Murray Rothbury and Milton Friedman are right.
HOWEVER, under such a system, there'd be no protections, save for religious charities, for the poor. No one would be able to get more than they earn, under such a system.
Such a society would almost certainly be less prosperous for most individuals, despite producing greater prosperity overall (more unequal), and somewhat more spiritual.
That really doesn't seem to be what most Americans really want. Especially those who admire Sweden from afar.
Sweden is as Corporatist as the U.S. It has more generous health, education and social spending because it spends very little on defense. We have less to spend on those things because we must spend more on defense..."protecting the West."
The overall sense of fear/threat that permeates our society is; (1) generated by a Corporate media & (2) vital to Corporate governments, because they need to keep the people divided and frightened of each other.
It's a very sound strategy for social control.
Escaping Corporatism is incompatible with the desire for more "fairness/equality" and things like "more health, education and social spending," which amounts to, "More free stuff to those in need."
To escape Corporatism, a people NEED to embrace LIBERTY - full self ownership/responsibility. We'd each get only what we earn and we'd have to be willing to toil all the days of our lives.
That's NOT what most Americans appear to want.
Here, in the U.S , many of us really seem to want little more than a "reshuffling of the deck"....we want Sweden, which we cannot be given. We ARE the world's policeman and have been since the end of WWII.
Besides, even Sweden isn't really the "Sweden," of American fantasies.
Ironically enough, that seems to be the source of most of the current Trump hate. It's NOT that he's a political outsider and an anti-establishment guy...he IS all of that.
Donald Trump's a lifelong NY Democrat who switched Parties in 2009 to hijack the GOP from the GOP establishment (GOPe), the McConnell's, Graham's, Ryan's, Sasse's, etc. AND his policies have deregulated much of society, generating more jobs and prosperity, BUT making the social safety net most people want, somewhat less secure.
That's a necessary trade off. We can't have both abundant jobs AND massive government regulation and a huge social safety net. Those things are at odds with each other.
There's a saying in Real Estate, "Buyers are liars." It's based on the fact that many buyers wind up ultimately buying something very different than what they originally tell the Realtor they want.
It's really not because we're liars. It's because many of us don't really know what we want until we see it.
That goes for politics, as much as anything. Most of us say, "We want more freedom," but we really want more free stuff...which is actually desiring the reverse.
In America, we don't have a free society any longer.
The personal sovereignty, individualism and the unbridled free market were too volatile...too hard for most people.
The free market economy was officially scrapped on December 23rd, 1913 with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act.
Today's Western governments have very little to fear from insurrection.
Law Enforcement federal and local, along with the Military will enthusiastically put down any such "people's movement."
Moreover, Trump has, (1) proven them right; many people STILL believe in our media, even many who claim not to trust it and (2) they more clearly see WHO their real enemies are and WHERE they reside.
Antifa and BLM were astroturfed (bought and paid for), pushed by the media...even "Unite the Right" was a fake group. Jason Kessler was an Occupy Wall Street activist and an Obama supporter. His actions were almost certainly coordinated with VA. Governor Terry McAullife and enthusiastically featured on the media.
The "Resistance" is faked and it's at least very possible that Donald Trump may be a part of it. His boorishness makes it hard for anyone to really like him, so his support comes from those who hate this political-media class more than they would an obnoxious oaf.
Those people are the only worthy target of a government/political-media class looking to put down any potential, true "resistance" to itself.
Oddly enough, most Americans DON'T seem to WANT more personal sovereignty, individualism, or a more free society. Most WANT to be taken care of by government.
That's why the REAL resistance, that against our political-media class, seems ultimately unlikely to succeed.
On that score, I hope I'm wrong.
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