“Cannibals prefer those who have no spines.”
Stanislaw Lem
The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.
John Acton
We have today a conflict between corporate control over government, granting power over the enactment of laws, interpretation of laws, and appointment of the judges who interpret the laws. Lord John Acton (1834-1902) is also quoted as saying,
"And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that."
In November of last year, Lee Fang reported for Think Progress on the connections between Herman Cain, the group Prosperity USA set up by his campaign chief-of-staff, Mark Block, and the group Americans for Prosperity which was set up by the American billionaires David and Charles Koch.
In that article, an interview with CNN was referenced in which Cain not only admitted, but said he enjoyed the relationship that he has with the Koch brothers, a relationship which has been personal and financial.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/11/03/360229/cain-koch-financing/?mobile=nc
As you may recall, Cain’s mantra before dropping out of the presidential race was 9-9-9. These numbers represented mandatory tax rates for personal income, a new national sales tax, and corporate taxes. These numbers sprang fully formed out of Cain’s mind, possibly as a result of his obsession with numerology.
“In Chapter Nine of This Is Herman Cain—entitled “‘Forty-Five’—A Special Number,” Cain notes that his “conception, gestation, and birth all occurred within” the year 1945 (true of pretty much anyone born in the last three months of that year). He then launches into a detailed account of how “45 keeps on popping up as I go about the business of being elected—you guessed it—as the forty-fifth president of the United States of America.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/21/herman-cain-is-obsessed-with-signs-and-symbols.html
Note that the number 45 is divisible by 9 and the sum of 4 and 5 is nine making 9 an especially magical number to Mr. Cain.
After Mr. Cain proved to be simply the latest in a series of “anybody but Romney” candidates proposed by the Tea Party wing of the Republican party, he disappeared all too briefly from view. He has now emerged with plans for a bus tour announced on Fox News,
“I started a new movement. The biggest comment I got when I ended my candidacy was to keep 9-9-9 alive. That’s what this is about, and I’m going to keep it alive with what I’m calling Cain’s Solutions Revolution,” Cain said. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71098.html#ixzz1iluZzdeQ
Undoubtedly, the founders of the Tea Party, the Koch brothers, committed libertarians, having been thwarted when their candidate, Herman Cain, was forced out of the race by scandal and falling poll numbers, have been the voice in Herman Cain’s ear telling him to keep 9-9-9 alive. Mr. Cain sees the Koch brothers as patriots. Others see them as the gangsters Lord Acton warned us of.
On a brighter note, the actions of the Occupy Wall Street movement have seemed to energize President Obama. Whether he has awakened to the mood of the populace or previously lacked the courage to confront the 1% and champion the rest of us, he seems now to have developed some spine. Perhaps that will protect him - and us - from the cannibals.
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Comments
I am disturbed by the Paul ad denigrating Huntsman for adopting a Chinese child. Of course. Paul disavowed it. This is just one more example of the underling and endemic racism in the Republican Party. And if you think they would not turn on Jews if it suited them politically, then you need to look again. There is a great difference between the right-wing in power in israel and the Jewish people. i say this, partly, as one who is half-Jewish. Of course, we need to pull back from injustice perpetuated by Iisrael and support the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Many Jews feel that way. Obama, I hope will move in that direction, but he will be skewered politically by the right if he makes a strong move in that direction. Still, Israel is a sovereign country and should not be subject to terrorism that kills innocent people. This is not to say that thousands of civilians have been killed through the actions of Israel's military in the Palestinian territory.
Stand for just policies, not against Obama. That's what I believe. But he is far from perfect; but the right in this country, by and large, lack a conscience today. That's my view. I would be the first to say that Obama is far from perfect. So would michelle, I am sure. And Obama would second Michelle. But that goes for all of us.
I only hope that reasonable and compassionate figures will gain ascendancy in the Republican Party. We need their conservatibve message. We need the moderate message. We need the liberal message. America works best when diversity is honored. Huntsman, himself, in responding to Paul's hate ad, said something quite similar:
"We have to draw from ideas that are doable and not so outlandishly stupid that they create a lot of political infighting and finger-pointing and never, ever in 1,000 years are going to get done." He also, of course, defended his duaghter and family.
This ad reminds me of Limbaugh making fun of one of Obama's daughters, making dun of her looks. My God, what kind of country will we have if the extreme right gains the balance of power in America?
@beauty1947 - I've always appreciated journalists who referenced their sources. The journalistic standard of three independent sources for a story is apparently getting harder as the number of newspapers dwindles and their ownership becomes concentrated in a few hands.
@myriad - thanks for coming by.
Have you read the new bio of Montaigne by Sarah Blackwell? These are ideas that date back to antiquity yet the human race continues to slaughter each other in the name of their gods, as if their "gods" understood in the conventional manner give a shit.
I grew up in NE Ohio and know the situation well. My sister is a Teamster, and her husband is an Operating Engineer. I believe both are having doubts about voting Democrat, and it won't get any better. In general, the Democrat Party has become ensnared by the far left. And these Lefters seem absolutely allergic to Norman Rockwell America. Ohio is Norman Rockwell Central.
And it gets worse. The EPA has become an actual Pagan Temple of Ludites dedicated to the eradication of hydrocarbons of each and every type. It has become a state power unto itself, and behaves as if it is entirely unaccountable to the electorate at all. It has even gotten into the business of Land Seizures above and beyond eminent domain. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/supreme-court-critical-of-epa-wetland-order-against-idaho-couple.html
So why is this important to Ohio? Let me count the ways. Or perhaps just count one of them. The Marcellus Gas Fields of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The amounts of natural gas available are absolutely biblical. And there is not a union hall in all of NE Ohio that is not empty. The gas companies are even paving the roads at their own cost. Mineral rights are selling like popcorn.
I told my sister the EPA is roosting like a famished vulture awaiting O'bama re-election. It can't move now. Especially after Keystone [which is in and of itself a bone in the throat of the unions]. If Obama is re-elected the entire Marcellus project could be strangled in its crib.
I won't go into all the GW Oiji Board convolutions. But one thing is certain. Warm is good. Cold is bad. Probably Obama is gone....
Militant Atheism is the grim reaper of the modern era. It began with the French Revolution, moved on into the Soviet Union. Mao REALLY did a good number. And of course Pol Pot had the best method of Scientific Socialism to ferret out the one per centers. Simply shoot anyone who has eyeglasses.
You think much too highly of your own analytical abilities. You look down too much on those with whom you disagree. I think you would be a dangerous man in some other context. But you are stuck in the Southern Appalachia Mountains where you can do little harm.
Plant some pansies.
Many people do that. And you are aloud. I am aloud. However,