The USA was one of the world’s greatest mass social experiments; the only country to come into existence as a fully-fledged democracy, “By the People, for the People.” America was the land of the free, home of the brave; a beacon of hope for the rest of the world, blah, blah, blah…

Sadly, America isn’t a country anymore, it’s just a vast corporate entity with many branches, run for the benefit of its billionaire shareholders.

The legendary economist Adam Smith argued that the government should intervene to prevent “conspiracies” among businessmen to fix prices, limit production, or restrict entry into the market. He also believed that government should enforce property rights and contracts, regulate the banking and financial sector, and provide public goods such as infrastructure and education. By doing so, the government could promote a more equitable and prosperous society, where individuals were able to compete and succeed based on merit rather than on their ability to game the system.

The current Republican Project 2025 began in earnest under the thoroughly odious President Ronald Reagan, with his attack on good government, his shredding of the social safety net, his privileging of wealth and his permanent de-regulation of tax laws to benefit the rich. Since then, we’ve seen it roll out exactly as planned, all to the accompaniment of waves of aggressive, targeted propaganda.

Since Reagan, our federal judiciary has been radicalized and packed with Federalist Society judges who have shredded voting rights, women’s rights, labor rights and environmental protections, while expanding the absolute power of corporate wealth in a series of rulings; the most consequential of which was CITIZENS UNITED in 2010.

The propagandists have been working overtime to divide us and polarize us ever since.

They are very good at their work.

It’s an open question as to whether democracy can be revived in the US in any meaningful sense, since it never really caught on here in the first place. Only time will tell, but my money is on ‘NO.’

I’m 62 now and I’ve lived virtually my entire life as a prisoner in an occupied country. Following The Coup in ’63 there were some gains in civil rights, upward mobility, education and affirmative action. Those were won only through hard-fought legal battles of “The People vs. The United States of America.”

American citizens struggled mightily for those basic rights. Many people were imprisoned or killed fighting for their freedom.

Young people today grew up taking their rights for granted, and this makes a whole lot of difference. They got them for free; they never had to lift a finger to enjoy the fruits of freedom. They are losing them now, but still the loss isn’t enough to get them engaged. Or enraged!

The failure lies with a newly ignorant electorate that’s ripe for any old huckster. Most American voters used to recognize clowns and fascists as entertaining, but not as serious leaders. In the past, people like Pat Buchanan and David Duke ran for President and they got laughed out of town. Now, thanks to social media and reality TV, as well as the destruction of newspapers and the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE, at least half of America no longer knows (or cares to know) how to think critically.

Trump would never have gotten near the Republican nomination, let alone the White House, with an informed electorate.

Us old folks can make a comparison between how it was before and how it is now.

Spoiler Alert: it’s way worse.

I’m very sad because I look at our totally regressive society now and I can see that it’s the product of soul-less demons who are interested in short-term PROFITS above all else, including common sense or self-preservation. Our nation has no soul. That was ripped out with JFK’s brain matter over sixty years ago.

The most extraordinary AI technological progress cannot save a country without a soul.

Words can barely describe just how far Donald Trump, Elon Musk and his clownish minions have gone to serve the interests of a few billionaires. It’s appalling to see how far they’ve gone to undermine the global economy and eliminate millions of jobs while dragging our basic civil liberties and The Constitution through the buzzsaw in order to illegally disappear countless people [immigrants as well as American citizens!] and send them off to privately funded domestic prisons, or to secret torture camps in El Salvador, Panama and Sudan.

All for the sake of fun and profit.

‘Democracy’ was conceived as a way to rein in the lawless oligarchs who ruled as they pleased. True Democracy is about economic equality and the rights of everyone to earn a decent living without the excess exploitation of others.

American Corporatism is a doctrine which is diametrically opposed to that paradigm through its ultimate goal of extreme human exploitation in pursuit of profits – at the expense of all the other things that really matter to most people.

Dumbing down the education system has resulted in wasted potential and more ignorant voters with a completely distorted worldview.

Part of the problem is America’s delusions about “making it big.”

Just because one guy made it from paperboy to newspaper magnate a hundred fucking years ago there is this delusion that anyone can do it. The cornerstone of American society is based on this BIG LIE.

Unfortunately, we all know it ain’t so, Joe. ‘Upward Mobility’ was never a thing. A lot of people need government assistance to lead a decent life. That means a livable wage, infrastructure, and taxation. In civilized countries high taxes are needed to maintain a decent and prosperous society for everyone. People in the EU have a much higher quality of life, a much higher standard of living and are much happier because of the hard-fought progressive democratic socialist governments demanded by their citizens.

The wealthy don’t pay taxes anymore. The result? Just look at the USA: everything from social systems to healthcare to education and basic infrastructure is falling apart. We can’t afford a decent, civilized society in America when billionaires need another tax break…and Boeing needs another bailout…oh, no!

Americans got what they wanted: a government that favors the rich, the banks, and above all The War Machine. It is an unholy alliance of corporations, politicians, spooks and a creature in the White House who is the personification of evil and incompetence.

They offer prayers and fill their pockets.