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Message |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 9:15 pm: | |
I'm not a big fan of Wikipedia, but, just for kicks, I looked up the French Revolution today. It had a list of causes for the revolution that struck me as being very interesting. Every single cause has a modern analog in modern American society.
Don't beleive me? Check it out:
•Louis XV fought numerous wars bringing France upon the verge of bankruptcy, while the support provided by Louis XVI to the colonists during the American Revolution further exacerbated the precarious financial condition of the government. The national debt amounted to almost 2 billion livres. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the monarchy's military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans.
•An inefficient and antiquated financial system unable to manage the national debt, both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation.
•The Roman Catholic Church, the largest landowner in the country, which levied a tax on crops known as the dîme. While the dîme lessened the severity of the monarchy's tax increases, it nonetheless served to worsen the plight of the poorest who faced a daily struggle with malnutrition.
•The continued conspicuous consumption of the noble class, especially the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at Versailles, despite the financial burden on the populace.
•High unemployment and high bread prices, causing more money to be spent on food and less in other areas of the economy;
•Widespread famine and malnutrition, which increased the likelihood of disease and death, and intentional starvation in the most destitute segments of the population during the months immediately before the Revolution. The famine extended even to other parts of Europe, and was not helped by a poor transportation infrastructure for bulk foods. (Some researchers have also attributed the widespread famine to an El Nińo effect [2], or colder climate of the little ice age combined with France's failure to adopt the potato as a staple crop[3])
•No internal trade and too many customs barriers[citation needed]
In addition to economic factors, there were social and political factors, many of them involving resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals:
•Resentment of royal absolutism;
•Resentment by the ambitious professional and mercantile classes towards noble privileges and dominance in public life, many of whom were familiar with the lives of their peers in commercial cities in The Netherlands and Great Britain;
•Resentment by peasants, wage-earners, and the bourgeoisie toward the traditional seigneurial privileges possessed by nobles;
•Resentment of clerical privilege (anti-clericalism) and aspirations for freedom of religion, and resentment of aristocratic bishops by the poorer rural clergy;
•Continued hatred for Catholic control and influence on institutions of all kinds, by the large Protestant minorities;
•Aspirations for liberty and (especially as the Revolution progressed) republicanism;
•Anger toward the King for firing Jacques Necker and A.R.J. Turgot (among other financial advisors), who each possessed a popular image as representatives of the people.[4]
Finally, perhaps above all, was the almost total failure of Louis XVI and his advisors to deal effectively with any of these problems.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
•George W. Bush fought numerous wars bringing the US to the verge of bankruptcy. The national debt amounted to over 9 trillion US dollars. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt that increased by 1.64 billion US dollars per day, made worse by the Presidnet’s military failures and ineptitude, and the lack of social services for war veterans.
•An inefficient and antiquated financial system unable to manage the national debt, both caused and exacerbated by the burden of a grossly inequitable system of taxation.
•While the church is not taxing food these days, corporate funded “Big Food” industry is causing an obesity epidemic that has served to worsen the plight of the nation’s poorest who face a daily struggle with malnutrition.
•The conspicuous consumption of the post-Christian capitalist consumer upper class continues unchecked in virtually all locations, despite the financial burden on the populace.
•High unemployment , the subprime mortgage crisis, and high oil prices (causing more money to be spent on energy and less in other areas of the economy, especially alternative energy sources).
•Widespread obesity and malnutrition, which increased the likelihood of disease and death, and all around uselessness in the most destitute segments of the population during the months immediately before the Revolution.
•No internal trade and too many customs barriers (i.e. NAFTA and shady tariffs).
In addition to economic factors, there were social and political factors, many of them involving resentments and aspirations given focus by the slow drift away from Enlightenment ideals:
•Resentment of royal corporatist absolutism and desecration of the Constitution;
•Resentment by the public citizenry and small business owner classes towards corporatist privileges and dominance in public life, many of whom were familiar with the lives of their peers in western European social democracies;
•Resentment by peasants, wage-earners, and the bourgeoisie toward the unwarranted privileges possessed by the corporate elite;
•Resentment of the influence of the church in the American government and the lack of anything resembling the separation of the church and state;
•Continued hatred for the two party control and influence on institutions of all kinds, by the third large third party minorities;
•Aspirations for liberty and (especially as the Revolution progressed) the restoration of the Constitution and democracy in general;
•Anger toward the President for politicizing and crippling government so that it could no longer serve the public.
Finally, perhaps above all, was the almost total failure of George W. Bush and his advisors to deal effectively with any of these problems. |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 9:17 pm: | |
Is that awesome or what? No wonder it's so easy to get bummed out.
So, when is the Guillotine party? |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 9:58 am: | |
Wait a sec - I'll get my knitting needles.
Almost every revolution hinges on food prices: sadly, most people will turn a blind eye to corruption, lousy public services, or minorities being "cleansed." But if you can't afford to eat, or feed your family, then there's nothing left to lose. The cost of rice is already triggering riots among our poorer friends, and climate change isn't going to help, either.
Venceremos! |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 10:06 am: | |
That's interesting - tho' one big difference is the way that modern media can be used to shape public perceptions of what's going on. I wonder how that changes the dynamic of all this? And I wonder to what extent internet freedom is a counterbalance to corporate media?
Thinking about the internet - first of all, moves to make info distribution online more responsive to commercial pressure is interesting in this context.
Secondly, there's Mark's discoveries in the UFO field - ie the way in which the intelligence community seems to have more or less consciously introduced false / contradictory info into the field to make anything even beginning to approach reasoned discourse impossible. Perhaps a modus operandi that, once established, can be usefully used to disrupt more general public, democratic conversations that don't serve the status quo? |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 3:54 pm: | |
The thing is, Martin, food prices are an issue presently. There are a lot of people surviving by eating off of McDonald's dollar menu every day. You can't ride the subway without seeing someone below the poverty line feeding burgers to kids in strollers.
Media and mediation is an issue. Most people care more about American Idol than they do about the fact that their government fucks them over. So...I don't know where all the indignation went. Maybe I got stuck with it all.
The big thing that prevents revolution in America, I think, is its size and geography. |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 4:37 pm: | |
Maybe secession of individual states rather than revolution might happen? Could the break up of the Soviet Union be an interesting model? If so, there would be much irony - the Soviet economy collapsing under the weight of competition with a real opponent (80s America), the US one collapsing under the weight of competition with an imagined one (Iraqi turrst folk).
>> care more about American Idol
That's an interesting point; AI seems to be a quite literal dramatisation of the American Dream (anyone can make it if they've got talent), people's preference for it over a real understanding of their situation as economically oppressed Americans shows that America-the-brand (ie the emotional promise over the lived reality) is still doing its job of distraction. |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 4:51 pm: | |
>>Maybe secession of individual states rather than revolution might happen?
Maybe. Or maybe a small, but focused effort at gutting Washington would be most effective. The best part of this situation is that there are so few corporate elites that they couldn't withstand a populist uprising. |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 5:14 pm: | |
Hmm - tho' I suspect that wouldn't make much difference unless the corporates were defanged as well. Modern, much more thorough going version of anti-trust legislation? |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 5:23 pm: | |
Yeah...I don't know. If the corporates were ousted from government and lost their influence, they'd be pretty well defanged.
And if leprechauns and ponies pranced into my living room I'd... |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 5:32 pm: | |
...watch Supernatural? :-) |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - 8:17 pm: | |
Al. Come on, man...
*suppresses rant*
Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry... |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 11:00 am: | |
Ho ho ho!
In fact you've given me flashbacks to the closing titles of 'The Incredible Hulk' - single saddest thing on television when I was 8... |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 3:10 pm: | |
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/polic e-investigate-explosion-in-times-square/index.html ?hp
Hmmmm. Could it be that someone else is sick of the war too?
It looks like this incident was enough to scramble John McCain's syntax though: “My friends, a bad thing happened in Times Square this morning, and that is some idiot tried to harm a recruiting station there in Times Square where we recruit men and women who serve in the military,’’ he said. “We have to track down and prosecute and put in jail people that commit acts of that nature.”
Honestly though, I've never seen *anyone* enlisting at the Times Square booth. |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 3:15 pm: | |
He did on a cycle, I believe? First ever green terrorist! |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 3:38 pm: | |
But it was the second cyclist that really did the damage ... |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 5:30 pm: | |
Hmm, they must be cyclepaths! |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 9:40 am: | |
"At this moment, somewhere in the world, a terrorist is planning an attack on us. I know that's inconvenient thought for some, but it is the truth," Bush said.
No shit, Sherlock - as I believe you young folk used to say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN062485 7820080306?rpc=92 |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 9:44 am: | |
As it happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmwYij-kR30&feature =related
$Xm spent on CCTV for Times Square, and they forgot to fit a zoom function. Hardly "V for Vendetta," is it? |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 5:26 pm: | |
Interesting. I've got to think that law enforcement doesn't hand over its best stuff to CNN though, Martin. I mean, you should see the number of cameras here near City Hall and the WTC where I work. And the number of obvious "unmarked cars" with lap top stations in the back seat and techy gear overflowing out of the trunk. From what I understand, the man can follow a suspect in one of those cars by tapping into the feed from various cameras in the area.
Never have I felt so well policed. |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 5:33 pm: | |
'World Made By Hand'
http://www.amazon.com/World-Made-James-Howard-Kuns tler/dp/0871139782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid= 1204910675&sr=1-1
It's on my list. Right after Weight of Numbers. And it's got your name all over it Al. |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 - 5:34 pm: | |
Glad you're reassured, Dave. That's the true meaning of democracy.
Off now for a super spiffing weekend in our own free country - hang loose, y'all. |
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