XPost: alt.fan.adolf-hitler, alt.flame.rednecks   
   From: yelzab8@ntlworld.com   
      
   Quite interesting, not too many spelling mistakes and this American student   
   shows a certain political awareness not common in his country, but far too   
   long. I can only award six out of ten for this essay I'm afraid.   
      
   Prof Boggles   
      
      
   "Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking head"   
    wrote in message   
   news:Xns9DA576EC87756gf@94.75.214.39...   
   > American Kleptocracy: How Fears of Socialism and Fascism Hide Naked Theft   
   >   
   > by William J. Astore   
   >   
   > Kleptocracy -- now, there's a word [1] I was taught to associate with   
   > corrupt and exploitative governments that steal ruthlessly and   
   > relentlessly from the people.  It's a word, in fact, that's usually   
   > applied to flawed or failed governments in Africa, Latin America, or the   
   > nether regions of Asia.  Such governments are typically led by autocratic   
   > strong men who shower themselves and their cronies with all the fruits of   
   > extracted wealth, whether stolen from the people or squeezed from their   
   > country's natural resources.  It's not a word you're likely to see   
   > associated with a mature republic like the United States led by   
   > disinterested public servants and regulated by more-or-less transparent   
   > principles and processes.   
   >   
   > In fact, when Americans today wish to critique or condemn their   
   > government, the typical epithets used are "socialism" or "fascism."  When   
   > my conservative friends are upset, they send me emails with links to   
   > material about "ObamaCare" [2] and the like.  These generally warn of a   
   > future socialist takeover of the private realm by an intrusive,   
   > power-hungry government.  When my progressive friends are upset, they send   
   > me emails with links pointing to an incipient fascist takeover [3] of our   
   > public and private realms, led by that same intrusive, power-hungry   
   > government (and, I admit it, I'm hardly innocent [4] when it comes to such   
   > "what if" scenarios).   
   >   
   > What if, however, instead of looking at where our government might be   
   > headed, we took a closer look at where we are -- at the power-brokers who   
   > run or influence our government, at those who are profiting and prospering   
   > from it?  These are, after all, the "winners" in our American world in   
   > terms of the power they wield and the wealth they acquire.  And shouldn't   
   > we be looking as well at those Americans who are losing -- their jobs,   
   > their money, their homes, their healthcare, their access to a better way   
   > of life -- and asking why?   
   >   
   > If we were to take an honest look at America's blasted landscape of   
   > "losers" and the far shinier, spiffier world of "winners," we'd have to   
   > admit that it wasn't signs of onrushing socialism or fascism that stood   
   > out, but of staggeringly self-aggrandizing greed and theft right in the   
   > here and now.  We'd notice our public coffers being emptied to benefit   
   > major corporations and financial institutions working in close alliance   
   > with, and passing on [5] remarkable sums of money to, the representatives   
   > of "the people."  We'd see, in a word, kleptocracy on a scale to dazzle.   
   > We would suddenly see an almost magical disappearing act being performed,   
   > largely without comment, right before our eyes.   
   >   
   > Of Red Herrings and Missing Pallets of Money   
   >   
   > Think of socialism and fascism as the red herrings of this moment or, if   
   > you're an old time movie fan, as Hitchcockian MacGuffins [6] -- in other   
   > words, riveting distractions.  Conservatives and tea partiers fear   
   > invasive government regulation and excessive taxation, while railing   
   > against government takeovers -- even as corporate lobbyists [7] write our   
   > public healthcare bills to favor private interests.  Similarly,   
   > progressives rail against an emergent proto-fascist corps of private   
   > guns-for-hire, warrantless wiretapping [8], and the potential   
   > government-approved assassination [9] of U.S. citizens, all sanctioned by   
   > a perpetual, and apparently open-ended [10], state of war.   
   >   
   > Yet, if this is socialism, why are private health insurers the   
   > government's go-to guys for healthcare coverage?  If this is fascism, why   
   > haven't the secret police rounded up tea partiers and progressive critics   
   > as well and sent them to the lager or the gulag?   
   >   
   > Consider this: America is not now, nor has it often been, a hotbed of   
   > political radicalism.  We have no substantial socialist or workers' party.   
   > (Unless you're deluded, please don't count the corporate-friendly   
   > "Democrat" party here.)  We have no substantial fascist party.  (Unless   
   > you're deluded, please don't count the cartoonish "tea partiers" here;   
   > these predominantly white [11], graying, and fairly affluent [12]   
   > Americans seem most worried that the jackbooted thugs will be coming for   
   > them.)   
   >   
   > What drives America today is, in fact, business -- just as was true in the   
   > days of Calvin Coolidge.  But it's not the fair-minded "free enterprise"   
   > system touted in those freshly revised Texas guidelines [13] for American   
   > history textbooks; rather, it's a rigged system of crony capitalism that   
   > increasingly ends in what, if we were looking at some other country, we   
   > would recognize as an unabashed kleptocracy.   
   >   
   > Recall, if you care to, those pallets [14] stacked with hundreds of   
   > millions of dollars that the Bush administration sent to Iraq and which,   
   > Houdini-like, simply disappeared.  Think of the ever-rising cost of our   
   > wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, now in excess [15] of a trillion dollars,   
   > and just whose pockets are full [16], thanks to them.   
   >   
   > If you want to know the true state of our government and where it's   
   > heading, follow the money (if you can) and remain vigilant: our   
   > kleptocratic Houdinis are hard at work, seeking to make yet more money   
   > vanish from your pockets -- and reappear in theirs.   
   >   
   > From Each According to His Gullibility -- To Each According to His Greed   
   >   
   > Never has the old adage my father used to repeat to me -- "the rich get   
   > richer and the poor poorer" -- seemed fresher or truer.  If you want   
   > confirmation of just where we are today, for instance, consider this   
   > passage from a recent piece [17] by Tony Judt:   
   >   
   > In 2005, 21.2 percent of U.S. national income accrued to just 1 percent of   
   > earners.  Contrast 1968, when the CEO of General Motors took home, in pay   
   > and benefits, about sixty-six times the amount paid to a typical GM   
   > worker.  Today the CEO of Wal-Mart earns nine hundred times the wages of   
   > his average employee.  Indeed, the wealth of the Wal-Mart founder's family   
   > in 2005 was estimated at about the same ($90 billion) as that of the   
   > bottom 40 percent of the U.S. population: 120 million people.   
   >   
   > Wealth concentration is only one aspect of our increasingly kleptocratic   
   > system.  War profiteering [18] by corporations (however well disguised as   
   > heartfelt support for our heroic warfighters) is another.  Meanwhile,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)