Representation by the government.

[hester_prynne]

Who supports the American people in government? I used to think it was our elected officials, the president, the senate, the congress, etc, but I'm sure now that I'm wrong on that one. Seeing is believing. Christ, in the last week they've passed an immoral bill, that takes from the working class and becomes tax breaks for the wealthy. They've also extended the patriot act which gives a go to Bush to just keep on illegally spying on people! (And don't support them by telling me the patriot act was only extended for a month. A month is too long to not address this issue.)

It seems to me that our elected officials are not protecting us, and it occurs to me why should they? After all, they are not really affected by health care cuts or pension cuts or sudden job losses. So duh! Why would they risk losing their perks, just to protect the American people?

So who does protect us? What laws protect us? Especially now, when the current president acts like there is nothing he can't do, no rule or ethic he can't change in the name of terror? Especially now, when the president has been allowed to do whatever he wants regardless of the law so many times that he's used to it.

Who represents us?
I think we delude ourselves into thinking that someone does, but i'm asking who is that someone? I can't figure it out anymore.
My only guess is that it's us, the people. But then the next question that pops up immediately is "who is us the people?"
I'm very confused.
H

[mnaz]

Like the fate of most religions, our noble, 'we-the-people' democratic endeavor has steadily grown more top-heavy over time, out of its enlightened roots. The inspired machinery with which a more perfect union was to emerge has become an all-consuming Federal/Executive Machine, concerned primarily with holding onto and increasing its own power.

Representative government? Nonsense. 'We' have virtually no representation. 'We' are simply political assets or liabilites, critical votes, targets of smear. 'We' are expendable implements of almighty Interests. 'We' are flag-draped coffins, not allowed to be photographed. 'We' are a mere abstraction, expected to honorably serve the Interests for even greater and 'nobler' abstraction. In short, we approach very close to nonexistence. Was Orwell a prophet?

I suppose I'll be accused of exaggeration or 'left-wing hysteria' in some circles for such statements. But the recent revelation of illegal-spying by the feds, the idea of it, is quite alarming, to say the least.

[Zlatko Waterman]

In his short life, Eric Blair (George Orwell) made keen and astute observations in print, some of them dramatized in the form of novels. His central observation was often repeated:

When the control of language ( hence "information") lies with a party whose interest is to distort the truth, a society inevitably moves toward totalitarianism.

And unfortunately, in a "Fox TV world", one is already very close to the "thou art" of The Party in "Nineteen Eighty-Four" ( see my other posts excerpting that novel here on S8).

The greatest horror has been realized. Orwell feared people would be suppressed from reading history.

But . . .

That is unnecessary. No one reads history even though they are not prevented from doing so.

This condition is certainly quite close to the "Thou Art" state Orwell imagined.

During my tenure as a college teacher, I saw a clear, steady, and even rapid progression toward a state ( of mind as well as government) of non-reading citizens. Those citizens, however, are still given the right to vote, gathering all their information from corporate TV.

I realize that, not watching TV ( as I do) and not "catching the trends" of current consumerism, I choose to dwell in another century-- the nineteenth, really perhaps the eighteenth.

While everyone applauds the "paperless society" and the "digital revolution", I continue to be dedicated to print.

Digital technology is a fine thing, a further tool for inquisitive readers. I'm not nostalgic for Gutenberg's world, and I am not a technology Luddite. But our non-reading "President" whose "Jesus"- guided ideology leads us into war and national disaster serves as an adequate example of the citizenry I have described above.


Happy New Year, and a more peaceful 2006 to everyone!


--Z

[e_dog]

perhaps the solution to restore or create representative gov't lies here, in a sarcastic commentary by Satyar Sagar: Privatize the Indian Parliament!

a highlight:

"By taking up direct responsibility for asking the pre-paid questions [...] in parliament the MPs have in fact set a shining example of personalized customer service that puts much of the Indian private sector- particularly telecom companies- to shame."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle ... temID=9397