Our Dying Republic

Great essay by John W. Whitehead:

Corruption. Graft. Intolerance. Greed. Incompetence. Ineptitude. Militarism. Lawlessness. Ignorance. Brutality. Deceit. Collusion. Corpulence. Bureaucracy. Immorality. Depravity. Censorship. Cruelty. Violence. Mediocrity. Tyranny.

These are the hallmarks of an institution that is rotten through and through.

What you smell is the stench of a dying republic. Our dying republic.

The American experiment in freedom is failing fast.

Through every fault of our own - our apathy, our ignorance, our intolerance, our disinclination to do the hard work of holding government leaders accountable to the rule of law, our inclination to let politics trump longstanding constitutional principles - we have been reduced to this sorry state in which we are little more than shackled inmates in a prison operated for the profit of a corporate elite.

We have been saddled with the wreckage of a government at all levels that no longer represents the citizenry, serves the citizenry, or is accountable to the citizenry.

We’re not the masters anymore.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the federal government, state governments, or local governing bodies: at all ends of the spectrum and every point in between, a shift has taken place.

“We the people” are not being seen, heard or valued.

We no longer count for much of anything beyond an occasional electoral vote and as a source of income for the government’s ever-burgeoning financial needs.

Everything happening at the national level is playing out at the local level, as well: the violence, the militarization, the intolerance, the lopsided governance, and an uneasy awareness that the citizenry have no say in how their communities are being governed.

You can read the rest @
https://dissidentvoice.org/2017/12/what-went-wrong-in-charlottesville/

I really don't think we're going to take it back, either. Other powerful agenda (e.g., "the future is female") are not going to let that happen.

Reports such as this one suggest that shifting power into the hands of women will cure our ills:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/06/iceland-women-government-better-for-mothers-america-lessons

I don't believe it. Iceland put their criminal bankers in jail, while the US still allows ours to run the country. Unless that problem is solved, no amount of women in power is going to make a difference for anyone except women and children.

We are stuck in a two-tiered system no matter what we do. The only "choice" we have is who is in charge ... and that turns out to be more of a diktat than a choice.