At 5:20 AM -0600 30/12/00, Tony Abdo wrote:

>
>So what is the 'pulse' of the US population???      The world wants to
>know!

Perhaps not "the world", but I'm curious.

>The US is currently a thoroughly de-politicized population that no
>longer thinks about issues like 'fairness'.      We are like the Germans
>that sat cheering, or watching passively, as the NAZI war machine rolled
>along.      Who dares question?     What is the value of any minority
>dissent?

Why do you assume dissent is in the minority? Lacking a functioning
deomocracy it would seem difficult to know.

>The Left has been defeated here, in a much more thorough manner than in
>how Hitler destroyed the German Left.     There is no present popular
>resentment, or even memory, of the actual demolition that occurred, like
>with after the smashing of the German Communists and Socialists.
>The 'victorious' military now determines public consciousness.

So, a widespread problem with short-term memory loss as well. Maybe
they're putting something in your water? Simple solution - drink only
beer.

(You could filter the water, but that's a heap of trouble to go to,
might as well go the whole hog and make some home-brew.)

>The point being made, is to not look for normal mechanisms like 'public
>will', or a judiciary balancing class tensions.      The militarized
>propaganda machine will stifle all that.      Liberation will have to be
>sparked by external events, not internal.     And a decomposition and
>defeat of the gigantic policing/ military apparatus of the imperial
>rulers will be necessary.
>
>Just like the heroic Resistance of the Russian and Chinese populations
>was necessary to defeat fascist terrorism, the will to defeat American/
>European imperialism will have to be built primarily from The
>Resistance, outside our national boundaries.     Such heroism is in
>limited supply from within.

It's always the way with empires. Even as they reach the apex of
their power, they sow the seeds of their own destruction. So it was
with ancient Athens, on which the US is symbolically based. The glory
of the Athenians was based on conquest abroad and of course slavery
at home.

But in effect the defeat of the Athenian and the later Roman empires
came about from within. They simply became so rotten and degenerate
inside that very little outside force was needed to topple them. The
whole economy became based on military conquest, plunder and tribute.
Undermining the healthy and progressive economic forces on which they
gained power and glory.

They couldn't reform themselves to save their own lives. Power
corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The US is the sole
superpower, with absolute military power in the world. History does
tend to suggest that this must be the beginning of the end.

Anyhow, best of luck with the barbarians when they show up. ;-)