No. I’m not talking about a do-it-yourself lobotomy. I am, however, speaking of something with about the same level of difficulty – taking control of the government away from the oligarchs, the career politicians and the corporations.

That seems like a nice little project to keep us busy for a few weeks.

Am I a committed revolutionary? Am I a delusional idealist? Am I a disgruntled geezer? Well, . . .

First An Apology

It may appear that I have been among the missing for a couple of weeks. Life is messy. My wife fell and broke her arm in three places. An aunt died and a new granddaughter was born. An upgrade of the blogging software created some problems, for which a jury-rigged solution has been found.

Some may suspect that I harbor some tendencies usually described as OCD. I signed up for ancestry.com about 3 weeks ago. I have already exceeded 900 people on my own family tree and 465 on my wife’s. One strand has reached as far as 1370, to Salisbury, England, famed as the location of Stonehenge. I thought I remembered when we were building it.

I am writing this from Fall Creek Falls, Tennessee’s nicest state park. It may seem ill-advised to come to a place so named when my wife was the 6^th of 7 members of her family to fall within a period of less than 3 weeks. But, it’s her family’s annual reunion.

Back To Matters At Hand

It costs tons of money to keep getting reelected. Congressmen spend more time raising money for their reelection than for any other purpose. Who has the greatest amount of disposable funds? Corporations. You cannot help but feel an obligation to the one who owns you. You and I get left out of the game.

People say we can just vote them out. That’s theoretically true. However, the primary factor in how people vote is name recognition. Next comes party affiliation. Other factors include personality, looks and other such important considerations.

It would be nice to have legislation providing for term limits. That is not going to happen. The pigs will not limit their time at the trough.

First we need a simple stratagem. Then we need to identify our allies, actual and potential. These are key. Let’s take the latter first.

Enemies and Friends

The hue and cry of recent political campaigns has everyone thinking that the tea partiers are off to one side of the spectrum and the progressives are on the other. And never the twain shall meet. Hold on. Don’t jump to conclusions, particularly the obvious ones.

The political divisions that are generally accepted are artificial. They were designed to keep us busy chasing chimera. They were structured to ensure that there appeared to be no solution to our lack of power.

There are many possible political positions. Disagreements do not always mean that the parties to a disagreement are thereby mortal enemies. The powers-that-be have told you that these petty disagreements are of paramount consideration. This is untrue. This is done to distract you from the fact that we share, or should share, unifying principles that dwarf those that get our undies in a wad about.

With all of the matters over which we express dissention, we ignore the unifying element. And it is?

There is a basic division. There has been since the begnnings of civilization. There have been those with power and those who have been the victims of that power. Any progress on the spectrum of civilization is measured in terms of how much say-so the people have over their own fates.

Is the result of the exercise of power always bad? In the hands of one or a few, very seldom is it otherwise. Once upon a time there was an historian named John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, (1834–1902). He was known simply as Lord Acton. In a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887 he expressed a sentiment you have likely heard many times, at least in part: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men. It is a difficult proposition to dispute.

You may use money to clothe your body, fill your belly, provide shelter or a trip to Disney World. But, how many clothes can one wear? How much can one eat. How many houses can you use? There are practical limits on how much money one can spend to provide the necessities. Even Bill Gates would have trouble spending all of his money on Mickey Mouse t-shirts and ears.

Corporations have even more money. When you have more than you can spend to gratify your needs and sate yourself in pleasure, you look for another outlet. That usually exhibits itself as a desire for power. Money can be converted to power.

There are quite a few wealthy people with infantile personalities who only see money as a means of keeping score in the silly little game they play. Most of these are found to gather around Wall Street. Those who are slightly more advanced crave power. It is also the sign of a stunted personality but marginally more complex than simple addition.

All developed societies also have a sub-class of people who have personality disorders centered around diseased egos. These people rarely have sufficient disposable funds to transmute into power but they are willing to grovel at the Berluti Rapiécés Reprisés- or Prada-clad feet of the self-styled Masters of the Universe. They are frequently called politicians; sometimes prostitutes.

The oligarchs, the corporations and the politicians are the enemy. Getting rid of the influence of the oligarchs and corporations simply requires ridding ourselves of the scourge of career politicians.

Who are our allies? Everyone else. You mean those funny people screaming at the politicians and cameras that  wear tea bags as earrings? You mean those bleeding-heart matrons and self-important college kids who should be studying? Yes and yes. How can that be?

Let’s get down to basics. It may be that the government is too big. It may be that the government is not doing enough for us. It may be both, but that is not the point. The point is not the size or involvement of the government.

The problem is that government is not responsive. It is not responsive to our needs or our wishes. It ignores us except for the incessant blather intended to rile us up or quiet us down, depending on the immediate needs of the masters or their flunkies.

It sometimes seems that almost everyone uses the term populist with their own special meaning. The media and many politicians spit it out as though it were some foul-tasting excrement. Some associate it with whatever  the unwashed are saying. Few ascribe to it any element of nobility.

There are two interest groups. The people and those who wish to exert power over the people. Populism is politics that favors the interests of the people. Politics that favors the interests of the other side are sometimes called corporatists. Benito Mussolini defined corporatism and fascism as the combination of corporate power with the power of the state.

Listen closely to the stances of the people who are the angriest. Anger reduces ones analytical powers. You see someone having been screwed out of his retirement savings by corporate thieves and/or financial parasites mouthing the talking points of the politicians and media mouths that owe their livelihoods to those selfsame thieves and parasites. Couched in colorful language, it is gobbled hook, line and sinker by its victim.

Oh. We need to leave it to the “free market.” As if they could define or recognize a free market, even if one existed. Prayer in the schools, sex education, anything to distract or manipulate the people. Those are not what we should be bothering with; certainly not being divided by. That is what the powers-that-be intend.

Hell, we have two major wars and numerous smaller fires that need to be put out. We have 10 million unemployed. We have an environmental and economic disaster in the Gulf. We have real problems while career politicians try to score points against each other instead of solving them.

Family purchasing power reached its peak in 1973. Even with a slight uptick in the 1990s, the trend for nearly 40 years has been down. Is that the fault of the Democrats or of the Republicans? Yes.

Since 1981 we have gone from the world’s biggest exporter of finished goods to the world’s largest importer; from largest importer of raw materials to the largest exporter. We have gone from the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation. Is that the fault of the Democrats or of the Republicans? Yes.

Is our infrastructure important to you? Do you know how old it is? Sink holes in Florida or steam pipes exploding on the streets of Manhattan, you have no idea where the next failure will happen. Who didn’t invest enough in infrastructure, Democrats or Republicans?

Who’s been screwing you? The corporations, the oligarchs, the politicians, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Tea Party, the liberals, the conservatives are all working very hard to screw you, and most of you aren’t even that attractive. The person out there under the banner of the Tea Party has much, much more in common with the college student who campaigned for Kucinich than either has with any of the corporatists or their flunkies.

The Strategy

Now that we know who our friends and enemies are, what do we do? How do we do it? It is even simpler than it sounds.

Vote against every incumbent. That means for the Senate, for the House of Representatives, for your state legislature, for judge, for sheriff, for city council, for county commission, for any position that attracts career politicians and is not term-limited. I did not list the presidency, as it is term-limited. The same is the case for governor of most states. You are more than welcome to vote against them too, but they are less critical.

Does that mean you should vote for a Democrat because there is a Republican in office? No. Vote for a different Republican in the primary, if you still believe it makes a difference. It is important to get incumbents out, regardless of the party.

Will this result in a different balance in the legislatures. Possibly. Probably, but not significantly, even if there were a real difference. Keeping or getting rid of a party is not the issue. Such thinking is based on the bull they have been feeding the public for generations.

Admittedly, it is, it will be, difficult to break the intellectual bonds but it is absolutely necessary. Keep focused on the goal, the real goal.

You may have a particular incumbent that you are fond of. He may deserve your positive feelings or he may not. It doesn’t matter. Are there any incumbents who can be described as good guys? Possibly. It doesn’t matter.

The purpose is not to get rid of the bad guys. The purpose is to change the way we do the public business. The purpose is to break the death grip that corporations have on the government. Will there be casualties? It is likely there will be a few nice guys lose an office. Is that vital? No, but accomplishing the goal is as vital to the survival of our society as any issue before us.

Even nice guys don’t own the seat they hold. We own it. We can find other nice guys to sit there.

There is another consideration here. While polls show public approval of the Congress to be in the teens, almost all incumbents are reelected. Why? Because it is easier to blame some faceless congressman from several states away. Your congressman has name recognition. He belongs to the right party for your area. He is probably personable. But, the odds are he has sold you out. You don’t really know. And, once again, it doesn’t matter. Get rid of him.

What this accomplishes is sending a message. We are the government. Elected officials must serve our interests. Failure to do so will guarantee replacement. Getting rid of even a few good guys will show that we are serious; we are united.

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Pew Research has come out with a new poll. I know it’s difficult to believe but people complain of big government.

Only 22% feel that big government is acceptable. Would you like to be in that elite group? Would you care to guess where my sympathies lie?

I would appreciate you reading this post and letting me know not just where you stand but whether this caused you to reassess the issue to any extent.

First allow me to confess. I have been audited three times. Once they discovered it was a clerical error and that they owed me more than what they had claimed I owed them. Another time I went to tax court sans attorney and my bill was reduced by a little more than half. The last time they wanted to avoid tax court and negotiated an amount that was almost reasonable.

You really get to experience the power of the government through the auspices of the IRS. I know that, had our resources and power been comparable, I would have not had to pay any extra those last two times. As the song goes, you have to know when to fold them.

I also had the opportunity to experience the power of the government as meted out by sergeants in general and one captain in particular. The captain denied me the right to marry. He ignored the evidence of the Korean ceremony we had as an option after his denial. His actions meant that the only time I saw my wife in the following three years was when I paid for a trip as a civilian to marry again in the American Consulate.

My wife was pregnant when I was shipped home ahead of schedule and my son died without me ever having seen him. I don’t imagine too many members of the Tea Party have more reason than I to be concerned about the power of big government.

After fifty years my perspective on the subject is somewhat less the prisoner of passion than formerly. I am aware that there are dangers. I am aware that there are abuses. But, I am also aware that the issue is not as simple as one person’s subjective experience.

You have probably heard of the SEC bringing fraud charges against Goldman Sachs this past week. Although Senator Dodd says the financial reform bill he is putting together would have kept that fraud from occurring, many say that the government has all along had the tools to remedy that problem. If that is the case, one might think that the problem to this point is not that the government was not sufficiently large but that there was at least one part of the government that was not doing its job.

I imagine that I would find many agreeing that if the government already has the size and the tools to accomplish its obligations we might be well-advised not to be precipitous in enlarging it. That really isn’t a tough call.

If as they say, the government has the tools to protect us from Wall Street, do they really have the size? One case against the financial industry may require reading hundreds of thousands of emails and a host of other documents. It requires battalions of forensic accountants. It requires specialized legal teams. With the scope of the problem, one case at a time would be analogous to trying to empty an ocean one thimble full at a time. The SEC must be greatly enlarged.

It would help to give the SEC as much authority as the FDA. The FDA fails to use its authority on behalf of consumers but that is due to the relationship its staff and executives have with the industry. That needs to be rectified. Just making the SEC larger and giving it greater authority is insufficient. We have to demand they protect the right segment of our society.

What authority should we give the SEC? One way to cut down on the need for unlimited staff would be to re-engineer the front end of the system. We should prohibit the financial industry from offering any new products without permission. This is at least the supposed policy of the FDA. Such a policy could have prevented Credit Default Swaps and other forms of derivatives. Or, it could have insured that the government knew they were coming, what they were, understood the dangers and imposed real regulations and rules.

The issue of enhancing our protection from the Wall Street mafia seems to find that rare commodity, bipartisan support. We expect to find substantial agreement that a large military comes in handy, when it is not being used as a police force. There are obviously other areas that require a government with sufficient resources to serve and protect us. Think mine safety inspectors, food inspectors, port inspectors, et al.

There admittedly are areas that could be run with fewer people. At least 60% of our prison population is due to nonviolent drug offenses. You don’t always get to see or recognize the money and other resources being spent on this. It clogs our courts. It consumes law enforcement resources and manpower. One of every four prisoners in the world are in U.S. prisons. Are we that bad as a people? Or, do we always vote for whoever is ‘toughest on crime?’

I am certain that you know of other areas of need for big government and other areas where it could be reduced.

Some government services actually bring us social and financial benefits. The state parks system in Tennessee has been voted the best in the nation. A recent study found that for every dollar the state spent on this system it saw a return of $16. So, what do we do? Do we listen to Blue Dog Democrats and Republican fiscal conservatives and cut the parks budget? We shouldn’t but to them such a government service is considered low-hanging fruit. Cut. Cut. Cut.

It isn’t as simple as ‘the government is too big.’ Nor is it a simple ‘the government needs more resources.’ It’s both. It’s neither. Government is complex. And, it is not going away; nor should it. We have the responsibility to decide where government can serve us and where we need it to butt out. We can’t do this to our best advantage with ideologies, slogans and shouting at each other.

With well over 300 million souls to be responsible for, one shouldn’t expect a small government. With a society as complex as ours is, we need services. With all of the dangers we face, in our local and national security, mad cow disease, botulism, Wall Street, internet and other fraud, medicines that kill, increasing stress that affects and endangers us, Toyotas and all of the rest, we will frequently find a place for government.

As I’ve stated in previous posts, the present economy doesn’t inspire us as individuals to go on a spending spree. Neither does it have that effect on businesses. Local and state governments are cutting back, adjusting to greatly reduced revenues. The economy needs stimulation. People need jobs. The federal government is the only entity with the resources to do that.

It would have been nice if we hadn’t partied so hardy on credit when the economy was in better shape. We would have less of a problem accepting temporary but necessary deficits to help us ride out the hangover. We could have a 10-year recession as Japan did or we can bite the bullet and pay for our economic sins.

Much of the Tea Party thrust is for small government. They are puppets. Most all of the behind-the-scenes organization for this phenomenon is being paid for by big money interests. They want distraction from actually dealing with our problems. They want a government that has not the resources to police their activities. I wish these people in their tri-corner hats and parading around with misspelled signs would take a break – take time to think. They don’t have any solutions. They have slogans and cant.

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The astronauts had their Tranquility Base on the Moon’s Mare Tranquillitatis. They wouldn’t share so I had to find one for myself. It is Buzzard’s Roost in Tennessee’s Fall Creek Falls State Park. And no, it wasn’t named for me.

Once again it’s time to veg out and gain some more weight. How else will I justify a new wardrobe?

I’m off in the morning for the annual nine days at the park. At more than 25,000 acres it is easily the state’s largest. It sits up on the Cumberland Plateau. That’s usually good for 5-8 degrees of relief from the Summer’s heat. I think that, being at a higher elevation, it is slightly further from Hades.

I know it sounds as though I will be enjoying a quite, peaceful, bucolic week staring at sunsets and shooing away hordes of Whitetail deer. If you were wondering, I have no intention of getting up in time to see any sunrises. I’m trying to take a temporary break from my alarm clock, which is otherwise set at 4:50 a.m. every morning.

All of that nonsense about peace and quiet doesn’t account for the fact that this is the annual reunion of my mother-in-law’s family. It rarely attracts more than 75 people. For the week I will respond to anyone calling out for Mr. Sheila.

But, what really disrupts the quietude is the July Fourth Parade. This is a tradition in the park of long standing. The parade is led by an antique fire engine. This may account for the direction in which the festivities have developed over the years. A world-class water fight.

I’m certain that at some point someone was the victim of a small toy water pistol. Waiting a year for revenge it would be natural if the original perpetrator experienced an escalated level of return fire.

The park has an inn, cabins and campsites, for both tents and more expensive quarters. As the parade, composed of those from the inn, cabins and those there for just the day, weaves its way through all of the camping sites, it becomes a non-lethal approximation of World War III.

The campers have the advantage of hoses hooked up to a scattering of faucets. The parade has a number of pickup trucks. In the beds of some of these vehicles are 55-gallon drums fitted with high-powered pumps and sprayers. Even the conscientious objectors need their own super soaker. I have no idea where these come from but they have begun showing up every year, without fail.

I fully intend to write one or two posts while there. Lassitude or revenge may be the motivating factor. Events will decide.

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