Conservatives:Lovers Of Sabotage(Wrecking Crew-Thomas Frank)

Republicans,with their conservative ideology,want to destroy our government like the wrecking crew they have become. They believe the government to be an ideology of Western suicide with its insistence on equal rights for everyone(fatal weakness). James Burnham,conservative theorist, stated way back in 1964, that liberalism must extend the freedoms to those who are not themselves liberals and even to those whose deliberate purpose is to destroy the liberal society.It must grant a free hand to its assassins or liberalism must deny its own principles,restrict the freedoms,and practice discrimination.Liberalism depends on fair play by its sworn enemies,making it vulnerable to assassination,hijacking and sabotage.

Liberalism has proven vulnerable to the tactics of its swaggering, bullying foes.They have vandalized all departments of government.The conservatives have looted the Treasury(regressive tax policies,offshore accounts),dynamited the dam(government programs for the disenfranchised poor),takes a crowbar to the monument(privatizing Social Security,cutting medicaid and medicare,backing for- profit health care) and throws a wrench into the gears(deregulating banking and energy).Liberalism arose out of a long-ago compromise between left-wing social movements and business interests.It depends utterly on efficient functioning of certain organs of the state,and it does not call for some kind of all-out war on private industry.(Socialism doesn't exist anywhere-state controlling all aspects of production).Conservatism,on the other hand,speaks not of compromise but of removing its adversaries from the field altogether.While no one dreams of sawing off those branches of the state that protects conservatism's constituents-military,police,the legal privileges granted to corporations,they openly fantasize about doing away with those bits of "big government" that served liberal ends(public schools,safe working/living environments,affordable health care,social service agencies,unemployment benefits,job training,increased minimum wage,consumer protection,banking/energy regulations,low income housing,public parks and transportation systems,food safety,collective bargaining etc.).

Dramatic economic inequality of the kind conservatism has engineered has inevitably brought political inequality with it.The rich vote at higher rates than others,they contribute greater amounts to candidates,and,should they choose,they are able to afford today's expensive campaigns for public office.They can also subsidize authors,newspaper columnists,academics,magazines and TV shows.They can fund the careers of friendly politicians and buy off dubious ones;and they can reward right-thinking regulators and bureaucrats when these worthies' stints in government are done.They can launch cable TV networks,buy newspapers and bankroll think-tank operations charged with making their idiosyncratic personal ideas into the common sense of the millions.

In 1965,American GNP grew by 6.5%-today in the glory days of the billionaire it barely gets over 2%.The greatest periods of prosperity came with the greatest period of collective bargaining.Presently, conservatives swagger across national stages wrecking and smashing with impunity,secure in the knowledge that a little bit of scoffing toward big government would always get them off the hook,save them to wreck again some other day.They elevate bullies, gangsters and CEOs above other humans,which tells us to get wise and stop expecting anything good from Washington,Whenever there is a choice between free markets and free people,between money and the common good,the conservatives chose money.

I read this book last summer and wanted to share some highlights between additional chapters from "Illegal People".

NAFTA And The Transformation Of The Mexican Economy

NAFTA was part of the corporate transformation of the Mexican economy_ a process that began long before it took effect in 1994.That process moved Mexico away from nationalist ideas about development policy,which had been advocated from the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920 through the 1970's. Nationalist development became part of Mexico's official ideology in the 1930s.They wanted to sever their ties with the United States corporations who owned oil fields,cooper mines,railroads the telephone system,great tracts of land and other key economic resources. To be truly independent,the nationalists believed(and I agree), that Mexico had to establish an economic system in which resources were controlled by Mexicans and used for their benefit.Nationalization served two purposes,according to David Bacon(Illegal People),--to stop the transfer of wealth out of the country and to use state ownership to set up an internal market,in which what was produced in Mexico would be sold there as well.In theory, the government had a stake in maintaining stable jobs and income,so workers and farmers could buy back what they produced(sounds good to me)

Lazaro Cardenas was president of Mexico from 1935 to 1940 and established a corporatist system in which one elected party controlled the main sectors of Mexican society.He nationalized the oil industry,the rail system and redistributed haciendas in 1938.Land was considered the property of the whole country and thousands of farming communities were created.Most foreign ownership of land was prohibited.After his presidency,the reorganized PRI(Institutional Revolutionary Party) administered a network of social services.State owned CONASSUPO grocery stores brought subsidized products at low prices to the citizens throughout the country.The social security system(IMSS),established in 1943, provided health care,while the government housing corporation,INFONAVIT, set up in 1972 built homes.

After WWII,Mexico officially adopted a policy of industrialization.Enterprises were created or supported that produced products for the domestic market while imports of those products were restricted.The purpose was to develop a national base,provide jobs, and increase the domestic market.Under that policy,hundreds of thousands of Mexican industrial workers in mines,mills,transportation were employed. This Mexican economy wasn't completely socialist and many large capitalist enterprises existed and thrived(as they should). This mixed economy provided economic security to many workers and farmers.Foreign investment was limited,although after Cardenas much Mexican capital operated in increasingly close partnership with U.S. and Canadian corporations.More and more,nationalism started to lose its grip on the economy and  political capitalists waged a war of privatization against the state properties . A gulf started to widen between the political and economic elite and the workers and farmers that continues to this day.

More from "Illegal People" down the road.

Immigration: Migration Means Survival

Economic desperation and repression are major sources of pressure on people to migrate. About 30 million Mexicans survive on three dollars a day. In rural Mexico over 10 million people have a daily income of little over a dollar(12 pesos).Around 40% of the 106 million Mexicans live in poverty, and 25 million live in extreme poverty.Oaxaca and Chiapas are the two poorest states with 75% of the citizens living in poverty.In Oaxaca, 900,000 out of 3.5 million receive health care services and the illiteracy rate is 21.8%.

Oaxacan poverty is a result of Mexican economic development policies for the past two decades. Under pressure from the World Bank,the International Monetary Fund and conditions placed on U.S. bank loans and bailouts,the government has encouraged foreign investment while cutting expenditures intended to raise rural incomes.Oaxaca is a state of small farmers,whose main crop is corn.For many years,Mexico's state-owned CONASUPO grocery stores purchased corn at high subsidized prices,turned it into tortillas, and sold them,along with milk and other foodstuffs,at low subsidized prices in cities.Economic reforms and NAFTA led the government to dissolve the system and end subsides.Prices were decontrolled and rose dramatically on all necessities.Now they pay more for milk than in the U.S.NAFTA lowered custom barriers that historically prevented large U.S. corn producers from dumping corn in Mexico.U.S.grain production is so large scale and highly mechanized,with large inputs of fertilizers,pesticides,and genetically modifies seeds.It's costs are lower than smaller Mexican producers and also subsidized by the U.S. farm bill.Under NAFTA,Mexican subsidies are prohibited even when the U.S. farms are supported.Once the agreement went into effect it became cheaper for large Mexican corn growers to buy U.S. corn and resell it than to grow corn themselves.For Oaxaca's small farmers,the price of yellow corn simply couldn't cover the cost of growing it. When farming families couldn't sell enough to buy food and supplies for the coming year,many had to look for another way to survive. Migration meant survival.

Oaxacan poverty means seeking work outside their state in Mexico.They really have been migrating within Mexico for twenty years before NAFTA when government policies of rural development and credit began to fail. They first worked for the coffee and sugar cane planters of Veracruz on the coast.Then they traveled 1000 miles north to Sinaloa's and Baja California's new factory farms growing tomatoes and strawberries for U.S. supermarkets. Eventually, they began crossing the boarder into the United States. These productive workers are constantly sending revenue(remittances) back home to Oaxaca and other states within Mexico.In 2006,the total reached 25 billion.

More from "Illegal People"(David Bacon) in the near future.

Chet Baker And I Never Admired The Armed Forces

I'm playing Chet Baker's"Alone Together" as I write this difficult post.Chet is one of my favorite trumpet/singers from the fifties.He was from L.A and more of a personality than anyone of his time and a contemporary of James Dean(only better looking).Chet was a great singer and an excellent trumpet player with a sound as sweet and blue as anyone in jazz in the 50's(West Coast Cool).Miles Davis was jealous of him because he could play and sing like an angel with a needle in his vein.Many angels have died along the way from "junk"and Chet's long mysterious,destructive life ended on a European street after a fall from a window. Chet was in the service for a brief time and I recall he didn't like it that much(saw Berlin's destruction in 1947 and was horrified).He played for the fifty-six-piece 298th Army Band in 1947.He also played in small army dance band and listened to Stan Kenton on the Armed Forces Radio Service(read Deep in a Dream by James Gavin).Chet was in and out of trouble his whole life because of dope.According to Gavin, Baker was frightened and disillusioned by the violence and hopelessness war brings .As they say,he was a lover,not a fighter.

"Alone Together",that's how I feel about Veteran's Day and the love and admiration we bestow on the men and women who serve our country.I feel alone because I was never a participant in the armed forces. They have their own club with stories about the time they served our country and I can't partake in the membership.. I never served and never really wanted to join these organizations. I feel alone because my perspective is very much a minority in our militaristic society(52% of our budget is defense spending). I don't get excited by young soldiers who return from battle or the older veterans who relive their days when they "protected"  the country. All of it strikes me in a negative way. I think it's all foolish (war and war stories) and so destructive to human dignity as it perpetuates horrendous mistakes generation to generation. Many soldiers are very courageous and honorable when they encounter the enemy. Unfortunately, I believe they should never encounter the enemy unless it's unequivocally necessary(WWII).The vast majority of wars shouldn't take place. The world is very impatient when it comes to warfare and violence. Human discourse has always been around and always will if we don't change our perspective and philosophy concerning warfare.One might say I'm naive but sending troops anywhere should be our last,last resort(Colin Powell).

I remember not standing for the national anthem during basketball games in the early seventies. I did so because I was ashamed of the decision to go to war in Viet Nam. It wasn't a response against the soldiers(some friends died in South Asia) but a distaste for war and the administration that sent the young men and women into battle.I also felt the young soldiers had a choice to fight or refuse to go to Viet Nam as they do today in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know I made a decision at eighteen to never follow our country's instructions for the draft. I would never go to war to fight against communism even if I believe it's repressive and destructive to the human spirit. I'm a great believer that time brings sanity to the rulers of a repressed society and change will come without violence through the determination of the oppressed.Diplomacy, with positive, human evolution,usually win out in the long run(USSR).

A few years ago I didn't stand for an honored student who recently fought in Iraq. I did so because I didn't want to give respect to a military engagement I was against. I thought the young man was wrong to go and I couldn't honor his actions even if he risked his life for the cause(which I admired). My actions were difficult because I believe I was the only person who didn't stand.Everyone was standing because they understood the danger of warfare. I only wish they understood that by honoring the student and war ,we perpetuate it. We give it positive attributes that shouldn't be assigned to the violence of war .I'm "together" with the country when it uses diplomacy and patience instead of violence. As a Christian nation, we should follow our teachings more closely and try to avoid war at all costs.Our last mistake cost nearly 5,000 lives, 20,000 injured with 200,000 suffering from traumatic disorders. Service to our country should be mandated with each eighteen year old citizen engaging in a positive occupation that brings support to other citizens. This reflection time would take the young citizens into a world of compassion and a reprieve from the materialism that has fascinated our culture.More time would be spent helping fellow citizens instead of imitating Bud commercials.

Undocumented Workers:Globalization Creates Migration

I just started "Illegal People" by David Bacon and I would like to share some thoughts from the book.In 2006,the Social Security Administration sent out letters to employers,listing the names and numbers of an estimated 8 million people with numbers that don't agree with their files.There are many reasons why the numbers don't agree but the vast majority are from undocumented workers who use nonexistent numbers or one that belongs to someone else.The I-9 form is filled out when employment begins and the usual course of never looking at the document again persists around the country.It continues until the undocumented workers(some working 15yrs for a company)start to ban together to improve wages and working conditions.Former President Bush and his administration hated collective bargaining more than Mr.Roger's disdain for violence between children. In 2006,he sent his goons (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)to companies that were struggling with employee rights to fire or deport twenty-one thousand. He got the word from his business buddies that these ungrateful,undocumented workers had the nerve to ask for more pay and better working conditions.The way to do it was easy. These workers were released or deported if they couldn't verify their SS#'s.One could say that this reaction put a quick damper on the union movement in numerous companies around the country.The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 imposed sanctions(rarely enforced) on employers who hired undocumented workers.The workers needed an immigration visa to work.But in making it illegal for the employer to hire them, the law also made it a crime for those workers to hold a job.

Many immigrants leave their homeland(later chapter will reveal why...all valid political and social reasons) and make a life in America as best they can.They only want to work hard and feel respected and appreciated. Recognition of their labor is the yardstick undocumented workers fall back on to measure their acceptance in the United States.They are just fighting for the right to work.Many unions are behind the Employee Free Choice Act that is still being debated in Congress that would increase penalties for companies who fire workers for union activity and make it easier for workers to organize.Undocumented workers(6.5 million) who play by the employer's immoral game are welcome to continue working for wages well below the average. ICE only comes to company doors when undocumented workers want a fair playing field for themselves and families.

The most common protections denied undocumented workers include:

The right to receive the promised wage and/or at least the minimum wage and overtime pay for work actually performed.

The right to healthy and safe conditions on the job.

The right to receive workers’ compensation benefits for injuries on the job.

The right to be free from discrimination based on sex, color, race, religion, and national origin; age; and disabilities

 

More from "Illegal People" in the near future.

New Society:Stiglitz From "Freefall"

The last chapter of "Freefall" wants America to do better with respect to the financial world's disrespect  and dismissal of moral commitment. Stiglitz feels too many people had taken advantage of others and brought devastating results to the majority of our citizens.Materialism has dominated moral commitment and rugged individualism, market fundamentalism have eroded any sense of community.Rampant exploitation of the unwary and increased social divide are the unfortunate results. Too many people,according to Stiglitz, believe pay reflect social contributions and conclude those who receive higher pay must be making the most social contributions.The financial market has altered the way we think and our attitudes toward incentive pay. Within corporations,the pay of the head used to be forty times that of the average worker. Today, that ratio is shattered and executives have lost any sense of fairness.They appropriate as much as they can get with little or no say from the stockholders(Socialist platform wants a 15:1 ratio with a$15/hr. minimum wage).

Stiglitz states that this "moral deficit" might be harder to correct than the current recession. The moral depravity-financial sector's exploitation of the poor and middle class when they found money at the bottom of the income pyramid will challenge our culture's compassion. The sub prime mortgages are just a long litany of abusive practices in a variety of venues(student loans,pay day loans,rent-a-centers,credit/debit cards).This sector also spends millions to stop legislation that hinders these practices(just watch our new House leaders).

Adam Smith believed in the pursuit of self-interest and that process would benefit society.Unfortunately, this perspective didn't lead to societal well-being since the Reagan-Thatcher revolution started the deregulation process. American individualism(Conservative thought), where each citizen is responsible for their own success and failures without government intervention , has led us with little accountability for their actions which are unpatriotic,myopic and unsympathetic to the lower/middle classes.

Measuring GDP,according to Stiglitz,doesn't always give a good picture of what was going on before the housing bubble burst. Bubble prices(profits) inflated the value of investments in real estate. The crises showed how badly distorted market prices can be.Average GDP went up while the vast majority of the citizens were on a decline. This happens when societies become more unequal. A larger pie doesn't mean that everyone gets a larger slice.The object of societal production is an increase in the well-being of the members of society. Originally,corporate charters(licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.For 100 years after the American Revolution(read this Tea Party enthusiasts),legislators maintained tight control of corporate chartering.Stiglitz feels we need measures that focus on how the typical individual is doing.The United Nations Development Programme has devised a more comprehensive measure that includes education,health and income.

One important dimension of societal well-being is security.Today, America is insecure because of the lack of quality jobs and the fear of losing health services.2.4 million have lost health services and some 15 million( third of all mortgages) carry mortgages that exceed the value of their homes.Our administration should have worried less about the corporate safety net and more about forcing the banks to deal with the mortgage crisis.Finally, we have lost trust in each other because we have treated each other poorly.The fissure between Wall St. and Main St. must be mended by regulations that protect the citizens of Main Street(Financial Consumer Protection).We must have a common vision to restore faith and move forward as one nation and see private and public entities working together to bring stability back to our torn nation.

Blues:From Buddy Guy to the Twin Towers

Last Friday,I saw Buddy Guy at UPAC in downtown Kingston,N.Y.He is seventy-four and still playing like he was seventeen.Eric Clapton feels he still is the best blues guitar player in the world.He has played with Magic Sam,Otis Rush,Muddy Waters,Willie Dixon,Little Walter,Sonny Boy Williamson,Koko Taylor,Aurther Crudup and Lonnie Johnson.He had a long-standing relationship,friendship with the late harpist Junior Wells for many years. It was their image that was satirized by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the comedians' Blue Brothers act.

Buddy talked a lot during the show about the blues and its influence on British rock and roll.He gave credit to the Stones for demonstrating their respect for the American musical form and the players Buddy admired.The Stones still play all forms of the blues and carry on the musical tradition.Buddy is still touring because he loves to play and he is very concerned the idiom might fade because the blues is rarely played on the radio today.

The show uplifted our souls Friday night because Buddy is so honest with no pretensions about who he is and what he represents.He was speaking the truth through his amplified guitar and interactions with the audience.The blues can bring peace of mind if you let it in and run around your veins.I wish the Bush administration had let Buddy make the decisions to go to war with Afghanistan in October,2001.He wouldn't have let the pressure of vengeance blind our decisions. Buddy would have remained cool(as a blues man should) and thought about the best way to take care of the harmful,deadly opponent.

I must say,I wasn't shocked by the disaster at the Twin Towers in NYC. It wasn't something out of the blue because violence had been growing in all parts of the world and the U.S. had made many enemies through its association with Israel and its lust for cheap oil.Egyptian Islamic Jihad (a.k.a. Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya) is a militant Egyptian Islamist movement dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in Egypt. The group formed in 1980 as an umbrella organization for militant student groups formed after the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence. It is led by Omar Abdel-Rahman, who has been accused of participation in the World Trade Center 1993 bombings. In 1981, the group assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. On November 17, 1997, in what became known as the Luxor massacre, it attacked tourists at the Temple of Hatshepsut (Deir el-Bahri); six men dressed as police machine-gunned 58 Japanese and European vacationers and four Egyptians.The first Palestinian suicide attack took place in 1989 when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad ignited a bomb onboard Tel Aviv bus, killing 16 people.^[191] In the early 1990s another group, Hamas, also became well-known for suicide bombings. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood had created Hamas in 1987, at the beginning of the First Intifada, an uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories that featured little deadly violence.^[192] Hamas's militia, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, began its own suicide bombings against Israel in 1993, eventually accounting for about 40% of them.

The violence listed above,many knew, would come to America in the near future. I'm sure many government organizations were keeping a close eye on various terrorist groups around the world.When the day came,I knew the terrorists would be hunted down and destroyed and anyone who got in the way would feel our anger. I was very angry at the time but wanted us to take our time and catch the right people or organization that committed the crime. I wanted revenge but not at the price we have paid.I feel we over-reacted and made decisions too quickly.I know the majority of both parties were behind the Bush administration's push for war but I wanted our special forces to silently track those who destroyed the towers and capture the leaders and many of the key followers(have some cool about us like Buddy Guy).We were too public with our intentions and anxious to show our citizens and the countries around the world that our shores were sacred.So many young souls were lost and the military cost eventually has topped $1.5 trillion and  is still growing(endless debt is OK with conservatives for national defense). America didn't have to make these costly decisions if they weren't so revengeful and full of hubris.To continue into Iraq,with no understanding of its politics or sovereignty,was beyond my comprehension.I hate both wars because they were unnecessary and the total destruction on the young soldiers(kids) will last a generation.When will we stop and learn that from violence,distrust grows and distorts the positive efforts of our country.This drain on our country's health and welfare,with the distasteful greed of Wall St., has shadowed our economic recovery and has clouded our future. Unfortunately, anyone with cool knew the Bush/Cheney perspective was lame because they never  understood the realities of war and the implications of their quick,politically motivated decisions. They are losers of the first fold and always will be.To follow their lead or future similar leaders will only bring more Twin Tower disasters to our shores.