Friedrich Engels
November 28th, 1820 – August 5th, 1895
Beloved friend of Karl Marx, Great Theoretician, and Tireless Revolutionary
Friday, November 28, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
About the Ferguson Decision
Well we have witnessed yet another incident of the racist way in which justice is administered in this nation. People of color are arrested on a massive scale for petty crimes and sentenced to long prison terms. Meanwhile, the white officer who was charged to protect that community shot an unarmed black teenager and was allowed to go free without even so much as a trial. There is a popular phrase used in the media and legal circles that a prosecutor could "try a sandwich" because of the influence that they have over the evidence that is presented to grand juries. The simple fact that the grand jury chose not to bring the case to trial shows that the prosecutor either ignored his basic power to sway the grand jury to any particular side or actively tried to argue in favor of the officer's actions. It is almost unheard of for a grand jury to be given such an independent hand to investigate. The duty of the prosecutor is to work as an advocate in favor of prosecution no matter who the subject of the trial would be. The St. Louis County Prosecutor has vacated this basic requirement of his office. Say what you want about the guilt or innocence of Office Wilson, the case deserved to go to trial where we could see the judicial process in action. Instead we saw the Prosecutor use the Grand Jury as the de facto trial where the innocence or guilt of Officer Wilson was decided in secret, away from the public eye, and without the proper due process of law.
In the wake of this horrible injustice we are confronted with the fact that people of color are valued as being of lower worth than white lives in our society. Hundreds of innocent minorities are shot dead by police with no recourse for the victims' families. We have seen that the police of this country know they can act with impunity against anyone who raises their voice in protest to police brutality. Peaceful protests of all kinds have been met with tear gas and riot gear. How can we have a peaceful dialog when protests are met with violence and repression? John F Kennedy once said that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." We are seeing a build up to that violent revolution because EVERY DAY people who seek change are met with violence. EVERY DAY those working to improve the system from within are met with resistance from entrenched corruption. EVERY DAY we see that in our so-called democracy people are confronted by the reality of our police state. A day of reckoning is coming where those in power will no longer be able to use violence as a means to repress us. We have tried the peaceful route and it has shown to be a fruitless endeavor. If we continue to have our needs ignored and our rights squashed, the powers that be should not be surprised when the peaceful demonstrations turn into a violent uprising. I am not a supporter of violence but when you prevent people from having any peaceful recourse for their grievances, the only remaining option for them to have their voices heard is through rebellion.
In the wake of this horrible injustice we are confronted with the fact that people of color are valued as being of lower worth than white lives in our society. Hundreds of innocent minorities are shot dead by police with no recourse for the victims' families. We have seen that the police of this country know they can act with impunity against anyone who raises their voice in protest to police brutality. Peaceful protests of all kinds have been met with tear gas and riot gear. How can we have a peaceful dialog when protests are met with violence and repression? John F Kennedy once said that "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." We are seeing a build up to that violent revolution because EVERY DAY people who seek change are met with violence. EVERY DAY those working to improve the system from within are met with resistance from entrenched corruption. EVERY DAY we see that in our so-called democracy people are confronted by the reality of our police state. A day of reckoning is coming where those in power will no longer be able to use violence as a means to repress us. We have tried the peaceful route and it has shown to be a fruitless endeavor. If we continue to have our needs ignored and our rights squashed, the powers that be should not be surprised when the peaceful demonstrations turn into a violent uprising. I am not a supporter of violence but when you prevent people from having any peaceful recourse for their grievances, the only remaining option for them to have their voices heard is through rebellion.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Reagan did not end the Cold War
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an event heralded by conservatives and liberals alike as the beginning of the end of communism. I would like to address one of the largest fallacies related to the end of the Cold War.
Ronald Reagan Ended the Cold War
Many conservatives who try to hold up Ronald Reagan as some sort of Cold War capitalist saint try to paint Reagan as one of driving forces behind the collapse of communism and the Berlin Wall in particular. They try to hold up his "Tear Down This Wall" speech as the impetus for tearing down the wall and that is a gross exaggeration. First of all that speech was made in 1987 and was just another in a long line of speeches made by Western leaders that viewed the Berlin Wall as a symbol of communist tyranny. The "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech made by John F Kennedy was another speech in the same vein. Second, there were many reasons why the East German government decided to allow the demolition of the wall, all of which were motivated by internal problems. Third, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, while a potent symbolic gesture, did not cause the subsequent fall of the communist governments in Eastern Europe.
Claims that Reagan ended the Cold War usually hinge on the idea that his constant pressure on the Soviet Bloc led to its internal collapse. While the Soviet Bloc did collapse from internal problems, Reagan was not the cause for this. The Soviet Bloc collapsed because of economic stagnation due to poor management by selfish leaders that couldn't see past their own self interest. They constantly set poor economic targets, liberalized the economy, and refused to allow the socialist system to work properly. Had the Soviet leadership permitted the proper kind of industrial development they could have prevented what was known as the Brezhnev Stagnation. The USSR could have blown past the US in scientific development had they been permitted to properly pursue scientific research. They could have had much more access to consumer goods had proper measures been taken to allow for the development of those industries along with other sectors of the economy.
Another factor that resulted in the collapse of communism was that the USSR was involved in a military debacle in Afghanistan that lasted a decade that further destabilized that nation in much the same way as the Vietnam War effected the US. Almost 10,000 soviet soldiers died in that conflict and it led to mass distrust by Soviet citizens against their government.
The final collapse came when the leaders of the Soviet Bloc countries, let by the USSR, allowed open elections. There had been enough simmering anger against those selfish regimes that most countries immediately took the opportunity to oust those leaders from power. It must be remembered that the USSR led the way on this and had Gorbachev not allowed free elections in the USSR then the rest of the Warsaw Pact would have done the same. It is now quite well known that Gorbachev was not actually a communist but a closet liberal masquerading as a communist. He may not have been actively seeking the downfall of the USSR but was perfectly accepting of the idea of allowing elections that would likely result in the removal of the communists from power. Because of the weak economy and distrust caused by the Afghan War, most Soviet citizens were exited by the possibility to vote against the Communist Party of the USSR. The election of Boris Yeltsin only cemented the end of the Communist Party with the election of a conservative to lead Russia. Yeltsin's actions following the army coup only showed his true colors. When Yeltsin decreed that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was now illegal he openly placed himself against communism. Yeltsin's rise to power was the last nail in the coffin of the Soviet Bloc.
Almost all the factors that contributed to the collapse of communist countries in Eastern Europe were internal in nature and had nothing to do with Reagan or American foreign policies. They had great economic stagnation, a hated war, and political destabilization, none of these factors were directly caused by the US. Certainly US policy exacerbated these problems through espionage and direct aid to Afghanis fighting the Soviets (one fun fact we Americans like to forget is that Reagan is directly responsible for the rise of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda because he actively provided bin Laden, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda with weapons to fight the Soviets without making provisions to prevent them taking political power after the Soviets left. In this way Reagan is indirectly responsible for 9/11 but you won't hear any conservative make any mention of that) but more than likely the Soviet Bloc would have collapsed of its own accord. Even had free elections been prohibited in the USSR it is evident that the military would not have accepted the leadership of Gorbachev and would have moved to seize power itself leading to a military dictatorship or some other political system that did not involve leadership by the Communist Party.
Just as a side note I would like to include that most of the actual collapses occurred during the presidency of George H.W. Bush but you don't see anyone trying to give him credit for the collapse of communism. This entire narrative surrounding Reagan and the fall of communism is an attempt to sanctify him and put him up on a pedestal as the perfect modern conservative President that cemented the hegemony of the United States.
Ronald Reagan Ended the Cold War
Many conservatives who try to hold up Ronald Reagan as some sort of Cold War capitalist saint try to paint Reagan as one of driving forces behind the collapse of communism and the Berlin Wall in particular. They try to hold up his "Tear Down This Wall" speech as the impetus for tearing down the wall and that is a gross exaggeration. First of all that speech was made in 1987 and was just another in a long line of speeches made by Western leaders that viewed the Berlin Wall as a symbol of communist tyranny. The "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech made by John F Kennedy was another speech in the same vein. Second, there were many reasons why the East German government decided to allow the demolition of the wall, all of which were motivated by internal problems. Third, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, while a potent symbolic gesture, did not cause the subsequent fall of the communist governments in Eastern Europe.
Claims that Reagan ended the Cold War usually hinge on the idea that his constant pressure on the Soviet Bloc led to its internal collapse. While the Soviet Bloc did collapse from internal problems, Reagan was not the cause for this. The Soviet Bloc collapsed because of economic stagnation due to poor management by selfish leaders that couldn't see past their own self interest. They constantly set poor economic targets, liberalized the economy, and refused to allow the socialist system to work properly. Had the Soviet leadership permitted the proper kind of industrial development they could have prevented what was known as the Brezhnev Stagnation. The USSR could have blown past the US in scientific development had they been permitted to properly pursue scientific research. They could have had much more access to consumer goods had proper measures been taken to allow for the development of those industries along with other sectors of the economy.
Another factor that resulted in the collapse of communism was that the USSR was involved in a military debacle in Afghanistan that lasted a decade that further destabilized that nation in much the same way as the Vietnam War effected the US. Almost 10,000 soviet soldiers died in that conflict and it led to mass distrust by Soviet citizens against their government.
The final collapse came when the leaders of the Soviet Bloc countries, let by the USSR, allowed open elections. There had been enough simmering anger against those selfish regimes that most countries immediately took the opportunity to oust those leaders from power. It must be remembered that the USSR led the way on this and had Gorbachev not allowed free elections in the USSR then the rest of the Warsaw Pact would have done the same. It is now quite well known that Gorbachev was not actually a communist but a closet liberal masquerading as a communist. He may not have been actively seeking the downfall of the USSR but was perfectly accepting of the idea of allowing elections that would likely result in the removal of the communists from power. Because of the weak economy and distrust caused by the Afghan War, most Soviet citizens were exited by the possibility to vote against the Communist Party of the USSR. The election of Boris Yeltsin only cemented the end of the Communist Party with the election of a conservative to lead Russia. Yeltsin's actions following the army coup only showed his true colors. When Yeltsin decreed that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was now illegal he openly placed himself against communism. Yeltsin's rise to power was the last nail in the coffin of the Soviet Bloc.
Almost all the factors that contributed to the collapse of communist countries in Eastern Europe were internal in nature and had nothing to do with Reagan or American foreign policies. They had great economic stagnation, a hated war, and political destabilization, none of these factors were directly caused by the US. Certainly US policy exacerbated these problems through espionage and direct aid to Afghanis fighting the Soviets (one fun fact we Americans like to forget is that Reagan is directly responsible for the rise of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda because he actively provided bin Laden, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda with weapons to fight the Soviets without making provisions to prevent them taking political power after the Soviets left. In this way Reagan is indirectly responsible for 9/11 but you won't hear any conservative make any mention of that) but more than likely the Soviet Bloc would have collapsed of its own accord. Even had free elections been prohibited in the USSR it is evident that the military would not have accepted the leadership of Gorbachev and would have moved to seize power itself leading to a military dictatorship or some other political system that did not involve leadership by the Communist Party.
Just as a side note I would like to include that most of the actual collapses occurred during the presidency of George H.W. Bush but you don't see anyone trying to give him credit for the collapse of communism. This entire narrative surrounding Reagan and the fall of communism is an attempt to sanctify him and put him up on a pedestal as the perfect modern conservative President that cemented the hegemony of the United States.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Looking Past Election Day
Well yesterday the forces of reaction and repression won a resounding victory in the US elections. We will be faced for at least the next two years by a Congress that will work tirelessly to restrict the rights of women and minorities, give tax breaks to millionaires and corporations, and refuse to help the working class. All I can say to my fellow Americans is that you have brought this upon yourself. All those leftists and liberals who refuse, for one random reason or another, to vote against these forces of reaction have allowed them to win. All those people who don't care about politics until the State comes smashing in their door or restricting their rights are equally, if not more, to blame. We have a culture of mass political apathy in this country. We only seem to care when we are placed in the crosshairs by our government.
Young people in particular need to get their heads out of their asses and go make their voices heard. I am 24 and I have no problem saying that most people in my generation could give two shits less about politics. Sure we have issues we care about just like anyone else, but we systematically refuse to act on those beliefs. The Millenial generation is the largest and most left-leaning generation in American history, and yet we don't vote. If we have a 70% turnout rate (comparable to our older and much more conservative parents and grandparents) then we could single-handedly change the course of elections. But instead we are more worried about going to parties, sleeping in, and browsing the internet. 27.4 percent of the population is between the ages of 18 and 35 and yet we only account for roughly 15% of people who turn out to vote in an election and that's in years with Presidential elections. Voters are disproportionally old, white, and male and so their much more conservative views are more strongly represented in our elected officials. This information should not be new to anyone who has studies elections in the slightest.
What frustrates me the most about the fact that my fellow Millenials refuse to vote is that we have the most to lose by not voting. We are strongly effected by political decisions made in Washington in which we take no active interest. Take for example student debt. Until 2005 most student loan debt was dischargable in bankruptcy. In 2005 Congress decided, in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, that students should be held accountable for our debt even if we will never be able to pay it back despite the fact that almost all other forms of debt can be discharged in bankruptcy. Today this means that the 1 trillion dollars in current student loan debt can never be discharged and we will forced to pay it back in full even if that means garnishing our wages for the entirety of our lives. This is a political decision that we are directly effected by and yet we refuse to mobilize over. If we as a generation decided to march on Washington and demand that our debt be treated the same as every other kind of debt we could change the law. But instead we are so focused on the here and now that we don't even realize the crushing weight of our student loans until years after we graduate and suddenly find ourselves unable to pay back our debt. We are the most heavily indebted generation in American history and most of us haven't even gotten into the workforce yet. Unless we as a generation decide to act on this issue then we will see another Great Depression caused by our inability to spend money in the economy because we will be more concerned with paying back our huge debts. Keep in mind the current status of student loan debt results from the decades long push by parents, schools, and society at large that "college is the only way to get ahead" and so college, and the massive expenses it entails, have been billed to us as an utter necessity of life. I didn't intend to go on a tirade about student loans (that is a whole series of posts on its own) but it is just one of a million possible examples of what can happen when we refuse to vote.
So for the next two years we get to look forward to more of the same from Congress. I would love to see them get all conservative crazy just so the American people can see just how bad the beast they elected can be. The only saving grace is that the Presidency is still out of Republican hands so hopefully nothing too bad gets through. We just have to hope and pray that 2016 isn't as bad as 2014.
Young people in particular need to get their heads out of their asses and go make their voices heard. I am 24 and I have no problem saying that most people in my generation could give two shits less about politics. Sure we have issues we care about just like anyone else, but we systematically refuse to act on those beliefs. The Millenial generation is the largest and most left-leaning generation in American history, and yet we don't vote. If we have a 70% turnout rate (comparable to our older and much more conservative parents and grandparents) then we could single-handedly change the course of elections. But instead we are more worried about going to parties, sleeping in, and browsing the internet. 27.4 percent of the population is between the ages of 18 and 35 and yet we only account for roughly 15% of people who turn out to vote in an election and that's in years with Presidential elections. Voters are disproportionally old, white, and male and so their much more conservative views are more strongly represented in our elected officials. This information should not be new to anyone who has studies elections in the slightest.
What frustrates me the most about the fact that my fellow Millenials refuse to vote is that we have the most to lose by not voting. We are strongly effected by political decisions made in Washington in which we take no active interest. Take for example student debt. Until 2005 most student loan debt was dischargable in bankruptcy. In 2005 Congress decided, in the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, that students should be held accountable for our debt even if we will never be able to pay it back despite the fact that almost all other forms of debt can be discharged in bankruptcy. Today this means that the 1 trillion dollars in current student loan debt can never be discharged and we will forced to pay it back in full even if that means garnishing our wages for the entirety of our lives. This is a political decision that we are directly effected by and yet we refuse to mobilize over. If we as a generation decided to march on Washington and demand that our debt be treated the same as every other kind of debt we could change the law. But instead we are so focused on the here and now that we don't even realize the crushing weight of our student loans until years after we graduate and suddenly find ourselves unable to pay back our debt. We are the most heavily indebted generation in American history and most of us haven't even gotten into the workforce yet. Unless we as a generation decide to act on this issue then we will see another Great Depression caused by our inability to spend money in the economy because we will be more concerned with paying back our huge debts. Keep in mind the current status of student loan debt results from the decades long push by parents, schools, and society at large that "college is the only way to get ahead" and so college, and the massive expenses it entails, have been billed to us as an utter necessity of life. I didn't intend to go on a tirade about student loans (that is a whole series of posts on its own) but it is just one of a million possible examples of what can happen when we refuse to vote.
So for the next two years we get to look forward to more of the same from Congress. I would love to see them get all conservative crazy just so the American people can see just how bad the beast they elected can be. The only saving grace is that the Presidency is still out of Republican hands so hopefully nothing too bad gets through. We just have to hope and pray that 2016 isn't as bad as 2014.
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