There is a widely held and increasingly difficult to believe myth that the three branches of the United States government operate independently from each other, thus acting as checks and balances upon each other. And the reality is that as long as it suits The Empire’s self interest those three branches of government will outwardly appear to operate as directed by the constitution.
But if the supremacy of The Empire is threatened by external or internal forces those very same three governmental branches, either separately or in unison, will act to protect The Empire and its special interests………and the Constitution be damned if it gets in the way. Let me repeat that. The Empire will protect itself from itself, from its own greed, corruption, malfeasance, incompetence and especially from its oppressed and enslaved citizens. It is then that the facade of separation of powers begins to slip and fade away.
For example in decades past the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) affirmed slavery in America and then approved by abstention Abraham Lincoln’s blatantly unconstitutional power grab from the states, only to rule against it after the Civil War had ended and the damage had been done. Incredibly they even ratified the corralling of US citizens of Japanese descent during WW2 and the taking of their property without compensation.
And just recently The SCOTUS confirmed that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, was constitutional because it’s just a little tax after all. Some said this was a surprising decision, but we knew it was a slam dunk because it supported the teetering Empire with additional tax revenue and control of its ‘citizens’. And this doesn’t even begin to cover the actual list of Empire ass covering rulings by The SCOTUS nor does it mention the long list of legislative or executive affronts to ‘We the People’.
Similarly, as long as it suited The Empire the myth was widely propagated that the USA was the land of milk and honey and egalitarianism ran riot in the streets. As long as productivity increases outpaced the cost of gruel and there was still plenty of financial leverage to exploit, the slaves of the nation were fed a steady propaganda diet of shared prosperity for their share of the elbow grease.
This comforting myth was helped along by switching from one wage earner households to two under the guise of equal rights for women and upward mobility for all. In addition, plenty of cool gadgets and baubles were produced and sold (at double the cost plus profit of course, this being the birth place of [crony] capitalism) in order to entertain the debt and wage slaves while carefully disguised, but none-the-less much higher than advertised, inflation ate them alive.
Now that it is no longer in the best interest of the now bloated and corrupt Empire to maintain the facade, the pretty red velvet curtain at the back of the stage is slowly being removed and the crumbling brick wall is exposed for all to see. It’s time to tighten our belts my fellow peons because the elite are having trouble maintaining their year over year double digit increases in wealth.
As many are beginning to realize, the dismantling of the middle class has begun in earnest and the various branches of government are now obviously and blatantly rallying to protect and serve The Empire. This is accomplished using many brilliantly applied techniques such as bait and switch social programs, bread and circuses for the masses, fear mongering for the weak willed and impressionable, nationalistic propaganda, manufactured left/right ideological conflicts and that old standby, good old fashioned subterfuge. Who doesn’t love it when they slop more lipstick on the pig and slap another coat of wet paint on the dry rot?
It was with this firmly in mind that I stumbled across a photo essay in Politico Magazine entitled “18 Photographs That Will Change Your View of Washington”. This was not my fault; I clicked on a link, then another link, then another when suddenly I found myself in the cesspool of Politico Magazine. Upon arriving and realizing I was already knee deep in DC excrement I plunged ahead and clicked away.
What I found after the third or fourth click took my breath away and shocked me in a way I had never quit experienced. I was so startled that I just stared at the image open mouth and mesmerized, not quite believing my eyes, stunned that ‘they’ would do such a thing. At one point I turned to Mrs. Cog in disbelief and begged her to look at my screen and confirm that what I was seeing wasn’t really what I was seeing. Alas, Mrs. Cog verified that while I may be old and senile, my cataracts had not blurred my vision to such an extent that what I thought I was seeing was not.
It seems that the exterior of the Supreme Court building is undergoing what was described as renovations and some scaffolding needed to go up. While it didn’t mention why they do so, it is common practice to place tarps over the exterior of the scaffolding to catch stray dirt and debris. In fact I believe that somewhere in the constitution there is a passage about keeping the Supreme Court Justice’s black robes clean at all costs during remodeling, so the tarps were completely understandable.
What was so alarming to me was the image that had been printed on the tarp which covered the entire depth and breadth of the SCOTUS building. A life size (and anatomically correct) picture of the SCOTUS building facade had been painted on the tarp, which was in turn covering the actual SCOTUS building facade, which itself is just an architectural fantasy and placed there only to project an image of strength, integrity and justice for all. I was staring at a simulation of a simulation of a lie if you will, and at taxpayers’ expense no less. Simply amazing the size balls these guys and gals have.
Personally I suspect they’re looting the place under cover of tarp and when the wraps come off martial law will go up and the ugly brick wall will be fully exposed for all to see. Of course this is precisely when the SCOTUS will spring into action and rule that the final nail driven into the constitution is in fact constitutional precisely because it serves to support The Empire.
It is my understanding that something similar was done to the Washington Monument while they repaired the damage done by God’s wrath, also known as an earthquake. And now I read that the Dome of the U.S. Capital Building is currently undergoing a two year restoration because that too is falling apart at the seams. No word yet on if they will paint a picture of the dome on the Dome, but personally I vote for an image of the Three Stooges instead. It’s so apropos.
01-10-2014
Cognitive Dissonance
P.S. – Don’t you just love this image of some tourists taking a picture of the picture of the SCOTUS facade? It speaks volumes about your average American.
Then again, the above picture is a picture of tourists taking pictures of a picture of the SCOTUS facade. Just where this all ends is anybody’s guess. Cue the hall of mirrors.
<Please, someone take a screenshot of this image and pass it on. It’s the patriotic thing to do. >
