Sociopathy Is Running the US

[Sooner5030]

Great read if you have 15 minutes. Takes even digs at Pubs, Dems, and the mob. If you like Charles Hugh Smith you'll like this read.

I don't agree with it all but it is better than most editorials you'll find on Sunday. I tried to put into quotes but the post totaled 28,612 characters and the max is 17,000.

http://www.caseyresearch.com/articles/sociopathy-running-us-part-two?ppref=ZHB447ED0412B

[jkjsooner]

I completely disagree with him when he starts defining fascism. His definition might be in line with how Marx defined the term but it is nowhere near the current accepted definition of the term.

It seems like he's attempting to demonize mixed economies by using the term which is intellectually dishonest since the term obtained the negative connotation under the more modern definition not the one that Marx supposedly used.

[KantoSooner]

Most of the intelligentsia hate to admit that facism and communism are essentially the same. And that socialism is effectively part of the same general grouping.

It makes their own desires to centralize power and place it in the hands of, well, themselves, so much more tawdry when associated with Uncle Adolf.

[diverdog]

I completely disagree with him when he starts defining fascism. His definition might be in line with how Marx defined the term but it is nowhere near the current accepted definition of the term.

It seems like he's attempting to demonize mixed economies by using the term which is intellectually dishonest since the term obtained the negative connotation under the more modern definition not the one that Marx supposedly used.

I completely agree with your comments. Plus the author is an elitist.

[LiveLaughLove]

Great read indeed.

My new hero.

[Sooner5030]

One of my favorite parts:


In reality, there's little philosophical difference between the Republicrats and the Demopublicans; they're really just two wings of the same party. The left wing of the party claims to believe in social freedom (but doesn't) and overtly disbelieves in economic freedom. The right wing says it believes in economic freedom (but doesn't) and overtly disbelieves in social freedom. The right wing uses more aggressive rhetoric to build the warfare state, and the left wing talks more about the welfare state. But the net difference between them is minuscule. That's because they share the same corrupt intellectual and moral views.

What made America unique was its foundation in a philosophy of freedom. That word, however, has become so corrupted that the younger Bush was able to use it two dozen times in some of his early speeches without being laughed off the stage or targeted with shoes and rotten vegetables. Perversely but predictably, Bush is today presented in the mainstream media as a free-marketeer, in order to pin blame for the current depression on the free market. This is as much of a hoax as calling Hoover a supporter of the free market. One is forced to acknowledge a bit of respect for Obama's intellectual honesty, in that he almost never speaks of "freedom" or "liberty."

But pointing out the sad state of the world today serves little purpose. It's rare that an intellectual argument changes anyone's mind. Opinions are mostly a matter of psychology. But it's almost impossible to change someone's psychology and the attitude with which he views the world, simply by presenting facts and arguments. A person's beliefs have much more to do with his character and spiritual essence than anything else.

You'll hear some of the candidates for the upcoming elections talk about "American exceptionalism." The phrase makes me wince because it's so anachronistic. In the first place, America was only incidentally a place, a piece of geography. In essence, America was an idea, and an excellent one, that was unique in world history. But now America has morphed into the US, which is essentially no different than the other 200 nation-states that cover the face of the planet like a skin disease.

It's funny, actually, to see how quickly and profoundly things have changed in the US. Back in the '50s and '60s, kids used to say, when one of us did something the others didn't approve of, "Hey, it's a free country." I'll bet you haven't heard that expression for many years.