Rigged American Democracy and its Two-Headed Beast

True democracy in the United States is today but an empty, lifeless crater scarring our land, a stark remnant of the searing ball of fire that is the Corporate Leviathan and its legions of unscrupulous puppets and leaches that occupy American politics. The halls of Washington and those of our state capitals have been besieged by the scum of the Earth, the lowliest form of humanity whose virtues are vices and morals but passions of disintegrating integrity. Our most sacred institutions of democracy have been overrun by pimps and turned into bordellos where a legal form of prostitution has spawned the most decadent years in the great history of our political system.

Today, the US government is run with the sole interests of the Leviathan in mind, by elected representatives who care not an ounce for the well-being of the masses or the future of our progeny. Instead, that breed of humankind with an insatiable addiction to power and wealth pursue agendas with their own survival and prosperity in mind. More and more, this means the eventual and shameful selling of their souls to the demons that are condemning us to the fires of Hades.

Love of the almighty dollar and her sister greed has created a system where the chosen, privileged, wealthy and powerful – that like a malignant virus walk freely through the revolving doors of Washington – cater only to those interests capable of assuring even more power, wealth and electability, thus allowing for the continuation of the status quo and their continued success and prosperity. Thus, it is in the best interest of the puppets and leaches that are our representatives to continue feeding the same system that enables them to thrive. As a result, government has turned toward protecting the hand that feeds it. In America, and increasingly throughout the globe, this is the corporate Leviathan.

The Leviathan has evolved into a most ominous creature, its sheer power and size growing unimaginably by the day at the expense of the world’s masses. Those who control the giant monolith, the elite oligarchy, have as a goal the maximization of profits and power, the accumulation of shareholder wealth, the consolidation of the methods of control and the continued and ever-expanding dominance of world governments and by consequence hegemony over the peoples of the planet. Elected officials have become the conduit by which the Leviathan assures itself of growing power and control, of expanded carte blanche authority in running its activities and in exploiting both people and land.

The vicious circle of elected officials helping out the Leviathan and the Leviathan helping out elected officials breeds a most ignoble association of cronyism, favoritism and downright corruption and debauchery. It fosters the abdication of democracy and the morphing of government and big business. It is corporatism and the intentional destruction of the idea of putting the interests of the constituency first.

In today’s world, the only constituents that matter to “our” elected officials are those entities that can legally corrupt governments through contributions, fundraisers, re-election assistance, lobbying activities, special favors and increasing power vacuums. Only those creatures that assure election and re-election through financial corruption are seen as constituents whose interests are worth fighting for. More and more, this entity is the brotherhood of corporations and the elite that control and own them.

Those with money and power, the so-called “special interests,” get access and favors from our representatives along with laws, regulations and policy decisions in tune with their interests. As we can see with the Bush administration, special interests can also get an entire domestic and foreign policy in their hands, not to mention an unmoral and unjustified war along with self-created wars against the environment and the masses. With the perpetual “war on terror” that has been forced down our throats through the politics of fear, vast interests in many industries have assured themselves of perpetual profit as well. Government policy today is created and approved by those whose decisions control the Leviathan.

And, more and more, the Leviathan and its minions are distorting and determining what is left of democracy through the purposeful manipulation and fabrication of fictions and fantasies that present a world that in reality does not now exist.

The reality that we live in and the fiction that is rammed into our conscious cannot be more different. Democracy as we perceive it has been made extinct, replaced by a mirage and a smoking mirror that in the real world does not exist. Democracy is now a system rigged by those in power who through their vast array of brainwashing tools have fooled us all into believing that we actually have a say in who is elected to office. The truth is altogether different.

Mechanisms at work by the powerful meticulously and clandestinely manipulate the masses from the start, in essence having the effect of selecting only those candidates the few at the top want running through massive media manipulation, the ever-increasing cost of financing a campaign and by supporting a candidate through selective contributions, endorsements, power and control. Usually, only those the Leviathan deems worthy – meaning those non-threatening insiders already in their pocketbook – are given access to the highest levels of American politics, in essence chosen to continue doing the work of those who now rule over government and society.

The Leviathan, after all, controls the two-headed beast that is the Republican and Democratic parties, the only parties privy to what constitutes American democracy.

From the very beginning of an election cycle, the system assures that only the “chosen ones” will run in the two-party system that has corrupted politics. Only those who the establishment believes will move forward the interests of the Leviathan and the powerful are green-lighted to continue in the election process. Usually, this comes in the form of financial backing that bankrupts those other candidates who are not supported and that cannot compete with the bundles of cash given to the chosen ones. With money gushing out of the chosen ones’ pockets, democracy is erased before it begins, eliminating from the race those not anointed by the powerful.

The two-headed beast squashes competitors, dissidents and speakers of the truth. It guarantees to itself and the establishment a two party system that has become for all intents and purposes one and the same, with only minor deviations that act more to solidify the base than to differentiate themselves. Both parties are in essence prostitutes to the Leviathan, competing only for the power and control of government that helps bring in corporate money. The battles between donkeys and elephants are struggles for winning over the favors of the Leviathan. The winners fight tooth and nail in order to eventually unbuckle their belts and bend over backwards to the dictates of corporate power.

He who controls Washington controls the flow of money. This most sought after prize has been contested for decades by the two-headed beast, at the cost of the masses who vote and at the price of politicians surrendering once cherished principles of honor and integrity. Like a pack of wolves the two-headed beast voraciously fights each other for the crumbs and bones provided by the Leviathan and the oligarchy. Determined to stay in office and grow in power the scum of the Earth forgets about the people, instead enabling the continuing decimation of land and man by the Leviathan. Accordingly, the Leviathan rewards loyalty and subservience by helping to maintain the elected slave in office and by doing everything in its power to increase his or her power.

This most symbiotic of relationships results in a win-win situation at the expense of the lowly plebeians who comprise the electorate and the nation’s citizens. We are ignored, our rights and freedoms are curtailed, our health made worse, our children’s education eviscerated, our pockets gouged, our loved ones sacrificed in war and our lives ensnarled in ever-increasing stress and work. Yet our elected representatives are made blind and deaf to the growing exploitation of the American people. In the brave new world of corporate dominance where the oligarchs have become rulers and those in Washington their proctors and high priests, a clandestine war has been unleashed against two-hundred eighty million people who have no more say in how their nation is run. We have become the serfs made ignorant through television and acquiescent through corporate media conditioning. The people have become sheeple.

The role of the Leviathan-owned corporate media in the rigging of American democracy cannot be ignored. Media has the ability to influence society through its opinions and biases, its sponsorships and coverage, its camera angles and microphone decibel level. It can manipulate reality to its liking, in essence making or breaking a candidate with its coverage or lack thereof. Those it ignores stand not a chance; those it anoints grab the attention of a nation.

Those seeking office who champion change and truth are oftentimes ignored and abandoned by a media opposed to or critical of both. Diversity of opinion and thought is not important when the two-headed beast offers the Leviathan the only choices it wants. When the Leviathan owns corporate media and its lowly minions, we are assured of having only those two candidates those in power have chosen. He who controls the media controls the masses, after all.

Outsiders to the system, those who seek betterment for society and those who threaten the establishment stand no chance at getting fair and balanced coverage by the corporate media. Thus, they will never be elected to the office they seek. Such is the power of television and the few elite that control what we watch. Any opinion detrimental to the Leviathan or the establishment is quashed, never seen or heard by the vast majority of the country. Anything deemed a threat to the system, a truth that might awaken the slumbering mind of the sheeple is hidden from ever seeing light.

This way, only the chosen candidates of the two headed beast are introduced to the consciousness of the people while seekers of change and truth disappear over the horizon of lost opportunity. Fresh voices with great ideas that might revolutionize society are lost in time as the status quo remains, with voters having to decide between the lesser of two evils. This year, it is the choice of voting either for a grave and growing menace capable of dastardly deeds that is sending the nation into the sewers of fecal matter or a much lesser evil preserving corporate control over our lives. Unfortunately, the system run by the two-headed beast leaves us only two choices of similar parties, corruption and morals subservient only to the rich and powerful.

The indelible rise and fall of Howard Dean is a case study in corporate media and Leviathan interference and decimation of a candidate. Dean, through his beliefs, speeches and policies represented a growing threat to the Leviathan, its corporate media, the establishment in Washington and to the Democratic party itself. He had hit a chord with millions of dissatisfied and pessimistic Americans, waking in them a flame long made extinguished by the mediocrity of the two-headed beast. Dean started a movement that threatened to unseat the establishment and create a new dawn in American society. This movement could not and would not be allowed to survive.

As a result, he was assassinated by the corporate media and its army of spineless so-called “journalists.” Distorting reality , hyping fiction, promoting negative stories and pushing the biased opinions of hit men-like pundits and political commentators into the national limelight, the corporate media targeted Dean until he became a mere shadow of his former self. The nation was bombarded with negative images and commentary of Dean, blitzkrieged into our homes before the Dean movement could monopolize the momentum that instead went to John Kerry, the establishment’s “anointed one.”

The scream heard around the world was manipulated from what it really was, shown over 700 times on national television, each time with negative comments and opinions, helping push the national conscious away from supporting Dean and his movement. An outsider was left to hang on the gallows of television; the threat of change and of awakening the masses was finally and forcefully executed. Dean went from front runner to also-ran overnight, thanks to a complicit corporate media that pushed every single negative angle, every single negative observation and piece of bad news onto the American people. The threat could not survive past Iowa, it could not be allowed to gain momentum. The outsider, critical of the Washington establishment, telling us certain unalienable truths that those in power preferred better left unsaid was torn apart by the powers that be. Democracy, rigged and manipulated.

Hidden in the bottomless pit of lies and deceptions lay the truth, secured in its chains for at least four more years. The dungeons of destruction have claimed yet another victim, serving as an example to anyone else who dares question authority and those with the power and control. He who boldly takes on the establishment is through carefully placed firewalls rendered impotent. The symbiotic relationship of the Leviathan and the two-headed beast has been made safe, and 280 million Americans have been made worse as a result.

The Dean example proves that a fresh wind of change will not be allowed to fester and grow; it will not be allowed to awaken the drone-like lives of the masses. There is too much money to be made, too much power to be distributed. There is too much control to be garnered. Dean made mistakes, as do all politicians, but when under the intense microscope of the corporate media waiting for any error or opening, those mistakes were multiplied by a million-fold. Dean spoke truths that the establishment wanted to remain hidden among the amalgam of lies, and, in the end, he got burned and sent back to Vermont a defeated man.

In today’s world of politics, only well connected, well financed men and women can hope to attain higher office. Only those willing to sacrifice ethics, morals and virtues in exchange for dishonor and lack of integrity should seek refuge in the cesspool of waste that has become Washington D.C. Catering to the dictates of the Leviathan, taking its money and influence and becoming its string-laced puppet assures the prospective politician of a greater chance at success. With the incredible amount of money needed to run for Congress or the Presidency, only those who can raise millions can run, only those well connected, those born into privilege and those willing to prostitute themselves to the commands of the Leviathan can realistically hope to one day claim victory.

The system we call democracy is rigged; the candidates who will eventually run being chosen many months before the election even commences. Corporate media is used as a conduit to manipulate citizens into falling for and choosing one contender or another. Only those who raise millions upon millions before being nominated stand a chance at being elected. The elite oligarchy must be satisfied with the person running, they must be subservient slaves to the Leviathan, unscrupulous beings willing to throw away the keys necessary to the betterment of the masses. Only those candidates who are part of the establishment, those endowed with the vices of compulsive lying and distortion and with the uncanny ability to mangle truths are selected to run.

Our system of elections and representative democracy is rigged. We are given two preordained options, representing not us but the interests of the corporations. Outsiders are destroyed, diverse opinion squashed. The streets of Washington are infested with the worst of America, connivers and scoundrels, those whose soul has been sold to society’s demons. Our collective future is in the claws of vipers and vampires, thieves and murderers, only caring to maintain themselves in power and prestige not by doing what is right for us but what is wrong for society. Our lives, health and happiness are being sacrificed to the almighty dollar, to the great idol that is the omnipresent Leviathan.

Focus groups and polls decide a politician’s policy and opinion; their thoughts determined not by independent reasoning and analysis but by what their political consultants tell them will garner the most votes. Seeking truth and justice is second fiddle to seeking power and influence. We are being used and lied to in order to elect traveling salesmen to high office. They play with our emotions, they exacerbate our fears. Through the politics of fear they divide us, scare us into voting against our own interests. In the end, nothing changes, we are made worse off, the country continues its decadent fall into the nadir of despoilment and the Leviathan’s powers only continue to grow to the zenith of crony capitalism and debauched democracy.

From the bowels of Hades the negative energy called greed pilfers upwards, reaching our highest offices where the most important decisions affecting our future are made. Our so-called leaders have been infected, becoming the blind worker bees of the Leviathan. The corruption is now rampant; the honor and integrity nonexistent. Democracy rigged and manipulated, the system is now but a microcosm of its former self. The anointed few are placed on a pedestal, our only options in a democracy that has become a façade. One and the same, the two-headed beast roars its approval, knowing that yet another election approaches without threats, awakenings and the truth.

The rigging of our democracy has succeeded yet again, clandestinely and systematically the establishment has assured itself of allegiance and the status quo. Power, privilege, wealth and connections, lack of virtue and morals, egotism, selfishness and greed, using the masses to eventually exploit them; all the ingredients necessary for a successful politician to arrive like a pestilence in Washington and continue the cycle that has been set in motion by past and present elected officials that is leading to the now apparent fall of the great Empire called the United States of America.

In the end we all suffer as the two-headed beast continues its dominance and monopoly. Corporate media manipulates whatever interests it wants furthered and selects who it wants running the country. The growing power of the Leviathan is eviscerating our democracy and way of life. Diverse opinion and discussion is rapidly disappearing, the corporation’s many interests are bombarded into our homes, manipulating us in so many ways, in essence making of us brain-dead automatons complacent to witness the rape and pillage of our treasure and our society.

Rigged American democracy and the two-headed beast today walk freely through the entrails of our country, unhindered and without threats, confident that all that has been will remain, that hibernating primates we will continue to be. The political game of hide and seek will continue, baiting and switching us into voting one way or another, lying and deceiving, cajoling and conniving, promising fictions and concocting what we want to hear but hiding what we are afraid is true, dividing us into groups and subgroups, continuing to rule over our daily lives just as the omnipotent Leviathan has commanded.

We have no one to blame but our ignorant and submissive selves. For those who seek change first look inwards and change themselves. A society that allows itself to be exploited and manipulated eventually finds that its inability to act results in one day awakening from its long slumber only to find broken remnants of a once cherished way of life. The erosion has begun, and the swiftness by which the rock foundations will erode will be difficult to comprehend.

Promises broken and assertions unkept, relegated to choosing the one who lies the best. The conundrum that is the future of American democracy and its two-headed beast is waiting to be answered.

The Other Superpower: Fraternity, Solidarity and the World's People

A year ago I was in Barcelona, Spain, participating in the February 15th worldwide march protesting against what was to be the coming American invasion of Iraq. There I was, one of one and a half million people, out of a metropolitan population of four million, marching through Barcelona's beautiful and vibrant streets that were suddenly transformed into rivers of humanity, overflowing as if hit by a giant flood of energized Mediterranean water. We were all witness to a systemic metamorphosis of asphalt to flesh, millions standing shoulder to shoulder, squeezed as tight as a can of sardines, under the control of one collective movement that guided us all to our final destination.

It was unlike anything I have ever experienced, one of those life events that both humbles and inspires. The sheer awesomeness of being placed in the middle of 1.5 million people glued together in a confined place still sends shivers down my spine. From one-month old babies clinging to their mothers to ninety-year old couples experiencing yet one more wonder in their life journeys, from anarchists to capitalists, Catholics to atheists, rich to poor, Catalans to Spaniards, Arabs to Americans, we all stood together in fraternity and solidarity, demonstrating our opposition to what we knew would be an unjust war concocted through unjust lies and deceptions.

Throughout the long march traversing Barcelona's many streets not one police officer could be seen, not one act of disobedience spotted. Flowers and placards trumpeted our mood, our only weapons fighting the system. The menacing black armored riot police prevalent throughout the United States every time a hundred people decide to protest was nonexistent. So too was the virtual police state accompanying such fascist tactics. One and a half million people marched unobstructed and peacefully through the lazy yet majestic Saturday afternoon, absorbing surreal Gaudi architecture and stunning European medieval and modern construction throughout the route, jumping from warm spots of sunlight into cold sections of shadows.

Whistles and drums, singing and chants, posters and giant puppets, the atmosphere resembled a merry carnival of days long gone, a symphony of spirit and energy that reverberated throughout the cosmopolitan city sending waves of liveliness swirling into the dark mystery that is the universe. Friendship and brotherhood abounded, if only for some hours, combining in an amalgam of human greatness.

Everybody became one, every separate being became a complete whole as the giant mass of human flesh gushed out into the streets from the vast underground tunnel network of subways, proclaiming a message of peace and human rights, of solidarity with those who would soon die and those who would suffer heinous maimings and injuries at the hands of American fighter jets, bullets and tanks. In a country where 80 to 90 percent of the population was against the actions of the US and their own government, it was refreshing to see millions leave their homes and march in unison at the gross and nefarious injustices that were about to be committed.

United we stood, not an inch separating one from the next, protesting injustice and corruption, unmoral leaders and greed-infected exploiters. The anger and feeling of impotence had been transformed to action; the knowledge that the will of the great majority meant nothing and was being ignored did not dissipate. Yet there we stood, a mass of humanity, expropriating entire streets, boulevards and plazas away from the state, reclaiming them for humankind, making a statement that the will of the masses could not be silenced. In one loud, fused voice Barcelona made herself known, proclaiming her displeasure at the direction the powerful were leading the entire globe into.

Similarly, mass demonstrations and marches were conducted throughout Europe, indeed, throughout the world. Tens of millions exploded in a never before seen show of solidarity, from Latin America to Africa to Asia, from all walks of life, of all religions, colors and creeds, walking and chanting in opposition to Bush's warmongering and imperial aspirations. Never in the history of the world had so many joined hands in such a show of fraternity, manifesting a powerful message that resonated in Washington and London, Madrid and Paris. A new movement had been born, resurrecting voices long since dead, spreading worldwide and touching millions upon millions of human energies. The rise of the second superpower had commenced.

It is obvious what the first superpower is. The United States stands unchallenged among the brotherhood of nations. It is simply the most powerful state entity, economically and militarily, that the world has ever known. At present it has no rivals, no challengers. It stands alone among world nations in sheer power, able to dominate world decisions, regions and nations. No other political superpower exists.

To Noam Chomsky, however, a second superpower has emerged that may soon rival the United States. He is not referring to any one state or nation, though, which is still some years away from rivaling the US (think China). This new superpower is the growing fraternity and solidarity among the people’s of the world that are uniting in pursuit of justice, equality, nonviolence and human rights. This power is all of us, six billion humans, from all continents and walks of life, of all shades of the mutated human skin pigmentation phenomenon, having the joint potential of the greatest energy the world has ever witnessed.

We are too many, too important, too powerful. As individuals we are but mere plebeians, impotent to affect much of what goes on in the world. Fused together, however, we become that most powerful of armies that produces and consumes, that decides elections and fights in wars. We are the tools the elite and powerful need in order to continue subjugating and exploiting us. We are the battery that keeps thieves and murderers prospering. We are the bread that sustains them and the slaves that enrich them. So many of us and so few of them, yet we allow the scum of the Earth, the lowest common denominator to dictate what was, what is and what will become. Without us they become us.

The moment we decide to act is the moment we begin deciding our own fates. Millions upon millions morphed as one are the engine that runs the second superpower, the only rival to those who run and manage the United States and its many viceroys, proctors and puppets that control the nations of the world. February 15th 2004 was our first birthday, our awakening and our realization that tens of millions organizing, marching and protesting can make a difference in a world where that goal becomes harder with each passing day. On that day the peoples of the world allowed a hiccup that was not supposed to exist to become a thunderous rumble. A movement became a reality and our rulers trembled at the thought of more manifestations involving an ever-growing number of millions.

With the evolution of our civilization we are becoming more aware of and receptive to the concept of human rights and respect for nonviolence. Humanity has reached a point where, thanks to technology and communication, the planet is becoming a village, opening up the evils of ignorance and indifference to an understanding of the fascinating diversity that comprises our species. With an acceptance and familiarity of our many faces and colors we are defeating the fear that flourishes with ignorance. We fear what we do not know but once we know what we once feared our fear gives way to bravery in confronting that which is different to us. Security and comfort soon follow.

The inevitable amalgamation of the human species is proceeding accordingly, from the time we left the forests and caves to the technologically sophisticated civilization of the present. As our world shrinks we are becoming ever more aware of the plight of billions who have been rotting away their existence in large part because of the policies of our rich nations and the exploitations of the few elite. As a society many of us are becoming empathetic creatures of altruistic motivation, concerned for our fellow man both at home and in “third world” shantytowns, reservations and hellholes. It is because of this that the other superpower is slowly growing up.

In Iraq we saw the unfairness, the lies and deceptions, the way Bush bullied an entire planet to quench his appetite for Iraqi blood and oil. Millions not privy to the American propaganda machine saw a reality that failed to yield the moral high ground. Millions who were not brainwashed or conditioned realized the putrid stench that was the case for invasion and occupation emanating from the White House. It was those people throughout the globe that gave life to the other superpower.

Seventy to ninety percent of citizens in most nations of all continents were opposed to war, except in the US. Could the incessant propaganda spawned by both government and corporate media be the culprit? Without a doubt. In the aftermath of 9/11 it was impossible to protest anything the Bush administration did. To do so was to be labeled unpatriotic and treasonous, sympathetic to the terrorists. This was not done by accident, thus hindering dissent, protest and discussion. When February 15, 2003 came along, only the bravest took to the streets. As a result, the number of people marching in solidarity with the world was minimal, and the US population was made ignorant to the great movement that had just taken place. To the rest of the planet, the day of fraternity was a monument to humanity and a realization that together millions could cause a minor ripple to become a colossal tidal wave.

Today, the few elites and their puppet leaders are dictating the present and future course of events, bringing us perilously close to jeopardizing our species’ future. Our planet is reeling, our civilization is destroying billions of lives through its vicious circle of birth, death and its in-between methodical caste system that is laying waste to billions of souls. Billions are being exploited, their talent and potential eviscerated, struggling to survive from meal to meal, day to day. Misery and dehumanization
affecting billions is to them the normal course of human existence, the only experience in their daily lives.

While the peoples of the rich north bask in the glories of superfluous excessiveness, rendering Earth a future wasteland through vastly disproportionate exploitation of both land and man, those of the south suffer the consequences of their indigent lives, struggling to feed, clothe and shelter themselves in the face of indelible and inescapable environments that rob them of a life worth living and a chance to experience the same privileged life of their brothers and sisters of the north.

As months turn into years and we become aware of the plight of those that through no fault of their own live in perpetual squalor a solidarity begins to emerge thanks to the visual and written imagery of a more open world that creates sympathy and understanding for our fellow humans. Combining resources, intellect and commonalities the other superpower begins to breathe. With time we realize that we have more in common with each other than we previously believed. After all, we are all humans. We begin to comprehend that our rulers and elected leaders do nothing with our best intentions in mind. Rather, as Bush proves again and again, the common man is but a hindrance to the real interests at play, namely, those of the emerging behemoth, the Corporate Leviathan and its slimy network of oligarchs.

In time we find that we are all in the same boat, whether we live in the rich north or the poor south. It does not matter, a war is being waged against us all, clandestinely and with our unknowing support. We are but pawns in the system, the cogs that help the economic engine run by our conditioned need to produce and consume while becoming obedient drones of sequestered thought. Whether we live in cardboard boxes or in cookie cutter four bedroom homes the reality remains that we are exploitable beings harvested to enrich the oligarchy, whether through slave wages or slave hours, through wars costing life or limb, through consumption costing lungs and arteries.

The other superpower is opening its eyes, becoming aware of what those who lead are doing to our world and our lives. The peoples’ voice is being ignored, drowned out even when we express ourselves in one united scream. What we say no longer matters; our impotence grows more pervasive with each new leach we elect to office. Lies, distortions and deceptions, propaganda, brainwashing and manipulation, we have become the marionettes of the powerful, the tools by which our rulers subvert our democracy, liberties and freedoms. These most cherished institutions have themselves become nothing but a farce.

Only as the second superpower can we survive, growing to rival what the debauched leaders of the US have become. Millions upon millions rising like a mighty ball of fire can make a difference, demanding change in our leaders and in a failing society that leaves billions in the dustbins of history. Indeed, we must make a difference. Like February 15, 2003, we can mobilize and organize, march and peacefully protest. We can change the system from within, at work, at play and at the ballot box. We are the many, we are the nectar that the powerful need to live. The power lies with us, the other superpower. Like a snowball effect the movement will grow, helping build the flake that will launch the avalanche down the mountain of change.

Millions marching down streets is a beautiful and powerful sight to behold. It is the spectacle of all things great about our species. It is us united, at peace and at work. It is a beast that rumbles forward, demanding change and true democracy, sending tremors throughout the halls of power, creating solidarity and fraternity among peoples. The other superpower has arrived, our time has come. To march with the rest of humanity in unbridled peace and harmony is to experience an energy that the few cannot halt or dare squash. It is to send a message that we are not happy with the present course of events. Our discontent must be heard, our peaceful manifestations seen, if we are to survive this latest scourge, then united we must be. Boston in July and New York City in September, the other superpower awaits thee.

The Coming Iraq Debacle

The brewing cauldron that has been simmering for nearly a year is ready to blow its lid. The quagmire called Iraq is near civil war, anarchy and Balkanization. This witch’s brew concocted by the neocons, George W. Bush and his administration has reached its boiling point, its scorching steam ready to burn us all thanks to the nefarious errors of the delusional few at the top. Their inept mistake will scar America for years to come as the salts of Iraq are poured on our open wounds. Iraq is already one of the worst foreign policy blunders in US history, one that is clearly spiraling further down the sewer of neocon pipedreams into a toxic lake of cynicism, cronyism, corruption and pilferage.

In the end, the scourge of the neocons and Bush will dissipate, as all plagues eventually do, yet our nation will suffer the consequences of what has already happened and what is to come for many years into the future. Our leadership will pass to another but the incompetence of the Bush administration will linger in our minds, in our coming unnecessary sacrifices and in our forever-changed society with the carcasses left over by those vultures Bush has unleashed onto the world. Iraq is such a place.

What we are presently experiencing, for those able to escape the mirage of fabrications and distortions built by both corporate media and government propaganda, is the systemic undoing of the Iraqi nation that was started by the American invasion and furthered by an occupation that has unleashed forces that had lay dormant for decades. Now, the beast of Mesopotamia has awoken, its claws enveloping the western-imposed borders that have for years encaged diverse peoples, ethnicities and religions into the same land, its energies traversing through Iraq’s heterogeneous population that is spawning the rebirth of hatreds, animosities, revenge, differences, and grudges that had been quashed under the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein. The coming debacle is occurring right in front of our eyes. We are witnesses to a history that will not be pleasant to bear.

The ignorant and arrogant push for war against a weak, impotent and dilapidated state, under the guise of the so-called “war on terror” and manipulated into fruition by the horrors of 9/11 in order to control both fossil fuel resources and the geo-political structure of the globe has been not a victory but a failure. Control of the population and the state itself has yet to be achieved. Iraq’s infrastructure is still decimated. Reconstruction is but a façade that has yielded neither hearts and minds, security nor stability. Rather, it is the pillaging of American taxpayer money by Bush/Cheney friends, cronies and contributors. Gulf War II was but a charade to enrich the Corporate Leviathan and Bush friends in particular, and our nation will suffer the consequences of such greed for a long time.

Five-hundred forty Americans have died, not to mention hundreds of “coalition” troops. Over ten thousand soldiers have been maimed and wounded. Some estimates state that approximately 200,000 Iraqis have been killed, maimed or wounded since the start of the war. Freedom, independence and democracy have not and will not be brought to the Iraqi people by American forces; it will, however, come from the Iraqi resistance now decimating occupiers and collaborators, soldiers and civilians.

Merrily Bush declared victory prematurely, dressed as a GI Joe action figure, thinking himself Tom Cruise in Top Gun, a “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging over his shoulder. What has been accomplished in a year is hard to discern. Perhaps if the mission was the continued shedding of blood, both American and Iraqi, or the continued misery, poverty, unemployment and utter decay of Iraqi society or the splintering apart of the nation’s tribal, ethnic and religious groups then Bush’s war has been a success. If the mission was to bankrupt America’s treasure at the expense of every citizen, now and into the future, then Bush’s banner can hang majestically for posterity’s sake.

What the Bush administration has generated with its foray into Mesopotamia is a monument to ineptitude and bad leadership. Bush has dragged us through the dunes and sands, over the Tigris and Euphrates and into the scorching sun of the Fertile Crescent. We are trapped in quicksand, unable to leave as our loved ones continue to fall prey to the ghosts of ancient civilizations, their progeny and their vastly different ways of life and of seeing the world.

Our soldiers have out of necessity become peacemakers and police, becoming babysitters to a heterogeneous population on the brink of violent civil war. Our men and women are trapped in the middle of the coming storm created by our fickle leadership concerned more with politics at home than with the worldwide ramifications of chaos in Iraq. What our warmongering chickenhawks have done is to open the doors of revenge, hatred and violence to a population now free to pursue its individual interests while settling old scores and ripping off old wounds. Our “liberation” has unshackled a Pandora’s Box that we as American’s cannot even begin to understand or contemplate. Unfortunately, we are trapped, and must now suffer the consequences, hardships and eventual failure of what lies ahead.

The propaganda that America has been made safer with Saddam Hussein locked up is but a hollow fantasy espoused by those leaches roaming freely in Washington that would have us think that the Iraq war was a great victory. Just ask Howard Dean, who spoke the truth and got torched by the burning Bush and the corrupt two party system that is enabling the further rotting of the country. Just ask the 540 dead soldiers and over 10,000 wounded and maimed men and women hidden from the public’s view. An impotent Saddam was inconsequential to the guerilla war, being nothing more than a shell of his former self, contained inside his box while in power, not even a threat to his weak neighbors. The case of the missing and still unfound WMDs lends credence to this fact.

We as a nation and a people have been made less safe, not more. Our incursion into the Middle East has poured salt onto bitter wounds, creating millions of enemies and making of us prisoners trapped inside our own shores. Thanks to Bush, we are now hated entities not welcomed favorably by most of the world. The US is now seen as a pariah, a rogue state, the ultimate terrorist nation. The Iraq debacle taking place today has spawned more danger onto our world as an entire Arab and Muslim world sees the true intentions of the occupiers; invading and pillaging, colonizing and humiliating. Tens of thousands of dead and injured along with daily humiliations and continued subjugation have only spawned more ill-will within Iraq and throughout the Arab world. And the President proudly states the wars we have created are making us safer, that he has made us safer and more secure, and that as a result, we should re-elect him. Just another in a long and growing list of Orwellian lies that continue to be spewed out of the mouths of dishonorable men and women loyal not to the American citizen but to the almighty dollar.

As bad as Saddam was – one of dozens of despicable tyrants worldwide – what enabled him to remain in power for so long was his stabilizing presence in a nation split by tribes, ethnicities and religions. To the US, he was a dictator that kept the peace, a necessary evil that for decades kept Iraq free from civil war and unrest that today seems more and more likely as the country falls deeper into anarchy. It was for this reason that the powers that be, namely the US, kept Saddam in power, even after the first Gulf War. It was the reason the US supplied him with military hardware, WMD technology and lucrative financial assistance. It was the reason the US government turned a blind eye when he gassed Iranians (with US spy satellite photo assistance), Kurds and massacred entire insurrections that had at one point been supported and later abandoned by America. He kept Iraq together, albeit with an iron fist, preventing the Balkanization of the country that now seems likely, just as the US government wanted. Saddam was a dictator tolerated and supported by the US in the great geopolitical chess match, until he invaded Kuwait. Every massacre, every ethnic cleansing and every act of human rights violations fostered by Saddam was ignored by America because it helped keep Iraq and its voluminous oil reserves from exploding. Saddam was the needle that kept a searing nation intact.

Today, with Saddam no longer in power, Iraq is slowly but surely tearing apart at the seams. The fear once engendered and peace kept by the totalitarian regime no longer exists, giving rise to new movements of freedom and aspirations towards unhindered autonomy while unhinging old and modern hatreds, vendettas and revenge among the tens of millions of Iraqis. Iraq’s major groups, Kurds, Shi’a and Sunnis, are vying for power within Iraq, some even seeking independent states and more freedoms for their respective populations. Influential religious mullahs are seeking what is in the best interests for their followers and this oftentimes clashes what is in the best interests of the US. These mullahs yield great power and so far refuse to budge to US demands.

Iraq is chaos waiting to explode, thanks to our sojourn into empire building. Demonstrations and protests are increasing, patience is running low, unemployment hovers near 65 percent and Iraq’s infrastructure remains in shambles. The occupying army continues to humiliate and dehumanize, it continues to kill and wound innocent civilians. It is unable to squash the growing resistance, now a clandestine army that is well armed and getting more sophisticated by the hour. Its members are evolving, spreading like a giant spider web interconnected throughout the country with one pure cause in mind: kicking out the Ali Baba occupiers from Iraq.

As a result, the population is sympathetic to the resistance, collaborators are through intimidation leaving their jobs and chaos slowly creeps its shadowy presence into a growing number of cities. Car bombings seem to be a daily occurrence, dozens seem to die weekly and animosity and fear continue to grow. And, all the while overlooking this growing anarchy is the United States, trapped in the quicksand that is the Fertile Crescent, watching helplessly as our loved ones continue to die and lose mind and body and as our treasure continues to be pilfered by those espousing crony capitalism and debauched democracy.

The job of keeping the peace and preventing Iraq from falling into disarray has now passed to the occupying force. America now finds itself in a balancing act of trying to satisfy all major groups and a population of over twenty-five million while keeping the major groups from unleashing violence onto each other. All interests must be satisfied; an entire nation devastated by years of tyranny, sanctions, market colonialism, economic genocide and American invasion and war must be brought back to its feet. This is present day Iraq, a cesspool of devastation made more so by our invasion and subsequent occupation. When you combine incompetent leadership in Washington that is incapable of making any decision that is not political and self-serving you have the ingredients for the coming chaos we see in Iraq today.

Civil war in Iraq is a growing reality as the violence continues to increase, even after the capture of Saddam. Every week finds more attacks on American forces and collaborators, more disarray and anarchy. Security inside Iraq has not been made better. Rather, it has become worse as the resistance grows in strength and sophistication, as it evolves to the methods and maneuvers of the occupying army. And, contrary to Pentagon and corporate media propaganda, only a small fraction of the resistance is from foreign “terrorists.” Most are Iraqi nationalists and patriots, freedom fighters struggling to liberate their lands from the occupying army of the Great Satan that has come to colonize, rape and pillage. Propaganda cannot erase this fact from the books of history.

As long as the United States remains in Iraq our men and women will continue returning in “transfer tubes” and with lost limbs and minds. Yesterday it was 250 dead, today it is 540, tomorrow it will be 1500. The number of dead, wounded and maimed will continue to climb, the blood will continue to spill and the resentment against America will only get worse, rising like a phoenix from the ashes of war and occupation to further drain us of both our loved ones and our treasure. Bush got us into a mess we did not want, and now we must pay the price for the self-proclaimed “war president’s” ignorant blunder.

A war and an occupation based on blatant lies, distortions and deceptions, America’s escapade into imperial domination of Arab peoples and their resources will in the next few months explode and unearth the putrid seeds of the Bush administration’s fantasies and delusions that market “bringing freedom and democracy” to Iraq as an altruistic excuse for invasion. True democracy is near impossible in the next few months, contrary to what Bush and Cheney say. Debauched democracy, on the other hand, is another matter.

Indeed, democracy beneficial to America will not work in Iraq as the Shi’a majority refuses to allow the US to impose non-elected representatives, otherwise known as puppets, as part of a new government. If true democracy is allowed, a society detrimental to the Bush administration would most likely emerge, along with the Balkanization of Iraq into three separate states. A religious government or one not subservient to the US might arise. The Administration will not allow this to happen, which is why debauched democracy will be imposed, even at the barrel of a gun and with the continued subjugation and exploitation of Iraq’s citizens.

Bush’s failure to understand history, the region, its society, the people, reality and common sense has forced upon this nation a military presence in Iraq for decades to come. Whether we like it or not, the Bush debacle will scar us for many years into the future. His mistake will be our perpetual rug burn, never healing and stinging us with each death of our soldiers and maiming of our loved ones. We have condemned ourselves to a much more dangerous world, thanks to our government’s greed, arrogance and ignorance. Bush has created many new enemies, much more animosity and resentment. The self-proclaimed war president’s legacy will be one of death, killing, violence, cronyism and failure. It will be a legacy of fear and insecurity, of drained resources and bankrupt morality. Bush’s quest towards war and its terrible ramifications will take decades to rectify.

The debacle that is today our Iraqipation will only get worse. We are stuck in an occupation of a foreign nation on the brink of civil war and Balkanization. The experiment will fail, the quagmire will implode, and the legacy of our generation will eerily be compared to that of Vietnam’s. Meanwhile, Bush will disappear into the sunset to his Crawford ranch, followed by the vultures he unleashed, leaving us with his mess, his debacle and his failed presidency to clean up and hide in the coffers of embarrassment and forgetfulness, gathering dust and cobwebs, only to be brought out into the light for future generations to learn from history’s mistakes.