Honored Readers,
Gangster State America
written by Paul Craig Roberts
May 6, 2014
Where Is America’s Democracy?
Anyone who looks carefully behind the veil of words cannot
find democracy in America.
For years I have been writing that the US government is
no longer accountable to law or to the people (see, for example,
my book, How America Was Lost). The Constitution has been
set aside, and the executive branch is degenerating into Caesarism.
Government is used to impose agendas that result from the
symbiotic relationship between the neoconservative ideology
of US world hegemony and the economic interests of powerful
private interest groups, such as Wall Street, the military/security
complex, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and extractive industries
(energy, mining, and timber). Dollar imperialism, threats, bribes,
and wars are means by which US hegemony is extended.
These agendas are pursued without the knowledge or approval
of the American people and in spite of their opposition.
Professor Martin Gilens at Princeton University and Professor
There are not too many to be contrary to the Mass
Media,
carry the flag, and with all their available strength confront
the
“system” wherever and how they may be able to do so.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts,
born in 1939, is one of those human
Beings.
Awareness and knowledge are truly needed,
Beings.
Awareness and knowledge are truly needed,
and this
publication conforms to that need.
With heart-felt Greetings and with Love
Jahn J Kassl
With heart-felt Greetings and with Love
Jahn J Kassl
Gangster State America
written by Paul Craig Roberts
May 6, 2014
Anyone who looks carefully behind the veil of words cannot
find democracy in America.
For years I have been writing that the US government is
no longer accountable to law or to the people (see, for example,
my book, How America Was Lost). The Constitution has been
set aside, and the executive branch is degenerating into Caesarism.
Government is used to impose agendas that result from the
symbiotic relationship between the neoconservative ideology
of US world hegemony and the economic interests of powerful
private interest groups, such as Wall Street, the military/security
complex, the Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and extractive industries
(energy, mining, and timber). Dollar imperialism, threats, bribes,
and wars are means by which US hegemony is extended.
These agendas are pursued without the knowledge or approval
of the American people and in spite of their opposition.
Professor Martin Gilens at Princeton University and Professor
Benjamin Page of Northwestern University
have examined American
governance and have concluded that the US is an oligarchy ruled by
powerful rich private interest groups and that the US government
has only a superficial resemblance to a democracy. Their analysis
is forthcoming in publication in the journal, Perspectives on Politics.
Their conclusions are striking:
“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic
elites and organized groups representing business interests have
substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while
mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or
no independent influence.”
“When a majority of citizens disagrees
with economic elites and/or with organized interests,
they generally lose.”
“In the United States, our findings indicate that the majority
does not rule–at least not in the causal sense of actually
determining policy outcomes.”
“The preferences of the average American appear
to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant
impact upon public policy.”
A number of factors have contributed to the demise of democracy
and accountable government in the US. One factor is the concentration
of the US media in a few hands. During the last years of the Clinton
regime, a formerly diverse media with significant independence was concentrated in five mega-corporations. The value of these corporations consists largely of their federal broadcast licenses. To insure the renewal
of these licenses, the media avoids challenging the government on
significant issues.
Another factor is the offshoring of US industrial and manufacturing jobs.
This development destroyed the manufacturing and industrial unions,
which were the backbone of the Democratic Party’s financial support.
Now the Democrats have to appeal to the same interest groups as
the Republicans–Wall Street, the military/security complex, and the
polluting industries that despoil the environment. As both political
parties are now financed by the same private interests, both political
parties serve the same masters. There is no longer any countervailing
power.
The Obama regime is simply a continuation
of the George W. Bush regime.
Two recent rulings by the Republican majority on the US Supreme
Court are another decisive factor. The court ruled that it is merely
an exercise of free speech for oligarchs to purchase the US government
(Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v.
Federal Election Commission). A corrupt Supreme Court has invented
a “constitutional right” for corporations and oligarchs to use their
vast financial resources to form a government of their choosing.
Private interest groups in the US are so powerful that they can
purchase immunity from law. On March 27 a retiring Securities and
Exchange Commission prosecutor, James Kidney, said that his
prosecutions of financial criminals at Goldman Sachs and other
giant US banks were blocked by SEC political appointees who
“were focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government
service.”
In a recent test to ascertain the responsiveness of members
of Congress to monied interests in comparison to voters,
two letters were sent to congressional offices. One letter
asked for the representative to meet with community groups
in his district. The other letter asked for the representative to
meet with a group of active donors. The latter letter received
by far the most responses from members of Congress.
In the US and Europe there is constant propaganda about
“gangster state Russia.” According to this propaganda,
President Putin is a tool of oligarchs who use Putin to rule Russia
and loot the people. In my opinion, this propaganda originates in
the Washington-funded NGOs that constitute a US fifth column
inside Russia. The purpose of the propaganda is to destroy
Putin’s legitimacy and that of his government in hopes of bringing
to power a Washington-compliant government in Moscow.
My impression is that the Russian government has curtailed
activities of some of the oligarchs who used the privatization
era to seize control of resources, but that the government’s
actions are consistent with the rule of law. In contrast, in the
US oligarchs control the law and use it to acquire immunity from law.
The real gangster state is the US.
Every institution is corrupt.
Regulators sell protection from law for well-paying jobs in the
industries that they are supposed to regulate. The Supreme
Court not only permits money to purchase the government but
also sells out the Constitution to the police state. The Supreme
Court has just refused to hear the case against indefinite detention
of US citizens in the absence of due process. This is an unambiguous
unconstitutional law, yet the Supreme Court refuses to even hear
the case, thus granting unchecked police power to the gangster state.
Another defining characteristic of a gangster state is the
criminalization of dissent and truth tellers. Washington has done
everything in its power to criminalize Julian Assange and Edward
Snowden for revealing the US government’s illegal, unconstitutional,
and criminal actions. Washington reeks of hypocrisy. On April 26
the State Department announced its third annual Free The Press
campaign, a propaganda exercise directed at foreign countries
that are not Washington’s puppets. The very same day the
Justice Department told the Supreme Court to reject the protection
US journalists have under the Constitution against being forced to
reveal their confidential sources so that James Risen can be
imprisoned for reporting a government misdeed.
In the 21st century Washington has squandered trillions of dollars
on wars that have destroyed countries and killed, maimed, and
displaced millions of people in seven or eight countries.
Declaring its war crimes to be a “war on terror,”
Washington has used the state of war that it created
to destroy US civil liberty.
In the 21st century it is difficult to find a significant statement
made by Washington that is not a lie. Obamacare is a lie.
Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction is a lie.
Assad’s use of chemical weapons is a lie. Iranian nukes are a lie.
Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea is a lie. No fly zones
are a lie. Russian aggression against Georgia is a lie.
9/11, the basis for Washington’s destruction of civil liberty
and illegal military attacks, is itself a lie. The fantastic story
that a few Saudi Arabians without government or intelligence
agency backing outwitted the entire national security apparatus
of the Western world is unbelievable. It is simply not credible
that every institution of the national security state simultaneously
failed. That Washington would tell such a fantastic lie shows
that Washington has no respect for the intelligence of the
American people and no respect for the integrity of the American
media. It shows also that Washington has no respect for the
intelligence and integrity of its European and Asian allies.
Washington won’t even tell the truth about little things in
comparison–jobs, unemployment, inflation, GDP growth,
economic recovery. Washington rigs the markets in order
to cover up its sacrifice of the economy for the benefit of a
few special interests. In the name of “privatization,”
Washington hands over public assets and government
responsibilities to rapacious private interests.
The conclusion is inescapable that the US is a gangster state.
Indeed, the US is worse than a mere gangster state.
The US is a shameless exploitative tyranny.
_________________________________________________
Originally published on: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org
(Hyperlink inactive because the light world
publishing refrains from any direct links. Please copy and
activate the link in order to access this page. Emphasis by JJK.)
governance and have concluded that the US is an oligarchy ruled by
powerful rich private interest groups and that the US government
has only a superficial resemblance to a democracy. Their analysis
is forthcoming in publication in the journal, Perspectives on Politics.
Their conclusions are striking:
“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic
elites and organized groups representing business interests have
substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while
mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or
no independent influence.”
“When a majority of citizens disagrees
with economic elites and/or with organized interests,
they generally lose.”
“In the United States, our findings indicate that the majority
does not rule–at least not in the causal sense of actually
determining policy outcomes.”
“The preferences of the average American appear
to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant
impact upon public policy.”
A number of factors have contributed to the demise of democracy
and accountable government in the US. One factor is the concentration
of the US media in a few hands. During the last years of the Clinton
regime, a formerly diverse media with significant independence was concentrated in five mega-corporations. The value of these corporations consists largely of their federal broadcast licenses. To insure the renewal
of these licenses, the media avoids challenging the government on
significant issues.
Another factor is the offshoring of US industrial and manufacturing jobs.
This development destroyed the manufacturing and industrial unions,
which were the backbone of the Democratic Party’s financial support.
Now the Democrats have to appeal to the same interest groups as
the Republicans–Wall Street, the military/security complex, and the
polluting industries that despoil the environment. As both political
parties are now financed by the same private interests, both political
parties serve the same masters. There is no longer any countervailing
power.
The Obama regime is simply a continuation
of the George W. Bush regime.
Two recent rulings by the Republican majority on the US Supreme
Court are another decisive factor. The court ruled that it is merely
an exercise of free speech for oligarchs to purchase the US government
(Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v.
Federal Election Commission). A corrupt Supreme Court has invented
a “constitutional right” for corporations and oligarchs to use their
vast financial resources to form a government of their choosing.
Private interest groups in the US are so powerful that they can
purchase immunity from law. On March 27 a retiring Securities and
Exchange Commission prosecutor, James Kidney, said that his
prosecutions of financial criminals at Goldman Sachs and other
giant US banks were blocked by SEC political appointees who
“were focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government
service.”
In a recent test to ascertain the responsiveness of members
of Congress to monied interests in comparison to voters,
two letters were sent to congressional offices. One letter
asked for the representative to meet with community groups
in his district. The other letter asked for the representative to
meet with a group of active donors. The latter letter received
by far the most responses from members of Congress.
In the US and Europe there is constant propaganda about
“gangster state Russia.” According to this propaganda,
President Putin is a tool of oligarchs who use Putin to rule Russia
and loot the people. In my opinion, this propaganda originates in
the Washington-funded NGOs that constitute a US fifth column
inside Russia. The purpose of the propaganda is to destroy
Putin’s legitimacy and that of his government in hopes of bringing
to power a Washington-compliant government in Moscow.
My impression is that the Russian government has curtailed
activities of some of the oligarchs who used the privatization
era to seize control of resources, but that the government’s
actions are consistent with the rule of law. In contrast, in the
US oligarchs control the law and use it to acquire immunity from law.
The real gangster state is the US.
Every institution is corrupt.
Regulators sell protection from law for well-paying jobs in the
industries that they are supposed to regulate. The Supreme
Court not only permits money to purchase the government but
also sells out the Constitution to the police state. The Supreme
Court has just refused to hear the case against indefinite detention
of US citizens in the absence of due process. This is an unambiguous
unconstitutional law, yet the Supreme Court refuses to even hear
the case, thus granting unchecked police power to the gangster state.
Another defining characteristic of a gangster state is the
criminalization of dissent and truth tellers. Washington has done
everything in its power to criminalize Julian Assange and Edward
Snowden for revealing the US government’s illegal, unconstitutional,
and criminal actions. Washington reeks of hypocrisy. On April 26
the State Department announced its third annual Free The Press
campaign, a propaganda exercise directed at foreign countries
that are not Washington’s puppets. The very same day the
Justice Department told the Supreme Court to reject the protection
US journalists have under the Constitution against being forced to
reveal their confidential sources so that James Risen can be
imprisoned for reporting a government misdeed.
In the 21st century Washington has squandered trillions of dollars
on wars that have destroyed countries and killed, maimed, and
displaced millions of people in seven or eight countries.
Declaring its war crimes to be a “war on terror,”
Washington has used the state of war that it created
to destroy US civil liberty.
In the 21st century it is difficult to find a significant statement
made by Washington that is not a lie. Obamacare is a lie.
Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction is a lie.
Assad’s use of chemical weapons is a lie. Iranian nukes are a lie.
Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea is a lie. No fly zones
are a lie. Russian aggression against Georgia is a lie.
9/11, the basis for Washington’s destruction of civil liberty
and illegal military attacks, is itself a lie. The fantastic story
that a few Saudi Arabians without government or intelligence
agency backing outwitted the entire national security apparatus
of the Western world is unbelievable. It is simply not credible
that every institution of the national security state simultaneously
failed. That Washington would tell such a fantastic lie shows
that Washington has no respect for the intelligence of the
American people and no respect for the integrity of the American
media. It shows also that Washington has no respect for the
intelligence and integrity of its European and Asian allies.
Washington won’t even tell the truth about little things in
comparison–jobs, unemployment, inflation, GDP growth,
economic recovery. Washington rigs the markets in order
to cover up its sacrifice of the economy for the benefit of a
few special interests. In the name of “privatization,”
Washington hands over public assets and government
responsibilities to rapacious private interests.
The conclusion is inescapable that the US is a gangster state.
Indeed, the US is worse than a mere gangster state.
The US is a shameless exploitative tyranny.
_________________________________________________
Originally published on: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org
(Hyperlink inactive because the light world
publishing refrains from any direct links. Please copy and
activate the link in order to access this page. Emphasis by JJK.)
Moving Closer To War – Paul Craig Roberts:
