Is it just me, or

[tcaudilllg]

are things getting really shitty in the United States?

[Birdie]

Loss of momentum. Basic physics.

[strrrng]

yeah, and I don't see it improving any time soon. people just seem withered.

[Words]

You're in good hands

http://www.rense.com/Datapages/howiz.htm

[The Ineffable]

Are getting shitty in what respects?

[MisterNi]

Probably because of the Republican "Gang of 6" walking out on talks of raising the debt ceiling so the US (yes the US Government) doesn't default. It's just political posturing by the Republican party.

More importantly how're things in Oslo? Today was a tragedy but I hear extremism is becoming a growing problem in Europe.

[tcaudilllg]

It's the same story in pretty much every NATO country. Times are bad, and when times are bad the crazies come out of the woodwork. Improve the job market, and these problems will dwindle.

That the entire NATO bloc is suffering from employment issues, though, just goes to show how serious things are. But you know what? Rupert Murdoch and his buddies in the right-wing media biz carry a lot of the blame for these dead children. They are the ones who convince these people who otherwise would have remained shy, depressed loners that they could be something if they got together. They should never be together, because they are that dangerous. Until the right wing media falls, these massacres will continue. Although, I'm increasingly anticipating the day we hear, probably no more than a few months off, that an entire company was wiped out by a well-armed gang of left-wing shooters. I think that's more likely to happen in Europe than in the U.S., however. No doubt, the beginning of the end of these troubles will begin in Europe, because the U.S. is simply too locked down for original social change, of any kind, to take root.

Something must change or there will be a lot more violence. People are cynical and if popular programs are threatened, people will get violent in a hurry.

[Creepy-male]

I'd say the main problem should start with a view into the actual power structure of a society like the united states.

Traditionally the superstructure of any society is formed by two components; the state and church. The state defining the political environment; the environment concerned with physical/material reality and action and the Church defining the ideological environment; the environment concerning the beliefs and internal hopes of people.

The superstructure makes up the main power over society, a grass roots campaign for example is something that originates at the bottom and moves to effect the superstructure. Sometimes those in the superstructure are referred to as elites, mistrust on the motives of the superstructure leads to the idea of the "illumanti" and evil world orders, either way I find both irrelevant as the superstructure is merely the power structure than organically forms over the masses.

One common fallacy people make is comparing our superstructure to past superstructures... assuming americans for example get their ideological elements literally from the church. The problem with this is that the zeitgeist has changed, americans don't get their ideology from the church as people did in medieval europe. Further every society or "tribe" has its own unique identity which flavors the particular elements of a superstructure or relationship between them. So also comparing the united states to fascist germany is irrelevant as the imposition of a totalarianistic state in the US would take on a different characteristic to germany. Nazism was the result of a german brand of totalarian rule at a particular time period with a particular zeitgeist. Totalarianism, or an oppressive state superstructure in the US would manifest itself differently.

The modern/postmodern superstructure of the united states is as follows.

The State isn't literally a government, but an organic network referred to as the military industrial complex. It is an iron triangle formed between the military, industry, and government. Each element supports the other elements. This is were the real power of the american state lies. The military-industrial complex, not a particular administration or president. elections are won based on connections to industry for campaign money and connections to the military (people like war heroes), but the military needs policy to support them and wars and industries need favorable politics. Further military needs industry for weapons to maintain wars and power, and industry needs wars because its good for business. Connections between important people in this iron triangle forms the backbone of the state based power structure. As you notice the american state is driven more by business and industry than a typical traditional state. In medieval times, industry was focused on merchant guilds and was considered a seperate entity from the state/nobility/kings -- power was perserved in through bloodline and lineage. Power in america is secured through connections within the military industrial complex.

Of course people wonder now what about celebrities and the media elites? This forms the ideological backbone. The entertainment industry, celebrities, and media. People get their ideology in america from the newstand and not from the pulpit. There are various networks which appeal to various people, much like dominations of religion. Church itself in america is a very media heavy enterprise, with mega churches and so forth. Celebrities of all forms take a place close to nobility in america. They are worhshipped, but they must also satisfy the demands of the "church".. the media, the media is constantly judging them as it is this power which ordains them their status and prestige. This is similar to nobility and bloodlines tracing their legitimacy to power through the church based on the concept of the divine rite of kings. Except in america the idea is fame, fame in the media in the american concept is believed to be an indisputable proof of one's rite to power, because it ressonates with the zeitgeist and ideological values of our time, preached by the "church" (media).

This forms the superstructure... the media and the military-industrial-complex with celebrities/famous people forming the nobility.

Another interesting thing to notice is the relationship between the church and state. Traditionally in medieval times the church and state used to struggle for power and there was a need to integrate together to form a solid superstructure. usually this involved quarrels between popes and kings, lords and bishops, knights and priests, and so forth. In america this quarrel is between the military-industrial-complex and the media. The media is constantly criticizing industry, the military, and the government and the government/military/industry is always look for ways to control the media and transmit their preferred ideology out there.

This is the nature of the superstructure in the modern/postmodern world, especially the US or countries similar to it in operation.

Now that a proper context has been established, let me explain what is happening. The tea party represents a grassroots movement -- the citizenry attempting to influence the superstructure. The media's focus has shifted from criticizing the military to industry, placing the economy on the forefront of issues. George Bush was networked into the superstructure by being involved with the industrial and military aspects of the superstructure. Hence why the media focused on these issues when he was in office + national security falls under the focus on the military aspect of the military-industrial complex. Now since the economy is bad and barack obama is of a different make, the issue has shifted to economics. While is reality the state operates on all three levels(military-industry-government), the media shifts its focus as part of the dynamic between church and state (ideology/material). Barack obama is not part of the military industrial complex, he is part of the media. Therefore he is perceived negatively to people with a larger interest in state than in church.... barack obama is more of a media celebrity, getting by being a good speaker. In medieval terms we can think of barack obama much like a priest or bishop and bush much like part of royal nobility, second in line to his father.

The reason america is collapsing is a weakening superstructure attempting to contain and confused and manipulated masses. The media is strong as ever with the rise in quick access to information in the information age. The military is buckling under the pressure of sustained wars and a growing need for national security. The industrial aspect is buckling under the weight of economic duress and the government is buckling under a cynical and distrustful attitude towards the politican. People continue to push against this superstructure, seeing it is about to potentially break like a weak damn, hoping to come in and fix things. The media however prevents this from happening as it is still preaching the same views it has always had which has served the now buckling superstructure.

The only thing that can fix the superstructure in the united states, is pulling out of wars, focusing on defense of our nation and well trained highly competent career soldiers well equipped to deal with the current urban combat conditions. This will limit the military to a necessary size and be a smarter course of action for national security, it will also help our media image... affecting the church and in turn trickling down more moral to our nations military.

Industry must be revitalized, more efficiently to innovate, contractors limited and industry focused on peacetime nation building. Innovation, creation and so forth. Only when a war kicks in does the industrial machine smoothly transition towards military needs. In peacetime the effort being focused on building up and growing/innovating.

Finally the government being reduced to its necessary limit, beurocracy and the executive branch being limited in power and congress passing intelligent laws. Further the future of good policy will be de-federalization of certain laws which are divided in terms of republican/democrat. For example legalization of pot in colorado springs, but not in a conservative po-dunk town in texas. Effective treatment policies for addicts, an aggressive campaign against drug imports. Placing the pressure on two fronts, cracking down on hard drug imports and legalizing soft drugs to put pressure on criminal syndicates which profit off of drug users, and giving drug users proper treatment. Policy like this model unilaterally across the board which begins forming policy to the ideas of the people in a specific niche or community. Only federal issues which widely offend the entire populus need to be addressed at the federal level. Also phasing out government regulations on money, and keeping taxes only for essentially services and programs, and not for pet projects or contractors/un-necessary wars.

Lastly people taking control of the media through the resources available with the information age will help break up disinformation.

Another interesting thing to note is that russian and china are begin to ally, its going really help out the russian economy and make a powerful military alliance. If the united states doesn't learn to place nice with the rest of the world and adapt, its going to clearly fall behind and maybe even end up getting into a bad mess with another nation.

In short the state is buckling and the media is growing in power leading to a dangerous imbalance, further the state is overlapping and stepping on its own toes, the people beneath the superstructure are upset about the state and attempting to change it -- but the media as it is growing is confusing these masses and making it hard to effect the superstructure. In effect its similar to the fall of rome, the western empire falling due to conflicting internal interests, outsourcing of power and only an ideological core remaining.