Chris Hedges discusses America’s democracy deficit and what he believes needs to be done about it.

This is a critical review of Chris Hedges’ book Empire of Illusion, with further discussion of its relevance in a society with no future.

(Crossposted at Docudharma)

Chris Hedges at Truthdig has an article up, “One Marine’s ‘Liberty Walk’ for the Rest of Us.” It’s a glimpse of America’s suffering working class and the radicalization caused by unemployment.

During the 2000 debates, George W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.7) and Al Gore at a seventh-grade level (7.6).

In the 1992 debates, Bill Clinton spoke at a seventh-grade level (7.6), while George H.W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.8), as did H. Ross Perot (6.3).

Voltaire was the most famous man of the 18th century.

Today the most famous “person” is Mickey Mouse.

America the Illiterate
Chris Hedges — Nov 10, 2008 (pg 2)

I think, I’m detecting some sort of trend here …

The Democratic Party is analogous to a completely corrupt police department, which constantly excuses its own corruption by claiming that gangsters are even worse.

At this point popular control through the normal electoral channels is close enough to nothing to be largely meaningless. That’s what matters and will matter going forward, and it happened long before the recent Supreme Court decision that corporations have full-scale free speech rights. Confirmation in Monday’s Chris Hedges essay, Democracy in America Is a Useful Fiction, which is an extended rant/riff on Sheldon Wolin’s Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/matt-mccarten/news/headlines.cfm?a_id=284

1) Matt McCarten (“Afghan Election Scam a Terrifying Tragedy”)

Claims that we are sending troops to Afghanistan to make it secure and to keep the world safe from terrorism are blatant lies. The so-called Afghan “election result” last week is a contemptible fraud. The President’s brother is a well-known drug runner. The two Vice-Presidents are known as criminal warlords. One of them imprisoned his enemies in a truck container, resulting in them being cooked alive.

The President only won the election because he bribed bandit warlords with money and political positions in his new Western-backed government. Hundreds of polling booths never existed, although they apparently received hundreds of thousands of votes. The long list of allegations would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic.

Pulitzer-winner Chris Hedges and UT journalism professor Robert Jensen in a public discussion.

We find ourselves like our founders at a turning point. Do we try to incrementally change our way of being governed even though the Court of St. James isn’t even listening to our pleas or do we put our necks out and try to change this country from the outside? Chris Hedges, Matt Taibbi, Physicians, Docs, and regular citizens may have the answers