Ted Rall for September 10, 2014

It’s rantin’ time:.Personally, I think the empires in existence and now emerging are not based anymore on traditional political principles such as justice, freedom and self-determination. Those are archaic words tucked inside golem governments, and powerful cartels use them to defend their business interests. .More and more, governments embody business principles and are thereby steered. Effective governing by citizen consent is increasingly a fiction. As businesses become international and powerful they maintain the fiction with rent-a-legislators, formerly in distant weak countries, now blatantly in their own. To me, it’s apparent every day in the news? Corporations are people, money is free speech? How did we get to this point? .The Western philosophy seems now to be:.Comfort is Peace. Affluence is Freedom. Consumerism is Strength..Is this acceptable? If not, how to fix it? I use the analogy of a neglected fuel tank full of crud that maintenance people finally start to clean out. Unfortunately the crud is holding the tank together, and upon cleaning all kinds of leaks are found, many repairs needed. If our government and all Western republics were stripped down to their beloved core principles they would need huge repairs — even major re-design — to function in the way we have become accustomed. It would have to be done surreptitiously. And it is..What is the natural process for an empire to fall, these days? If the U.S. withdrew into itself, would other empires (now all Asian) be satisfied as to not encroach? I don’t think in today’s constricting world that would work. It’s not the nature of empires and human ambition. And business depends on continuing expansion..The British Empire had time to power itself down and adjust. Even so, look what almost happened with Germany’s empire ambitions in Europe. Europeans probably hate to hear it, but didn’t their former colonies filled with “rejects” bail them out back then? I don’t think the American empire would be given that help. Former military powers are now banking powers, and what’s in it for them? What have we done for them, lately?.When empires want to share and negotiate, that’s when competitors sense desperation and move in. But maybe by that time, Business will have subsumed all conflicting parties. Military campaigns would be sublimated from violence and destruction into boardroom struggles. And with the right ad campaigns and consumer trinkets the ueber international business empire will have bought the world. .…in my opinion. Others may disagree.

Huh? What’s new about this doctrine? The US invaded Dominican Republic in 1965 on the pretext of “protecting American lives.” And a myriad of examples more… ;)

If a foreign country was invaded while Mr. Rall was vacationing there, I think we’d hear a different tune.

Well played, sir.

“Grenada was not a British protectorate, it had already been invaded by Cuban forces”

While you’re correct that it was no longer a British protectorate, it gained independence in ’74, you are quite incorrect with the Cuban line. Cuba invaded Grenada? Wtf are you talking about?! There was a coup in ’79, then a counter-coup in ’83 which was even more pro-communist than before, prompting the Grenadian Governor-General, Scoon, to request help from the US & other Caribbean nations. But not from Cuba. Cuba already had Cuban doctors and teachers on the island, and construction workers building an airport. Your Reagan put 2 and 2 together and got 5.

Don’t worry, the American government has not won a war since 1945.

The “citizen soldiers” are expendable.

Don’t worry, the American government has not won a war since 1945.

The “citizen soldiers” are expendable.