...about a great many things, but especially about the current state of our political system and it's inability to affect change in this country, as seen in this article on AlterNet.
I think that the problem is even deeper than the article states, and it hits the nail right on the proverbial forehead. I'm now of the belief that our "democracy", "republic", whatever sticker you want to slap onto it, is a complete farce - a predictable, poorly-written piece of theater acted out on TV screens, radios, and the state and federal capitals, not to mention the so-called "TEA Party", which is about as "grass-roots" as the playing surface of the Astrodome. We're a corporatist state, what Mussolini referred to as "fascist" before the revisionists got a hold of the history books, Merriam-Webster, and the Wikipedia pages related to Il Duce.
Christopher Hedges created quite the stir with the release of his recent book, which deals with the failure of the liberal institutions which provided the political and monetary foundation of the pre-1980 Democratic Party. I'll get into reading it within the next week or two. My pre-read impression of the situation is: if we want to bring progressivism and liberalism back as relevant forces, we'll need to rebuild those foundations, namely labor union membership, increased activism on the campuses and investment in education, and the further creation and building of a viable media alternative to Foxy Noise and the rest of the corporate-backed outlets. After reading it, I'll need to see if my opinion changes. The Europeans have strong liberal traditions and social democracies, in large part embodied in strong labor unions.
Perhaps it takes an objective third party to see the problem - foxes can't smell their own holes, after all.
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