Making Baltimore Into Bangkok

MeanMesa can see that the shabbily veiled ultimate profit line for miscreant losers such as Rush, Sean, Cheney and the "Boner" apparently rests squarely with the instigation of a civil war.  How else can our nation be cleansed of the liberal residue of  

A BLACK MAN IN THE OVAL OFFICE!!!

and all the other liberal contamination which has crept into the country's politics?

Grumble, grumble.

Well, we enjoy a very literal, blood soaked example of exactly where  such an unexamined ambition might lead us.  The very questionable government of Thailand, already heavily soiled as the enduring product of a military coup, has finally opened fire on the protesters who have been demanding a real election.

At this writing there are around seventy of them known to be dead from rifle wounds inflicted by the Thai army.

However, this posting is not particularly about events in Thailand.  Instead, MeanMesa would like to present a few observations about the media fraud which seems intent on producing similar results here in the United States.  Still skeptical?  Take the test. 

Tune in for a few minutes of Rush's blathering about the "deadly, America wrecking liberals."  The $ size of his contract is determined by how much mistrust and division he succeeds in sowing among his regular listeners.  Further, if Rush "sticks in your throat," simply listen to what is presented as "news" on the corporate networks.

The Corporate Media Fraud in this case is one of innuendo.  The unexamined idea interposed in every single statement of what passes as network news implies that a civil war in the United States could be compared to similarities of what is transpiring in Thailand in the following way.

Who will be the insurgents?

Why, of course, the liberals would have to be the insurgents and the "ultra patriotic" neo-cons would be the forces of order -- you know, the ones with the rifles.  How else could it possibly be?  In Thailand, an alleged majority of Thai citizens are siding with the government, most likely because they are freaked out about their fellow Thais being gunned down in the streets.

But wait.  Who, precisely, is the national majority?

The Sunni Baathists in Iraq were conveniently convinced by the dictator that they comprised a majority of Iraqis, a ruse which somewhat validated their reactionary violence to keep the marauding "minority" Shi'ites at bay.  Actually, the Sunni represented only around a quarter of the Iraqi population while the Shi'ites represented a 60% majority.

Likewise, regardless of all their gaseous proclamations to the contrary, the neo-cons are a distinct minority in the current U.S. political climate.  Oh sure, Senator McChinless rails on endlessly about "Thu 'Merican people has spoke," but talk is one thing and votes are another.

MeanMesa thinks that the American population is strongly committed to progressive ideas -- everything from the public option to combating climate change.  We'll just take our chances on that assessment being right.  Everyone is totally tired of being painted as free market junkies by the media frauds.

Then, there is also the already deflating gas bag concerning "unleashin' thu Tea Baggers!"  Estimates on the total number of Tea Baggers who are still fit enough to vote without the aid of a walker is around 10,000.  Rush, Sean and Cheny -- if any of them had ever actually served in the military -- might conclude that these Social Security receiving, bitching chorus squawkers would probably be somewhat lacking as a "shock wave" strike force for their civil war wet dream.

Whose "ox has been gored?"

With super cunning neo-con banksters holding 60% of the nation's wealth while the remainder of the population staggers forth in survival mode, it might be a case of "heavy lifting" to paint the neo-cons as belabored, long suffering, disenfranchised second class citizens.

Oh sure, these throw backs control the Supreme Court and the corporate media machines, but, once the bullets start flying, those assets may be quickly forgotten.  The media fraud has gone to great lengths to imply that the military would blindly come to the aid of the neo-cons, but the unsettling fact is that six times as many of the active troops contributed to the Obama campaign compared to the war mongering geezer we have been convinced would be their anticipated  choice.

Finally, when considered on an individual basis, which side would enjoy the greatest energy and commitment should such strife actually begin?

If it is a matter of complaining, screaming and making semi-literate protest signs, the Tea Baggers might do well enough.  On the other hand, all those Sundays of long walks to knock on doors during the campaign suggest that maybe the progressives are in better shape.

The neo-cons rushed the gun shops, blathering about a "take over."  They emptied the shelves of ammunition, baked beans and battery powered lanterns.  The corporate media fraud intended to intimidate us with relentless "news" stories about how well armed and crazy the neo-con reactionaries were.

Yawn.

Bring 'em on.

MeanMesa suspects that there is, indeed, a "sleeping tiger" lurking among the voters.  However, MeanMesa also suspects that this "politician munching kitty" does not represent a tidal wave of neo-cons.  Only the Republicans continue to exhaust themselves trying frantically to believe that they still enjoy some sort of a majority among the electorate.

A MeanMesa "Quickie" - Elections: Dare We Learn From England?

MeanMesa watched the news this evening (BBC World News, 6:30PM, 28 April 2010, Ch. 5, KNME, Albuquerque) as a magnificent row was presented.  The English Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, after a campaign conversation with the people, had inadvertently left his lapel microphone on as he left in his entourage.

His presumably intimate comment referred to his final, well publicised campaign "photo op" as a conversation with a "bigoted woman."  The gaff was immediately followed by a return trip to the scene of the crime, a heartfelt apology -- conducted in tasteful, British privacy, and, afterwards, a cheeky resumption of his Labor Party's campaign activities.

The precise details of the entire affair are, of course, available on dozens of internet sources for anyone interested.

However, the purpose of this post strays a bit from that single, revealing episode of English civility.  Instead, MeanMesa would like to emphasize some observations of the British election when considered in a larger sense.  A promising point of departure might be to compare the British Parliamentary election to our own most recent effort.

In 2008 the United States saw the final denouement of a multi-billion dollar "slug fest" which had lurched forward for more than a year.  During the campaign, the respective sides of the political debate here had plummeted to even more discouraging depths of divisiveness, misrepresentation and a troubling exposure of the dangerous credulity of the American voter.  

This sorry fact is the predictable result of severe under education,  lack of interest and the formidable abilities of professional manipulators whose efforts are so extremely well lubricated with special interest cash and well controlled corporate media frauds.  Each of these disadvantages "grew legs," given the duration of the campaign's conflict until what might have, otherwise, been generously dispatched as mere political discourse became an unsettling "seed germ" with the capacity to initiate a civil war.

Meanwhile, as our wounded Democracy staggered forward, those most interested in such a deathly, grave repetition of what had happened before dismissed the seriousness of the matter with a troubling, sterile detachment.  The strife, once having been founded so mindlessly, continues to this day, enjoying its own inertia of inflamed suspicions and the unexamined willingness of a bunch of overweight civilians to "theoretically" sponsor such a fray.

That "fray" they are imagining would not, of course, be the actual "fray" of a civil war.  It would be firmly anchored on the prospect of a "civil war" movie.  Anyone who has ever been close enough to such an actual conflict knows far too well that civil war has an unusual odor -- one with a haunting permanence.  Every shell which blows its way through the flesh of another human unavoidably scars both parties, that is, the one hosting the "successful" trigger finger and the violently mutilated mess on the "receiving end."

In most cases, the precise political affiliation of the participants means less and less as the days proceed.

This dismal outcome seems to have been a central ambition of the loudest voices in the campaign.  An equally false bravado marked the incredible charges so routinely vomited out during the contest.  In the end, the American democracy found itself too "exercised" to settle back into its traditional egalitarianism. It remains in this agitated state even now, more than a year later.

Now, MeanMesa has experienced too many decades of our political reality to boldly present some flimsy ideal which might constructively eliminate this unfortunate development.  However, the idea of an American election with a British style "one month" duration emerges as a very attractive alternative,  indeed.

Given the results of our most recent national election, that is, its increase in the dogmatic division of the country rather than its potential to, once ended with a corresponding victory and defeat, reunite us, some exuberant, some  even more determined for the next election, a penetrating question arises.  "Why would we conduct such a thing?"

Worse, why can we not consider any alternative which might bring the process back to some state which we might find more constructive?  The unabashed eagerness of the quiet players in the conference rooms and the executive clubs to gleefully sacrifice the sacred democracy hosting such contests in favor of their personal gain reveals the real nature of "...enemies both foreign and domestic..." some of us have solemnly sworn to repel in the defense of our democracy.

Exaggerated?  That decision will reside with you.

Thanks for visiting MeanMesa.