American Elections 6 - Tips for International Followers - Who votes in America?

What the news media and political parties are not telling us about our $5 billion election this year?

Our media and politicians tend to portray the United States of America as the ultimate democracy in the world and have consistently presented us as the defenders of freedom and democracy.

Well I must be confused because nowhere is the word "democracy" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. How could that be?  Come to think of it, no where are the words capitalism or political party mentioned either.

Our government is supposed to be a democracy!

What exactly is the definition of a democracy?

The Cambridge Dictionary - Definition of "democracy"

The belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves.

A country in which power is held by elected representatives.

The Cambridge Dictionary - Definition of "republic"

A country that is governed by elected representatives and an elected leader.

So in a pure democracy power is held by the people directly, while a republic elects representatives to look out for the public interest.  Well let us look at that in light of the current state of American participation in the election of our representatives and leader.

Pythagorean Analysis of Voter reality in America

Total USA Population Today           325,332,205

Total Population under 18                 78,000,000

Total Population 18 and over          247,322,000

Total Eligible Voters 18+                 247,322,000

Total Registered Voters                  142,200,000

Percent                                                            57%

Total Voter Turnout 2012                121,757,000

Percent of Registered Voters                       85.6%

Percent of Eligible Voters                             49.2%

Total Obama Votes 2012                   62,615,406

Percent of Registered Voters                       44%

Percent of Eligible Voters                             25.3%                                                                        

Total Romney Voters 2012               59,100,000

Percent of Registered Voters                      41.5%

Percent of Eligible Voters                            23.9%                                    

Total Eligible Voters not Voting      125,565,000

Percent of Eligible Voters                            50.8%
                                               

Total Leaning Independent                          43%

Total Leaning Democrat                              30%

Total Leaning Republican                            26%                           

Nothing can be more dramatic than the realization that not only do we not have a democracy we do not even have a functioning republic in this the citadel of world democracy.  For perhaps the first time in our history, more Americans refused to participate in the voting process by refusing to register to vote, a consequence of freedom or common sense I suspect.

Our political system has failed to support our constitutional requirements for a republic.  Yet I do not hear a single candidate for either party raise the issue of the disconnect between our political parties and our constitutional rights.

Wake up America!  Better yet, wake up news media and politicians who are ignorant of history and fail to understand the meaning of a republic.  As a last, gasp effort to steer them in the right direction, here is an explanation of the American system of government as envisioned by our founding fathers back before the concentration of power in our news media and political parties.

Is the United States a democracy?  Here is an explanation by ThisNation.com

The Pledge of Alliance includes the phrase: "and to the republic for which it stands." Is the United States of America a republic? I always thought it was a democracy? What's the difference between the two?

The United States is, indeed, a republic, not a democracy. Accurately defined, a democracy is a form of government in which the people decide policy matters directly--through town hall meetings or by voting on ballot initiatives and referendums. A republic, on the other hand, is a system in which the people choose representatives who, in turn, make policy decisions on their behalf. 

The Framers of the Constitution were altogether fearful of pure democracy. Everything they read and studied taught them that pure democracies "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths" (Federalist No. 10).

By popular usage, however, the word "democracy" come to mean a form of government in which the government derives its power from the people and is accountable to them for the use of that power. In this sense the United States might accurately be called a democracy. However, there are examples of "pure democracy" at work in the United States today that would probably trouble the Framers of the Constitution if they were still alive to see them. Many states allow for policy questions to be decided directly by the people by voting on ballot initiatives or referendums.

(Initiatives originate with, or are initiated by, the people while referendums originate with, or are referred to the people by, a state's legislative body.) That the Constitution does not provide for national ballot initiatives or referendums is indicative of the Framers' opposition to such mechanisms. They were not confident that the people had the time, wisdom or level-headedness to make complex decisions, such as those that are often presented on ballots on election day.

Writing of the merits of a republican or representative form of government, James Madison observed that one of the most important differences between a democracy and a republic is "the delegation of the government [in a republic] to a small number of citizens elected by the rest."

The primary effect of such a scheme, Madison continued, was to:

. . . refine and enlarge the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the same purpose (Federalist No. 10).

Later, Madison elaborated on the importance of "refining and enlarging the public views" through a scheme of representation:

There are particular moments in public affairs when the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for measures which they themselves will afterwards be most ready to lament and condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary will be the interference of some temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order to check the misguided career and to suspend the blow meditated by the people against themselves, until reason, justice and truth can regain their authority over the public mind (Federalist No. 63).

In the strictest sense of the word, the system of government established by the Constitution was never intended to be a "democracy." This is evident not only in the wording of the Pledge of Alliance but in the Constitution itself which declares that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government" (Article IV, Section 4).  Moreover, the scheme of representation and the various mechanisms for selecting representatives established by the Constitution were clearly intended to produce a republic, not a democracy.

To the extent that the United States of America has moved away from its republican roots and become more "democratic," it has strayed from the intentions of the Constitution's authors. Whether or not the trend toward more direct democracy would be smiled upon by the Framers depends on the answer to another question. Are the American people today sufficiently better informed and otherwise equipped to be wise and prudent democratic citizens than were American citizens in the late 1700s? By all accounts, the answer to this second question is an emphatic "no."

Note Data Source for statistics: U.S. Bureau of the Census. "Projected Population by Single Year of Age (0-99, 100+), Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States: July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2060." Released December 2014. Web-based data files available at:

http://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2014/downloadablefiles.html

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American Elections 5 - Tips for International followers - Why Americans struggle to understand radical Islamic terrorism

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According to The New American Encyclopedic Dictionary, "An Exhaustive Dictionary of The English Language Practical and Comprehensive published by J. A. Hill & Company of New York in 1906, "bias" of things not material is defined as: "The state of mentally or morally inclining to one side; inclination of the mind, heart or will; that which causes such an inclination, leaning or tendency."

In Crabb: English Synonyms, Crabb thus distinguishes between bias, prepossession, and prejudice: "Bias marks the state of the mind; prepossession applies either to the general or particular state of the feelings, prejudice is employed only for opinions. Children may receive an early bias that influences their future character and destiny. Prepossessions spring from casualties; they do not exist in young minds. Prejudices are the fruits of a contracted education. A bias may be overpowered, a prepossession overcome, and a prejudice corrected or removed. We may be biased for or against; we are always prepossessed in favor, and mostly prejudiced against.

Is there is a bias in America based on suspicion of the intent of the Muslim people's of the world and is it based on the history and modern actions of the Muslim world, in particular the actions of the mainstream Muslim factions. The majority of Muslims belong to one of two denominations, the Sunni and the Shi'a.

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, in Muslim tradition, Muhammad is viewed as the last and the greatest in a series of prophets—as the man closest to perfection, the possessor of all virtues. For the last 22 years of his life, in 610 AD, beginning at age 40, Muhammad started receiving revelations from God. The content of these revelations, known as the Qur'an, was memorized and recorded by his companions. It has been 1400 years since Muhammad started receiving revelations from God.

Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam, comprising up to 90% or nine-tenths of the total Muslim population in the world. They are often referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h or Ahl as-Sunnah.

The word Sunni comes from the word sunnah, which means the teachings and actions or examples of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Therefore, the term "Sunni" refers to those who follow or maintain the sunnah of the prophet Muhammad.

The Sunni believe that Muhammad did not specifically appoint a successor to lead the Muslim ummah (community) before his death, and after an initial period of confusion, a group of his most prominent companions gathered and elected Abu Bakr Siddique—Muhammad's close friend and a father-in-law—as the first caliph of Islam. Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs—Abu Bakr, `Umar ibn al-Khattāb, Uthman Ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abu Talib—as "al-Khulafā’ur-Rāshidūn" or "The Rightly Guided Caliphs." Sunnis also believe that the position of caliph may be democratically chosen, but after the Rashidun, the position turned into a hereditary dynastic rule. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, there has never been another caliph as widely recognized in the Muslim world.

Shia Islam (sometimes Shi'a or Shi'ite), is the second-largest denomination of Islam, comprising anywhere between 10% or one-tenth to 13% of the total Muslim population in the world. Shi'a Muslims—though a minority in the Muslim world—constitute the majority of the populations in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, and Iraq, as well as a plurality in Lebanon and Yemen.

In addition to believing in the authority of the Qur'an and teachings of the Muhammad, Shi'a believe that his family—the Ahl al-Bayt (the People of the House), including his descendants known as Imams—have special spiritual and political rule over the community and believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad, and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three Rashidun caliphs.

The Shi'a Islamic faith is vast and inclusive of many different groups. There are various Shi'a theological beliefs, schools of jurisprudence, philosophical beliefs, and spiritual movements. The Shi'a identity emerged soon after the death of 'Umar Ibnil-Khattab—the second caliph—and Shi'a theology was formulated in the second century and the first Shi'a governments and societies were established by the end of the ninth century.

Kharijite (lit. "those who seceded") is a general term embracing a variety of Muslim sects which, while originally supporting the Caliphate of Ali, eventually seceded after his son Imam Hasan negotiated with Mu'awiya during the 7th Century Islamic civil war (First Fitna). Their complaint was that the Imam must be spiritually pure, and that Hasan's compromise with Mu'awiya was a compromise of his spiritual purity, and therefore of his legitimacy as Imam or Caliph. While there are few remaining Kharijite or Kharijite-related groups, the term is sometimes used to denote Muslims who refuse to compromise with those with whom they disagree.

Sufism is a mystical-ascetic form of Islam. By focusing on the more spiritual aspects of religion, Sufis strive to obtain direct experience of God by making use of "intuitive and emotional faculties" that one must be trained to use. Sufis usually considered Sufism to be complementary to orthodox Islam.

Once Muhammad lived and provided the Qur'an by 632 AD the various factions fought a 7th century civil war before undertaking 500 years of war against the Christians for control of the Western World. The initial Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century under the Rashidun Caliphs began the battle between the Christians and Muslims. After the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Christians and Muslims the wars ended with Muslims in control of most Middle East nations and Christianity split between the Latin and Greek sects.

By the time Christianity reached about 1400 years of age the factions within Christianity forced the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries and the break up of Christianity into many independent denominations.

Ironically, the Muslim factions have now existed for 1400 years and in country after country they have turned on each other in brutal wars, suppression of competing sects, and acts of genocide that have left a sense of fear, distrust and anxiety in the Christian and Jewish worlds. Is it not surprising? If the Muslim sects can justify Holy Wars against each other in this modern age what is to stop wars with us? Just look at the tens of thousands of civilian Muslim deaths at the hands of radical Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is in the news every day.

History is a brutal lesson in fact over fiction. The origins of terrorism within the Muslim factions is no surprise as radical extremists with a religious foundation have been around for centuries. There is no single voice for the Muslim world and no central control of order to that world. Until those elements of the Muslim world can overcome their own hatred for each other and then their hatred for the Christian and Jewish so called infidels, bias will exist and caution is warranted.

Just as the Christians had to overcome the violence and bloodshed of the ill advised Crusades and the Protestant Reformation in order for Christianity to evolve, so to must the Muslim world overcome the bitter wars and rivalry of secular and non-secular violence and the offshoots of terrorism that attempt to destroy any perceived effort to threaten the single domination of one religious sect over any government in a multi-cultural and religiously diverse world.

Any bias of unease or misunderstanding on the part of Americans toward the Muslim world can be changed, if the Muslim world evolves as other religions have evolved. When radicalism and terrorism are set aside, and they exist in all cultures and religions, there are far more similarities between Christians and Muslims than differences and both share the same God or Allah.

Finally, within every culture or religion are good people.
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April Fools Day - The end of the week long political assassination of Donald Trump

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Trump might just be the first presidential candidate to make good on a campaign promise, and he is not even the party nominee yet.

The Donald promised to bring America together again, a pledge of unity most media observers found preposterous, yet here, on April 1, he seems to have achieved the impossible.

After a week of bizarre, almost surreal campaign stumbles, a week when millions of dollars in negative television ads have been emasculating Trump, virtually all of America following the presidential campaign united in condemning the words, performance, actions, and record of Trump.

The results were stunning as the Democratic and Republican candidates all condemned Donald, as did leaders of both political parties.  Even President Obama took to the media to tell fellow Americans Trump could not be their president.  Obama even assured the leaders from all over the world it was not possible, that Hillary Clinton would be president to continue his legacy.

The biggest Super PACs for both parties seemed coordinated in pumping millions of dollars into negative ads to savage and ravage the tattered remains of Donald.

Then there was the media, oh the media, including most of the major television and newspaper personalities, all were attacking every aspect of Trump's words and action like a pack of starving hyenas ripping a half-dead carcass to pieces.

Even more stunning was liberal and conservative, radical liberal and radical conservative joining forces to jump on the media dismemberment.  It seems everyone in America was waiting for instructions to rip Trump to shreds and protect America from even a threat of seeing him elected.

There was joy in Mudville, joy in Clintonville, and joy in Cruzville, as the election of Hillary seemed assured and the ascent of the Clinton family to American Royalty nears.

Most of all, there was joy on Wall Street and in the international banking community as they watch America unite in destroying Trump and thus assuring Goldman Sachs, on behalf of their benefactors in the Golden Palace of Gold, I mean God, knew all would be well again on Earth.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein

Once again the forces that be but should not be usurped the American public, hoodwinked the American media, and re-established the iron fist of control over the America political and economic engines that rule the world.

Only one can survive!

Safe was their hold on the world's wealth and safer their absolute control of the world's nations.

The Donald lay destroyed, his back broken, his mouth silenced, and his demons put to rest.  No one would believe him again nor listen to his crazy ideas that threatened the Establishment control of the nation and world.

Finally, their Chosen One for the Republican nomination was secure and Ted Cruz would coast to victory at the brokered convention against the broken spirit of Trump.  His wife and longtime employee and officer of Goldman Sachs deserved a substantial reward for her efforts.

As soon as the dust settled, they would be free to turn their attention to finishing off the old, Independent Jew from Vermont who was rattling cages in his efforts to expose the truth.  Never in a million years did they think he would seriously challenge their other Chosen One, Hillary Clinton.

Hillary was a long-term investment dating back to when Wild Bill was President.  Once again Goldman stepped in to pay off a lawsuit by one of his conquests, then pay off the millions for his impeachment defense.  As soon as he left office they began a campaign to give him over $100 million in net worth before Hillary ran in 2008 but she lost.

Fortunately, Goldman also had a very long-term investment in Barack Obama from before he ran for the U.S. Senate so his victory was a bonus.  If they can elect Hillary now, in 2016, Goldman will have owned presidents in 24 of 32 years since 1992.  The Ruling Oligarchy will be pleased.

So we say, goodbye Donald, go back to your playpen in the Manhattan Heavens.  The New World Order has silenced the people once again and proven the one consistent principle of domination, The New World Order is the Old World Order.

Thank you Chris Matthews for once again serving us well and you can count on more money for the congressional campaign for you wife.  We really hate to see our disciples get in trouble for illegal fundraising.

April Fools or not?

Odd, but I thought elections were of the people, by the people, and for the people...

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American Elections 4 - Tips for International Followers - Who is the Dreaded Establishment in the American election?

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I have been following throughout the election the media focus on "The Establishment," the true villain to the "outsiders" running for president.  There are some interesting conclusions one might reach in discussing such a Dark Force.

For one, the absolute lack of historical perspective by the reporters is depressing to anyone hoping to find high journalistic standards in the reporting.  If one were to believe all the various stories one might think this is a new phenomenon in this election cycle and that is false.

Quite the contrary, the lack of definition by the media of what is the establishment results in a total failure to identify who is the establishment.  As a result, I say shame on a media that claims to be your source of information, and implied truth, yet operates without the benefit of historical perspective when writing about the establishment and the impact on the election.

Defining the Establishment

So let me define the establishment.  They are the people, organizations, political parties, corporations, bankers, and institutions whose own special interest is more important to them than what is good for the people.

Make no mistake this villain has been around since the dawning of civilization.  Since then there has been a continuous war of words, and even arms, as in the weapons type, between the power seekers and the people.

Our nation was born in a revolution against the establishment at the time, the British Empire, and has been a continuous struggle for control between the people and the establishment ever since.  Many of those perceived as the establishment change from time to time although there is a core that has perpetrated their power as long as there has been a nation.

Greed for power, the audacity for knowing what is right for the people, control of the institutions, manipulation of the government, an insatiable appetite for wealth and money, all characterize the foundation of the establishment.  This group sees themselves as the sole judge of what is right and best for the people.

More often than not, they harbor a disdain for the people casting them off as ignorant and uninformed.  Thus, we begin to see the complexity of the establishment and difficulty one may have in identifying them.

The establishment can be a group, a corporation, advocates of a social cause, political partisans, even individuals provided they are billionaires.

The Ruling Oligarchy

However, the core and foundation for the establishment reflects the prestige of the blue bloods who have survived for generations, to wit, the Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Lehmans and Kuhn Loebs of New York; the Rothschilds of Paris and London; the Warburgs of Hamburg; the Lazards of Paris; and the Israel Moses Seifs of Rome.

It is this group and their network of banks that effectively control all major corporations and banks in America and most of the civilized world.  The same group has been fighting for control of American assets and wealth since the American Revolution.  You hear not a word from the media about the power, reach, and control of this group because they hide their holdings in a complex ownership maze and use far removed agents to do their bidding.

Control of arms, energy, transportation, finances, diamonds, gold, even economies of most governments of the world are the tools of this group used successfully not just for generations, for centuries.

Here you have the core foundation of the establishment that has tormented presidents for nearly 250 years from Washington to Jackson, Lincoln to Kennedy, Reagan and beyond, through their banking maze and Federal Reserve control.  .  

This oligarchy controls the world and the American public is beginning to understand how powerful the establishment has become in exerting control over our institutions, and becoming aware of the self-serving greed of said oligarchy.

The Agents, Institutions, and Special Interests

I noted the wealth and reach of the oligarchy reaches into the mainstream of our society through the many ways we spend money.  Thus, the special interests that lobby, pay off, and even own our elected officials and political personalities can be extensive.

Lobbyists for special interests and the special interests themselves like the banking, financial, pharmaceutical, health care, insurance, transportation, energy, automobile, food, arms, and other major institutions are card-carrying members.

Even groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Labor Unions and Teachers, and Lawyers are hardcore members of the establishment though with far less political clout than those previously mentioned.

A major institution is the bureaucracy of government at the federal, state, and local levels, as distinguished from the workers for the bureaucracy covered by the unions.

Colleges and Universities as a whole, and in particular individual institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton of the Ivy League are major players because they have been educating the children of the rich and powerful for over two centuries.  As a result, their alumni are the rulers of the world and the children of the alumni receive legacy status assuring them a place in the hallowed halls of the Ivy League without competing for limited openings.

It is no accident these three Ivy League schools are in a league of their own as Harvard has produced six presidents, Yale three, and Princeton two, eleven of our forty-four presidents from just three schools.

In fact, Yale and Harvard have now controlled the United States presidency 28 straight years, and with Hillary Clinton from Yale and Ted Cruz from Harvard, the streak may extend another eight years. 

  

Political Parties and Social Causes

Beyond the membership already outlined in the establishment, there are the political parties, the Democratic and Republican national and statewide organizations, along with the political action committees (PACS), who provide the dollars to maintain the political agendas of the two parties.  In truth, no political agenda articulated in a campaign is implemented once someone is elected as both parties are beholden to the same Core Establishment controlling the wealth and finances of the nation.

PACS can be party affiliated or Super PACS who can support any party, cause, or person they want who will best protect the establishment.

As for the Social Causes, many have become so institutionalized and powerful over the years that they now represent tentacles of the establishment.  Money has no opinion, no favorite cause nor bias, it is the people who control the wealth who do.

Most powerful among the social cause institutions is the National Rifle Association.  Others who yield lesser degrees of power are Planned Parenthood, the Right to Choice, Prolife, and well down the list are the various groups involved in civil rights, equality, anti-discrimination, and others.

There you have it, a definitive identification of the Establishment, perhaps missing a few players, but far more inclusive than anything the media has done to date.  Of course the bottom line is this.  The New World Order is the Old World Order.

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