[Peace-discuss] [Peace] My plea, related to the Yellow Vest movement in France

[Karen Aram]

John, at the expense of nitpiking one thing you referred to:

 “writing a new Constitution that would reflect present realities.  Most of the European countries did it at some point after World War II, with generally pretty good results, at least on paper.”  And, who is going to write it?  They actually did this in Thailand in the 90’s, going around the country getting input from all the people, poor villagers included. The first military coup against a populist leader that the US and local ruling elites didn’t like around 2006 threw it out. Things have deteriorated so much since then, with a military government, marshall law, many protestors, those that weren’t killed, and critics of the government remaining permanently in jail, and no elections in the for seeable future.

I digress, sorry.

Any suggestion that what was done over 40 years ago, as a good thing, even if only on paper, is of no value any longer. The French had an excellent system of healthcare at one time, but it has been slowly eroded, by little nitpicking here and there. This is what has been done here in the US with the New Deal, social security has been borrowed from by the USG, and it isn’t available to the many self employed, like farmers who are now without support, it hasn’t kept up with inflation any more than our minimum wages have kept up with the COL. Every institution within the US system has deteriorated and it didn’t just occur the past two years.

As long as we have a system of “for profit” we will always have “uncaring people” in power. Wolves in sheep’s clothing, telling us what we want to hear, in order to get elected, and then they do what their owners tell them to do. Even those that really care, on a local level, once they get behind the beltway, they are subject to the DNC or GOP or they are out.

We don’t know how the French “revolution” of today will turn out, even if they successfully remove Macron, who was elected by only 1/3 of the people, with 1/3 not voting. He maybe replaced by Le Pen at some point, who received support from about 1/3 of the electorate. The socialist Party’s of France, as they refer to themselves have been neoliberals just as all the rest. On foreign policy they are a US lackey. They are indebted to the ECB and Germany is turning the screws on France as a result, just as it did to Greece.

But, at least the French people joining the Yellow Vests, is a first step in the right direction. One can argue that down the road step 3 or 4 may not work, but we should not let that prevent us from taking that first “right step,” in the right direction, which is using "people power, in the streets.”



On Dec 9, 2018, at 20:02, John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com<mailto:jbw292002 at gmail.com>> wrote:


On Sun, Dec 9, 2018 at 8:17 PM C G Estabrook <cgestabrook at gmail.com<mailto:cgestabrook at gmail.com>> wrote:

Why not nationalize major industries and run them in the public interest

You mean the way the government is NOW running things in the public interest, Carl??

This is always my point.  Always, always, always.  No matter what you suggest, the damned thing is always run by humans.  And not necessarily even WISE, CARING individuals like me and Ron.

We could, for example, avoid a bloody revolution and replace that old junker with a newer model by having a Constitutional convention, writing a new Constitution that would reflect present realities.  Most of the European countries did it at some point after World War II, with generally pretty good results, at least on paper.  But would you want the present crop of swamp dwellers to comprise the committee??  There's absolutely no guarantee that the people writing the new Constitution would be even remotely as wise and benevolent as the Founding Fathers of our history books.  We could easily end up with a document, and a system of government, that is worse than the one we have now.

You show me a way to leave humans out of the equation, and I'm on board.  Until then, as the great intellectual Dennis McGinnis used to say, "I give a shit, Charles."



rather than in the interest of the stockholders’ profits? The stockholders can be paid in long term government bonds - so long as a progressive wealth tax is instituted.

The Obama administration had a chance to do that with the US automotive industry - but instead bailed out the stockholders and restored their profits and control. (I assume you condemned that at the time, Ron?)


> On Dec 9, 2018, at 7:51 PM, Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:
>
> Recently, with advancing age, I have become softer on half-measures that seem to offer some actual real-world possibility of "progress,” as I would view it.  One is a program of government (public) ownership of a controlling percentage of stock of major corporations in basic industries.
>
> That is not a panacea, of course, & I expect to receive within minutes a torrent of denunciation along the lines of “That’s stupid & crazy!  It won’t work!  It can’t be done!  It would have all kinds of unanticipated horrible consequences!”  etc., etc.   And those would be the most rational ones amid the obscene insults & accusations.
>
> I once heard  that the French government owns (or owned) a sizable chunk of Renault.  Have no idea whether this is true, & whether it exempted the Renault workers from the uprisings of 1968 & 2018.  Can someone enlighten me/us on this?
>
> Or shall we stick with our usual “Who do we traduce & BLAME?” & the standard sneer-jeer-smear routine?
>
> ~~ Ron
>
> <Maxine Waters.jpeg><Trumps digital exam.jpeg>
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