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Regardless of Who's Elected, Imperial Corruption Rules the Nation (Charles Hugh Smith)
Of Two Minds Blog ^ | September 9, 2022 | Charles Hugh Smith

Posted on 11/10/2022 6:40:12 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin

But in the meantime, enjoy the political theatrics down on the sand-strewn floor of the Coliseum.

While the much-touted differences between America's political parties get obsessive, hysterical attention, the sameness of Imperial corruption, waste and squalor regardless of who's in power gets little notice. Scrape away the differences--mostly in domestic issues--and we see the dead hand of Imperial Corruption is on the tiller.

The core of Imperial Corruption is the disconnect between the nation's ideals of representational democracy and open markets and the sordid reality: elites serve their interests by corrupting both democracy and open markets.

Unfettered democracy and markets cannot be controlled by a tiny, self-serving elite. Stripped of corruption, democracy and markets are free-for-alls that are constantly evolving, as highly adaptive islands of coherence coalesce that influence the quasi-chaos, competing with other islands of coherence but never gaining dominance due to the open-ended dynamism of collaboration-competition that is the beating heart of both democracy and open markets.

The only way to control democracy and markets to serve the interests of the few at the expense of the many is to corrupt them completely by destroying the dynamism of collaboration-competition. Democracy is replaced by an auction of political power to the highest bidder that rewards cronies and devotes all its resources not to solving the nation's problems but to whipping up conflagrations of divisiveness and partisan hysteria that wash away the middle ground where problems can actually be addressed.

This crippling of the nation's ability to actually solve difficult problems serves the interests of self-serving elites whose sole interest is accumulating personal wealth and power. Their proclaimed interest in solving the nations' real-world problems are fraudulent tissues designed to hide the putrid reality that all their so-called "solutions" distill down to sluicing huge sums of state money to cronies and campaign contributors under the guise of "solving problems."

The only "problem" America's elites know how to solve is the "problem" of how to get personally richer while tightening their control of the nation-state's vast flood of (taxed / borrowed) money. Cronies and contributors get tax breaks hidden in 1,000-page legislation and overflowing rivers of money (here's looking at you, Big Pharma, Big Defense, Higher Education, Sickcare, et al.).

America's elites are masters at misdirection and distraction: it's always the other side's fault that the nation is sliding down the wrong side of the S-Curve. The elites don't really care which side is in power, as they control them both to serve their own interests.

But something funny happens on the way to gaining control of complex emerging systems: that control destroys the system's self-correcting mechanisms and adaptability. Rigging the system to serve one's own interests destroys the system's ability to adapt to changing circumstances and selective pressures/

Once a system has been crippled to serve the interest of an elite, when forced to adapt or die, it can only die as its mechanisms of adaptation were destroyed by the power-grab of eleites. An economy dominated by a handful of cartels and quasi-monopolies is an economy that is doomed to slide into the dustbin of history, as cartels and monopolies "win" by crushing competition and competing islands of coherence, as competition threatens their profits and control of markets and governance, a.k.a. "democracy."

Any system that serves the interests of the few by choking off adaptability and the dynamisms of a free-for-all churn lacks the tools needed to avoid systemic collapse. By enabling elites to organize the nation to serve their personal interests, America has been stripped of the dynamics needed to adapt. Without these dynamics, collapse is the only possible outcome.

But in the meantime, enjoy the political theatrics down on the sand-strewn floor of the Coliseum. While Imperial Corruption undermines what's left of the nation's ability to adapt fast enough and successfully enough to survive what lies ahead, we can cheer the "winners" of the bloodsport and ignore the winds of disorder sweeping the land.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: election; government; opinion; politics

1 posted on 11/10/2022 6:40:12 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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To: All

“This crippling of the nation’s ability to actually solve difficult problems serves the interests of self-serving elites whose sole interest is accumulating personal wealth and power. Their proclaimed interest in solving the nations’ real-world problems are fraudulent tissues designed to hide the putrid reality that all their so-called ‘solutions’ distill down to sluicing huge sums of state money to cronies and campaign contributors under the guise of ‘solving problems.’”

Think he’s wrong? Think hes an alarmist? He’s not.

Apply the above statement to: The War on Poverty, The War on Drugs, Illegal Immigration, Homelessness, Healthcare, Money Supply, the Economy, The Green Energy Scam, CovidBS-19, Energy Independence, Clean Elections...you get the picture.

Our ‘betters’ and their cronies ARE making money off of all of their ‘solutions.’ Bank on it.


2 posted on 11/10/2022 6:45:12 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Tytler-cycle
3 posted on 11/10/2022 6:50:09 AM PST by dynachrome (“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

We are not a Democracy. Nor are we a Republic. We are an Oligopoly. Try these eye openers:

https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/oligopoly/
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trojan-horse-presidency

Eisenhower feared the Military-Industrial Complex, and that is what we have now. Political Republicans or Democrats are part of the Uni-party Oligopoly and serve the same masters.


4 posted on 11/10/2022 6:50:18 AM PST by silent majority rising
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To: dynachrome

Hard Times make Good Men
Good Men make Good Times
Good Times make Weak Men
Weak Men make Hard Times <— You are here


5 posted on 11/10/2022 6:51:07 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

The “There all the Same” argument is rather simplistic, though. Trump was NOT the same. MAGA is NOT the same. In fact, it is Populist and counter to the elites.

The difficulty is in identifying and supporting those NOT the same. There are some on the Right and possibly one or two on the Left.

I am not sure that the author isn’t arguing that we should not look.


6 posted on 11/10/2022 6:54:46 AM PST by Empire_of_Liberty
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To: Empire_of_Liberty

Blogger is a retired university professor of accounting, and a regular contributor to AOL. That ought to raise a few blue flags. His free use of the term “democracy” or “representative democracy” in classifying the U.S. also puts him in the strange company of public figures on the left who repeatedly and historically insist upon regurgitating this particular lie so often and with such regularity that it is eventually accepted as truth by the unwashed masses.


7 posted on 11/10/2022 7:03:25 AM PST by 4Runner
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

If you solve a problem, then you can’t campaign on it in 2 years. That is why all of DC was totally against Trump, he campaigned on solving big problems and set about to do just that. The first budget, R’s were in charge of, no money for the border wall, I saw it so clear in that move by the uniparty.


8 posted on 11/10/2022 7:20:31 AM PST by thirst4truth (America, What difference does it make?)
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To: thirst4truth

Exactly.


9 posted on 11/10/2022 7:22:09 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

This is a case for dismantling the deep state. In a perfect world, at the next opportunity, ALLLLL career government employees in DC are laid off and must re-apply for their jobs. I don’t see another way, and this one is unlikely.


10 posted on 11/10/2022 8:10:12 AM PST by viewfromthefrontier
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

After reading the whole article I didn’t see anywhere his solution to whatever is the problem he describes.

Can anyone here succinctly educate me?


11 posted on 11/10/2022 9:54:09 AM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how thery control you. )
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To: aquila48

“The only way to control democracy and markets to serve the interests of the few at the expense of the many is to corrupt them completely by destroying the dynamism of collaboration-competition. Democracy is replaced by an auction of political power to the highest bidder that rewards cronies and devotes all its resources not to solving the nation’s problems but to whipping up conflagrations of divisiveness and partisan hysteria that wash away the middle ground where problems can actually be addressed.”

I don’t think he’s so much trying to SOLVE things; he’s just stating that the way things are now, most problems ARE unsolvable, and that won’t change until we get rid of the corruption of our ‘betters.’

At least, that’s what I took away from this opinion piece.


12 posted on 11/10/2022 11:29:11 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Seems to me that writing a long article pointing out that there’s a lot of corruption in politics, is like writing a long article to point out that water is wet.

Everyone knows both things - don’t need a long article. What would be much more interesting is if he told us his ideas on how to get rid of corruption in politics or anywhere else.


13 posted on 11/10/2022 7:34:49 PM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how thery control you. )
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Go Trump and The Republic ☑️

vs

Executive Order 12631


14 posted on 11/10/2022 7:36:42 PM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite prayer warriors. 10.5.6.5)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

The “tax” market rose over +1000 today

Go Trump and The Republic ☑️

vs

Executive Order 12631


15 posted on 11/10/2022 7:38:00 PM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite prayer warriors. 10.5.6.5)
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To: aquila48

By electing Trump.

The Darkness Kingdom thieves hate him.


16 posted on 11/10/2022 7:40:08 PM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite prayer warriors. 10.5.6.5)
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To: Varsity Flight

Yep. The market LIKES less Socialists in power.

I’ll take that Red Wave that the Enemy Media is trying to convince us didn’t happen! :)

I was surprised to see PMs heading north, again. They’ve been in the worst doldrums I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Win/Win! :)


17 posted on 11/11/2022 5:34:02 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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