[Peace] Fb conversation
C. G. Estabrook
cge at shout.net
Thu Apr 27 15:24:59 UTC 2017
[Chris Knight] 100 down... only 1360 days left to go.
[Carl G. Estabrook] Then we can get back to a president who's a
warmonger and corporate globalizer in the Obama-Clinton mode?
That's in the interest of the 1%, if no one else.
And the 1% now seem to have taught Trump their ways: the economy has
been turned over to the bankers (Cohn and Mnuchin) and the war over to
the generals (Mattis and McMaster).
"They make a desert, and call it peace."
[Chris Knight] I doubt that the 1% have taught him anything. I admire
your conviction that he was a viable alternative to corporate capitalism
and the military industrial behemoth, but I don't see that. To me he
appears to simply be an insecure overbearing ignoramus. He appears to
bend to whomsoever is pleasant to him. To imply that he had some grand
plan, which has now been thrwarted, seems incorrect to me. I regard him
as an inexperienced, spoiled racist, who has no idea of what he is
doing.
"They make tomato sauce, and call it a vegetable"
[Carl G. Estabrook] The 1% (via their agents, the Obama-Clinton
Democrats) have cozened or compelled him into adopting their neoliberal
and neoconservative policies - which he attacked in the campaign.
His character flaws - the disingenuous concern of the political
establishment - are not the issue: the criminal policies of his
administration, at home and abroad, are.
We should be demanding a cessation of the wars and the 'trade pacts' -
both of which serve the interests of the 1%, and are against those of
the majority, at home and abroad.
[Chris Knight] He made lots of wild assertions during his campaign, most
of which he has since apparently forgotten. To cherry pick the ones
which would show him as a viable alternative to the status quo, and then
assert that he has been co-opted by the establishment, is to paint him
in a very rosy light. And although I agree that the criminal policies of
his administration are a very serious issue, I do not agree that it is
OK to ignore his personality traits, which are not simply played up as a
diversionary tactic, but instead are harped upon because they are real,
reactionary and disgusting.
[Carl G. Estabrook] US policy is more important than his personal
reformation.
[Chris Knight] And empowering racists, sexists, homophobes and science
deniers can therefore be overlooked?
[Carl G. Estabrook] No, if it's a matter of government policy, not just
trying to prevent people from thinking (or saying) the wrong things.
[Carl G. Estabrook] Instead of deploring Trump's enormities (or his
miniscularities), we should be demanding
~ no war: bring US troops and (weapons) home;
~ no climate catastrophe: suppress carbon emissions;
~ no immiseration: a universal basic income; and
~ no untreated illness: Medicare for all.
Instead, good liberals are demanding an Obama-Clinton restoration, which
would secure none of these things.
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