We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, August 18, 2014

Questioning Edward Snowden’s Cure-All

Click here to access article by Bill Blunden from CounterPunch.

Because of Blunden's condensed writing style, I found that I had to read every word carefully to get the full meaning--and it was very worthwhile. 

In contrast to the facile and naive solution that Snowden thinks is sufficient to deal with government spying on our computers, electronic gadgets, and emails, Blunden's argument leads us to the following conclusion:
There are laws that allow these violations to transpire. Furthermore the government which formulated these laws has been captured by plutocratic factions. The intelligence services, in particular the CIA, exist to serve these elite interests. To seek refuge in strong encryption is to escape into denial. Bolstering security and protecting our civil liberties will require the public to mobilize and generate the political impetus to take on the Deep State. [my emphasis]