Has the US embarked on a path of self-destruction?
By James Thompson
As we observe the perverse insanity of the 2016 presidential election cycle, it is important to take at least a momentary hiatus from the titillating debauchery which never ceases to capture the public attention and try to make some sense of the spectacle.
THE TRUMP PHENOMENON
We are bombarded by the mainstream media’s coverage of every minuscule twist and turn of the revolting campaign of the number one Shaman/showman, Donald Trump. He seems to have hypnotized the American public by his continuous spew of filth, physical violence, and verbal violence against anyone he disagrees with, particularly women, Muslims, Latinos, people with disabilities, and a variety of other major sectors of the US population. Although he is reprehensible, sadly, he appears to have set himself up as a leader of the most disgusting people in the United States today. Someone once told me that in order to be a leader, you must first identify a crowd and then position yourself in front of them. Trump has followed this edict to the letter and it has paid off for him in terms of political support and votes. His campaign and ideology remind me of the nihilism espoused by the Nazi party and more recently expressed by a US rock ‘n roll band called “the Doors”. “The Doors” were followers of the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who was the darling of the German Nazi party. Here is a song which embodies the Trump ideology and mystique which has caught on like wildfire and seems to have unified the most degenerate among the US people:
WE COULD BE SO GOOD TOGETHER
Jim Morrison 1968
We could be so good together
Ya, so good together
We could be so good together
Ya, we could, I know we could
Tell you lies
I tell you wicked lies
Tell you lies
Tell you wicked lies
Tell you ’bout the world that we’ll invent
Wanton world without lament
Enterprise, expedition
Invitation and invention
Ya, so good together
Ah, so good together
We could be so good together
Ya, we could, know we could
Alright!
Do da do do do do do bup bup de day
We could be so good together
Ya, so good together
We could be so good together
Ya, we could, know we could
Tell you lies
Tell you wicked lies
Tell you lies
Tell you wicked lies
The time you wait subtracts the joy
Beheads the angels you destroy
Angels fight, angels cry
Angels dance and angels die
Ya, so good together
Ah, but so good together
We could be so good together
Ya, we could, know we could”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBC4dfLlcbI
Although Trump has distinguished himself as a front runner among the decadent Republican mongrels running for president, he has rivals which actually make him look good.
Ted Cruz from Texas is the darling of the Tea Party. He and Trump agree when they both demonize immigrants and Muslims in the most chauvinistic display of racism since the advocates of slavery in the deep South.
More recently, these two pathetic clowns have clashed by debasing each other’s anatomical parts followed by a vicious attack on each other’s wives. Although US politics could never be described as civil and democratic, the current displays reach a level never seen before in bourgeois political campaigns.
Ted Cruz is an unapologetic advocate for the wealthy elite. He makes no bones in calling for the persecution of immigrants and he is no opponent of world war. His election would represent an unprecedented lurch towards world conflagration and the ultimate destruction of the United States.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS REGRESSION IN THINKING AND BEHAVIOR FOR THE US?
The childish verbal aggression which has become mainstream politics in the Republican Party struggle for the nomination for president of the United States must serve a useful purpose for the bourgeois Masters of the electoral process in the USA. One possibility is that this grand theater serves as a smokescreen and distraction from real democratic political struggle. As long as workers are focused on the hand size and size of other anatomical parts of the candidates, it is less likely that they will notice that these vicious reactionaries advocate military aggression and disdain world peace. Indeed, no candidate for the office of the president of the United States advocates world peace. They all vary slightly in terms of the degree with which they endorse military aggression on foreign, sovereign nations.
One candidate, John Kasich, has openly advocated funding and supporting the US imposed fascist regime in the Ukraine. This deplorable, fascist government in Kiev calls for the persecution of Russian-speaking people in the Ukraine and certain elements call for the extermination of Russians. These vicious snakes are the front line of the US backed military assault on Russia. No candidate in any credible way argues with this position.
Most candidates call for the confrontation of China and support the US military aggression in the South China Sea. The US military continuously challenges and provokes the Chinese government and denies their right to their sovereign territories.
The circus in the US political arena obfuscates US military aggression around the world. US provocations in the Middle East, and against Russia and China are the most dangerous and could lead to nuclear war. No one in the US seems to be aware that nuclear war could pave a clear path to the total destruction of the human race as well as many other species which inhabit the world. Indeed, the US, China and Russia could turn each other into cockroach food in a matter of hours. “We can all be cremated equally.”
WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
Hopefully the US has not reached the point of no return in spite of the blatant madness of the political candidates and mainstream media. Only working people can lead the struggle out of the ideological mire in which we find ourselves. Let us stop wallowing in the mire.
It is clear that the current candidates for the president of the United States do not advocate a path away from the self-destructive attitudes of the most degenerate sector of the population. We must ask ourselves as people of conscience if there is anything to be done to oppose the destructiveness of the anarchic, nihilistic collective consciousness of the people in the US. Bernie Sanders advocates a “political revolution”. It is not clear what he means by this but it is clear that we need a mass movement to propel our backward nation forward towards world peace, healthcare for all, education for all, full employment, housing for all and an end to mass incarceration. We need a new political system to meet the needs of working people and preserve progressive political gains. US working people of conscience need to unite in the struggle for peace and against the aims of the reactionaries. Education is needed to help working people see through the obfuscation of the neofascists. Without the opposition of working people, it is clear that the mass media and their bourgeois Masters will do everything they can to propel neofascist reactionaries into positions of political power wherever possible.
It is important to remember that support for neoliberals does not equate to opposition to fascism. Indeed, some neoliberals are the most effective champions of fascism which have ever raised their ugly heads. Both liberal and conservative voices supporting fascism must be fought. Fascism equates to self-destruction and the most notable examples are German Naziism and Italian fascism. We all know what happened to the supporters of Hitler and Mussolini. Do US people want to meet the same fate as the followers of Hitler and Mussolini?
A mass movement needs to be organized starting now which has the power to oppose the anti-working people policies of whatever candidate is elected to the office of president. What is done before the election appears to be irrelevant. What matters is what will happen after the election.
