Say It Isn’t So!
By Case Wagenvoord
03 December, 2007
Countercurrents.orgI am not a conspiracy buff. I have yet to meet a conspiracy that I have not greeted with skepticism and disbelief. It has to do with my understanding of human nature. Conspiracies need secrecy; humans need to brag. So, somewhere, a conspirator is going to brag to a buddy or a mistress, and that will be the end of the conspiracy. There are also individuals with the integrity to leak details of the conspiracy to the press. Between these two, no conspiracy stands a chance.
At least, that is what I believed until now. Not that I am buying into any conspiracies, but I am getting a little nervous.
The cause of my unrest is Naomi Klein’s book, Shock Doctrine. The key passage in the book is a quote by Milton Friedman who said, “Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our [The Chicago School of Economics] basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable. (Emphasis mine)
Klein uses the overthrow of Chile’s Allende to illustrate how this philosophy works. Beginning in the 1950s, bright, young Chilean students were brought to the University of Chicago where they were thoroughly indoctrinated in the Friedman Theology of Utopian Free Marketism. When Pinochet overthrew Allende, he gave these Chicago graduates free reign to convert Chile to a free-market economy, which they did with great brutality. The idea behind shock therapy is to wait until a major crisis, such as a coup or a natural disaster occurs. Then under the cover of the chaos the disaster creates, initiate brutal and draconian changes all at once while the public is still in shock.
After reading Klein’s book, I had a rather frightening epiphany. For years, sane people have been carrying on about how barking mad the Bush administration is. Their every policy flies in the face of common sense and never fails to produce a negative feedback that makes the situation even worse. The policies all seemed bizarre on the surface, from gutting the Iraqi army that morphed into the insurgency, to ignoring Afghanistan and allowing the Taliban to reassert control, to allowing to deficit to reach an astronomical high.
Now, I am wondering if they are that stupid. For example, on the surface the idea of attacking Iran is insane. If we did so, Iran would block the Straits of Hormuz, oil would spike to $200 a barrel, we would be saddled with a worldwide depression, and we could well be looking at World Ware III or IV, but who in the hell is counting anymore.
However, what if the Bushites are not deranged? What if their every move is carefully calculated? What if they are making a deliberate attempt to generate a crisis of such proportions that Bush could use the chaos that ensued to declare martial law and complete his consolidation of power into the executive branch.
Think of the possibilities. While Americans were reeling from the shock of total war and another Great Depression, the administration could eliminate Social Security and Medicare, along with whatever remains of our shredded social net. With the stroke of a pen, America would become a totalized Corporatist State and her citizens would be reduced to mere employees of the State with all of the rights corporate employees lack.
The would explain why Bush does things other politicians would consider suicidal, like vetoing a health and education bill because it was too expensive and, in the same breath, approving an increase in military spending. Bush can get away with it because he is not a politician, he is a CEO.
Many people believe that another Great Depression would usher in another New Deal. I had always thought so too. However, we forget that when the Great Depression struck, the only ideas lying around were those of John Maynard Keynes. Today, the only ideas lying around are those of Milton Friedman.
Do the math.
You see, my usual distrust of conspiracies has always been the inability of people to keep a secret. What frightens me about this one is that it is not a secret. All the details are out there for anyone to see; the lines connecting the dots are penciled in, but nobody seems to be looking at the page.
I hope to hell that I am wrong about this. However, if I am not, then the only antidote to this pending shock therapy is the immediate impeachment of both Bush and Cheney. Without that, there is no telling what might happen.
It is too bad our congress is a corporate employee.
Political satirist Case Wagenvoord blogs at: http://blogs.salon.com/0004024.Leave A Comment
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