Milo and Clodius, the Death of the Republic, and the Privatization of Everything

[arendt]

Milo and Clodius, the Death of the Republic, and the Privatization of Everything
by arendt

"While the potential dictators maneuvered for position, the capital filled with the odor of a dying democracy. Verdicts, offices, provinces, and client kings were sold to the highest bidder...When money failed, murder was available; or a man's past was raked over, and blackmail brought him to terms. Crime flourished in the city, brigandage in the country; no police force existed to control it. Rich men hired bands of gladiators to protect them, or to support them in the comitia. The lowest elements in Italy were attracted to Rome by the smell of money or the gift of corn, and made the meetings of the Assembly a desecration. Any man who would vote as paid was admitted to the rolls, whether citizen or not; sometimes only a minority of those who cast ballots were entitled to vote...Legislation came to be determined by the fluctuating superiority of rival gangs; those who voted the wrong way were, now and then, beaten to within an inch of their lives, after which their houses were set afire...

"Clodius and Milo were Rome's most distinguished experts in this brand of parliament. They organized rival bands of ruffians for political purposes, and hardly a day passed without some test of their strength.

- Will Durant, "The Story of Civilization: Part III, Caesar and Christ"

And now, this

I quote people because professional historians usually write much better than I do, and have a much deeper understanding of what is relevant in history than I do. Given that, anything I am writing today is a waste of your time. You should all be reading Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism". It is a tour de force analysis of the gangster, "shock and awe" capitalism that has been let lose in the world by the Chicago School of economics. And, it is coming to the U.S. very, very soon.

If you can't afford the book, or don't have the time to read it, I highly recommend the lengthy and detailed review/synopsis of the book by Stephen Lendman

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10009

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.


This post is going to be in "shorthand", because time is critical. Anyone not lobotomized by the corporate media is aware of at least three major crises that are being deliberately allowed to fester, with the intention of producing a "shock" that will allow the final destruction of democracy in America.

The three crises are:

1) the ongoing wars and provocations by our military in the Middle East (incuding the deliberate breakage of our military, and its replacement by a private mercenary army);

2) the deliberate destruction of the U.S. dollar and the U.S. manufacturing base by ongoing outsourcing and ruinous budget and trade deficits (which includes a huge component of military and DHS spending); and

3) the deliberate erasure of environmental protection or any adherence to world treaties about the environment, leading to increasing numbers of weather and eco-catastrophes that are perceived as opportunities to further destroy the government infrastructure and civil rights of people in the catastrophe zones.

America is now witnessing every behavior listed in the Durant quote above, right down to the Alabama witness against the show trial of the Dem governor who had her house burned down. The political scene is full of rightwing copies of Milo.

The left wing, however, is without any Clodius because, in America today, there are no Caesars to fund him. ( That is, Caesar, in the sense that someone spends significant real money in giveaways to the poor with the intent to organize them.) The closest thing the world has to a Caesar is Hugo Chavez. Now Hugo has given away a lot of money via cheap oil to poor people; and the best thing he has done is to help South America to buy its way out of IMF bondage. But he is chump change compared to the force the right can bring to bear.

You want to know what's coming? Think Crassus (the Laurence Olivier character in Spartacus) - the man who invented the fire department, and ran it for profit. He wouldn't fight a fire unless the victim gave him half or more of the stuff he saved from the fire. That's where America is headed with the privatization of government. And we are already halfway there with private prisons.

Recognizing that the end of the American Republic will occur long before the mirage of election 2008 vanishes in the heat haze, the main purpose of this post is to quote the Lendman review of Klein on what to do now:

"Klein notes another hopeful sign as well - shock effects were beginning to wear off, and in Argentina's 2001 economic crisis forced out five presidents in three weeks. It was spreading and most apparent in Latin America where it began with opponents of Chicago School doctrine winning elections like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but he wasn't alone. It showed a renewed faith in democracy and condemnation of Washington Consensus dogma when people made a choice at the polls in free and open elections. Today's movements aren't replicas of the past, and one of the differences "is an acute awareness of the need for protection from shocks of the past" - coups, foreign shock therapists, torturers, debt and currency shocks.

"They've learned from the past and are building "shock absorbers into their organizing models." It's in movements less centralized, Venezuela's grassroots community councils, Brazil's Landless Peoples Movement, and the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico where thousands battled police since a year ago May and still won't quit. In addition, governments are rejecting old trade models and adopting new ones like Venezuela's ALBA bartering system making it less vulnerable to turbulent markets.

I encourage DUers to stop being keyboard commandos. DU is way too centralized. If you don't think the shock-and-awe that is coming to America will begin with shutting down or net-warring of the Internet, you are sleepwalking. The DU community is also way too isolated. So, while you still have some time, send an email to your friends at DU, or to people you respect at Kos or MoveOn, or ADS. And make sure they live within a few hours drive of you. Get organized before you get locked down.

I am taking my own advice. You will see a lot less of me, because I have some local support to find. I'm sure some will be happy for that.

In the hurricane that is being prepared for us, we will each need friends and allies in our neighborhoods to fight off the corporate takeover that is coming to privatize America. And those allies won't be sellout corporate Dems like Hillary, Barack, and John Edwards. Warmongers and healthcare sellouts all. People who will talk about the "danger" of Iran while the Constitution burns to cinders.

Yeah. You can call me paranoid. You can call Naomi Klein "hysterical". But, when Homeland Security comes to your door with the donor list from DU, you will call me "prescient". Its still a free website, although its now a dying democracy out there.

One last thing. In the dark days that are coming, don't be a "good German".

[leveymg]

1. Factor in the assassination of the brothers Gracchi, and you have it (almost) nailed.

It's not by any accident that populist leaders and democratizers are removed or neutralized. And, it's no accident that students at elite prep schools are still expected to read Livy and Gibbon.

The nature of power doesn't change, so history just repeats itself. Just once, I'd like to see an exception to that rule. I do have to disagree with you that it makes no difference whether we end up with an Edwards or Obama rather than another member of the Bush cabal.

[bryant69]

2. OK, you're paranoid.

Thanks - I feel a lot better.

Oh and anybody who calls John Edwards a warmonger is an asshole.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[burythehatchet]

10. My guess is you'll be bleating louder than most when you're hauled off.

And why do you feel that calling the OP an asshole is appropriate?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arendt]

4. kick n/t

[arendt]

5. kick n/t

[kineneb]

6. a bit over the top, but not much

re: #2...for doubters, I recommend the financial articles available or linked at Asia Times Online, Information Clearing House, and Patrick.net.

The financial world (ours especially) is going downhill. Prepare yourselves for ugliness.

To arendt:
I had inklings of much of this since the mid-90s, and even before. Being among the recently-made poor, we have done what we could: we have no debt, a very low mortgage, and a home on 1/4 acre in a rural agricultural county (pop. 65,000). The local support is already here, due to the isolation of the area.

"Community" is important, and everyone should have support around them; it is a human thing. The American "go it alone" attitude is a recipe for disaster. Good luck in your search. PM me to get my e-mail, if you like.

[arendt]

17. Yes. H.C.K. Liu at Asia Times, and the Mike Whitney stuff are good econ resources.

I have been watching this situation go downhill for a while, and trying
to guess whether they were going to inlfate or deflate us to death.

With the interest rate cut, they seem to have chosen inflation; so I'm
glad I kept my house instead of selling it.

But, the econ stuff is all irrelevant if they start going door to door
with lists. So, its really time to plug into local govt and local law
enforcement. Helping out and being sympathetic to your overworked local
cops and firemen can pay real dividends.

Thanks for sharing.

arendt

[Wiley50]

7. VIDEO: Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film

I agree wholeheartely

Any DUers in the Nashville area PM me. Let's get together

Thanks Arendt! The usual party shills were on this like flies on shit, as usual

[Wiley50]

8. K and R

[rudy23]

9. Disaster capitalism is *coming* to America soon?

Come down to New Orleans, you'll see it's already made a big splash down here. And it's a nightmare.

[burythehatchet]

11. Precisly, one can see the entire plot unfolding befor eour eyes.

[arendt]

18. Sorry. Should have said "coming to the REST OF America soon".

Ms. Klein spends a huge amount of time on NOLA, and the various laws that
were broken to implant this nasty little bit of laissez faire inside the
boundaries of our country.

arendt

[Virginia Dare]

12. I agree, it's becoming increasingly a pay as you go society..

pretty soon only the rich will be able to afford anything worth having.

[Cleita]

13. More Americans really need to study the history of Rome. We

are so like them in so many ways and making their same mistakes over and over again. Thanks for the post arendt. For something a little more recent in history studying Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia also has salient lessons for us.

IMHO the most crucial lessons we can learn is to not let those people who really aren't in positions of power at the behest of the people but who found a way to cheat and maneuver themselves into those positions keep that office. Bush should never had been allowed to take the oath of office, in spite of the Supreme Court that had no authority in a presidential election, until the question of his legitimacy was solved without a doubt. Clinton should have been allowed to remain at the helm of the Presidency until this was settled. How different our destiny would have been if our true patriots would have stood firm in this.

[Prophet 451]

14. In more ways than you might think

Your Founders consciously adopted some of the terminology of ancient Rome. That's why, 2000 years later, another Senate sits atop another Capitol Hill.

[PDenton]

16. We aren't totally like Rome

When Nero built his Golden House at taxpayer expense to amplify his glory over that of Rome, the Senate had him killed. Even Romans had a line they wouldn't cross. I see the American capitalist now days even more brazen, and the masses more cowered than the Romans.

[arendt]

19. All are good lessons. "History doesn't repeat; it rhymes." - Mark Twain n/t

[mark414]

15. makes me think of this: The Mightiest Nation by Art Hoppe

Once upon a time, there was a country that was very small and, on the whole, very good. Its citizens were proud and independent and self-reliant and generally prosperous. They believed in freedom and justice and equality. But above all, they had faith. They had faith in their religion, their leaders, their country and themselves.

And, of course, they were ambitious. Being proud of their country, they wanted to make it bigger. First, they conquered the savage tribes that hemmed them in. Then they fought innumerable wars on land and sea with foreign powers to the east and west and south. They won almost all the battles they fought and triumphed in almost all of their wars.

It took many generations, but at last the good little country was the richest, mightiest nation in the whole wide world - admired, respected, envied and feared by one and all.

"We must remain the mightiest nation," said its leaders, "so that we can insure universal peace and make everyone everyone as prosperous and decent and civilized as we are."

At first, the mightiest nation was as good as its word. It constructed highways and hygienic facilities all over the world. And for a while, it even kept the peace. But being the mightiest nation meant that its leader was the mightiest man in the world. And, naturally, he acted like it.

He surrounded himself with a palace guard of men chosen solely for their personal loyalty. He usurped the powers of the Senate, sighing treaties, waging wars and spending public funds as he saw fit.

When little countries far away rebelled, he sent troops without so much as a by-your-leave. And the mightiest nation became engaged in a series of long, costly, inconclusive campaigns in faraway lands. Many young men refused to fight for their country, and in some places, the mightiest nation employed foreign mercenaries to do battle for its causes.

And because it was the mightiest nation, it worshiped wealth and the things wealth bought. But the rich grew richer and the poor grew poorer through unfair tax laws. In the capitol, one in five were idle and on welfare.

When the poor grumbled, they were entertained by highly paid athletes and the firing of expensive rockets which often fizzled. Even so, the poor sometimes rioted and looted and burned in their frustrated rage.

Many citizens lost faith in their old religion and turned to Oriental mysticism. And the young, wearing long hair and sandals, became Jesus freaks. Bare-breasted dancers, lewd shows and sex orgies were increasingly common. And the currency was debased again and again to meet the mounting debts.

Worst of all, the citizens came to learn their leaders were corrupt - that the respected palace guard was selling favors to the rich and sending spies among the people, creating fear and distrust.

So it was that the people lost faith. They lost faith in their leaders, their currency, their rockets, their postal system, their armies, their religion, their country and, eventually, themselves.

And thus, in 476 A.D., Rome fell to the barbarians, and the Dark Ages settled over Western civilization.

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/12/460

[Hydra]

20. With Bush at the helm, the Dark ages are brought to us

Only this time, it was because the "Emperor" was put in place to bring back the dark ages.

Fear, ignorance, dependence on the King and the State Religion...indentured servants and the death of science and opportunity.

What a bright future they want to bring us...:sarcasm:

[arendt]

21. As a hard-core techie, I just can't fathom why people want to give up science and go...

back to superstition.

Don't they get it? If you trash the technical infrastructure and let climate change go through, you will wipe out not only civilization, but probably about 98% of all human beings.

Do the scumbags writing this script really believe in the End Times?

arendt

[Hydra]

22. Oh, you didn't get the memo?

The don't fear climate change, because they are building underground cities. Each one can only hold 10,000, though. That means at best 200,000 chosen ones plus their chosen slaves. The rest of us will have to fend for ourselves, while they keep the technology to themselves...to our descendants, they will seem like gods come down from Olympus with their aircraft and laser weapons.

Would they destroy the world to become untouchable and beyond the law? You bet!

[arendt]

23. This is a new one for me. Have you got a link to something about it? n/t

[Hydra]

24. I only mentioned it because you asked

Google is your friend- I think one of those cities is about 15 miles west of D.C. I heard about this because google earth was forced to take this location off their map. This is the proposed solution to just about everything.

[arendt]

25. Oh, the "undisclosed locations", the X-File sets.

The "Mr. President we can't afford to have a 'Mineshaft Gap'." locations.

I still can't take that as anything but a sick joke paid for
by a bunch of scarred-shitless Cold War taxpayers.

Although, in this new scenario, they don't have to survive nuclear
war, just climate change and mass mayhem when all the systems go down.

Wow! You just gave me whole new vistas of paranoia. Not sure whether
to damn you or to thank you.

arendt

[Hydra]

26. Heh

I could say the same of you. I didn't really put it all together in my mind until you asked wtf they were thinking.

In short, they're thinking they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Also, about it being X-Files, I saw an article praising what these cities could do for the animals and plants if we go underground and leave the aboveground mostly open-space...

Whenever people in the gov't are talking "in theory", you almost have to assume it's been done, tested and approved.

[DemReadingDU]

27. evening kick