Writings of J. Todd Ring: McCain, Clinton, Obama

Or,

The death of democracy in America:

Time for a re-awakening

Let us start with a look at the current US presidential election. The patterns emerging are clear. Fascism is unfolding in America, and the coming elections promise to be utterly irrelevant.

The far right is screaming that Republican Party US Presidential candidate John McCain is too liberal – remember, this is the man who said he’d keep troops in Iraq for the next hundred years – while warm words are spoken from the corporatist talking heads about both Clinton and Obama. It would seem we have a three-way race between good solid Republican candidates. More aptly, it is corporatist empire mouthpiece and military-industrial complex shill, numbers one, two or three. Door number one, door number two, or door number three? Surprise! All three lead to fascism. Aren’t you lucky.

This would not be the first time the Democratic Party allowed itself to be virtually indistinguishable in substance from the Republicans, sounds bites and PR scripts aside. The supposedly liberal Democrat Bill Clinton was referred to by former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan as “the best Republican candidate we’ve had in a long time.” Greenspan, acting unofficially as the voice of corporate America, went on to say that he agreed with Bill Clinton on about 80% of his policies.

Lefty-liberal Democrat and “human rights” president Jimmy Carter approved the Brzezinski plan of using the CIA to arm, fund and train militant Islamic extremists in the Middle East in order to destabilize the Soviet Union. CIA drug trading was further institutionalized under his watch, allowing billions of dollars in drug money to be funneled into black ops and Wall Street banking houses. Hand picked by the business elite’s own exclusive clubs, both the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg group, this liberal “democrat” stacked the executive branch with other elite club members, making the transition to Reagan and Bush largely a matter of changing the guard out front, while the real powers remained the same.

Under Lyndon Banes Johnson, mass bombing of civilians in South-East Asia continued, and the Great Society pronouncements were revealed to be hollow rhetoric and deceitful cover for brutal imperial crusades. Under LBJ the infamous Gulf of Tonkin lie was made to pass an unwitting populace, and the mass slaughter was escalated under grand and deceitful pretext. An estimated 80,000 Americans and 3 million people of South-East Asia, mainly peasants, were to liquidated for the empire.

We can go back further, but the record is clear enough. What corporate America wants, corporate America gets – at least as far as the Democratic and Republican party machinery goes. Dissenting voices within the parties are silenced, side-lined, or pushed into obscurity. The corporate controlled network media are of course happy to comply. There have always been truly noble, virtuous individuals within the two major parties in the US, and for the most part, they have not held power. The record is not impressive.

But let us return to the present farce of an election.

While McCain is slammed as being too soft, a glowing chorus surrounds the Democratic front-runners. You’d almost expect an angelic choir to be invoked by the mainstream media in support of the supposedly democratic candidates. Even the far right screaming harpie, corporatist toadie Ann Coulter, has said she’d actually support Hillary Clinton over Republican John McCain, “because she’s more conservative than he is.” What does this say about Clinton? Ann Coulter thinks anything to the left of Mussolini is dangerous ground. Now she’s speaking warmly of Hillary Clinton. Obama meanwhile is getting praise from the corporatist right as well. One telling statement was, “We can work with him.”

Remember, both Clinton and Obama voted for the war on Iraq, voted repeatedly to fund the war in Iraq, refused to back efforts to remove troops and end the military occupation of the coutry, voted in favour of the Patriot Act, voted a second time to make fourteen of its provisions permanent, voted for the Military Commissions Act, which eliminated habeas corpus and made torture legal in America, have both said with regards to attacking Iran that, “Everything is on the table” – and now claim to be pro-peace, pro-Constitution, pro-civil liberties, yada, yada, yada……At the very least, their words and promises should be met with great doubt. At the very least, they should inspire absolutely no confidence. The best that can be said of them is that their integrity and commitment to their stated principles is seriously in question.

Most damning of all, aside from actual voting records, which no one seems to care about – a politician’s record of actual conduct, as distinct from their noble sounding proclamations and speech writer’s carefully crafted statements – is the fact that all of the leading candidates, both Democrat and Republican, have chosen as key advisors, individuals with long histories of establishment politics and imperial bloodshed. The advisors chosen by Clinton and Obama – the people who will be the architects of their foreign and domestic policies – are people who are solidly pro-empire, pro-military-industrial complex, and who are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

If, for some bizarre reason, after all that has been said and discussed, you still feel the inclination to support one of the three amigos – McCain, Obama or Clinton – then at least get them to openly and publicly endorse the American Freedom Campaign or the American Freedom Agenda – the liberal and conservative coalitions which are working to preserve freedom and the Constitution in the US from the growing real homeland security threat, which is fascism. Get them to sign the legislation which has been drafted by these groups – and already signed by Congressman Ron Paul – which will re-affirm America’s commitment to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, civil liberties and freedom. And get them furthermore, to sign an affidavit stating that they will, if elected to office, immediately act without delay to repeal the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, along with the executive signing orders passed by Bush which far exceed the limits of Constitutional powers of the executive branch. Good luck in that, by the way.

Maybe it’s time to switch off the network news, for those who haven’t already. When Obama and Clinton can pass themselves off as peace-loving, pro-freedom, pro-democracy, civil rights cherishing, Constitution-hugging progressives, while their record of voting as well as their choice of key advisors shows they are in fact the opposite of this, then we are reminded again of the power of the media to turn arsenic into strawberry jello, and have a large percentage of the people ready and eager to eat it up.

The death of the two party system in America:

The Republican party is in full melt-down. It’s popular base is leaving in droves. People on the left and right in the US are disgusted with the Republicans. In the fall of 2006, the people of the US put the Democratic Party in power in Congress with very considerable popular support, in order to reverse the trends of escalating imperial warfare abroad, and the demolition of democracy and constitutional rights and freedoms at home, which the Republicans had taken to new levels. People who should have known better fell under the spell of false promises, as hopes ran high for a new Democratically controlled Congress. Eighteen months later, people are now almost as disgusted with the Democrats as with the Republicans – and this deep disillusionment toward the Democratic Party includes many of its most dedicated activists.

Since the fall of 2006, the Democratic Party has steadfastly stalled, blocked, hedged and equivocated on any action that would actually do something to address these issues of war and democracy, and war on democracy. Worse, the majority of Democrats in Congress have gone merrily along with the continued attack on democracy and civil liberties, most recently passing the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, which criminalizes the freedom of speech, eliminating the basic rights of freedom of speech, association and assembly, while refusing to impeach Bush or Cheney, refusing to stop funding the war in Iraq, refusing to bring the troops home from Iraq, refusing to draw a firm line in opposition to any attack on Iran, refusing to renounce or even criticize the dangerous, illegal, immoral and criminal policy of pre-emptive war, refusing to cut military spending….in short, siding with empire and Corporatocracy over the people and democracy. Need we say more about the current state of the Democratic Party? It is no surprise that they too are in disgrace and in a deep crisis of legitimacy with the people of the United States.

While US presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich was still in the race, he said he was trying to save the Democratic Party from destroying itself. It seems the Party is quite alright with its chosen path, popular support and credibility be damned.

A sinister take on these trends might be that the party machine, and the political elite within this wing of the corporate allegiance coalition – which spans both factions of the financial feudalism cartel, both Republican and Democrat – are seeking only to deceive enough of the people to win just one more election. If the bottom of the barrel of credibility can be scrapped successfully enough, the political process which is now in a profound crisis of legitimacy can be tapped once more, in order to get a pro-corporatist imperial White House team elected – probably Clinton/Obama. With all that has been put in place, the legislative framework for full fascism now established, the thugs ready with the mercenary forces of Blackwater and company, the secret prisons and rendition networks already here, the detention centers ready with more being built, and the story line of the war on terrorism (inc.) presented as the official narrative, all that is needed is a catalyst, a match, an ignition source - a trigger event, as Brzezinski has predicted - and the trap can be sprung on the American people: corporate feudal fascism, with a smiling Orwellian Democratic face. Shock and denial will numb enough people long enough, it must be hoped, for the consolidation of the new order. The rest will be silenced. And a Brave New World will be born.

This, I am afraid, by all indications, is where the Democratic Party is taking America. I am sad to see that candidates of integrity of either party have been sidelined. Kucinich, Paul or Gravel – any one of them would make a president and leader of the country capable and willing to protect and preserve democracy, freedom, civil rights, the rule of constitutional law, and genuine peace. If none of these three win the next election, it will be fascism with a pretty face. Mark my words. I pray I am wrong, but everything points to this unthinkable conclusion. Consider the following, if you have any doubts.

Fascist legislation in place:

The Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act and Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act have put in place the legislative framework for fascist rule. Habeas corpus has been eliminated, along with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. 800 years of the growth and development of constitutional law and civil rights has been overturned. Executive signing orders give the president the ability to re-write laws passed by Congress or to ignore them, as the president sees fit, giving the president rule by decree. The signing orders along with the above legislation effectively annul freedom, democracy and human rights in America. These fascist laws allow anyone, US citizens or others, to be picked up off the street, or arrested in their homes or workplaces, taken to an undisclosed detention center or interrogation center, held without trial, without recourse to a lawyer, without a phone call or any notification of family members, indefinitely, and allow for them to be tortured or summarily executed, as the president or anyone he chooses to represent him deems necessary. The framework is in place, and needs only to be engaged. Just turn the key. A trigger event is all that is needed, and the fascist legislation is engaged in full.

The criminalization of dissent:

The most revealing element in this whole development towards fascism, is the clear intent of the process: the criminalization of dissent. HR 1955, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act makes this unmistakable. The act states openly that “violent radicalization” or “terrorism” will be defined under this law as any use of force or violence for the purpose of advancing political goals. It further states that the use of “logical argument” or “compelling” force of reason are defined as terrorism. Force under this act, even if non-violent, such as the political force of a popular movement or organization, peaceful protest or dissent, is defined as terrorism. Note also that violence is already illegal under US law, and so no new law is needed to deal with violence. This means that HR 1955 is solely about the criminalization of freedom of expression and the repression of dissent. This is the hallmark of fascist states. Racism, sexism and xenophobia are often present as well, along with strange cultish ideology, but the defining marks of fascism are the demolition of democracy, freedom and civil rights, the institutionalization of unchecked totalitarian power, the reign of the few over the many by unlimited force, and the criminalization and violent suppression of opposition and dissent. In every fascist state, as Naomi Wolf makes clear, the first to go to the gas chambers or the detention centers are the outspoken journalists, editors, the political opposition, outspoken clergy, trade union and labour activists – in short, all threats to the power elite. Fascism is designed to do one thing above all: concentrate all power in society in the hands of the few. HR 1955 makes clear what these trends are all about. And the Democrats as well as Republicans voted for it: 404-6.

A private army of thugs:

Mussolini had his black shirts, Hitler liked the idea and created the brown shirts. Stalin was impressed and created his own band of goons. Now America has Blackwater. The head of Blackwater is a close ally and supporter of the Bush administration. Blackwater is a private corporation, a mercenary army, on hire to anyone who will pay, willing to kill, arrest, detain or torture anyone on a list they are given. No questions asked. They are not accountable to the public, as the military ultimately is, and have no code of honour, other than the code of sociopathic ruthless violence, and the loyalty needed among organized crime members toward their own and to their masters. Presently their role in Iraq seems to be destabilization – randomly shooting and killing civilians – in order to justify unending US and British military occupation of that country. “The country’s a mess – we can’t leave now!” Cerberus would welcome these thugs as kin, were it not for the fact that they do not guard the gates of hell, but open them. Blackwater specifically recruits individuals who have experience and comfort with repression, murder and torture of their own people – often former death squad members from Latin America. Blackwater’s goal for 2007 was to recruit an additional 35,000 loyal troops. With the recent wildfires in the US, Blackwater was unleashed on America. Get ready for the goons.

REX 84: Blueprint for martial law

“We are dangerously close to a situation where ~ if the American people took to the streets in righteous indignation or if there were another 9/11 ~ a mechanism for martial law could be quickly implemented and carried out under REX 84.

The Cheney/Bush administration has a plan which would accommodate the detention of large numbers of American citizens during times of emergency.

The plan is called REX 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984. Through Rex-84 an undisclosed number of concentration camps were set in operation throughout the United States, for internment of dissidents and others potentially harmful to the state.

The Rex 84 Program was originally established on the reasoning that if a "mass exodus" of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA.

Existence of the Rex 84 plan was first revealed during the Iran-Contra Hearings in 1987, and subsequently reported by the Miami Herald on July 5, 1987:

" These camps are to be operated by FEMA should martial law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached."

And there you have it ~ the real purpose of FEMA is to not only protect the government but to be its principal vehicle for martial law.

This is why FEMA could not respond immediately to the Hurricane Katrina disaster ~ humanitarian efforts were no longer part of its job description under the Department of Homeland Security.”

- Allen L Roland, Rex 84: FEMA's Blueprint for Martial Law in America,

Global Research, August 20, 2006

Detention centers ready:

As of 2004 there were 800 prison camps in the US, all fully staffed and operational, but sitting empty. They have an average capacity of 20,000 detainees, making a total capacity of 1.8 million. This was before KBR, the subsidiary of Cheney’s Haliburton, announced in a press release in 2006 that they have been granted a $385 million contract to build a network of detention centers in the US. The press release added that the contract in “open ended” in terms of both time frame and scale. The stated intent of the detention centers is the detainment illegal aliens, “and other purposes.” All of the detention centers have railways leading in and out of the complexes. Most are nearby major airports.

Operation Endgame:

A document issued by the Office of Detention and Removal Operations (an arm of the Department of Homeland Security) titled "Strategic Plan, 2003-2012 Detention and Removal Strategy for a Secure Homeland"describes Operation Endgame as follows:

Endgame is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Detention and Removal (DRO) multi-year strategic enforcement plan. It stresses the effective and efficient execution of the critical service DRO provides its partners and stakeholders…

Operation Endgame, a plan officially acknowledged and run by the Department of Homeland Security, is stated to be concerned with the detention and deportation of all illegal aliens by 2012. However, in light of the above trends toward a clearly deliberate and highly conscious creation of a fascist state, it is highly doubtful that illegal aliens are the sole or even primary target for detention under the Endgame plan. We will see, but all evidence points to Endgame being a plan to eliminate all dissenting voices from the new “Fortress North America” under the “new security environment” – as the business and political elite are referring to it. Should we believe that all of the above developments are for the protection of US citizens, the fight against actual terrorism, or the arrest of illegal aliens? Given all that we know, this would seem about as plausible as the tooth fairy or the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately, believing in the Easter Bunny won’t hurt you, whereas willful ignorance and denial here may have very serious consequences.

Winning the “War on Terror”

A leaked Pentagon memo which was sent to high level military and civilian officials and reported by the Washington Post stated that the “War on Terror” (sic) is to be won by October 2008. All the evidence shows clearly that the war on terror is a two part operation, neither having anything to do with fighting terrorism: 1) the “Global War on Terror” provides the story line, the narrative, that is, the pretext of cover for an unending war of empire around the world, including operations designed to secure control of the world’s energy reserves in the Middle East and elsewhere; 2) the “War on Terror” provides the pretext or cover for a war on democracy at home – the elimination of dissent and the consolidation of power in the hands of the business and political elite. Given the undeniable nature and intent of the “War on Terror” – which is in truth a war on democracy and a war for empire – what does it mean when the Pentagon tells the military and political elite that the firm target for winning the war is October 2008? It would seem then that the time-line trajectory has been speeded up. 2012 is apparently not soon enough. The war on democracy is to be decisively won, according to this new information, by the fall of 2008.

Get ready. Mass resistance will be needed. The spirit of a Martin Luther King or Braveheart must be generated, or better, Jefferson or Thomas Paine. It is revolution or slavery now.

Conclusion: Freedom and democracy, or feudal fascism?

Patriots, democrats, and all who value and prefer freedom to fascism, take note. This is the time for action. Whatever your political views or allegiances, left or right, liberal, conservative, progressive or otherwise, if you do not want to see the destruction of constitutional rule of law, civil rights or a voice for the people, if you do not want to live under a fascist regime, then you must take action now. Inform yourself, inform others, speak, write, share information, connect with others, get together, build bridges of understanding, common cause and solidarity, build networks and a broad-based popular coalition, united to preserve freedom.

People in Canada, Mexico, Britain and Europe, don’t think this will necessarily be contained within the US. Organize now to preserve freedom and democracy, while you can. The war on democracy knows no borders. Never underestimate the machinations of the power-hungry. History has proved that there will always be those few who hunger for supreme power. Vigilance, solidarity and mutual empowerment are the only remedies to tyranny.

Renounce violence in all forms. A band of rebels with shotguns and rifles is no match for tanks and grenade launchers. Martin Luther King Jr. was right: “If I did not reject the use of violence on moral grounds I would reject it on practical grounds. To be throwing bricks at people with machine guns is not only violent, it is foolish.” Whether it be bricks of even assault rifles, in the arena of force, there is no contest. The battle must therefore be on grounds where popular movements have the greater strength. Read Sun Tzu: you do not attack where the enemy is strong. This should be a matter of common sense.

The power elite rely on the cooperation of masses of people. Remove that cooperation, and the power games collapse, like a house of cards. Remember the fall of the Soviet empire. When the people were sufficiently fed up that they ceased to give power to the reigning order, that order fell to pieces, virtually overnight. It is terrible what came in to replace it, but the point is that all empires and all social order ultimately rest upon the acquiescence of the many. Power lies with the people. It is only when the people do not embrace their power that the few can dominate the many. Reclaim your power, and encourage others to do the same, and the possibilities are unlimited. Democracy and freedom now require, more than ever, the empowerment of the people. This is the crux of the matter.

Do not seek to grasp power. Do not flee from your power. Instead, embrace your power and seek to empower others, in freedom and equality. This is the basis for a sane and just society. This is the basis for freedom. And this alone is the basis for an authentic democracy, with recognition and protection of the rights and dignity of all.

Look up Etienne de la Boittie. His essay On Voluntary Servitude, along with Thoreau’s essay On Civil Disobedience,and Sun Tzu’s Art of War (which is a treatise on peace and harmony and intelligent resolution of conflict) are the strategic manuals we need now.

Brains beat brawn. Heart defeats corruption. Maybe not instantly, but decisively, and inevitably. Yet, what we do or fail to do at this time will be of enormous significance. The level of violence, suffering and destruction, or the level of peace in the transition to a fuller and more genuine freedom and democracy, depends upon our actions now.

What do the power elite understand? Money. Hit them in the pocket book. Economic warfare. Shut down the means of plunder. Redirect money, resources, human energies and economic flows away from the business elite and their political drones, and into the hands of the people and the communities of the earth.

If the popular movements to preserve and enhance freedom, democracy and human rights are to succeed, it will be through non-violent resistance and civil disobedience, along the lines of King, Gandhi and Thoreau, combined with an intelligent and good-hearted generation of viable, practical, just and sustainable alternatives. Raising a militia will not only likely be useless, not only bring on a protracted, long-term blood bath of civil war and chaos, but would immediately make it simple for the power elite to portray genuine defenders of freedom as terrorists, making the crackdown on dissent all the easier. No, the resistance must be moral, intellectual, spiritual and above all, strategically smart: communication, information, knowledge, truth telling, networking, coalition building, non-cooperation and peaceful civil disobedience, along with the building of concrete alternatives for the mutual benefit of all, will be far more effective than picking up your 22 and heading for the woods.

Prepare for an onslaught, keep hope alive, and organize for the resistance now. The deer in the headlights syndrome will not be helpful. Denial will not be helpful. A paralysis of fear will not be helpful. Avoidance will not be helpful. Passive hand-wringing will not be helpful. Couch-perched pronouncements of disapproval will not be helpful. We must get out there, get connected, and build the resistance to what clearly is unfolding. Divided we fall. Only united do we stand.

The unthinkable is emerging. The beast is here. Fascism is coming to America.

J. Todd Ring,

February 12, 2008

Further resources:

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps | World news | The Guardian

Naomi Wolf: Finally, Action! Ron Paul Introduces Bill to Defend Constitution! - Politics on The Huffington Post

American Freedom Agenda

American Freedom Campaign - The American Freedom Campaign Agenda

“The End of America”: Naomi Wolf Warns U.S. in Slow Descent into Fascism - Democracy Now!

Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps

10-Year U.S. Strategic Plan For Detention Camps Revives Proposals From Oliver North

Rex 84: FEMA's Blueprint for Martial Law in America

***American Prison Camps Are on the Way

The Secret Raids of Alberto Gonzales: Operation Falcon

Endgame - Official plan and commentary - ACLU Massachusetts

Vote Different

Vote for Change? Atrocity-Linked U.S. Officials Advising Democratic, GOP Presidential Frontrunners - Democracy Now!

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama & John Edwards Equal No Change

Noam Chomsky - The Political system in the USA

Changes - Presidential Candidates feat. Bowie

The Corporation

AlterNet: War on Iraq: Bombs Away over Iraq

Rep. Ron Paul: Police State, USA

ZNet |Foreign Policy | We Had a Democracy Once, But You Crushed It

Noam Chomsky on U.S. policy towards Iran

Chomsky: Do the Democrats have a different answer on Iran?

Ron Paul - Gulf of Tonkin

Brzezinski warns of Pearl Harbor type event, a pretext for war on Iran

Noam Chomsky on Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest For Global Dominance

Noam Chomsky on Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy

The Power of Nightmares: BBC Dissects War on Terror - Part 1: Baby it's Cold Outside

"Shock Doctrine" Author Naomi Klein on State-Sanctioned Torture and Disaster Response for the Chosen - Democracy Now!

Keith Olbermann - Jonathan Turley - Habeas Corpus 1789-2006

Olbermann: the beginning of the end of America

Stephen Colbert: Enjoy the Police State

Freedom of Speech and H.R. 1955 pt. 1

Definition of “force” – Webster’s Dictionary:

Strength or energy exerted or brought to bear : cause of motion or change : active power; moral or mental strength; capacity to persuade or convince (eg. the force of the argument); an individual or group having the power of effective action (eg. a labor force; join forces to prevent violence); a force in politics; the quality of conveying impressions intensely in writing or speech; in great numbers (eg. picnickers were out in force).