Which is why I’m anti-belief – as long as people believe in a social order it can operate with impunity.

The middle-class still “believes”. It’s that belief that keeps things going.

Once the middle-class is gone, we have no reason to be a country.

This is the lesson Germany learned in the ’30′s. National madness was all that remained.

–W

Sunrises are better. Categorically. That’s why I use one for my avatar.

Sunset = ending.

We’re there.

-W

They will continue to believe there is “something wrong” with those who join the unemployment lines and homeless list until they become one of the numbers. I was recently displeased with a very large poster that was placed on a local community bulletin board. At the heading, in very large letters, it said “jobs”. Underneath it said:

Erase your credit card debt.

Re-finance your home.

Receive a tuition paid college career.

Secure a high-paid position in society.

JOIN THE ARMY.

The risks are not mentioned. The bulletin doesn’t say your commitment will probably include a year of duty in Iraq. It doesn’t say there is a good chance you’ll come home in a body bag or maimed for life. It doesn’t say the children you are hoping to support may end up without a parent. The widows, both male and female, stare from the windows of their middle class homes and wonder if it was all worth it.

Perhaps the first step would be to get over the idea that we were ever the greatest country on earth. National pride is good, but it should retain a realistic definition of what makes one proud to be a part of that country or nation. I am proud of the of the craftsmanship of the U.S. Constitution. I am proud of the speeches of great statesmen, the literary work of great authors, America’s music and art. I am proud of America’s humanitarian efforts. However, are we the best in these areas? The greatest? Not really. When you compare a sunset to a sunrise, you can’t really say which one is greatest. Each country has its own greatness, its own best that was given to share with all humanity. We’ve reached a state where many Americans can not only sympathize but identify with the third world countries struggling to feed their masses. Maybe that too, is for the best.

I imagine he will.

The American middle-class, in general, is creative rather than destructive; the saving-grace of this nation has been this fact over our history. People like my friend aren’t going to go in search of buildings to blow up or other likeminded activities; although he – and I – now fully understand why those things are done.

In the 1930′s, America closely avoided a Communist revolution, triggered by the Great Depression. When you read the internal communication in the White House during this era, they were never so fearful of the Japanese Fascists or the German Fascists as they were the Communists – because we had only ourselves to blame for the economic calamity we permitted to happen, and that by lack of government oversight.

The regulations passed to prevent that sort of thing in the future were neatly done away with beginning (largely) during the Reagan administration; the result is what we have today. Bankers and brokers have gotten obscenely wealthy based on these changes (that’s why the stock-market drops nearly 300 points at the very hint of re-regulation).

Regulation gave us a stable currency, a stable economy, and generally-boring-if-profitable business for the fifty years between the passage of those regulations and the beginning of the ’80′s.

It’s ironic that Mr. Conservative, Ronald Reagan, was the architect of this mess.

A middle class revolution? I doubt it. The revolution will be started by Tea Party types and other Neofascists and their handmaidens, the religious Right. Sinclair Lewis was correct in this; when Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross.

This time, the revolution will be televised.

I’ll bring the popcorn.

-W

Let me put that differently: I appreciate your honest presentation of hopelessness. It’s depressing but it’s real.

So, where are those revolutionaries today, apart from the Tea Baggers Without a Cause?

And thank you for introducing me to Robert Bly. I must read more.