Choose a victimless crime (ie: drugs) to blame society’s problems on and punish offenses with ever-lengthening prison sentences. Continue until 1 in 138 (or more) citizens are incarcerated. The prisoners are used as cheap/slave labor and this is extolled as a profit to society at large.
Initiate an undetectable plot to rig future elections for the most powerful seats in government. Proceed with placing yourselves and your friends there.
Begin a massive, unwinnable war a la 1984, that is supported with emotionally charged rhetoric. If possible, institute a draft.
Ensure that the economy is continually dismal yet supports a modicum of survival for most. Ditch any programs that might serve to elevate the weakened and demoralized majority out of overwork, poverty and despair.
Launch a campaign to systematically make the populace believe that blatant lies are the truth. For example, “War is Glorious and Advances Freedom and Peace.” Or “The USA is run by its People.” If done correctly over a number of years, you can now tell your people virtually anything and it will be believed. You could even get away with letting national disaster victims suffer and die for 5 days while you did absolutely nothing.
You now have the power to siphon an entire nation’s money, lives, and children to serve your own nefarious purposes. Thanks a lot, W’s United States of Amerikkka.
Regarding the Op, there are plenty of conspiracy theorists who believe it’s already happened. 'Scuse me while I go do pretty much whatever I want. Within reasonable limits of course.
Well if I recall my Hannah Arendt correctly, the first and most difficult thing you need to do is create an extra-legal space where laws don’t apply and inmates are stripped of all rights and legal status. The first “rightless” individuals could be criminals and widely hated enemies of the state. Expand as necessary.
If you’ve ever spent a few hours in one of the nation’s several hundred treatment facilities that treat chronic abusers of meth, crack, powder cocaine, and/or heroin, it’s hard to agree with your “victimless” assertion.
Wooo! Spanked by Czarcasm! And yes, it is an actual rant against Bush’s America - not disguised at all, poorly or otherwise. And it continues to be my humble opinion. There are some scary things going on these days, for sure.
uglybeech, that’s kind of what I was getting at. Just the fact that 1 in 138 Americans is in jail or prison should be enough to scare and shock everyone, but we’ve gotten so used to a system that creates a rightless (and often voteless) underclass that nobody is raising too big a stink about it.
BUZZER You lost that argument. Right out of the gate. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and guess you mean marijuana and the prison time given casual users. Well, even then you’re wrong. Casual users rarely get jail time and almost never prison time. Unless they’re caught with ounces of the stuff. Your average Joe carrying an eighth is more likely to be hassled than arrested. IF that’s the only thing the cops find.
Now if you’re talking meth as being victimless, you’re either stupid, ignorant, or a meth addict. It’s one of the three. There is no “victimlessness” in meth addiction. Please clarify.
Lyndon Johnson took care of this one. Care to expound on how evil he was? I’d love to finally hear this one. Or did you mean the draft in place today? You’re now being vague in what you’re bitching about this time.
The majority is living in poverty? They’re demoralized? huh. I have faith in Americans and the common (to most) belief that getting your ass out of bed 5 days a week will give you the opportunity to better yourself. Will some work a shit job for low pay? Yes, yes they will. Will they bitch about the station they are at in life? Well, some will. There are always those.
The others will plug away and show they are better than the station they are in. They will show they have the skill or ability to rise above and acheive a better lot in life. Those will show they are of value to enterprise. They will not sit idly by and expect others to care for them.
This is not to say (remember this when you want to rail against this post) that some simply cannot better their situation. There are many. Through mental health, physical health, massive time demands of taking care of family, some simply cannot work a 40 hour week. That is what social programs are for.
Those poor souls are rare. And they are the ones the social programs are intended to help. Not the 23 year old that wants to play with his friends while his kids are left depending on mom to feed them with food stamps. There is a limit to what society has to incur. Nobody is going to help me pay the natural gas bill when winter hits, so don’t give me shit about the poor when I’m also paying for their housing and food. There are many needy families that would envy my station in life. For them, I open my home if needed. Just don’t give me the tired line of people in need because they can’t keep from having hungry kids. Choice, anyone? Choose not to have a kid that needs to be fed if you won’t get a job to pay for the food.
You could also tell people that an evil group of people have guns and send a tank in after them. Just for good measure, make sure you fire-bomb the place. Iraq? Nope, that would be wrong. Waco? Fuck yeah! Kill those heathens! (Just don’t mention the President. It wasn’t Bush, so nothing to worry about)
Children? You’re serious aren’t you?!! It’s all about the children when your argument is so vacuous that it has little value.
Siphoning a nation’s wealth? Where the hell is Clinton, Schumer and Kennedy?!!? I thought they had a modicum of influence. Where is the report of the money being stolen from us? Oh, never mind. I found it on my pay stub. (You know, pay stub. From a working man.)
You’re lashing out because you somehow think everyone should be equal. I have a newsflash for you. In all areas that matter, everyone is equal. It’s just that most don’t want you to dictate the rules of their lives. Most, no matter race, social status or any other label you want to lay on them, want to be left free to make a better life for themselves.
Some want others to take care of them. There’s no changing that and it occurs in all races, nationalities, types of government, etc.
I’d rather focus on those that want to work at bettering themselves, and for those able to put in an 8 hour day but choose not to? Fuck 'em. You tell me why I should pay thier way.
As a fully vetted and voting member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (TM,) I feel the need to chime in.
Tell that to the children of these drug addled individuals, or to the persons who are robbed so that they can support their habits.
I’m sorry, but expalin this to me? Hasn’t it always run that the Cabinet of the executive branch has been filled with flunkies and sycophants (usually with some knowledge of the job at hand?) Since when is this undetectable?
Sooo…to create a fascist military state, you want to grab as many individuals who disagree with you and train them to use weapons? Gee, why didn’t we (the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ™) think of that?
Well, seeing as the US Census states that the poverty rate here in the States is just a hair under 11% for all Americans, I’d love to see where the majority are demoralized and despair (while being overworked and living in poverty.) Or perhaps you’re talking about the majority of persons on welfare who may have to work their way out of poverty and dispair if the programs are ditched? Please clarify. I’m confused as to your meaning here.
Thanks for the hint. The Voting Council of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy ™ has taken into account that “War is Glorious and Advances Freedom and Peace” may not be such a good thing. Instead, we’ll use “War is Hell, but necessairy to Preserve Freedom and Peace. Just ask Hitler!” We’ve also noted that “The USA is Run by its People” is a good idea. Ggurl, you will be given credit for this after voting rights are abolished for all non-Republicans. Or after these pesky elections are phased out. Whichever comes first.
You’re welcome! And for your own sake, remember that it will not be as painful for you when the black van comes in the night if you do not resist.
I’ve got a question for you, ggurl, have you ever been to a prison to talk to any of these 1 in 138 people arrested for victimless crimes?
I have. I go to AA/NA meetings held in prison from time to time. The people in prison for these ‘victimless crimes’ have done larceny, robberies and murder to get the drugs or money for those drugs. Then there is the abuse they have put their families/children through which ranges from merely bad to the unspeakable. Some, to their credit, are seriously seeking help through programs like AA or NA because they want to live better. Some are using the programs to get out on parole. Some are never going to stop using and are proud of it. The vast majority of people with drug problems I have encountered in prison meetings are there for commiting serious crimes against real people. And the reason they did the crime is almost always the drugs, either to get money for more or because they were jacked up and did something really bad to someone.
Of COURSE if a drug user commits a serious crime with a victim they should go to jail. For that crime - not for the drug use. And it’s an incredibly specious argument to say you found a correlation between drug use and violent crime in a prison NA meeting. This is a cohort selected for both their criminality and their drug use! In other words you’re saying that the fact that violent criminals who are also drug addicts claim that drugs “made 'em do it” is enough to implicate other otherwise law-abiding drug user in their anti-social behavior. If they claimed that alcohol made them do it, or their lack of education, or their anger over a breakup - should we criminalize alcohol, ignorance and breakups?
I was actually talking about the prisoners at Guantanamo - clearly an extralegal space of the type Hannah Arendt claimed was essential to fascism - with “rightless individuals” who have no human or civil rights accorded to them and no legal status basically. This isn’t true of standard prisoners in other U.S. prisons.
I strongly agree with you on one issue - though you didn’t emphasize the part I’m going to emphasize. My concern is that revoking the franchise from convicted felons is a dangerous constitutional loophole. (Most states have recently done this.) It gives the government the ability to (wittingly or unwittingly) disenfranchise a specific segment of the population by criminalizing their behavior (or behavior more common in that group) and thereby revoking their right to representation. I think it’s certainly arguable that this is happening to some degree with the african-american population who have had their franchise disproportionately reduced because of a disproportionately high number of drug convictions.
This is such a bullshit argument. I’m sure the children of alcoholics suffer too, but no one’s seriously suggesting criminalizing alcohol consumption any longer. We as a nation learned the lesson that prohibiting consumption of alcohol doesn’t make alcohol or the desire to consume it mystically disappear. One hopes that eventually we’ll learn that lesson with other intoxicating substances too.
Another bullshit argument. If intoxicating substances were legalized and the price (and quality) subject to regulation and control, violent crimes to obtain funds for them would be, if not eliminated, certainly reduced. How many muggings are there to finance alcohol purchases?
Indeed, I’m always surprised at how Bush’s oppressive fascist regime rarely prevents me from doing things.
I’d love to find out from our OP what things she wants to do that Bush is preventing her from doing. Drugs don’t count, they’ve been illegal way longer than Bush has been president, and most people who want to do drugs do them anyway.
I almost let this silliness go. Is Bush fucking Lex Luthor now? Some sort of supervillian who can hatch undetectable plots to rig multiple elections while the opposition is watching like a hawk? You people sound like the Moon Landing Hoax fruitcakes.
The NY Observer described Union Square last week as “A farmer’s market in the north end, a bunch of college kids who are protesting the latest outrage they saw last night in ‘The Daily Show’ in the south end.”
‘The Daily Show’ would never be as unsubtle as the OP, though. It’s like somebody hearing a crazy sidewalk preacher and coming in here yelling we’re all going to hell. Soooo cute.
GGurl, according to your profile you’ll be 38 years old this December. That’s way too old to be thinking like some clueless 20 year old spouting conspiracy theories.