Dubya's head added to Mt. Rushmore

Today, I will share a horrible dream I had (starring Barack Obama and Dubya). Then I will address the Fed’s recent decision to pump $600 billion into the economy – as well as other horrible things.

I had a dream

In the not-too-distant future, I envision a special, elite ceremony at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. You know the one: From 1934 to 1939, likenesses of the heads of four US presidents were blasted into the mountain bearing that name. By “elite,” I mean to say this ceremony is not open to the public, but only to the highest of the high among the people who really count. Real Americans – that is, not the Great Unwashed who aren’t part of the Club.

The occasion is the unveiling of a fifth head, recently added to those of the other presidents who have stared out silently for more than 50 years. Master of Ceremonies is former President Obama, who will unveil the newly added head – that of President George W. Bush (who is also present).

Barack Obama says (in part):

“It is my great pleasure to unveil the likeness of one of our greatest US presidents, George W. Bush. The sculptor who had undertaken this project back in 1934 had selected Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln because they played such major roles in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory*. Due to his visionary foresightedness in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have definitely expanded our territory – not only in those two countries but in others as well. For instance, President Bush’s successors oversaw territorial acquisitions in Africa, in response to the threat of Chinese imperialism.

“As for ‘preserving the Republic,’ well let me tell you: No truer words were ever spoken than ‘There’s nothing like a war to unite a people,’ so in that sense – the Republic was definitely preserved from potentially undermining domestic agitators.”

[As I said, this gathering was not open to the public nor – I’ll add now – the press, which will have, by that time, become irrelevant as a political force.]

George Bush responds (in part):

“I wish to thank President Obama for his kind words. But more than that. I wish to thank him for faithfully carrying out my legacy, though many ignorant people at the time thought he would actually reverse our gains by prematurely pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I personally salute Barack Obama who had taken very much to heart these lines in the fourth stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner: ‘Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just.’ And President Obama did exactly that – he conquered, which is the real American Way."

Steven Searle chimes in (from some black hole jail cell):

[After being informed of George Bush’s deification ceremony by a CIA interrogator.]

“I don’t suppose too many people saw that one coming back when Obama was on the campaign trail in 2008. Oh, well…it’s true, you know: One way or the other, people get the kind of government they deserve.”

Democracy doesn’t work in the USA

We don’t have freedom of choice any longer. At least, not in the political realm. About the only choice we have is when asked questions like: “Would you like fries with your Big Mac?”

For instance, take the current decision by the US Federal Reserve Board to crank up the printing presses and add $600 billion to the money supply. This decision was announced after the recently-concluded mid-term elections. Excuse me, but I don’t remember seeing Ben Bernanke’s name on the ballot. Neither he nor any of the seven Fed Board of Governors members who voted on this measure was elected by We-the-People.

Ah, but you’ll say, “They were duly elected by Senators after being appointed by a duly-elected President.”

Oh, I get it. We’re supposed to elect Congressmen to represent us, then they get to elect others (like Fed Board members) to represent them. Or, more accurately, to do the dirty work that no Congressman wants to actually vote for or against. That sounds like an awful lot of passing the buck to me.

The reality is: The Fed now makes foreign policy and taxes us (this last bit is done by creating an artificial inflation that lessens the value of our savings). Whatever happened to “No taxation without representation?” Again, I didn’t elect any of the Fed Board Members. And neither did you, or you, or you, or...

As for the Fed “makes foreign policy,” Fed dropped this bombshell just before our President went to a meeting of the G20. Without a doubt, this action by the Fed will impact the world economy and damage our relationships with allies. It will also wreak havoc on the economies of developing nations. All this, and Obama had no input. Our president got to stand before the G20 and say, in effect, “I have no control over what the Fed does.”

There is a difference between delegation of authority and its abdication. And that happens a lot in the United States. For instance, when Congress doesn’t want to be directly responsible for going to war, it passes a war resolution (in effect) giving the president the power to go to war if he feels justified in doing so. This happened in both Iraq and Afghanistan. By means of this dodge, Congress doesn’t have to take heat from the voters if the war goes badly or if it’s later discovered we had no real reason at all for going to war in the first place. They can just point at the Chief Executive and say, “It’s his fault.”

The Great Scam continues:

The American people must love being ping-ponged. First the Republicans become increasingly perceived as the bad guys. Then the Democrats become the bad guys, so we’ve got to get the GOP back in power again. [Then we’ll forget their sins and seek a Democratic savior.]

Obama was supposed to be the anti-war candidate. That was his disguise, though never his real intention. But once elected, he showed his true colors. He upped the ante in Afghanistan, calling “victory” there “vital.” But that turned out to be alright with his supporters, who rationalized by saying, “Well, at least he’s not Bush.” [NEWS FLASH: Oh yes he is!]

That’s not much different from Lyndon Johnson who was ballyhooed as “the peace candidate” – until he was elected, that is. Then the heat of a long, drawn out war “forced” him to deny himself candidacy for a second term of office. Actually, he would have won reelection, but the elite decided (they decided for Johnson) that the public needed a new face. You can keep feeding people the same old shit as long as you put a different label on the can.

The important thing was that the war in Vietnam continue uninterrupted. Which gave rise to Richard Nixon and his “secret plan” to end that war. His intention, however, was to continue support for the South Vietnamese without using US ground troops. He thought he could do this by means of unlimited, offshore bombing raids. You know: Keep the US body count down and the public won’t squawk.

Then came Watergate, and Richard Nixon ended up in hell where he belongs.

There is a way out

American voters have no choice, and will continue to have no choice as long as they embrace a Two Party System. The only reasonable alternative is a Zero Party System which is, in effect, government by independent, rather than party-affiliated, legislators. And the greatest impediment to this idealized system is the Office of the President itself. We obsess too much about which one particular man we should elect as Leader of the Free World. And that stops us from paying greater attention to Congressional elections.

We seem to have this need to believe our nation must be embodied in the person of one man who “represents” us, in the sense that his is the face presented to the world. One man – one figurehead.

This is nothing more than a variation of King Louis XIV’s famous declaration, “I am the state.” We-the-People, back in the mid-1700’s, disagreed with that. However, allegiances to old doctrines die hard. I don’t know why this is true, but too many seem to have a need for a living Godhead to worship. One that happens to be their president.

We don’t need a president, truth be told. Oh wait, there is one exception: I guess we need one guy to push the button so we can play our part in World War III’s nuclear exchange. If so, then I propose we cease direct election of the president and, instead, have the Senate elect as president one of their fellow senators. This “president,” however would have no other power than to push that button. He would be specifically barred from attending foreign conferences and “speaking” on our behalf. Congress itself could well decide who to send to various international meetings.

But…only a Congress that consists of independents, who each represents a Cross-Section of the electorate. I will quote from my written contract to the voters I’d submitted as a candidate for US President in the 2008 election:

QUOTE:

I will aggressively seek to completely replace our Constitution by means of establishing a Constitutional Convention, which will (hopefully) consider implementing a system I've created: Cross-Sectional Representation (CSR), which is briefly introduced in the next paragraph.

Cross-Sectional Representation: The 435 Congressional Districts now in existence share a fatal flaw: they are distinct physical locations. Each district should be replaced with a new unit: the Cross-Section. Every eligible voter in the country should be randomly assigned to one of 435 numerically-equal Cross-Sections. A Congressman would still be elected, but his constituency would consist of voters who, as members of a Cross-Section, are literally scattered all over the country. This way, we avoid having Congressmen trying to please local constituencies at the expense of our broader, national interests. My proposal includes: Abolishing the U.S. Senate, thereby making the House our sole national legislative body, members of which will serve six-year terms.

:UNQUOTE.

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“The choice is very simple: Either we elect independents (and only independents) to Congress or we’ll continue being ping-ponged.”

   * “These presidents were selected by Borglum [the sculptor mentioned in the Obama quote, above] because of their role in preserving the Republic and expanding its territory” – SOURCE: Wikipedia (Mount Rushmore article)