Are we destined for history, for philosophy, for the world, have we been sent, probably from further afield than from our individuality, to wage a war in their name? — Anti-Badiou, Laruelle

With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own. — John F. Kennedy

The US of A is on the brink again. It is on the verge of running out of cash to pay its bills well before Halloween; and it is on the cusp of trying to launch military aggression against Syria. The British can be relied to do the wrong thing when it comes to riding shotgun in support of America’s violent fantasies (even if it means trying to get UN support before it shouts: “Tally-ho”): but this time the British parliament did something stunning by rejecting any attack on Syria.

Due to the infamous debt ceiling, the US may have a residue of only $50 billion if no money continues to flow into its coffers: an amount that is small potatoes when it comes to a profligate country bent on waging war whenever and wherever it can. Part of the American military campaign is against its own people — the poor, the disabled, the elderly, the young; and against any serious attempts at education but always promoting fascist tendencies and capitalist hagiography about the benefits of corporate servitude. This alone, never mind its planetary warmongering and destruction of so many lives, has made the US the greatest mockery of Democracy (whatever that means) in human history.

While America’s debt is in the trillions, you can be sure that part of the strategy of trying to work round this which may involve raising taxes and maintaining social security will be (and has been) met by one particular party in the US with derision. These characters call for the scuttling of healthcare reform but the sustenance of the military megamachine (after all how are you going to murder people and ruin countries thousands of miles away if you do not have soldiers and hardware).

Not that the Democrats are saints. It is after all their anointed one who supports drone attacks and is pondering creating another military debacle in the Middle East (even if it now means getting the approval of Congress). In any case, a congressional deadlock over the debt ceiling is not good for the stock markets and other capitalist paraphernalia of measurement (ostensibly linked to healthy and well paying employment – yet another fantasy). This is something that is pointed out with alacrity by the media; but the Syrian sabre- rattling is hardly causing euphoria throughout the global financial apparatus (what with upward pressure on oil prices).

But this whole theatricality of sequestering and whatnot is political posturing that only serves to keep everyone (particularly the vulnerable and those living hand-to-mouth) on further tenterhooks. And if anyone is left thinking any more, it should be apparent that the sending out of feelers for starting a war over Syria is precisely the kind of strategy that is designed to form bi-partisan support to resolve the debt debacle: with the jolly prospect of war there may be no choice but to allow for further debt to be borne (after all someone has to show ‘moral’ leadership and punish the dastardly Syrians).

But hold on a nanosecond: how come Egypt’s brutal crackdown on its citizens received no threat of military strikes etc. Because it involved bashing-up mainly members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood (and if there is a strong link to Islam, the general attitude of the military-industrial-congressional-academic complex is – why not let them take a whacking?). Yet, the apparent use of chemical weapons on civilians in Syria may be too much (the French have been providing intelligence to support this as well). However, the systematic destruction of human beings through inordinate wealth accumulation which has resulted in not only innumerable wars, but poverty, disease, international resentment and environmental decimation is taken as par for the course.

Those behind the systemic killing, suppression and immiseration of millions are not to be punished: we have yet to see anyone or the UN rally behind such a cause. But just mention something exotic like ‘chemical weapons’ and then the usual destruction of life is given a reagent which make some say: ‘Enough is enough and it’s time to take a stand’. But for all the injustices and deaths due to socio-economic violence: the mantra is ‘alas, it can’t be helped, that’s the way it goes’.

Again, this is theatre: how long will it take before people realise this? The Obama Administration and those controlling it behind the scenes are merely formulating a pretext for war. They just managed to contain the would-be martyrdom of Bradley (Chelsea) Manning; Edward Snowden is on the loose but whatever helter-skelter he caused has died down (who cares what the NSA has been up to when the media shifts attention to Miley Cyrus’s dance postures or something of equal ‘significance’?).

Just look at the uprisings in Europe and the Middle East and the still on-the-verge-of-collapse economic brinkmanship hanging over everyone’s heads there. And once again, the US is being reminded of its debt burdens. Has it yet to sink it that the System is finished and the current world socio-economic-political paradigm is a fraud that has gone past its due date? Do people actually think that within this stale and murderous structure a solution will occur that will bring about peace, freedom, justice, fairness and some form of equality? That the banksters and corporationists who have been vampirically bleeding the planet dry are running out of food at the blood bank of humanity which is hardly the fatted calf anymore?

What are they teaching in university these days? And what is the purpose of continuing to waste resources on economics and business management when we are on the edge of either collapse or a breakthrough via revolution? Has the indoctrination of people been so steep that they cannot (or dare not) see the bluff that has been perpetrated all this time is actually on its last legs?

What more will it take before people finally stand up and come to grips with the reality that the entire edifice has never been one which allows for the glory of humanity, support of life forms and the well being of the planet itself other than the deifying of the hijackers of the world through the use of banks, fiat currency and corporations to create a stranglehold and a matrix of war and deprivation as much as possible, whenever possible.

Aristotle mentions in his Politics that the right kind of economy is one that sustains the flow of commodities not the proliferation of chrematistics. The creation of money for the sake of money, wealth for wealth’s sake, the praise of billionaires as models to aspire to and as apparent saviours of humanity: none of this can help us but has instead brought us to this new low. How can those who have profited and excelled at chrematistics now be the ones to help anyone other than maintain this system of economic violence that regularly needs people to be culled to keep it going even as it reaches the event horizon of absolute unsustainability.

It is always about numbers, statistics and measurement with the money and war mongers, and those who are destroying the essence of education through excessive and absurdist testing. The golden mean and the balance that comes from that which is good may have a ratio to reflect it, but it is rather the representative aspect of the intangible that can be made tangible through thought and deed that is shown. The Good may be that which is difficult to pinpoint, but like the Tao, you can see it in action when doing good and enacting the right values as a practitioner of the moral law on Earth.

While the American debt can be measured in dollars and cents, and while its figure can be rounded-up to $17 trillion: the sheer moral bankruptcy, complete lack of integrity or any form of ‘leadership’, the constant use of violence against people by their own governments, the unacknowledged but real warfare on citizens by states, banks and corporations daily that goes beyond the numbers is mind-numbing and soul-destroying in intensity. How long must we wait before the trumpets sound and the walls finally tumble down? How long more before the decisive moves of revolution bring down the regime of Capital and its visible and hidden cronies?

How long more, till we can say collectively, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are Free at last”.

Philosophers for Change

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