To many, the following
outline might seem self-evident but given U.S. presidential election
results, a review is apparently in order:
- The elite (1%) rule for the benefit of themselves, their agenda consisting always of the task of maintaining and expanding their power, privilege and profits.
- To this end they propagate the general population, masking their rule, encouraging patriotism - meaning unquestioning obedience to authority, facilitated by their control/ownership of the mainstream media. Public radio and television must be kept too intimidated, even though capturing only a small slice of audience-share, to deviate more than slightly from the party line. Corporate funding works well here as well as right-wingers on the board and as back-up in congress who periodically threaten to cut all funding.Identify with the state and any criticism of it is taken personally. The authoritarian, hierarchical organization of business, especially anti-unionism, confirms that democracy rhetoric is just that. They are careful to associate the words capitalism and democracy to lend legitimacy to capitalism but, again, they do not organize their businesses democratically. Clearly capitalism is their value, democracy their spin.
- A central concern is to demonize socialism, equating it with the very worst aspects of established Communism – torture, oppression, secret police etc; all while hypocritically supporting those same evils in nations that buy into “free market capitalism”, demonstrating that their stated objections are transparently false, their real objections being to equality and sharing, government programs aimed at the general population rather than the elite.
- Government is to be obeyed yet also used as the scapecoat for popular unrest. As the 1% whittles away at worker rights and share in the bounty the inevitable disatisfaction must be directed at the “liberal” end of politics, never the conservative end, the actual source of the attack. The “liberal” faction must also be constantly shifted rightward keeping discourse within comfortable boundaries. This is reflected in the mainstream media as well. Only exceptional persons will think outside the parameters of discourse when that is all they've ever encountered.
- Divide and Conqueor of course, Us versus Them, standard strategy for any tyranny since Machiavelli, will be utilized, exploiting racial, ethnic, gender, sexual preference differences... anything that works will do ie, abortion, religion, flag burning, supporting the troops, standing for the national anthem etc;
- Religion is to be promoted to the degree that it fosters obedience, and discouraged where it fosters questioning. The resistance to elite rule manifests in most institutions and must be vigorously beaten back wherever possible. The new Pope, for example, has become something of a problem but there are many ways to counteract such deviation from the “norm”. Fundamentalism is ideal as it promotes authoritarianism that does not threaten the elite and easily associates “America” with its foolishness, falsely and insultingly attributing their beliefs to the founders, “We're a Christian nation!” etc;
- This is also true of education, a more or less constant monitoring kept here. The tightening of strings attached to both government and private funding has evolved since the 60s, a response to that little rebellion. Benefits of these developments for the 1% include a more exclusive higher education climate accompanied by post-graduate debt that will keep students preoccupied well beyond their youth. As with government, the University is doubly portrayed, as leftist bastion and confirmation of capitalism. Studies have shown that there is in fact an ideological gradiant on campus, a few lefties, a somewhat larger (and growing) contingent from the right, with the largest number of faculty self-identifying as moderates, presumably Clinton democrats, republican lite. Critical thinking tends to correlate with education making for a difficult challenge for what Chomsky calls the commissars, those tasked with keeping dialogue within the proper bounds.
- Foreign Policy and Militarism: the danger of a successful democratic socialist state “infecting” other countries, even the U.S., must be fought with any means available, in this case secret, usually CIA, projects to undermine democratic movements and strengthen totalitarian capitalist systems. In these arrangements, U.S. aid props up an elite which rules and benefits, the majority excluded often to the point of malnutrition and poverty, usually necessitating military aid and severe measures to suppress resistance and criticism. So the “rabble” in the U.S., more and more the class that pays taxes, ironically funds the means to violently suppress their counterparts in those countries, victims who would obviously object to this arrangement. Not only does this help prevent the spread of the terrible virus of equality, it is profitable for arms manufacturers and merchants back home. It also drains limited treasury reducing what is available to address serious issues of justice and environment. These policies, smugly enacted, seem to be producing blowback, at least in the middle east. The social democracies in western Europe and Scandinavia are tolerated though probably the targets of more subtle interventions. The home country peasantry though must be kept ignorant of social democratic accomplishments, the successful healthcare systems, working conditions, wages, leave and vacation policies etc; Undermine where possible, misrepresent always.
- Campaign funding is important for, as Molly Ivins wittily remarked, “You dance with who brung ya.” Public financing of elections would go a long way toward promoting democracy since who “brung ya” would now be the people. Obviously this must be opposed and portrayed as more government big spending. The term big spending liberal was created for these kind of projects. This is government in the bad sense as opposed to the government-to-be-obeyed-not- questioned that goes to war – a frequent necessity to retain elite dominance, keep the machine oiled and put out a message to nations considering alternative directions, of what might happen. Chomsky likes to compare this behavior to the Mafia and, really, it's hardly an exaggeration.
- Other institutional domination examples are the “right” people sitting on boards of universities, heading up thinktanks, news organizations, non-profits, church groups etc; Billionaire funding of non-profits is another tool to maintain conformity or push further right. In so far as possible, anywhere a citizen turns, the same pro-capitalist narrative should be confirmed, with its variations to be sure, running from extreme whacko right, to republican lite. Bernie was an exception recently, a measure of just how far the project has come, how transparent it is to a fair number. Trump supporters, many intuitively aware of the game but without the analytic skills or information to penetrate the con, found their disenchantment exploited to the full.
- Range of opinion among the 1%. Not all, maybe not even a majority, are fully behind a complete return to Feudalism but a politically active segment are enthusiastically with that program and it is they running the show currently. As Jane Mayer stated in her book, Dark Money, in their vision, the only survivors of the bill of rights should be the right to own property and have it protected.
- Consequences and summary: our species and civilization is threatened on three main interrelated fronts: pollution; overpopulation; and nuclear warheads. The trajectories of these three interrelated issues are in an unsustainable direction, urgently with climate change but obviously when the planet adds a new San Francisco to the population every two days there's trouble ahead, and the nuclear arsenals, some on hair-trigger alert, are subject to deliberate or accidental launch, ushering in what Einstein tried to warn us against - unparalleled catastrophe. The very bad news is that in what very well may have been a last opportunity for humanity to address these looming, life-threatening problems, the most powerful nation on earth elects an advocate of full-steam-ahead business-as-usual who promptly sets about solidifying this “victory” by Neanderthal cabinet selections and, apparently, plans for even tighter voter suppression to insure that their denial goes unchallenged right up to the collapse. This is global suicide.
