The old-style revolution
On August 16, 2010, Paul Craig Roberts wrote, “How Close is America’s Demise? The Ecstasy of Empire.”
Mr. Roberts puts forth a number of true and correct statements, begging the question, “Without revolution, the Americans are history.”
He comes up with the wrong answer by not realizing the fact that American has already had its revolution – game over.
Modern revolutions do not involve tanks, troops, and people battling in the streets. It is nothing like the revolutionary cartoon which accompanies Mr. Roberts’ article. No modern revolutions are far more sophisticated than that. They take place quietly, surreptitiously, and pass virtually unnoticed.
Revolutionary Cartoon
The most recent American Revolution was over, done with, and won during the reign of George W. Bush.
Instead of mobs in the streets, the most recent American revolution was won by bureaucrats, lobbyists, and our elected officials. The winner was the American military-industrial complex.
Game over.
Below, as a memorial to the defeated, are some of the astute observations made by Mr. Roberts.
The United States is running out of time to get its budget and trade deficits under control. Despite the urgency of the situation, 2010 has been wasted in hype about a non-existent recovery. As recently as August 2 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned a New York Times column, “Welcome to the Recovery.”
US military spending reflects the unaffordable and unattainable crazed neoconservative goal of US Empire and world hegemony. What fool in Washington thinks that China is going to finance US hegemony over China?
The only way that the US will again have an economy is by bringing back the offshored jobs. The loss of these jobs impoverished Americans while producing oversized gains for Wall Street, shareholders, and corporate executives…
Obviously, the corporations and Wall Street would use their financial power and campaign contributions to block any legislation that would reduce short-term earnings and bonuses by bringing jobs back to America. Americans have no greater enemies than Wall Street and the corporations and their prostitutes in Congress and the White House.
Without a revolution, Americans are history.