Reasoned and caring civilians worldwide should print out in block letters and post Noam Chomsky’s comments made earlier in the year on the “moral depravity” that permeates the US political landscape. In a fair, just and equitable universe Noam Chomsky would have won more Nobel Peace Prizes then Bill Russel NBA titles. That civilized humanity owes the great linguist our deepest thanks and gratitude is a vast understatement.
Chomsky states “humanity faces two imminent existential threats: environmental catastrophe and nuclear war.” He goes on, “There have been many monsters in the past but it would be hard to find one who was dedicated to undermining the prospects for survival of organized human society, not in the distant future – in order to put a few more dollars in overstuffed pockets.” Noam in noting the massive indifference and actual endorsement of environmental catastrophe and a renewed nuclear arms race contends that the modern Republican Party is indeed the most dangerous political entity in human history.
What may first sound like hyperbole from the great linguist may actually be a vast understatement. Climate catastrophe is rapidly impacting our beloved planet. Our carbonated and dying planet will create refugee crises and mass population exoduses from environmentally ruined regions that will exceed anything ever witnessed in human history. These massive migrations will lead to ever-increasing international tensions that will fuel regionalized hatreds, conflict and inevitable war. Coupled with this dire and impending reality is the US nuclear “modernization plan,” which includes first-strike nuclear options for a myriad of offenses and all of this is occurring at a time when the US has inexplicably pulled out of the Gorbachev-Reagan INF treaty – a treaty that perhaps made human survival possible for the past four decades.
That our current political leadership is morally depraved cannot be debated. Consider the Trump and Republication commitment and dedication to wholesale environmental destruction, their worship of a renewed nuclear arms race and the staggering indifference to our pivotal role in the destruction and genocide of Yemen. The only positive note is that our wholesale contempt for nature, science, the environment and our cheerleading for a renewed arms race may finally lay to rest the damning and toxic hubris of “American exceptionalism.” As a nation we cannot simultaneously bask in reverential awe about our superiority as US citizens while endorsing and supporting a government that is seemingly intent on destroying any and all hopes for the future of mankind.
Noam Chomsky is right. Two horsemen of the apocalypse are approaching in tandem – environmental catastrophe and the growing threat of nuclear war. If there’s ever a time for people to organize, it is now. The only hope we have is organized people globally uniting to offset those forces that are leading humanity to the brink. Despite the enormity of the challenge, I remain confident in the power of citizen solidarity and commitment, a process called democracy in action. We are reminded constantly that our time is finite-as the fires in the Amazon and fires raging across global regions remind us. However, it is not too late.
JIM SAWYER, Edmonds, Wash.
In his 9/1/19 column, “Why Trump May Win,” Wayne O’Leary does his usual fine job, in this case outlining the reasons why Donald Trump, unfortunately, may get re-elected. However, I have a problem with his criticism of Elizabeth Warren’s plan for a more open border.
Sometimes it is a good idea, for clarity and focus, to start with a simple question and see where it leads. (I have a friend who whenever he wants to learn about a new subject finds a children’s book to get started.) My simple question is why can capital and capitalists go wherever they want and labor can’t? As Robert Reich wrote in a recent edition of TPP, US capitalists have long lost any illusions about “national sovereignty,” “border integrity,” the “right to control immigration,” and patriotic loyalty. They go wherever in the world they can make a nice buck and then hide that nice buck from US taxation, wherever in the world they can.
What about labor? The US capitalist ruling class (and all capitalist ruling classes) want their cheap and efficient labor where they can conveniently find it. In theory, if labor could freely go to high wage countries it would lower labor costs there. But to capital that whole scenario would be much too abhorrently unstable, unreliable, chaotic, and unpredictable. Capitalists crave stability, reliability, uniformity and predictability. They don’t like surprises. It would be a much fairer and better world if labor had the right and the power to surprise the s**t out of them.
ED BELLER, The Bronx, New York City
I was disappointed by Ted Rall’s analysis [“The Root Cause of Mass Shootings Is the Rage of Alienation,” 9/15/19 TPP] that we should all be more accepting toward self-identified “incels.” He is excusing misogyny, hatred, and violence on the basis of “sexlessness,” which is patently sexist and founded in nonsense. This is clearly a one-way street: Women do not go around shooting men because they won’t have sex with us, even though the standards for female desirability are severe and damaging.
The problem is not that these young men are “socially awkward” but that they exude rage, resentment, a completely outsized sense of personal privilege, and other “issues” that rightfully scare us off. They don’t need pity dates or f***s. They need therapy. They need to build self-esteem based on something other than toxic masculinity and entitlement.
I agree with Rall that “feeling condemned to a life without love or ... companionship ... sucks” but the truth is that many of us do not and will not have lifelong romantic or sexual relationships and yet we do not turn to violent ends. Instead, we find a way to accept our loneliness and to cherish our loving friendships and other outlets in our lives, because being human is so much more than having sex or being part of a couple. Rall should know that, unless he has fallen victim to our porn- and rom-com-obsessed social conditioning that only couples count.
HOLLY McENTYRE, Southwest Florida
When George W. Bush, to avenge the 9/11 attack, sent troops to Afghanistan, he should have checked how many such arms and ammunition were sent to Afghanistan by his fellow party member, Mr. Ronald Reagan. Mr. Reagan did it to support Mujahadin, who were busy fighting troops sent by the USSR. It was alleged that he had sent shiploads of arm and ammunitions to the Port of Karachi, Pakistan. The Mujahadin (a.k.a. Taliban) threw the USSR forces out and they are using the same weapons to defeat the US Army sent by G.W. Bush. Mr. Trump [says he wants] to end the longest war in the history of US and so far the Talibans are reluctant to share power with Afghan authorities.
G.M. CHANDU, Flushing, N.Y.
The Donald said he would like to buy Greenland. For those who got a D in geography, Greenland is the territory of Denmark. When the Danish prime minister said the idea was “absurd,” Trump’s ego was bruised, and he called the comment “nasty” and decided not to visit.
Not being much of a scholar, Trump is not aware that, according to the dictionary, “absurd” means “contrary to common sense” and “nasty” means “dirty, disgusting, filthy and foul.”
In case we forgot Trump’s dirty, disgusting, filthy and foul conversation with Billy Bush, it’s obvious the Pepsi Cola ad agency didn’t. Observe the commercial “Grab summer by the bottle,” and just in case we don’t get it, a golf ball rolls across the green with the caption, “Playing through.”
Wake up, and don’t get a D in connecting the dots and reading between the lines. Bet he can’t.
FLORA ORMSBY SMITH, Marblehead, Mass.I’m sure, Antonin, that you were just doing a favor for some friends at the NRA when you penned the Heller opinion giving everyone a Constitutional right to guns. I’m sure you never intended to turn America into the mecca for gun deaths. Your efforts have brought mass shootings more frequent than days in the week. Thousands have died from guns, which are basically made to kill, yet are less regulated than cars. I expect if you could come back, you would say, “That’s not what I meant to happen.”
LEE KNOHL, Evanston Ill.
What could demonstrate more vividly the rot of oppression, exploitation and entitlement at the heart of neo-liberal capitalism than the Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell scandal?
ROBERT McALLISTER, Lantana, Fla.I am looking for people who will join me to support candidates for public office who will say now that they are in favor of a MEDICARE FOR ALL plan that would take place in at least four years and would cost at least 10% less per person than what we are spending today.
ELVIN FRANTZ, Buena Vista, Colo.
From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2019
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