Articles on Democracy, politics, and the corporate theft of human rights.

[Guest guest]

http://www.thomhartmann.com/commondreams.shtml

 

Thom Hartmann's OpEd Articles from

Common Dreams and other sites.

 

Articles on Democracy, politics, and

the corporate theft of human rights.

 

(All articles may be freely reprinted in print, web,

email,

and blog media so long as credits are attached and

Thom Hartmann's copyright is acknowledged.)

 

The Ghost of Vice President Wallace Warns: " It Can

Happen Here " 07/19/04

The Republican National Committee has recently removed

from their website an advertisement interspersing

Hitler's face with those of John Kerry and other

prominent Democrats. This little-heralded step has

freed former Enron lobbyist and current RNC chairman

Ed Gillespie to resume his attacks on Americans who

believe some provisions of Bush's PATRIOT Act, his

detention of American citizens without charges, his

willingness to let corporations write legislation, and

the so-called " Free Speech Zones " around his public

appearances are all steps on the road to American

fascism. ...continued

 

Scrooge & Marley, Inc. -- The True Conservative Agenda

06/18/04

There is nothing " normal " about a nation having a

middle class, even though it is vital to the survival

of democracy. As twenty-three years of conservative

economic policies have now shown millions of un- and

underemployed Americans, what's " normal " in a " free

and unfettered " economy is the rapid evolution of a

small but fabulously wealthy ownership class, and a

large but poor working class. In the entire history of

civilization, outside of a small mercantilist class

and the very few skilled tradesmen who'd managed to

organize in guilds (the earliest unions) like the

ancient Masons, the middle class was an aberration. If

a nation wants a middle class, it must define it,

desire it, and work to both create and keep it.

....continued

 

The Choice This Year Is Between Empire and

Democracy... 05/31/04

Having lived in Germany and extensively interviewed

many (now elderly) former members of Hitler's Nazi

Party (and one spy for him) for a book I was writing

on the religion of the Nazis, I can say categorically

that Hitler had (or at least his people believed he

had) a Vision. It was a vision of a world at peace

(for 1000 years, no less), a world purified of

disruptive or " undesirable " people, a world united in

what Hitler called " A New Christianity, " a world where

things worked smoothly and people were happy because

of " strong, steady leadership " (even during times of

change), a world guided by a leader who held

tenaciously to a singular vision. ...continued

 

Liberal Talk Radio - Let The Water Cooler Wars Begin

.... 05/17/04

Rush Limbaugh has, at various times, claimed credit

for the elections of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush,

and George W. Bush - and given how narrow electoral

margins have been recently, he may be right. But now,

in a free-market fashion that even conservatives have

to salute, the tide is turning. ...continued

 

Time To Reconsider Jefferson's Call For Universal

Service... 05/05/04

Many of the world's mature democracies require every

high-school graduate to serve a year or two of either

military or nonprofit service. At first blush, this

may seem like an oppression by government, but history

shows it's actually one of the best ways to prevent a

military from becoming its own insular and dangerous

subculture, to prevent the lower ranks of the military

from being overwhelmed by people trying to escape

poverty, and to keep military actions of the

government accountable to the people. The Founders of

America extensively considered this same issue.

....continued

 

Bush Fails History...Jefferson Predicted Iraq...

04/21/04

Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon thought they could

bomb Vietnam into accepting democracy. George W. Bush

thinks he can do it with Iraq. But the first American

president to consider how best to grow democracies -

Thomas Jefferson - had some very different thoughts on

the issue. LBJ and Bush would have done well to listen

to his thoughtful words in a letter he wrote on

February 14, 1815, to his old friend in France, the

Marquis de Lafayette. ...continued

 

Exposing the Conservative Straw Man -

" Productivity " ... 04/12/04

Thomas Jefferson wrote in a September 28, 1821 letter,

" The government of the United States, at a very early

period, when establishing its tariff on foreign

importations, were very much guided in their selection

of objects by a desire to encourage manufactures

within ourselves. " Conservatives don't want you to

know this, and - even more frenetically - are working

to prevent any discussion of " protectionist " tariffs

on labor. ...continued

 

Democracy - Not " The Free Market " - Will Save

America's Middle Class ... 03/12/04

Here are a couple of headlines for those who haven't

had the time to study both economics and history:

1. There is no such thing as a " free market. "

2. The " middle class " is the creation of government

intervention in the marketplace, and won't exist

without it (as millions of Americans and Europeans are

discovering). ...continued

 

Gay Marriage? Blame It On Jefferson... 02/20/04

" It's never been tried before. " " The Bible doesn't

mention it. " " Civilized people have never done things

this way. " " No society in the 6000 years of the

history of civilization since Gilgamesh has suggested

such a thing. " " It'll create social chaos, ultimately

destroying the nation. " " It's just too radical an idea

for people to accept. " ... ...continued

 

How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age...

01/30/04

While global warming is being officially ignored by

the political arm of the Bush administration, and Al

Gore's recent conference on the topic during one of

the coldest days of recent years provided joke fodder

for conservative talk show hosts, the citizens of

Europe and the Pentagon are taking a new look at the

greatest danger such climate change could produce for

the northern hemisphere - a sudden shift into a new

ice age. What they're finding is not at all

comforting... ...continued

 

A Fistful of Kryptonite Against SuperGeorge...

01/06/04

In this season of blockbuster movies, it's useful to

remember that one of the first lessons aspiring

novelists and screenwriters learn is that the goodness

of a hero is defined by a single quality - the badness

of his opponent. From Superman's Lex Luthor to

Batman's Joker to Indiana Jones' Nazis to Luke

Skywalker's Darth Vader, for a hero to be perceived as

larger than life, he must have a larger than life

enemy.... ...continued

 

Conservatives Target Testicles 12/20/03

Rush Limbaugh just declared psychological war on the

working white males of America, although most of them

probably didn't realize it. This week Limbaugh rolled

out a " funny " faux advertisement for the " Hillary

Clinton Testicle Lock Box " that now any woman can use

to clamp down on men's testicles just like Hillary

does.... ...continued

 

The Founders Confront Judge Moore 11/20/03

Judge Moore, the " Ten Commandments Judge " in Alabama,

says the controversy he and Fox news have stirred up

is about religion. But it's not about religion. It's

about power. A power that seeks, ultimately, to

replace democracy.... ...continued

 

Free Yourself from Conservative Talk Radio: 12 Steps

to Recovery 11/4/03

Step 1: Admit that you were under the sway of

right-wing, anti-democracy radicals. This is the first

step for every conservative or " ditto-head " listener

on the way to recovery. It is important to understand

that the people you were listening to are not

" compassionate conservatives, " " Republicans, " or

" pillars of morality. " They're right-wing conservative

radicals, more interested in strong corporations than

strong democracy, and you must be honest with yourself

about that fact.... ...continued

 

Republicans - Please Take Back Your Party 10/24/03

Today's so-called Republicans have established a

mind-numbing record at polluting the environment;

bloating government; appointing crony partisans;

pushing the nation into debt to fund tax cuts for the

rich; legislatively catering to the world's largest

corporations; opposing women's rights; kneecapping

states, local communities, and schools; eviscerating

constitutional protections of liberty at home; and

devastating our nation's reputation abroad....

....continued

 

The Battle Hymn of the New Liberal Media: A Good

Business Plan 10/16/03

In the last Democratic debate, one of the questioners

pointed out that fewer Americans identify themselves

as either liberals or Democrats than at any time since

before Roosevelt's New Deal. The implicit question

was, " What's so bad about you guys that Americans have

decided 'liberal' is a curse word and people are

embarrassed to call themselves Democrats? " ....

....continued

 

Rush Limbaugh May Teach Conservatives A Lesson

10/03/03

The reaction to the drug problem - and drug felonies -

recently alleged against Rush Limbaugh highlight

sharply the differences between conservative morality

and liberal/progressive morality. Conservatives often

mistakenly proclaim themselves the sole holders of

morality... ...continued

 

Might Bush's Blank Check for War Bounce If He Deceived

Congress? 09/19/03

On Tuesday, September 16, 2003, George W. Bush said

what virtually every other senior member of his

administration had been going out of their way to

refute.... ...continued

 

The Genetically Modified Bomb 09/10/03

Imagine a bomb that only kills Caucasians with red

hair. Or short people. Or Arabs. Or Chinese...

....continued

 

Blood, Oil, and Tears - and the 2004 Bush Campaign

Strategy 09/04/03

The two words we never hear in the corporate media's

discussion of Iraq are " oil " and " nationalism. " Yet

these are the keys to understanding why we got into

Iraq, why we only want " limited " involvement from the

U.N., why we won't succeed in stopping attacks against

us in Iraq, and why George W. Bush's crony capitalism

and aircraft-carrier-landing phony-warrior drama have

so terribly harmed our nation and set up a disaster

for our children's generation. ... ...continued

 

Turn Your Radio On - The Unions' Answer to Right-Wing

Static 08/11/03

" If America's largest and most conservative

corporations can own and influence big chunks of the

American media, " some have asked, " then why not our

most established and respected unions? " It turns out

that unions can get into the media business - and one

already has, creating what has recently become

America's only operational commercial liberal talk

radio network, officially introduced to the industry

this month with a prominent ad in Talkers Magazine...

....continued

 

The Theft of Your Vote is Just a Chip Away 07/30/03

Are computerized voting machines a wide-open back door

to massive voting fraud? The discussion has moved from

the Internet to CNN, to UK newspapers, and the pages

of The New York Times. People are cautiously beginning

to connect the dots, and the picture that seems to be

emerging is troubling... ...continued

 

Dear Clarence Thomas: It Happened on July 4, 1776

07/04/03

In 1789, Thomas Jefferson wrote a note to James

Madison about the future possibility of a president

who didn't understand the principles on which America

was founded. " The tyranny of the legislatures is the

most formidable dread at present, " he wrote, " and will

be for many years. That of the executive will come in

its turn, but it will be at a remote period. " The new

so-called conservatives claim the power to violate

citizens' private lives because, they say, there is no

" right to privacy " in the United States. In that, they

overlook the history of America and the Declaration of

Independence, signed on July 4, 1776. And they miss a

basic understanding of the evolution of language in

the United States.... ...continued

 

How An Earlier " Patriot Act " Law Brought Down A

President 06/16/03

Many Americans are suggesting that the Patriot Act

(and its proposed " improvements " in Patriot II) is

totally new in the experience of America and may spell

the end of both democracy and the Bill of Rights.

History, however, shows another view, which offers us

both warnings and hope... ...continued

 

Midnight Ride of the Rabble 06/04/03

Let's be blunt. The real agenda of the new

conservatives is nothing less than the destruction of

democracy in the United States of America. And

feudalism is one of their weapons... ...continued

 

Move Over, Right Wing Radio - the Liberals Are Coming

05/19/03

A political explosion happened this weekend in New

York, and it may be the big one that gives Karl Rove

nightmares. It could mean the end of George W. Bush's

seemingly unending ability to tell overt lies to the

American people and not get called on them by the

American media... ...continued

 

The Crime of the Century: A never-ending war against

terrorism 06/30/03

During this lull in the fighting between the 2002

election cycle Iraq conflict and the soon-to-come 2004

election cycle conflict, it's a good time to

(anonymously) sit in a library or bookstore and browse

" The Turner Diaries " and Gore Vidal's " Perpetual War

For Perpetual Peace. " ... ...continued

 

The Real War - On American Democracy 04/12/03

In the midst of news of foreign wars, Americans are

beginning to wake up to the real war being waged here

at home. It is, however, a confused awakening...

....continued

 

How To Take Back America...03/24/03

Marching in the streets is important work, but

wouldn't we have greater success if we also took

control of the United States government? ...continued

 

When Democracy Failed - The Lessons of History...

(Thom's article about the parallels between Bush's

administration and Hitler's rise in Germany.)03/16/03

The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United

States, and was barely reported in the corporate

media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful

day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They

commemorated the anniversary by joining in

demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all

across the world. It started when the government, in

the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received

reports of an imminent terrorist attack. ...continued

 

The Empire Needs New Clothes...03/11/01

It's easy to vilify George W. Bush as a cynical

warmonger, anxious to attack Iraq to repay the oil

companies that funded his election campaigns. But to

do so is to make a dangerous and fundamental error,

and such a myopic view of the Bush administration's

policies puts America's future at risk. ...continued

 

Now Your Vote Is The Property Of A Private

Corporation... 03/07/03

Santa Clara County, of all jurisdictions in America,

should have known better. They could have started by

looking at Florida. ...continued

 

Healthcare Reveals Real " Conservative " Agenda - Drown

Democracy In A Bathtub... 02/25/03

They're hoping Americans won't notice. Indeed, in late

February a " senior administration official " presented

The New York Times with a masterpiece of obfuscation

and avoidance of responsibility. ...continued

 

" If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The

Voting Machines " ... 01/31/03

Maybe Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel honestly won two

US Senate elections. Maybe it's true that the citizens

of Georgia simply decided that incumbent Democratic

Senator Max Cleland, a wildly popular war veteran who

lost three limbs in Vietnam, was, as his successful

Republican challenger suggested in his campaign ads,

too unpatriotic to remain in the Senate. Maybe George

W. Bush, Alabama's new Republican governor Bob Riley,

and a small but congressionally decisive handful of

other long-shot Republican candidates really did win

those states where conventional wisdom and straw polls

showed them losing in the last few election cycles.

....continued

 

Now Corporations Claim " The Right To Lie " ... 01/01/03

While Nike was conducting a huge and expensive PR

blitz to tell people that it had cleaned up its

subcontractors' sweatshop labor practices, an alert

consumer advocate and activist in California named

Marc Kasky caught them in what he alleges are a number

of specific deceptions. Citing a California law that

forbids corporations from intentionally deceiving

people in their commercial statements, Kasky sued the

multi-billion-dollar corporation. Instead of refuting

Kasky's charge by proving in court that they didn't

lie, however, Nike instead chose to argue that

corporations should enjoy the same " free speech " right

to deceive that individual human citizens have in

their personal lives... ...continued

 

Americans Revolt in Pennsylvania - New Battle Lines

Are Drawn... 12/19/02

The good citizens of Pennsylvania have done it again.

Back in 1776, they hosted at Liberty Hall in

Philadelphia a gathering of people radicalized by the

predations of the East India Company. The world's

first multinational corporation then held a virtual

stranglehold on commerce and politics in North

America, and brazenly used British troops as its

enforcers. On the first week of December, 1600, when

she created the East India Company, Queen Elizabeth I

became the first CEO monarch, and by 1776 King George

II was following in her footsteps with his sizeable

holdings in and open advocacy of corporate rule.

....continued

 

The Railroad Barons Are Back - And This Time They'll

Finish the Job... 12/11/02

The railroad barons first tried to infiltrate the

halls of government in the early years after the Civil

War. The efforts of these men, particularly Jay Gould,

brought the Ulysses Grant administration into such

disrepute, as a result of what were then called " the

railroad bribery scandals, " that Grant's own

Republican party refused to renominate him for the

third term he wanted and ran Rutherford B. Hayes

instead. As the whitehouse.gov website says of Grant,

" Looking to Congress for direction, he seemed

bewildered. One visitor to the White House noted 'a

puzzled pathos, as of a man with a problem before him

of which he does not understand the terms.' "

....continued

 

Talking Back To Talk Radio - Fairness, Democracy, and

Profits... 12/03/02

" All Democrats are fat, lazy, and stupid, " the

talk-show host said in grave, serious tones as if he

were uttering a sacred truth. We were driving to

Michigan for the holidays, and I was tuning around,

listening for the stations I'd worked for two and

three decades ago. I turned the dial. " It's a Hannity

For Humanity house, " a different host said, adding

that the Habitat For Humanity home he'd apparently

hijacked for his own self-promotion would only be

given to a family that swears it's conservative. " No

liberals are going to get this house, " he said.

....continued

 

Goldwater's Ghost In The Voting Machines... 11/16/02

Computers in the electoral process started in 1964,

the year Goldwater opposed Johnson for the presidency.

Back then, though, when states bought computers to

read punch-card votes, the states owned and operated

the computers, and the electorate could thus examine

their processes and results. Even Barry Goldwater,

ever suspicious of the creeping power of government,

approved: the process was relatively transparent.

....continued

 

Time to Remove the Bananas...and Return Our Republic

to Democracy... 11/06/02

Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush both seem to have a

funny idea about democracy: they think it's about

voting. Saddam was able to win his election without

even having to use corporate money or Supreme Court

justices appointed by a relative: just hold an

election and therefore it must be a democracy. Bush

and many, if not most, other American politicians,

think that giving hundreds of millions of dollars to

huge media corporations to carpet-bomb the minds of

voters means that democracy is served when a vote is

held. ...continued

 

Revealed: Why Germans Oppose War in Iraq - French

Fries... 11/01/02

An hour ago, I was standing deep in a Franconian

forest of central Germany, gazing in amazement at the

time-hidden ruins of an ancient castle, Nordek, that

was first built in A.D. 950 and finally abandoned

about 500 years ago. The massive stone structure looms

two hundred yards above the Steinach river, and was

probably built by the local warlord to control the

trade on the river. A sign on the castle identifies

three medieval wars that were fought for control of

it, and, no doubt, for control of the river's trade.

....continued

 

Madison’s Ghost on The Intoxicated Presidency - and

its Corporate Support Group... 10/25/02

I just returned from Argentina. People there

understand Machiavelli, I discovered; when he wrote

his instructions to The Prince, that, “Every one sees

what you appear to be, few really know what you are,

and those few dare not oppose…” it would make perfect

sense to anybody who’d lived through Argentina’s past

half-century. ...continued

 

The Dinosaur War - To Protect Corporate Profits...

10/11/02

I thought of it as dinosaur blood when it dripped on

my hand this morning, and it made me wonder how the US

war strategy would change if Saddam made a small

recalibration in his business practices. ...continued

 

Dismantling Democracy - What's Behind the Magic Trick

of War?... 09/22/02

I was about 12 and into the first year of a very brief

career as a magician, in partnership with my best

friend Chuck and his stepfather, the late professional

stage magician Jim Edwards. Chuck and I were going to

perform on a local TV show, and Edwards counseled us

to “always control where your audience is putting

their attention.” And the greatest of a magician’s

tricks, he said, was to have the audience watch the

illusion, and let them notice some small thing that

they thought was the trick making it work, while you

were pulling off a third and wholly unnoticed thing

out of the range of their attention. ...continued

 

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