Can You Feel It? People are Getting More Tense as Anti-Human New Political Order Takes Shape

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/neofeudalism-and-obama



Perhaps I’m just having a bad month, but I wonder if other readers sense what I’m detecting. I fancy if someone did a Google frequency search on the right terms, they might pick up tangible indicators of what I’m sensing (as in I’m also a believer that what people attribute to gut feeling is actually pattern recognition).

The feeling I have is that of heightened generalized tension, the social/political equivalent of the sort of disturbance that animals detect in advance of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, of pressure building up along major fault lines. The other way to articulate this vibe is that it is as if events are being influenced by a large unseen gravitational or magnetic force, as if a black hole had moved into the ‘hood. We can’t see the hidden superdense object, but we can infer that it’s distorting the space around it.

Now if you just want to go with the “maybe this is just your neurosis” view, we are in the midst of a counterrevolution, and it’s not exactly cheery to be watching its progress on a daily basis.

It isn’t just that the economic rights for ordinary workers and the social safety nets of the New Deal and the earlier labor movements here and abroad are being demolished. Major elements of a broad social and political architecture that served as the foundation for the Industrial Revolution are being torn apart: the Statute of Fraud (essential to give people of every level of society decent protection of property rights) and access to legal remedies; basic protection of personal rights (habeas corpus, due process, protection against unlawful search and seizure); local policing (as in policing being accountable to local governments). Decent quality public education and the freedom of the press are also under assault. People here have used various terms for this new political order that is being put in place; neofeudalism works as well as any, but it looks intended to dial the clock back on many economic and civil rights of ordinary people, not back to the Gilded Age, but to before the French and American Revolutions.

[1monster]

1. I think it will eventually be a global uprising...

Too much power has been concentrated, world-wide, in too few people who have too little understanding of the realities of being human.

Even the moste peaceful people who go along to get along will fight back when pushed so far to the wall that there is no place left to go.

[RKP5637]

26. +1, n/t

[bluedeathray]

31. One may hope... nt

[LuvNewcastle]

2. It's funny that so many of us are called paranoid for

being concerned about government overreach, because it seems to me that no one is as paranoid as the government these days. I get the impression that people in the know are expecting a big event soon, and they're trying trying to get everything nailed down before the storm hits.

Each new bit of information that we get from the Guardian about the NSA scandal reveals previously unimaginable levels of information gathering about ordinary Americans. No one really has delved into why the government would want so much info. They mention "terrorism" as the reason and that's supposed to explain it all. If that does explain all of it, then our government is so paranoid that it needs medication. I don't think that explains all of it, though. I can think of many uses for that information, but it's terrible to think about. The 'why,' to me, is actually the most important part of all of this. Hopefully we'll get some answers to those questions soon.

[Welibs]

5. I have felt this way for years now. You could see neocons taking over in every free nation

around the world.

All over the EU, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Cyprus, France, Italy... et al, the UK, the US, Canada. However, shortly after the crash France booted their neocon gov't to the curb and voted in Francois Hollande, a liberal. Everyone else already has a commie or fascist dictatorship so they've sewn up the only free people left now. They've smashed their unions, slashed their wages and dismantled their social programs to force them to accept globalization, slave wages, no benefits, no food, no water etc, etc.

It's happening make no mistake! I know some think the Bilderberg's are conspiracy theory but I urge people to keep an eye on them, they're the world's wealthiest and they're buying up water rights all over the world.

The Bush family... yes That one... bought the largest aquifer in the world in 2006 that sits under Argentina and a couple of other Latin American countries. What The Fuck is that???

I don't know about you but I don't trust the Bushes with my life.

That $29T they looted from the Fed in September 2008 is no different than what Greece and Cyprus did in outright stealing money from their people's bank accounts. They stole 60% and froze the rest. I would imagine they'll be back for the rest later.

There is much more than 29T missing as well but we'll be dead by the time they find that evidence this administration is helping them bury! They're ALL trying to rewrite the history books.

It scares me, Obama is dangling food in front of us to get our attention in the form of jobs, SS, access to health care, while he helps Republicans dodge prosecution for killing 5000 Americans for nothing. How does anyone feel when their kid is killed at all, let alone for lies. And they did it without even blinking!

We are at a critical juncture in all of this and if people don't wake up we will be Bangladesh or we will be a ball of fire because 2 breathtakingly stupid tea billies that have NO credentials to make calls on climate change and neither should they be sitting on the climate change committee, are holding the whole fucking world hostage!

2 REPUBLICAN TEA PARTY IDIOTS ARE HOLDING THE WORLD FUCKING WORLD HOSTAGE TO CLIMATE CHANGE! WTF IS GOING ON & THEY ARE NOT THE WORLD'S LEADERS, TAKE THEM OUT!

Obama was my man but he is complicit! Last week the DOJ asked a CA court to grant Bushco, all of them, immunity from Iraq war prosecution.

I am very worried, I've been calling every step of this since 2006/7 when the wealthiest nations were swaying like a skyscraper in the wind does but they were so big no one could feel it. This is intentional and no one, including the Constitution is protecting us!

Thanks, I needed that. Your post was perfect to get that off my chest! I don't post very often but time is running out and while reality is dawning the neocons, the wealthy are way ahead of us.... some 30 years or so I'd say, maybe more. They tried to impeach FDR too because Republicans are not interesting in governing, they're interested in ruling so they can ransack the nation with impunity... and Obama's administration is aiding and abetting them!

[Myrina]

15. Unfortunately tho, the majority of RW'ers in the US think it "just" happened since 2009 ....

As long as there's a Dem POTUS, any unconstitutional or illegal activity is BAD! But they'd be more than happy to stick their heads back up their asses if Christie or Cruz was in the WH 'supervising' all of the same shit. And yes, to some extent, the reverse exists on this side of the aisle too.

Not enough people want to take a good hard look at how incestuous and just plain WRONG many of our gov'ts practices are - and have been - regardless of party in power - for 100+ years, if not longer.

[Berlum]

3. Mechanistic Materialism (R)

Infesting brainpans with the pustulent, corroding soul disease of RepubliThink - the quintessence of selfishness, negativity, and FAIL.

[marmar]

4. k/r

[G_j]

6. yep nt

[magical thyme]

7. yes. nt

[Gidney N Cloyd]

8. I keep trying to convince myself it's normal to feel this generally aprehensive in one's 50's.

When you're about out of do-overs and you're thinking how whatever you've got now is about all you're gonna get and you better make it last. Then you start thinking how easily powers outside your control can take it all away so quickly. And that's just the economic side. Socially, legally, everything-- it feels like it's all teetering.

So, yeah, I'm feeling it, too.

[HardTimes99]

22. At times like these, I reach for my Kris Kristofferson: "Freedom

is just another word for nothin' left to lose." ("Me and Bobby McGee&quot

[Javaman]

9. I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts - X

The facts we hate
We'll never meet
Walking down the road
Everybody yelling, "Hurry up, hurry up!"
But I'm waiting for you
I must go slow
I must not think bad thoughts

When is this world coming to?
Both sides are right
But both sides murder
I give up
Why can't they?
I must not think bad thoughts

The civil wars and the uncivilized wars
Conflagrations leap out of every poor furnace
The food cooks poorly and everyone goes hungry
From then on, it's dog eat dog, dog eat body and body eat dog
I cant go down there
I cant understand it
I'm a no good coward
An american, too
A North American, that is
Not a South or a Central or a Native American
Oh, I must not think bad thoughts

I'm guilty of murder of innocent men
Innocent women, innocent children, thousands of them
My planes, my guns, my money, my soul,
My blood on my hands, it's all my fault
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts

The facts we hate
You'll never hear us
I hear the radio is finally gonna play new music
You know, the British invasion
But what about The Minutemen, Fleasheaters, DOA, Big Boys and The Black Flag?
Will the last American band to get played on the radio please bring the flag?
Please bring the flag!
Glitter-disco-synthesizer night school
All this noble savage drum drum drum
Astronauts go back in time
To hang out with the cave people
It's about time
It's about space
It's about some people in the strangest places
Woody Guthrie sang about b-e-e-t-s not b-e-a-t-s
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts

The facts we hate

[NoMoreWarNow]

11. great song-- thanks!

[Junkdrawer]

10. The Empire is collapsing. The rulers are becoming more and more desperate...

Their greed is a sign of desperation: "Not enough to go around, let's grab as much as we can while we can."

Big question is whether they will start WW III before all is said and done. And the signs increasingly say Yes.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Yes, just look at my user name.

[WinkyDink]

18. Except "Not enough to go around" means "How can we kill off a few billion?"

[Junkdrawer]

19. See? WW III has its upsides....

<- Poe's Law

[NoMoreWarNow]

13. yes, but another factor is the internet-- more people are realzing how we have

been systemically lied to for decades about almost everything. It's not clear to me that policies are getting more fascist or people are becoming more aware of them. In some ways things ARE better, but other ways worse, yes.

[RKP5637]

28. +1, n/t

[Myrina]

14. I don't know exactly what it is, but I feel that some kind of critical mass is approaching ...

... and I wish it would just bust loose & get on with it. I hate being in a perpetual state of "rut roh" & I'm really, really tiring of the Teabagistani Nutjobs running hither and yon ....

[elehhhhna]

16. Bring it on

Here in TX I am SHOCKED at the number of virulent cons who, once I share my disappointment with the current admin cop to the fact that they feel utterly betrayed by their party and are fed up at least as much as I am. We are coming together. They are awakening. This is America and Americans at their best. I have more hope for change now than in the past 13 years.

[Myrina]

17. That's the only thing that's going to save us ...

Oddly, last weekend I re-watched "A Bug's Life" and the pro-union/power-to-the-people message is SO, SO prevalent it's a wonder the movie got made.

At one point, the 'evil grasshopper' (who looks strikingly like a Koch Brother) says something to one of his groupies along the lines of they know they're outnumbered by the ants and they have to keep the ants living in fear and working for them because if the ants lose that fear and realize their numbers and unite, the grasshoppers are screwed.

Let's hope.

[wild bird]

20. Yes!!!!!

Sooner or later this tension is going to explode into action, one which I don't believe the PTB will be able to control.

[snooper2]

21. I think the author has a case of

"spending too much time in the online bubble"

[HardTimes99]

24. Just out of curiosity, what was your take on Occupy Wall Street? Did the Occupiers

also have a case of "spending too much time in the online bubble"?

[snooper2]

25. Needed a message

For most folks watching it from the sidelines looked like a bunch of angry college kids who still live with their parents trying to "fight the man"

No distinct message = mostly fail

[Mojorabbit]

38. I always think of this when I hear that

[HardTimes99]

23. Percy Shelley claimed that poets are the "unacknowledged legislators

of the world." At times like this, I find solace and revelation in the words of Langston Hughes:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

~Harlem (1951)

Man could that guy write or what?

[LuvNewcastle]

30. I always liked that one too.

I also think "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg has become quite relevant again these days.

[undergroundpanther]

40. Rec times thousands

I find solace and revelation in the words of Langston Hughes:


What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?


~Harlem (1951)



For me my dreams, haunt my mind,they cry softly to be let out,wanting expression,to become, real..yet the corrosion of a few crushing the many has slowly killed them one by one ,and they walk among what's left of my memories like sad ghosts, pain comes from a hazy memory of a time when I felt safer,safe enough to try, secure enough to risk ,dare I say empowered...that has been eroded by trauma and poverty of living in this sick sad cold dying world dominated by sociopaths, a world that never had to become this way..

[rrneck]

27. What you feel is the vibration of hoofbeats on the ground.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-West-Rules---Now-Patterns/dp/0312611692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377186998&sr=8-1&keywords=ian+morris

Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/books/review/Schell-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The Final Conflict
Fortunately, Morris is a lucid thinker and a fine writer. He uses a minimum of academic jargon and is possessed of a welcome sense of humor that helps him guide us through this grand game of history as if he were an erudite sportscaster. He shows us how different empires were boosted by periods of “axial thought” to surge up the development ladder, only to crumble upon hitting a “hard ceiling,” usually inflicted by what he calls the Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse: climate change, migration, famine, epidemic and state failure.

Sounding suddenly more like an admonishing preacher than the amiable sportscaster to whom we have grown accustomed, Morris counsels that we now need to concentrate not on the old competition between East and West, but on a choice. We must decide between what Morris, borrowing from the writer Ray Kurzweil, terms “the Singularity,” salvation through the expansion of our collective technological abilities, and “Nightfall,” an apocalypse from the old Five Horsemen aided by their new accomplices. He warns that this choice offers “no silver medal.” One alternative “will win and one will lose.” We are, he insists, “approaching a new hard ceiling” and are facing a completely new kind of collective historical turning point.

[dgibby]

29. There is definitely a disturbance in the force.

I don't feel safe anymore, I don't trust my government, and I want to run and hide, but there's no place to go. Even if I were young enough to start over somewhere else, I couldn't afford it.

The erosion of everything in the country I hold near and dear is happening at a breathtaking pace. Every day brings news of another assault against the Constitution, loss of rights, malfeasance by our elected leaders, war crimes, environmental atrocities-the beat goes on and on, ad nauseum.

The big problem IMO is that the country is irretrivably broken in too many places to be fixed.

Bottom line: I feel hopeless and helpless-not the change I had in mind.

[clarice]

32. Good post. nt

[dtom67]

33. I think the wheels are coming off....

of the Debt-fueled Pyramid scheme that is the Global economy. That is why "Globalization" was inevitable; a Ponzi needs fresh suckers at the bottom to provide cash for those at the top. The Banks are trying to hold it together ( Quantitative Easing) until they are ready for the crash.

Social controls would be the key to maintaining ones' Wealth and Privilege.

Maybe I'm wrong.

But there IS something wrong with the country, these days.

We approve of torture, assassination of citizens, massive amounts of money in politics ( that earn us a "tinfoil hat" from our peers if we call it corruption ), "too big to prosecute " banks and lobbyist written legislation that nobody even reads before making into Law.

Or maybe its just the Earth, getting ready to shake us off like self-important fleas.

[Corruption Inc]

34. Great article

It's exactly what happens when corruption goes unchecked, unregulated and not prosecuted. However, the entire cultural process could be instantly reversed if any one of the Bush criminals were tried for their crimes, such as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Gonzales, Yoo, Wolfowitz.

Until then it all just gets worse as we are viewed by our own citizens as a criminal nation.

[lunatica]

35. I think this is a by product of the internet revolution and smart phones

Information comes at us in seconds now. We are bombarded with instant news and can see things happening on the other side of the planet in real time. The news is more often than not bad news. Happenings and visuals go viral now.

I don't think things are worse than ever before. We're just seeing it more and more of it.

[skip fox]

36. Just like the dying brain goes through a period of hyper-activity, so to

the hyper-activity and the hallucinatory reactions in a dying world. Even in their twisted little hearts the Republicans know climate change is probably for real and may well destroy modern civilization as we know it.

What is our reaction to the knowledge that our actions has ushered in the 6th major extinction event on earth? Do we get smart and try to turn things around, or do we go crazy? Jane Goodall, by the way, has optimism for the future and believe we will be able to stop the collapse. I wish I had her optimism.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

37. Hubris. The bosses think they can plug all the holes in a sinking ship.

But, all they do is create more holes.

It's hopeless, but they still think they can control everybody and everything.

[RetroLounge]

39. K&R

RL

[kentuck]

41. k & r