I Have Seen "The Evil Empire" And It's Us

And we're so self-righteous. The current term that's being bandied about by our illustrious cable-TV pundits is "American exceptionalism." That appears to signify that since Americans are so much better than anyone else they can feel free to do whatever they want. Better? Well, let's tread a bit on the amber waves of grain.

"A money-maker." The term was originated by Americans. And that indeed is our prime value, or should I say obsession. I once was working weekends as a counselor in a psychiatric facility in New Jersey. One Sunday morning I heard what sounded like cathedral bells ringing and asked one of the residents from what church they were sounding. "Oh, that's not a church," he responded, "that's coming from the First National Bank." Yes indeed, the dollar sign supplanted the cross a long time ago within the precincts of the good old USA.

American exceptionalism? Let's take a brief look at the actuality of it all.Whatever have been the serious flaws of this nation, there is no doubt that Americans during the period from 1941 to 1945 mobilized to a more-than-remarkable degree and literally saved civilization from the onslaught of dictatorial world fascism. Yes, it is arguable that World War II resulted largely from unwise and overly punitive treatment of Germany by the US and Europe after World War I. Nevertheless WWII was a resounding victory for America, which attained an undisputed preeminence in the world after 1945.But let's remember what occurred in 1945. The war ended with the United States dropping two atomic bombs on Japan. No, the bombs weren't dropped on uninhabited areas in order to put the fear of God into the Japanese to induce them to surrender. No, the bombs weren't dropped on military installations. They were intentionally dropped on densely populated areas- Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A quarter of a million Japanese people died horrific deaths; and God knows how many suffered terribly and/or died later from the devastating effects of radiation. President Harry S. Truman, who had ordered the bombings, was later to remark that he never lost a minute's sleep for so ordering. And he no doubt had pleasant dreams knowing that he had shown the world- and particularly Soviet Russia- that if they didn't play the game America's way they would find themselves blown off the face of the earth. Now that's machismo. We are the only nation which has ever used nuclear weapons.

Yes, 1945- the commencement of the now firmly established hallmarks of the American nation- overweening pride, mindless arrogance, vainglory, indifference to morality, diminished conscience, functional sociopathy. And it has been downhill since then. Pride cometh before the fall. "American exceptionalism"- as in- "We just saved the world, so we can do whatever the hell we want to. God is on our side."

So little regard for human life- that's the fact that really screams out as one considers the history of this nation since 1945. And add to that the prevailing operating principle of American policy; namely, that if the end is profit- money- then whatever the means employed, no questions are to be asked. Total absolution. Functional sociopathy is the mode of operation of the ruling elite who in fact constitute our government - all branches. They clothe themselves in the corporate veil, incur no personal responsibility for whatever they do. Their only accountability is to the great god Maximum Profit. They can maim or kill for profit without batting an eyelash. That's the logical conclusion of their grotesque view of the Calvinist ethic. And the American public- or at least a very high percentage of them- buys into it all whole-hog. "Winning" is what's important, as though life were a hockey game.

Take a look at our history during the past 50 years: Vietnam. Over 50 thousand Americans and an estimated 5 million Vietnamese killed for nothing except, as a relative of mine put it at the time, "making southeast Asia safe for Coca-Cola." And the post 9/11 circus, with terrorism the excuse for engaging in endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan- which have accomplished nothing except to earn the banks and war industries over $1 and a half trillion. And Obama makes speeches at military camps uttering jejune nonsense about "victory with honor." And the coffins keep coming home. Obama, the Nobel Prize winner. Some serious research should be done relative to the status of mental health in Norway, particularly in view of the fact that they awarded peace prizes not only to the ever-so-peaceful Mr. Obama, but also to the oh-so-pacifistic Yasir Arafat and Henry Kissinger. Pax vobiscum.

Yes, peace. That's what the US has been cultivating around the world? Democracy? Take a look at the number of nations where the people attempted to rise up against totalitarian, dictatorial regimes. Whose side has the US invariably been on? The people? Hardly. The United States has provided funding and military aid to the dictators in order to allow them to maintain their regimes. And the United States has made sure to crush popular uprisings on the pretext of preventing the spread of communism- or, currently, terrorism. The real reason for US policy : to secure the financial interests of the corporations which have substantial investment interests in the nations concerned. If you have any doubts, explore the history of Latin America during the past 50 years. How many have been imprisoned, tortured or killed because of our belligerent greed? Who can even count the number at this point?

The current situation in the Middle East is particularly instructive - "The Arab Spring." The people of Arab nations, and particularly younger Arabs, have been engaging in essentially peaceful but massive demonstrations against dictatorial regimes which have held them as oppressed prisoners in their own lands. A truly historical development. With apparent successes in Tunisia and Egypt, it appeared that a new democratic rebirth was about to take place in the region. Then came the developments in Libya and Bahrain. Barack Obama, take a bow.

Obama, after a few hypocritical rhetorical flourishes denouncing Gadhafi and seeming to encourage the protesting people of Libya, then turned his back on Libya, refusing to provide the Libyan people with armaments to counter Gadhafi's murderous forces and declining to provide even a limited no-fly zone to help prevent the dictator from slaughtering them from the air. The bloodbath continues and it is clear that Gadhafi is prevailing.

And in Bahrain peaceful protesters are being shot dead by the king's forces. The king has declared a state of emergency and has invited over a thousand Saudi Arabian troops into the country with instructions to use any means available to quell the protests. Another bloodbath in the making. And what does Obama do? He refuses to condemn the Saudi Arabian incursion and sends his principal war-maker Gates to Bahrain to confer with the king and give the okay to the Saudi slaughter teams.

Yes, Barack Obama- at least as venal and conscienceless as George W. Bush- and maybe even more so. Obama has put an abrupt and bloody end to the Arab Spring. The gracious message Obama has given to the dictators of the world? " If your people start to revolt against your oppression, feel free to slaughter them en masse. I'll just look the other way. In fact I just might help you." Yes, all hope crushed by Obama. Change we can believe in.

If we were to take an honest look at the United States today what would we see? We would see the actuality of what we are: A neo-feudal dictatorship of the financial elite, about 400 of whom possess wealth equal to the wealth possessed by 150 million Americans. A system ruled by that elite not for the welfare of the people but for their own financial gain. A system in which about one percent of the population owns and directs the politicians and the courts - and I am definitely not excluding the president and the Supreme Court. A country where people pay twice as much for healthcare and pharmaceuticals as any other developed nation. Where public education is in the lower ranks of the nations of the world. Where a college education has become so prohibitively expensive that it has become an impossibility for so many. Where countless Americans, if they can find work at all, are forced to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet. And on and on and on. I won't even talk about the quashed pensions for now and the not-only-old age but any-age non- security that is not just on its way but is here-now and to stay. The New Serfdom.

Ah, but look at the bright side: The politicians' employers- the one percent- are making more than ever and, who knows, some of it may trickle down. The Obamas and the Clintons and the Bushes won't be suffering. That's for sure.

Well, Mr. Obama believes in "moving forward." From the rule of law. So of course he hasn't prosecuted even one of the criminals whose fraudulent schemes plummeted this nation and the world into financial crisis. And besides, wealthy Americans aren't subject to the law anyway. That's why Obama never initiated prosecutions of Bush-era war criminals either. And really, if you want to get funding for a billion-dollar political campaign it's just not the thing to do. What a great message to the youth of America : If you want to get away with anything whatsoever just make sure you have enough cash to buy your way out of it. Lex Obamiana.

It's not that there aren't millions of Americans of conscience and good will. There are. And so many of them worked very hard for what they thought would be real positive change during the last presidential campaign. They were betrayed. And many of them still refuse to believe that they were betrayed. Denial is the most primitive form of psychological defense mechanism. We have to wake up and grow up. There is no longer an alternative unless we are willing to let this rotten-to -the-core system destroy everything we value in our innermost being. We must ask ourselves a very grave question : Are we going to allow the "new breed" of narcissistic, sociopathic, ravenously greedy and ruthless un-Americans- who unfortunately comprise an increasingly high percentage of our population - to take us over and reduce us to serfdom? It has come down to that. And denial assures them victory.

Over the past couple of years so many Americans - progressives, independents and others of good conscience - have stood by silently and watched Obama and his Democratic and Republican fraternity colleagues carry on and amplify the Bush-Cheney corporate agenda, perhaps thinking that positive change has just been delayed and is just around the corner. It is not around the corner. And it will never come so long as they think that they can get away with what they're doing. Why would they bring about change while their pockets are being filled and their power fantasies are being gratified to the hilt? Why, because they're so generous and altruistic?

We have to come face-to-face with a very difficult realization : We are being confronted with the same crisis our founding fathers came up against in 1776 --- a government which is not only failing to meet the needs of its people but is consciously and actively opposed to the needs of the people. We have been reduced to subjects of a ruling class which devalues our rights; devalues our property; exploits us financially; forces us to live to work rather than work to live; diminishes our civil liberties and legal remedies; and subjects us in a very real way to the tangible risk of abject poverty, homelessness and utter humiliation. It has already happened to millions, so this is hardly an overstatement. Not in the least.

It's up to us. The fact that we have let it go this far is not the best of signs. But I'll opt for hope.