Did anybody notice that capitalism failed?  It finally imploded in 2008, only to be revived by government bailouts.  Of course, it is not polite to mention that capitalism failed, any more than it would be polite to discredit somebody’s religion. And let’s be honest, in this country Capitalism is a religion.

Image: speakingofdemocracy.com

Instead of the Occupy movement, maybe it should be called the Reality Movement. Because at last reality is coming out in the open. More Americans now understand: The 1% own the economy and the politicians, Wall Street got “bailed out”and we got “sold out,” corporations should not be considered people and money is not free speech, the American Dream is no more than a dream, and so on. The corporate media has kept a lid on that kind of thinking, but ultimately couldn’t keep that lid capped.

A number of countries have nuclear weapons. Hell, we have thousands. Israel is believed to have more than a hundred. So why should we be terrified and itching to go to war if Iran might someday have their first?

Libertarians sound sensible on a lot of issues–among them foreign policy and legalizing victimless crimes. But ultimately they seem to me to care more about private property and business than they do people. That is a big reason their appeal will always be limited.

The War on Terrorism has always been overrated.  The worldwide terrorist network was never as dangerous as it was claimed to be. There will always be the threat of a terrorist attack. But the most likely terrorist danger in this country is the lone wolf terrorist. And you don’t need hundreds of billions of dollars in the military budget every year to stop him.

Remember whenever a horrific act of gun violence occurred in this country, a contentious debate on gun control broke out?  If you are young, you probably don’t remember.  Even since Democrats were punished by the powerful NRA in the 1994 election for trying to ban assault-style weapons, lawmakers have been afraid to even mention gun control.