"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country."

Thomas Jefferson
1812


Image - WTO Protests - Seattle, Washington 1999

THE PROBLEM
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Corporate Control

Our Hidden History | Corporate Media | A Putocracy Not A Democracy | The New World Order

The Plutocratic Presidency
1789 – 2003

plutocracy, n. 1. government by the wealthy 2. a government or state in which the wealthy rule 3.a group of wealthy people who control or influence a government 4.a controlling class of rich men - plutocrat.

plutocrat, n. 1. a member of a wealthy ruling class; hence, 2. a person whose wealth gives him control or great influence. 3. [Colloq.], any wealthy person.

"The original republic was thought out carefully, and openly, in The Federalist Papers: We were not going to have a monarchy, and we were not going to have a democracy. And to this day we have had neither. For two hundred years we have had an oligarchical system in which men of property can do well and the others are on their own."

— Gore Vidal
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire

In his essay collection, The American Presidency, Gore Vidal reveals some interesting facts about the American plutocracy and its "Chiefs of State," facts you won't find in your typical high-school/college American "history" textbook. Here are just a few, with added commentary:

The Constitutional Convention was actually a meeting of landowners frantic to prevent both monarchy and true democracy. Instead, they established something they could all agree on, writes Vidal: "the best sort of government for white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men of property to do business."

George Washington, the Father of Our Country, acquired "his fortune in the most honest way," Vidal quips, "by marrying it."

Of course the real source George and Martha's fortune was their slaves' misfortune. The Washingtons, Jeffersons and the rest of the American plutocracy built their luxurious lifestyles with the blood, sweat and tears of African people.

America's first slave-owning President was also America's first millionaire.

Andrew Jackson broke 93 treaties with Indian tribes during his two terms in office. (Great White Mafia Godfather speak with Major Forked Tongue!)

The reason is simple: land is wealth. (Hey thar, pardner, we cain't jes leeve all thet thar welth to a bunch o' unsivilyzed savigez now, kin we?)

Lincoln became a bona-fide dictator during the Civil War. He shut down newspapers, suspended habeas corpus, defied the Supreme Court — all in the name of "military necessity." He also levied troops without consulting Congress — or the troops, for that matter.

The Civil War was the time of America's first military draft. Working-class men actually rioted against the draft in New York City. All to no avail. Go to war or go to prison — them's yer choices in "the land of the free." (And home of the knave.)

Rich knaves, however, had another option.

Men belonging to the wealthy ruling class, and their sons, could openly and legally buy their way out of the draft. The father of racist, rabid war-monger Teddy Roosevelt was one of these hypocrites.

While the sons of poor men were dying in bloody, butchered agony in places like Shiloh and Gettysburg, the sons of rich men were going to parties and competing in boat races between Harvard and Yale.

A privileged plutocracy ruled America then — just as it does now. People like George W. Bush never have to go to places like Vietnam. Their fathers are too rich and powerful.

In the 1860s, the propaganda used by the Northern ruling class to convince thousands of working-class men to die horribly consisted of fine-sounding ideas like "Freeing the Slaves," "God's Will," "His Truth Is Marching On" and "Preserving The Union." Aside from a tiny minority of Abolitionists, however, the Northern elite didn't want to free the slaves any more than their Southern counterparts did. Nor did they honestly give a hoot about things like "God's Will."

What the Northern ruling class actually cared about, of course, was money and power. Therefore they really did want to preserve "the Union." A United States — under their control — would be far more profitable than a divided nation in which they would have to compete economically with a "Confederate States of America."

The propaganda spun by all ruling classes will always be some deceitful concoction which covers up their only true motivation — private wealth and power. Today we see the plutocratic hypocrites of America, the world's greatest terrorist nation, rapidly dispensing with all pretence of democracy under the guise of "fighting terrorism."

Before that the U.S. Corporate Mafia Government claimed it was "protecting" us from crime. And before that the genocidal capitalists claimed they were "protecting" us from communism. New times will always bring new excuses for the same old plutocratic tyranny. They, or rather the whoring PR flacks in their employ, will always dream up some excuse, something the psychologists they also employ tell them the masses will fall for. And it will always be some sugar-coated version of: "It's For Your Own Good."

In 1898 the U.S. went to war with Spain, taking over the Philippines, which was seized with the aid of nationalist guerrillas to whom we promised independence. But, writes Vidal:

"President William McKinley decided we ought to keep the Philippines in order to Christianize the natives. When reminded that Filipinos were already Roman Catholic, the president responded, 'Exactly.'

"So we betrayed the nationalists and began our own conquest."

Mark Twain saluted the resulting genocide of 200,000 men, women and children writes Vidal, "by suggesting that we replace the stars and stripes in our flag with the skull and crossbones."

A fine suggestion indeed, and just as appropriate today.

When Colombia refused to give Theodore Roosevelt the land America wanted for a canal, Teddy engineered a rebellion in the section he wanted, and then, writes Vidal, "recognized the result as the new 'free' Republic of Panama and dug his ditch."

Pretty neat, huh? Nothing beats "good ol' American know-how."

Teddy Roosevelt, by the way, was truly a man of his times — an openly racist demagogue. It's quite fitting, therefore, that ol' TR's favorite expression of enthusiasm was to say "Bully!" In his day, "Bully!" meant the same as "Great!," "Wonderful!," or "Cool!" That pretty much says it all about the grossly perverted American "morality" of the turn of the century. It was "great" in America to be a racist bully. It was "cool" in America to be a racist bully.

And for all the social dinosaurs in America today, it still is.

After World War II, Franklin Roosevelt seized on the opportunity afforded by the devastation of Europe to command the former colonial powers of England, France and Holland to give up their empires, allowing them to adhere, Vidal writes, "like metal filings to the American magnet."

And to this day America's NATO "allies" continue to kneel before their American Master like the cowardly, venal whores they are.

And now, a word on the Brave New World Order of 2003:

George W. Bush has the gilded distinction of being the first President in the history of the United States to openly steal an election. And the poor guy can hardly read.

What fun; another four years, another Bush-league chief executive. Naturally he couldn't have done it without a whole lotta help from his friends. Particularly the five closet-fascist Injustices of the U.S. Supreme Court who stopped the vote count in Florida and ruled that the majority of American people have no right to elect the American President.

In spite of such dubious favors, however, one gets the definite feeling that ol' Gee Dubbya would be a lot more comfortable just drinkin' whiskey and playin' golf with his millionaire friends instead of trying to sound intelligent in front of news cameras. But darn it, dear old Dad insisted he do this Presidential thing, and now Gee Dub is just gonna have to fake it the next few years. Of course, he'll have plenty of help with that too.

Besides, just because incurious George got himself miselected Commandeer-in-Chief doesn't mean the party's over. After all, cocaine is plentiful indeed to people as closely connected with the CIA as the Bushes have been from the beginning in '47. And residency in the White House has never been a hindrance to any sort of criminal behavior before, so a hearty cocaine habit won't present any problems now.

But regardless of how Gee Dubbya occupies his time in High Office, the Bush regime represents Big Oil, Wall Street and the State of Israel, and those are the only people they'll answer to. The majority of American people certainly don't count, not even at election time.

Big Oil is a big part of the real reason the unelected Bush regime unleashed its military dogs on the civilian people of Afghanistan. The so-called "war on terrorism" is a total sham, nothing but a cover for the U.S. government's geopolitical strategy. Control of Caspian Sea oil has been planned for a long time, and a pipeline from the Caspian Sea basin has to run through Afghanistan in order to get the oil out.

Most importantly of all, the control of Caspian Sea oil — and central Asia in general — will give the American Empire a fatal military/economic advantage over Europe and China.

Here's a prescient quote from what was the Foreword (mysteriously removed; by the publisher?) to Gore Vidal's latest essay collection, The Last Empire:

"I am writing this note a dozen days before the Inauguration of the loser of the year 2000 presidential election. Lost republic as well as last empire.

"We are now faced with a Japanese seventeenth-century-style arrangement: a powerless Mikado ruled by a shogun vice president and his Pentagon warrior counselors. Do they dream, as did the shoguns of yore, of the conquest of China? We shall know more soon, I should think, than late. Sayonara."

— Gore Vidal
11 January 2001

Excerpt from The Last Empire:
"Shredding the Bill of Rights"
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/v/01vida.html

See also The Exceedingly Strange Case of George W. Bush, for a good collection of amusing quotes from this semi-literate prodigal son. The Gee Dubbya page also contains an interesting bibliography which reveals the sordid history of the Bush dynasty.

“...for the first time in its history, Western Civilization is in danger of being destroyed internally by a corrupt, criminal ruling cabal which is centered around the Rockefeller interests, which include elements from the Morgan, Brown, Rothschild, Du Pont, Harriman, Kuhn-Loeb, and other groupings as well. This junta took control of the political, financial, and cultural life of America in the first two decades of the twentieth century.

“The Bush family, beginning with Prescott Bush, have served as satraps of the Rockefeller, Brown, and Harriman interests. President Bush is simply a puppet of this powerful cabal, and their schemes will be carried out by whatever next president comes to power unless we the people can deflect them from this insane, murderous plot for global dominance.”

— Dr. Norman Livergood
“The World Dominance Plot”
http://www.hermes-press.com/domplot.htm



Related books

 

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
by Gore Vidal

The American Presidency
by Gore Vidal

A People’s History of the United States:
1492 — Present
by Howard Zinn

Lies My Teacher Told Me:
Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by James Loewen

Dumbing Us Down:
The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto

The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
by Gar Alperovitz

Democracy for the Few
by Michael Parenti

Market Elections:
How “Democracy” Serves the Rich
by Vince Copeland

Corporate Predators:
The Hunt for Mega-Profits and the Attack on Democracy
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

What Uncle Sam Really Wants
by Noam Chomsky

Rogue State:
A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
by William Blum

Killing Hope:
U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since WWII
by William Blum

The Beast Reawakens
by Martin A. Lee

Blackshirts and Reds:
Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
by Michael Parenti

The Sword and the Dollar:
Imperialism, Revolution and the Arms Race
by Michael Parenti

Western State Terrorism
Alexander George, editor; essays by Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Gerry O’Sullivan and others

Terrorizing the Neighborhood:
American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era

by Noam Chomsky
Pressure Drop Press, 1991

Pirates and Emperors, Old and New:
International Terrorism in the Real World
by Noam Chomsky

The Culture of Terrorism
by Noam Chomsky

Apocalypse 1945:
The Destruction of Dresden
by David Irving

The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media:
Decoding Spin and Lies in Mainstream News
by Norman Solomon

War, Lies & Videotape:
How media monopoly stifles truth
edited by Lenora Foerstel; multiple authors

Toxic Sludge is Good for You!:
Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry
by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

from http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/plutocracy/PlutocraticPresidency.html

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