February
2006,
Volume 13 Nr. 33, Issue 201
"Evolution is
Intelligently Designed: Social Darwinism, Silver Spoons, and Our
Emperor’s Call to Arms to Sustain the Rich"
Jason MIller
The State of the Empire
Address
1/31/06
9:12 P.M. EST
The De Facto Tyrant: Thank you all. Mr. Speaker,
Uncle Dick, my Congressional collaborators, my five guaranteed votes
on the Supreme Court, distinguished plutocrats, and the rest of you
wretched plebs we begrudgingly tolerate (because you grease the
wheels of our money-making machine): Today our nation lost a
beloved, graceful, courageous woman who called America to its
founding ideals and carried on a noble dream. Tonight we are
comforted by the fact that my regime is working vigorously to cause
that noble dream to unravel at the seams.
Every time I’m invited to this rostrum, I remind you of the
working class that you have been humbled by the privilege of serving
under the strong and resolute leadership of my cabal. We have
gathered under this Capitol dome in moments of national mourning and
national achievement, but my fellow patricians and I have prospered,
regardless of the state of the rest of the nation. It has been your
honor to give your blood, sweat and tears to further our financial
interests.
In a system of two parties, two chambers, and two elected branches,
there is difference and debate. However, my corrupt, power-hungry
colleagues and I have implemented measures to minimize and even
eliminate that debate. To confront the great issues before us, I
must be empowered as the ultimate authority, unfettered by the
inefficiencies and headaches of answering to an empowered Congress
or Supreme Court. Tonight the state of our Empire is strong---and my
Regime will bleed you and the rest of the world dry to make it
stronger.
In this decisive year, I will continue making choices to erode the
character of our country. I will choose to continue pursuing
fictitious enemies of freedom---rather than ceasing the perpetual
war on terror, which would seriously undermine the profits of many
of my corporate supporters. I will choose to build our wealthy
elites’ prosperity by continuing to facilitate the exploitation of
the workers and resources of other nations---in lieu of putting a
leash on avaricious US corporations, which might expose the
patrician class to loss of income. In a complex and challenging
time, the road to becoming a decent, responsible member of the world
community may seem broad and inviting---yet it ends in danger to the
staggering affluence of my “base” and decline in the influence
of the Empire. The only way to protect our investments, the only way
to secure more money and power, the only way to control our destiny
is through Neocolonialism and military invasion---so the United
States will continue to defy international law, plunder resources,
engage in torture, utilize slave labor, and murder millions of
innocent civilians.
Abroad, our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal---we
seek the end of tyranny in our world by employing our own. Some
dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future
security of our corporatocracy depends on it. On September 11th,
2001, we found that our continued oppression and aggression in the
Middle East could bring murder and destruction to our country
(albeit some say my regime had a hand in the events of that day, but
the world will never know the truth). Dictatorships shelter
terrorists, feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass
destruction. For evidence, look no further than Timothy McVeigh and
Eric Rudolph, Dominionists, and the largest arsenal of nuclear
weaponry in the history of mankind. Every step toward America’s
domination in the world makes our financial position stronger—so
we will act boldly in rapidly concentrating power in the Executive
Branch and in expanding the Empire.
Far from being a hopeless dream, the advance of tyranny under the
guise of democracy is the great story of our time. We’re writing a
new chapter in the story of self-government. Just as we have with
you in America, we will beguile the people of other nations into
believing they are free, when in reality, once one scratches beneath
the surface, their government will be a plutocracy, by the rich, for
the rich and of the rich. Those resisting our spread of
pseudo-democracy, like Syria, North Korea, and Iran, will find
themselves in our cross-hairs.
No one can deny the success of the Empire, but some men rage and
fight against it. And one of the main sources of reaction to our
invasion, murder, and Neocolonialism is radical Islam---the
stereotypical description we use for all Middle Eastern people who
dare to defy our mighty nation. Terrorists like bin Laden are, like
my cabal and me, serious about mass murder. They seek to prevent us
from imposing a heartless system of totalitarian control throughout
the Middle East as we utilize our own arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction.
Our aim is to seize power in Iraq, and use it as a safe haven to
launch attacks against Syria and Iran. Lacking the military strength
to challenge them directly, we will rely upon air strikes, tactical
nuclear weapons, and Israel, the architect of our foreign policy.
While the Terrorists have killed a few thousand, including 9/11,
Spain, and London, we have killed over a hundred thousand in Iraq.
Despite the fact that they were civilians, each of them could easily
have become the next bin Laden. The world is safer without them.
Ina time of testing, we cannot find security by abandoning our oil
and war for profit. If we were to leave the vicious attackers from
the Middle East alone, they would not leave us alone. They have
proven that time and again. Like on 9/11, and...Well....like on
9/11. By leaving radical Islam to work its will, we would signal
that we no longer believe that our radical Christianity is morally
superior, and that the Empire is too weak to continue its expansion.
Our enemies (and two remaining friends) can be certain that the
United States will never surrender in its bid to impose its own form
of evil upon the world. Not on my watch.
We are one of the nations that contributed greatly to the
environment which fostered Hitler. While helping remove him from
power was indeed a noble cause, we used World War II to forge the
military industrial complex and to impose Pax Americana in the
aftermath. We forced a Soviet Union with a much weaker economy into
a nuclear arms race. The Cold War greatly enriched corporate America
while wreaking financial devastation upon many in the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe. In Iraq, we are once again utilizing the
illusion of helping the oppressed to move the world toward perpetual
war.
We remain on the offensive in Afghanistan and continue to ravage a
nation devastated by decades of war. In Iraq, we also remain on the
offensive, oblivious to the cost in human lives. We have a muddled
plan, but will eventually achieve the victory of having crushed
Israel's chief antagonist and controlling Iraq’s vast oil
reserves.
Our work in Iraq is difficult because our enemy is brutal. On the
other hand, we are fighting in a civilized way. Our depleted
uranium, missiles, tanks, cannons, air strikes, and multiple other
means of killing are politically correct and legal. We wear uniforms
and are an organized military, so when we liquidate civilians, it is
not an act of murder, terrorism, or brutality. We are in this fight
to win and will annihilate every human being in Iraq if that is what
it takes. Yet we are noble liberators and the Iraqi resistance
fighters are brutal Terrorists.
In the coming year, I will continue to reach out and seek your good
advice, as long as you agree with me. If you do not, you will be
sharing a cell with Ms. Sheehan, whom they led out of this hallowed
rostrum earlier tonight. Hindsight and second-guessing are
worthless, particularly when they incriminate me as a war criminal.
Therefore, they will not be tolerated.
A sudden withdrawal of our forces from Iraq would save Iraqis from
death and prison. It would also put men who would reject American
and Israeli domination in charge of a strategic country. We must
protect our interests in the region, even if it means the murder of
innocents and bloody sacrifices by our own military.
Our men and women in uniform are making sacrifices to protect the
interests of the wealthy and powerful of America. We have inculcated
a false sense of duty into the minds of our nation's youth, and used
a host of financial enticements and propaganda, to manipulate them
into risking, sacrificing, and sometimes dying to perpetuate our
ugly agenda. We are grateful to the fallen. Without them, men like
Dick Cheney would not enjoy the immense wealth and power he has at
his disposal.
Ultimately, the only way to defeat the Terrorists' dark vision of
hatred and fear is by killing more people than they have and by
pounding the people of the Middle East into submission. The
Palestinian people have voted in elections. Now the leaders of Hamas
must recognize Israel, accept the Apartheid-like conditions imposed
by Israel, disarm, reject terrorism as a tool for themselves but
accept the fact that Israel will continue to act as a terrorist
state, and work for lasting peace by rolling over for Israel and the
United States.
The same is true of Iran. They are a nation held hostage by a small
clerical elite. I admire how those clerics could accomplish such a
feat when we have been unable to do likewise in Iraq, even with
130,000 occupying troops. The Iranian government is defying the
world with its nuclear ambitions, which we have grossly exaggerated
to whip Americans into a frenzy against them. Only the mighty United
States, the world's biggest hypocrite on the issue of nuclear
ambition, gets to determine which nations can be trusted with
nuclear capabilities. We will not permit Iran to obtain nuclear
weapons. Despite the fact that they are years away from having them,
and that their capabilities to harm the United States would be
limited once they got them, America will continue use the
"nuclear card" to evoke a regime change in Iran. If a
nation is not receptive to the plutocratic, capitalistic way of the
Empire, their leadership will be extinguished.
Tonight, let me speak directly to the citizens of Iran: America
wants your oil and sees your nation as a threat to the Empire. We
have had you in our sights since you exiled the Shah and will not
rest until we have installed a ruler friendly to our interests.
Our country must also remain on the offensive against terrorism here
at home. The enemy is lurking around every corner. If you are
approached by an individual of Middle Eastern dissent, do not
hesitate to eye them warily and to report them to the proper
authorities. To aid our superb professionals in law enforcement, and
to continue the erosion of the civil liberties stymieing my bid to
become an outright tyrant, I urge Congress to serve the interests of
the wealthy elite in America by reauthorizing the Patriot Act.
It is said that prior to the attacks of September the 11th, our
government failed to connect the dots of the conspiracy. Do not
interpret my use of the word conspiracy in place of the word attack
to mean that I am admitting that there was a conspiracy involving
members of my cabal. My point is that we now know that two of the
hijackers made telephone calls to fellow conspirators overseas. So
to prevent another attack, I have usurped my executive authority by
authorizing my operatives to spy on American citizens. I did so
without proper authorization from the FISA court under the false
premise that the "War on Terror" has given me unlimited
authority as Commander in Chief. If there are people inside our
country who are dissenting against my Regime, we want to know about
it so we can take advantage of the end of habeas corpus. We have
cells awaiting them at Guantanamo Bay.
To spread our foul money-worshipping, bellicose Empire, we need
friends and allies, beyond Great Britain and Israel. To draw that
support, we must intimidate, bribe, coerce, and extort. The only
alternative is the collapse of a tenuous Empire, whose foundation is
already sinking into a quagmire of $8 trillion worth of debt and the
potential Iranian oil bourse. America's plutocracy is always more
secure when tyranny is on the march.
Our own generation is now engaged in an indefinitely long, nebulous,
and ambiguous "War on Terror"---a war that will be fought
by Presidents of both parties of the corrupt duopoly. We need steady
support from Congress to keep the funding flowing. We need the
support of the working class of America to ensure a steady supply of
young men and women to act as cannon fodder. Together, let us
perpetuate the wealth and privilege of America's ruling class.
Here at home, America's wealthy elite (my base) have a great
opportunity: build the prosperity of our country by expanding the
Empire's economic dominance through the exploitation of the people
and resources of other nations.
Our economy is healthy and vigorous. Over the last two-and-a-half
years, America has created 4.6 million jobs, many of them low-paying
with minimal benefits. This has enabled executives, CEOs, and major
shareholders to profit handsomely at the expense of the working
class. The American economy is the envy of the wealthy elite
throughout the world as we have a working class willingly working
harder for less money, fewer benefits, and less governmental
regulation to protect their rights.
We cannot afford to be complacent. In a dynamic world, we are seeing
a competitor like China, which creates uncertainty because they hold
much of our government's debt my Regime has created. Some say the
government needs to take a larger role in directing the economy by
centralizing more power in Washington and increasing taxes. I have a
better strategy. We will continue deregulating businesses, which
enables them to increase their bottom line as they are decreasingly
concerned about petty issues like employee rights, consumer safety,
and the environment. We will make the obscenely high tax cuts for
the wealthy permanent. Corporate welfare will continue while social
programs for the poor will wither and die. Yes, life is good in the
USA if you are rich.
Every year of my presidency, we've reduced the growth of
non-security discretionary spending. While defense and pork spending
has spiraled out of control (remember our obscenely over-funded
annual military budget of $600 billion and Ted Steven's $1.5 billion
"Bridge to Nowhere"?), last year we cut bills that cut
spending on superfluous programs like Medicaid, student loan
programs and food stamps. My budget will again reduce or eliminate
over 140 of these programs which are performing poorly or not
fulfilling essential priorities. We will continue to increase
spending for the military and Homeland Security, both of which have
performed so well in Iraq and New Orleans respectively.
We must also find a way to apply Grover Norquist's notion of
drowning government in a bathtub by privatizing Social Security. My
friends on Wall Street need and deserve the commissions to be had
through managing Social Security investing. If we do not act to
eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as government
entitlement programs, by 2030 Congress will face the same choices
they face today---regressive tax increases, immense deficits (you
thought $8 trillion was a large debt), or deep cuts in every
category of spending (except defense). Congress did not put Social
Security into the hands of private investors like I wanted last
year. The rising cost of entitlements is not going away, and the
simple fact is that the poor and infirm are entitled to nothing.
Every year we fail to act, the more money we waste on these
inconsequential people.
I will give you a little lip service about tightening America's
borders, but the reality is I will do little or nothing to stem the
flow of illegal immigration from Mexico. These indigents provide my
corporate friends with a labor force comprised of people who can be
intimidated into working for next to nothing.
Some muddle-headed bleeding hearts believe that our government has a
responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly.
We are doing our best to undermine those programs, as evidenced by
cuts in Medicaid spending and the new Medicare prescription drug
program.
We will strengthen health savings accounts, which will encourage
employers to abandon offering health care coverage to their
employees, thereby eliminating an unnecessary hindrance to corporate
profit. And because lawsuits are driving too many good doctors out
of practice--leaving too many OB-GYNs unable to practice their love
with women all across this country---I ask Congress to further
impede the consumer's ability to file lawsuits if they are
victimized by medical malpractice.
America is addicted to oil. My family and friends arise each day and
thank God for this fact. Unfortunately, oil is often imported from
parts of the world which have not embraced the ways of the Empire,
like the Middle East. The best way to handle that problem is through
military intervention. That way corporations like Halliburton (which
services both the defense and petroleum sectors) can continue to
enjoy unprecedented profits. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10
billion to develop alternative energy sources, but that was merely
to appease those idiotic environmentalists, some of whom actually
believe Global Warming is occurring. Exxon Mobile logged earnings of
$36.13 billion in 2005, the largest profit in US history. You live
in a fantasy world if you think we are truly seeking to overcome our
petroleum addiction.
Despite the fact that the No Child Left Behind initiative has
further reduced public education's emphasis on critical thinking and
analysis while heightening its focus on rote memory and test-taking,
I am committed to maintaining the illusion that America leads the
world in human talent and creativity. Tonight I announce an American
Competitiveness Initiative, to ensure the preservation of our
economy to the extent that the upper .1% can continue to prosper.
While leaving a majority of American students with dulled intellects
to lessen the possibility that they will challenge the ruling elite
(and to provide Wal-Mart with a work-force), we will develop a
select few in the areas of math and science. The humanities
encourage independent, critical thought and an examination of
history, society, and politics which could lead to dissent against
our tyranny, so those subjects will be de-emphasized. The math and
science are essential skills for those we will use to staff the
military industrial complex.
America is a great force for exploitation, immediate gratification,
xenophobia, and unbridled greed. Our greatness is measured in power
and luxuries, not in how we treat people. We strive to appear
compassionate, decent and hopeful as we execute our narcissistic,
malevolent, and avaricious agenda.
In recent years, America has become a nation based on the theory of
Social Darwinism. The prison industrial complex is thriving, with
non-violent drug offenders doing hard time while "white
collar" corporate executives who have fleeced shareholders and
employees of billions do short stints in country clubs. Welfare
cases have dropped thanks to significant cuts to entitlement
programs. The gap between the rich and the poor in America has
widened to a chasm. There have been fewer abortions, and it is
likely to be a short time before abortion will again be relegated to
back alley butchers.
These gains represent a quiet transformation--a devolution of
conscience. My Regime has played a huge role. Wise programs such as
tax cuts for the wealthy and deep cuts to programs benefiting the
most vulnerable members of our society have seriously eroded the
character of our country. And we are proud of that record!
And many Americans, especially our own religious radicals amongst
the Domionists and Religious Right, still have deep concerns about
the direction of our culture. They are deeply alarmed by threats to
their fragile psyches as they desperately cling to their
heterosexuality, terrified that they might actually discover they
are gay. Activist judges threaten to legitimize the sin of
homosexuality by allowing the abomination of gay marriage.
To ensure that the legislating that does occur from the bench is
slanted toward archaic moral principals (i.e. rigidly defined sexual
roles), property rights over human rights, profit over humanity and
the environment, and the concentration of power into the Executive
Branch (my hands), the Supreme Court now has two new members. Please
welcome Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito. They are
here to ensure the further erasure of progressive gains made
throughout the Twentieth Century.
Today marks the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Good
riddance to her. Her vote was far too unpredictable.
A society resting on the premise of Social Darwinism disregards the
public trust. The members of my Regime are Machiavellian adherents
to the philosophies of Leo Strauss. For people like us, and for our
friends in corporate America like Ken Lay, ethics and morals are
impediments to our success. It is necessary that we strive to give
the appearance of adhering to them. Our society would not function
if the working class did not buy into their value, but the reality
is that for the elite, they are mere hindrances. Our challenge is to
achieve our goals through grossly unethical conduct while creating
the appearance of propriety.
A society in which the rich prey upon the poor does not come to the
aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency. That is
why we allowed 1500 to die in New Orleans and hundreds of thousands
to scatter to the wind in a diaspora unparalleled in American
history. So far the federal government has committed $85 billion to
the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, and you can
bet we won't waste it on poor, non-whites. Corporate America and my
rich cronies will be the beneficiaries of this largess.
Social Darwinists leave fights against diseases like HIV to
faith-based groups and churches. Due to their irresponsible behavior
and drug addictions, the largest segment of American society
infected with HIV is African American. We will not pay for their
ignorance.
My Regime is calling you to continue waging war against humanity.
History is turning a wide arc, toward the shore described in the
Project for the New American Century. The destination of history is
determined by human action, and you are either with us, or against
us, as we strive vigorously to attain global hegemony.
Lincoln could have accepted peace at the cost of disunity and
continued slavery (which, come to think of it, would not have been
such a bad thing). Unfortunately, Martin Luther King did not stop at
Birmingham or at Selma, which has necessitated the appointment of
Roberts and Alito. The United States is complicit in the oppression
of others, but it is for a noble cause: the continued prosperity of
our plutocracy. Having come this far in enhancing our abundance, we
must decide, will we turn back, or finish wealthier?
Before history is written in books, it is written in courage. While
my Regime lacks courage, we have an abundance of deceit, cunning,
and motivation to expand the Empire. We will lead tyranny's advance.
We will dominate the globe. We will renew the defining Social
Darwinism which slipped away at the close of the Gilded Age. And so
we move forward--optimistic about our increased opportunities to
expand our riches and confident of the profits to come.
May God bless America's plutocracy!
(Essayist's Note to Credit the Author of the Actual State of
the Union Address: I acknowledge that fragments of Bush's
actual speech are interwoven throughout my version presented above).
Jason Miller is a 39-year-old activist writer with a degree in
liberal arts. When he is not spending time with his wife and three
sons, researching, or writing, he is working as a loan counselor. He
is a member of Amnesty International and an avid supporter of Oxfam
International and Human Rights Watch. He welcomes responses at willpowerful@hotmail.com
or comments on his blog, Thomas
Paine's Corner.
©
2006
Jason
Miller
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