I live in New Burnswick, a small and relatively poor province in Canada - and one dominated by a few, large corporations. Corporate leaders here are very much influenced by what they like to call "think tanks', but which are really propaganda fronts for neo-conservatives. These "think-tanks", given credibility by our thoroughly debased news media, have achieved stunning influence across the continent. Where they are leading us is well illustrated by a recent conference in New Burnswick.
Leading private businessmen held what they called an "economic summit" to advise government on economic and social policy. We did not elect the delegates. They were chosen to represent social and economic groups across the province -people such as university presidents, "think tanks", community groups and, of course, lots and lots of reps of big business. A business leader, the most prominent one in the province, recently published a column on it in the local newspaper. (His family owns all of the daily newspapers in the province.) He wrote that the economic summit had succeeded in forming a coaltion of government, business, community groups, etc. to determine the province's social and economic course.
This is coming your way. Perhaps it already has. You don't see what's serious about it?
Notice -- The "coalition" does not represent people as individuals. It represents them as interest groups. There are words for that. But democracy and individual rights and freedoms are not among them. In fact, this is the opposite of democracy and freedom. Representation by groups is called corporatism.
In Italy in the 1920s, corporatism had an emblem, an axe-head encircled with rods, and all bound together tightly.. Italians called the symbol a fasces. That was the symbol under which Mussolini came to power with his fascist party.
The greatest threat facing North America is neither terrorism nor the economic crisis. It is a threat to individual rights and freedoms. The greatest threat is a form of fascism heavily sponsored by people who call themselves neo-conservatives.
Things like this happen terribly easily. Partly it's because we don't want to recognize what is happening. Partly, it's because we have such dishonest and/or cowardly news media. It was easy in Italy. It was easy in New Brunswick. I expect it will be easy where you live, too.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Why The US Economy is Not Likely to Recover
Governments in the US have been kind to the wealthy. Throughout American history, but especially since Ronald Reagan, the wealthy have enjoyed low tax rates. That, as we are seeing in the recent days with Obama, is not going to change in any foreseeable future.
The theory behind it sounds good. Let the rich keep as much money as possible because they will invest it,;and that will create more jobs and greater wealth for everyone. That way, we all win. Sometimes we do. But like any economic system, captialism is man made. Nothing man made has ever worked perfectly in all times and under all conditions.. If the system is forever maintained in its purest form, as if it were part of the divine order, it will break. Capitalism, like anything man made, has to be balanced with hman needs, with changing conditions. No system will work if allowed to run wild and out of control.
Fedualism and aristocracy broke; communism broke; American captialism is breaking.
The trouble is, you see, that capitalism can work - but only when it can find customers. And American capitalism, by giving free rein to greed and economic ideologues, has destroyed its own domestic market.
In the 1970s, the wealthiest one percent of the US population had about 1/8 of all the country's wealth. Today, that one percent has doubled its share. Wealth was certainly created in the intervening boom years; but not much of it worked its way down. On the contrary, the gap between rich and poor in the US today is the greatest it has ever been. In fact, most Americans living in that booming economy were actually getting poorer even in the good years as wages rose more slowly than inflation.
In the same period, the US has maintained some social programmes to help the struggling poor and the middler class. But they've taxed the poor and the middle class to supply those services, while cutting taxes for the rich in the mistaken belief that letting the rich get even richer would somehow ease the poverty of the poor.
It didn't. And that's part of the reason, much of the reason, the US is deep into recession. American capitalism, without adequate taxation or regulation, proved a great creator of wealth, but a terrible distributor of it. As a result, American capitalism has destroyed its own domestic market.
Don't worry about the wealthy. Capital is easy to move around. Ford can just as easily build and sell its cars in Asia. For others, the writing is pretty much on the wall. Most Americans will have to settle for lives much different from those of their parents, because American capitalism has bled the country dry. Canada will follow because, as in so many things, it is following the American example - just a year or so later.
The one thing that capitalism needed from government (apart from bailouts) was military force to enable it to enter unwilling markets. But wealth is so concentrated now in the US that it can afford its own armies. Indeed, a major part of the American armed forces now is privately owned.
None of the above is left wing. I don't think in terms of right wing and left wing because I've never seen a bird with one wing that was able to fly. And the US has become a one-wing bird, furiously flapping its wing and spinning itself in circles.
The theory behind it sounds good. Let the rich keep as much money as possible because they will invest it,;and that will create more jobs and greater wealth for everyone. That way, we all win. Sometimes we do. But like any economic system, captialism is man made. Nothing man made has ever worked perfectly in all times and under all conditions.. If the system is forever maintained in its purest form, as if it were part of the divine order, it will break. Capitalism, like anything man made, has to be balanced with hman needs, with changing conditions. No system will work if allowed to run wild and out of control.
Fedualism and aristocracy broke; communism broke; American captialism is breaking.
The trouble is, you see, that capitalism can work - but only when it can find customers. And American capitalism, by giving free rein to greed and economic ideologues, has destroyed its own domestic market.
In the 1970s, the wealthiest one percent of the US population had about 1/8 of all the country's wealth. Today, that one percent has doubled its share. Wealth was certainly created in the intervening boom years; but not much of it worked its way down. On the contrary, the gap between rich and poor in the US today is the greatest it has ever been. In fact, most Americans living in that booming economy were actually getting poorer even in the good years as wages rose more slowly than inflation.
In the same period, the US has maintained some social programmes to help the struggling poor and the middler class. But they've taxed the poor and the middle class to supply those services, while cutting taxes for the rich in the mistaken belief that letting the rich get even richer would somehow ease the poverty of the poor.
It didn't. And that's part of the reason, much of the reason, the US is deep into recession. American capitalism, without adequate taxation or regulation, proved a great creator of wealth, but a terrible distributor of it. As a result, American capitalism has destroyed its own domestic market.
Don't worry about the wealthy. Capital is easy to move around. Ford can just as easily build and sell its cars in Asia. For others, the writing is pretty much on the wall. Most Americans will have to settle for lives much different from those of their parents, because American capitalism has bled the country dry. Canada will follow because, as in so many things, it is following the American example - just a year or so later.
The one thing that capitalism needed from government (apart from bailouts) was military force to enable it to enter unwilling markets. But wealth is so concentrated now in the US that it can afford its own armies. Indeed, a major part of the American armed forces now is privately owned.
None of the above is left wing. I don't think in terms of right wing and left wing because I've never seen a bird with one wing that was able to fly. And the US has become a one-wing bird, furiously flapping its wing and spinning itself in circles.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Human freedom and Corporporation Freedom Don't Go Together
The US Supreme Court recnetly ruled that corporations ae people. As people, they have the rights and the freedom to donate as much as they like to any political parties - just as people do. The same sort of thinking lies behind free trade. And that's strange.
Modern industry in both Canada and the US was based on a high tariff to keep out foreign competition. That gave a captive market to companies like Massey Farm Machinery that couldn't possibly compete against foreign manufacturers without a tariff to raise the price of foreign goods. In the US, the drive against a free market and for high tariffs pitted the industrializing north against a cotton-growing south which feared, rightly, that a high tariff would cut off cheaper manufactured goods from outside the US.
That's what the America civil war was about. Abraham Lincoln had no great sympathy for Blacks, and no particular desire to end slavery. The issue was whether there would be a protective tariff for northern industry. And the north won.
High tariffs were the gospel for American and Canadian industry for over a century. In Canada, the Conservative Party was well financed by industry to keep the tariff high. Indeed, the Liberal Party, which began as a free trade party, had to adopt a high tariff policy to get elected.
Then, quite suddenly, there was a change to hallelujahs for free trade as the only possible way to go for righteous and God-fearing people. Why the change?
The change came because Canadian and American industry had not only matured and could now beat other countries' prices, but also had such manufacturing output that they had to get access to other markets. As well, free trade would open up investments in other countries which had cheaper labour than Canada and the US did. Though Free Trade has been put forward as an economic and almost religious cause, it's really just old-fashioned oppotunism.
What it has done has, as the "crackpots" warned us, transferred jobs from Canada and the US to cheap labour markets, helping to hold salaries below even the rate of inflation at home, while pushing American and Canadian goods into countries whose industries are not ready to compete - and won't be allowed to get ready.
Once a nation is caught in a free trade agreement, it loses the power to control its own economic policy. All have to accept much the same social and economic policies as the big powers in the agreement. Government, and the people who vote for it become irrelevant.
We will learn, but probably slowly and too late, that if corporations are people and have the freedoms of people, then real people can have no freedoom at all. Giving human rights to corporations means taking human rights away from humans.
Any society, to survive as a democracy, has to find a balance between social and economic elements, with each complementing the other. We've thrown the social part of that balance out. What we're left with is using free capitalism as if it were a magic wand that can solve all problems. It can't. We need rights and freedoms and power for people, too. Freedom and human rights for corporations won't work. And it will also destroy democracy. Indeed, given the political influence of corporations in both Canada the the US, it may already has done so.
Modern industry in both Canada and the US was based on a high tariff to keep out foreign competition. That gave a captive market to companies like Massey Farm Machinery that couldn't possibly compete against foreign manufacturers without a tariff to raise the price of foreign goods. In the US, the drive against a free market and for high tariffs pitted the industrializing north against a cotton-growing south which feared, rightly, that a high tariff would cut off cheaper manufactured goods from outside the US.
That's what the America civil war was about. Abraham Lincoln had no great sympathy for Blacks, and no particular desire to end slavery. The issue was whether there would be a protective tariff for northern industry. And the north won.
High tariffs were the gospel for American and Canadian industry for over a century. In Canada, the Conservative Party was well financed by industry to keep the tariff high. Indeed, the Liberal Party, which began as a free trade party, had to adopt a high tariff policy to get elected.
Then, quite suddenly, there was a change to hallelujahs for free trade as the only possible way to go for righteous and God-fearing people. Why the change?
The change came because Canadian and American industry had not only matured and could now beat other countries' prices, but also had such manufacturing output that they had to get access to other markets. As well, free trade would open up investments in other countries which had cheaper labour than Canada and the US did. Though Free Trade has been put forward as an economic and almost religious cause, it's really just old-fashioned oppotunism.
What it has done has, as the "crackpots" warned us, transferred jobs from Canada and the US to cheap labour markets, helping to hold salaries below even the rate of inflation at home, while pushing American and Canadian goods into countries whose industries are not ready to compete - and won't be allowed to get ready.
Once a nation is caught in a free trade agreement, it loses the power to control its own economic policy. All have to accept much the same social and economic policies as the big powers in the agreement. Government, and the people who vote for it become irrelevant.
We will learn, but probably slowly and too late, that if corporations are people and have the freedoms of people, then real people can have no freedoom at all. Giving human rights to corporations means taking human rights away from humans.
Any society, to survive as a democracy, has to find a balance between social and economic elements, with each complementing the other. We've thrown the social part of that balance out. What we're left with is using free capitalism as if it were a magic wand that can solve all problems. It can't. We need rights and freedoms and power for people, too. Freedom and human rights for corporations won't work. And it will also destroy democracy. Indeed, given the political influence of corporations in both Canada the the US, it may already has done so.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
The Wikkileaks Fallout?
Wikkileaks shows that the major supplier of money for Islamic terrorism has been coming from Saudi Arabia, and from people close to, perhaps of, the royal family. That's not really a surprise. there have been strong hints of it on international news web sites for years. But now we know Americans governments have known it, perhaps from the start.
9/11 was financed by Saudi money. Most of the bombers were Saudis. The planning was done in Germany.and the training was done in the US.
So why do we have troops in Afghanistan?
Governments are in full panic mode over the leaks. I very much approve of the courage and rightness of those who made the leads available. But it may have consequences we should be thinking of now.
Americans are already disillusioned with government, any government. That's why voter turnout has been in such a long decline. It has also already accustomed itself to being a police state, with habeus corpus and other principles long since cast away. Domestic spying on just about everyboody has reached levels of hysteria. Wikkileaks is almost certain to strengthen the deistrust of government already seriously damaged by the reigns of both Bush and Obama.
The North American press will do (has done) its best, as always, to suppress the news. It may not work this time. So where will US hysteria, fear and distrust turn to for relief? Watch for a sharp move to the right in a form we used to call fascism. It's long had elements of fascism. Now, it may well become wider and more obvious. There is no American historical myth that could be called socialist or even liberal. Even the myth of all men being born equal is pretty silly if you think of how many were slaves, how they were denied rights until very recently, and how the rich are so much more equal than other Americans. The only myths to fall back on are the belief in divine choice of the US for "leadership", the old beliefs in Manifest Destiny and the American manliness of force.
There's a real danger of the US sliding very far to the right. And that is bound to have an effect in a Canada which has also seen a plummeting drop in voter participation, and a lack of enthusiasm for either of the traditional parties.
The truth is coming to a North America that has never been told the truth by its politicians or its news media. I see no evidence of any acceptable political response in the US. We may well end up with a president Palin and her band of psychotics.
9/11 was financed by Saudi money. Most of the bombers were Saudis. The planning was done in Germany.and the training was done in the US.
So why do we have troops in Afghanistan?
Governments are in full panic mode over the leaks. I very much approve of the courage and rightness of those who made the leads available. But it may have consequences we should be thinking of now.
Americans are already disillusioned with government, any government. That's why voter turnout has been in such a long decline. It has also already accustomed itself to being a police state, with habeus corpus and other principles long since cast away. Domestic spying on just about everyboody has reached levels of hysteria. Wikkileaks is almost certain to strengthen the deistrust of government already seriously damaged by the reigns of both Bush and Obama.
The North American press will do (has done) its best, as always, to suppress the news. It may not work this time. So where will US hysteria, fear and distrust turn to for relief? Watch for a sharp move to the right in a form we used to call fascism. It's long had elements of fascism. Now, it may well become wider and more obvious. There is no American historical myth that could be called socialist or even liberal. Even the myth of all men being born equal is pretty silly if you think of how many were slaves, how they were denied rights until very recently, and how the rich are so much more equal than other Americans. The only myths to fall back on are the belief in divine choice of the US for "leadership", the old beliefs in Manifest Destiny and the American manliness of force.
There's a real danger of the US sliding very far to the right. And that is bound to have an effect in a Canada which has also seen a plummeting drop in voter participation, and a lack of enthusiasm for either of the traditional parties.
The truth is coming to a North America that has never been told the truth by its politicians or its news media. I see no evidence of any acceptable political response in the US. We may well end up with a president Palin and her band of psychotics.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Haiti - poster child for the American version of capitalism
I am neither capitalist nor socialist, neither liberal nor conservative. I believe a workable system has to balance elements from all of these. And I believe the balance has to change according to the conditions. American capitalism has gone far beyond sense of balance. There is no better example of what it now does than the wretched nation of Haiti.
A thousand have died of cholera, and many thousands more will die. The earthquake is only a part of the cause. The streets of Haitian slums (most of the housing) have been running with raw sewage for a century. There has been no sanitation. The earthquake worsened things, but only a little worse than they were before it when Haiti was the most poverty stricken land in this hemisphere. How does this show something wrong with American capitalism?
For almost a century, the US has run Haiti. It invaded in 1917 (pleading Germany might invade it!!!) It then ran the country for twenty years, in those twenty years, it gave capitalism a free run in Haiti -no regulations, no minimum wage, no safety requirements, no public schools, no taxes. As neo-conservatives are fond of telling us, capitalism is a great producer of wealth. At the end of twenty years of free run, capitalists had driven farmers off the land except as low wage labour on factory farms producing exotic produce for the tin can market. The people were desperately poor and living in some of the vilest slums ever to exist.
But the US didn't quite leave Haiti, not ever. For generations, Haiti suffered even worse from brual dictators imposed and paid off by the US. The Haitian army, equipped and paid by the US, was a gang of thugs to torture, rape and kill anybody who complained. And even those who didn't complain. Capitalism continued to flourish.
Then, at last, Haitians managed to elect a president, Aristide, who was going to build schools and sewer systems and livable housing. He also disbanded the army - since it was just a gang of thugs - and was able to keep the country quite peaceable with just the regular police. But US capitalists were not pleased. Sanitation and housing would cost taxes; and taxes would cut into their profits. Worse, it might spread silly ideas to other poor countries. So the ex-army thugs who had fled Haiti suddenly reappeared, heavily armed and well supplied with ammunition and money to blaze a trail of death into Haiti.
The US then sent troops to restore order. Strangely, though, they didn't bother the thugs. Instead, they arrested President Aristide and sent him into exile. Then they got the UN to send "peacekeepers", actually occupation troops. Not suprisingly, Haitians don't like the peacekeepers, and rioted against them. Capitalism was back in the saddle. Then came the earthquake.
Almost nothing has been done since the earthquake to rebuild Haiti. The US government even to this day has not delivered a cent of its promised aid. There is no intention of rebuilding Haiti. There never was. The owners want Haitians to be poor and cheap. They have had their way. And the result is cholera.
There are elements of capitalism that are quite workable and desirable. But nothing that goes so far out of balance is either workable or desirable. We're watching the American version of capitalism descend into depths that reach beneath contempt.
A thousand have died of cholera, and many thousands more will die. The earthquake is only a part of the cause. The streets of Haitian slums (most of the housing) have been running with raw sewage for a century. There has been no sanitation. The earthquake worsened things, but only a little worse than they were before it when Haiti was the most poverty stricken land in this hemisphere. How does this show something wrong with American capitalism?
For almost a century, the US has run Haiti. It invaded in 1917 (pleading Germany might invade it!!!) It then ran the country for twenty years, in those twenty years, it gave capitalism a free run in Haiti -no regulations, no minimum wage, no safety requirements, no public schools, no taxes. As neo-conservatives are fond of telling us, capitalism is a great producer of wealth. At the end of twenty years of free run, capitalists had driven farmers off the land except as low wage labour on factory farms producing exotic produce for the tin can market. The people were desperately poor and living in some of the vilest slums ever to exist.
But the US didn't quite leave Haiti, not ever. For generations, Haiti suffered even worse from brual dictators imposed and paid off by the US. The Haitian army, equipped and paid by the US, was a gang of thugs to torture, rape and kill anybody who complained. And even those who didn't complain. Capitalism continued to flourish.
Then, at last, Haitians managed to elect a president, Aristide, who was going to build schools and sewer systems and livable housing. He also disbanded the army - since it was just a gang of thugs - and was able to keep the country quite peaceable with just the regular police. But US capitalists were not pleased. Sanitation and housing would cost taxes; and taxes would cut into their profits. Worse, it might spread silly ideas to other poor countries. So the ex-army thugs who had fled Haiti suddenly reappeared, heavily armed and well supplied with ammunition and money to blaze a trail of death into Haiti.
The US then sent troops to restore order. Strangely, though, they didn't bother the thugs. Instead, they arrested President Aristide and sent him into exile. Then they got the UN to send "peacekeepers", actually occupation troops. Not suprisingly, Haitians don't like the peacekeepers, and rioted against them. Capitalism was back in the saddle. Then came the earthquake.
Almost nothing has been done since the earthquake to rebuild Haiti. The US government even to this day has not delivered a cent of its promised aid. There is no intention of rebuilding Haiti. There never was. The owners want Haitians to be poor and cheap. They have had their way. And the result is cholera.
There are elements of capitalism that are quite workable and desirable. But nothing that goes so far out of balance is either workable or desirable. We're watching the American version of capitalism descend into depths that reach beneath contempt.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Obama the Executioner
Contrary to popular belief, the US did not invent freedom. In fact, its roots in the western world go back well over a thousand years - in England before there was an England. It began in tribal laws that no person could be punished for a crime without evidence that a crime had been committed, and that the accused had done it. Ideally, a killer should be caught with the blood on his hands (thus "red-handed"). Even habeus corpus, the use of a summons to arrest the accused has been in use for almost a thousand years. On that rests all our individual rights and freedoms. No government can imprison a person without evidence that a crime was committed, without a formal charge, and without a fair trial.
Part of that was lost with George Bush, who took the right to imprison anybody indefinitely with no evidence of a crime, no charge and no trial. That alone took the US back a thousand years.
As this is being written, the Obama White House lawyers are defending President Obama's claimed right to order the assassination of any American citizen - with no warrant, no trial, not even evidence of a crime having been committed. The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting his use of such an order, in this case involving a Moslem. Given recent tendencies of the Supreme Court, it is quite possible it will rule in favour of this extroardinary power that effectively destroys the whole basis of American democracy and freedom.
(Well, it concerns a Moslem to be killed. This should be a no brainer for a Supreme Court which has recently decided that coporations are really just like people - so they should have rights just like people.)
Haven't seen much about his in the North American news media? Well, maybe that's because corporations own most of the news media. Corporations are also annoyed at Moslems for sitting on land they want. And, hey, corporations have rights. And the American people? No sweat. The only radical party in the whole country is a bunch of nutbars who want to go back to 1775. Heck, the US would have to progress at a frantic rate to get all the way up to 1775 again.
and so it goes..."not with a bang but a whimper".
Part of that was lost with George Bush, who took the right to imprison anybody indefinitely with no evidence of a crime, no charge and no trial. That alone took the US back a thousand years.
As this is being written, the Obama White House lawyers are defending President Obama's claimed right to order the assassination of any American citizen - with no warrant, no trial, not even evidence of a crime having been committed. The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting his use of such an order, in this case involving a Moslem. Given recent tendencies of the Supreme Court, it is quite possible it will rule in favour of this extroardinary power that effectively destroys the whole basis of American democracy and freedom.
(Well, it concerns a Moslem to be killed. This should be a no brainer for a Supreme Court which has recently decided that coporations are really just like people - so they should have rights just like people.)
Haven't seen much about his in the North American news media? Well, maybe that's because corporations own most of the news media. Corporations are also annoyed at Moslems for sitting on land they want. And, hey, corporations have rights. And the American people? No sweat. The only radical party in the whole country is a bunch of nutbars who want to go back to 1775. Heck, the US would have to progress at a frantic rate to get all the way up to 1775 again.
and so it goes..."not with a bang but a whimper".
Friday, November 5, 2010
Oooooh! The Exciting US Congressional Election
Nothing new. The US is continuing to implode as it has been doing since 1945. Nobody in that time was won any election of any significance without massive support from corporations and the wealthy. In terms of general policy, it really doesn't matter who gets elected. That was clear during the presidential campaign as Obama became a darling of Wall St.
The US long ago decided on a policy of world "leadership". It's a nice word to cover an ugly truth. If everybody must follow the leader, then how can any country have a democracy that means anything at all? Indeed, the closest allies of the US have been puppet dictators - the Shah of Iran, the King of Saudi Arabia, the dictators of central America.
If you google The Project For the New American Century, read its statement of purpose. It is to spread "American values" (torture, invasion, terror bombing?) around the world for American economic benefit. And, for an example of who gets the benefit, look at Haiti. It has been under the control of untrammelled American capitalism for almost a century, through American-sponsored dictators and American military government. That's why it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. That's why Haiti's President Aristide was exiled by US troops. He was going to spend money in silly ways, like hospitals and schools. That's why the US has never sent its promised aid to Haiti after the earthquake. There is no intention of rebuilding Haiti. The intention is to keep it forever a pool of cheap labour.
The US now needs constant war to sustain its major and thriving industry - weapons. In good days, before the crash, that meant free trade (with free meaning American business was free to exploit and contol countries before they could develop their own industries.) But now it's bad days. So watch as "free" trade gradually became "fair" trade - meaning the subject countries much now admit American products free, but imports to the US will be taxed with customs duties to protect big donors to the Democrats and Republicans.There will also be a renewed drive to privatize public services like water, sewage, and education.
The Tea Party has no answer to any of this. It hasn't even asked the question. All it wants is a return to traditional values, most of which, like most of American history, never existed. The US Constitution was never intended to create a democracy - except within the limits of a two party system in which both parties were actually the same. It was also a system to exploited racism (against Blacks, and Native Peoples, and Mexicans, and Latin Americans in general, and Hawaiians, and Phillipinos, and now Moslems) to keep power in the hands of the rich. (Check out the incomes and slaves and landholdings of good ol' boys like George Washington and Andrew Jackson.) Tea Partyers are just the latest suckers to try to guess which shell the pea is under.
The US has been rotting inside since 1775. The Tea Party is just one more, small step away from reality for American voters. American leadership (world dominance by military force) is what it has always been about. Now, with even the pretend capitalism that the US lives on, war is all the more necessary. If ever Islam is defeated, American corporate leaders and the propagandists they call news media will just have to seek another bogeyman.
Once upon a time, we Canadians were the bogeymen. I expect we will be again. Been there. Done that.
The US long ago decided on a policy of world "leadership". It's a nice word to cover an ugly truth. If everybody must follow the leader, then how can any country have a democracy that means anything at all? Indeed, the closest allies of the US have been puppet dictators - the Shah of Iran, the King of Saudi Arabia, the dictators of central America.
If you google The Project For the New American Century, read its statement of purpose. It is to spread "American values" (torture, invasion, terror bombing?) around the world for American economic benefit. And, for an example of who gets the benefit, look at Haiti. It has been under the control of untrammelled American capitalism for almost a century, through American-sponsored dictators and American military government. That's why it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. That's why Haiti's President Aristide was exiled by US troops. He was going to spend money in silly ways, like hospitals and schools. That's why the US has never sent its promised aid to Haiti after the earthquake. There is no intention of rebuilding Haiti. The intention is to keep it forever a pool of cheap labour.
The US now needs constant war to sustain its major and thriving industry - weapons. In good days, before the crash, that meant free trade (with free meaning American business was free to exploit and contol countries before they could develop their own industries.) But now it's bad days. So watch as "free" trade gradually became "fair" trade - meaning the subject countries much now admit American products free, but imports to the US will be taxed with customs duties to protect big donors to the Democrats and Republicans.There will also be a renewed drive to privatize public services like water, sewage, and education.
The Tea Party has no answer to any of this. It hasn't even asked the question. All it wants is a return to traditional values, most of which, like most of American history, never existed. The US Constitution was never intended to create a democracy - except within the limits of a two party system in which both parties were actually the same. It was also a system to exploited racism (against Blacks, and Native Peoples, and Mexicans, and Latin Americans in general, and Hawaiians, and Phillipinos, and now Moslems) to keep power in the hands of the rich. (Check out the incomes and slaves and landholdings of good ol' boys like George Washington and Andrew Jackson.) Tea Partyers are just the latest suckers to try to guess which shell the pea is under.
The US has been rotting inside since 1775. The Tea Party is just one more, small step away from reality for American voters. American leadership (world dominance by military force) is what it has always been about. Now, with even the pretend capitalism that the US lives on, war is all the more necessary. If ever Islam is defeated, American corporate leaders and the propagandists they call news media will just have to seek another bogeyman.
Once upon a time, we Canadians were the bogeymen. I expect we will be again. Been there. Done that.
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