As I say

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The current crusade by Jane Hamsher and her Toad Prince Grover Norquist to shake up the complacency of the Powerful may or may not lead anywhere. You never know in advance where you'll wind up when you let the Rage get the better of Wisdom.

But.

The shake up is necessary. Regardless of anything else.

The United States has been in an alternating Neo-Con/Neo-Liberal spiral for decades. The People, for the most part, are simply left out of the equation altogether -- except to the extent they can be manipulated by the Professional Persuaders to back one or the other ill-defined set of thieves and mountebanks.

The point is, these are the only choices we are allowed, politically: Neo-Con or Neo-Liberal. Neo-Con governments are suited to smash-and-grab tactics, whether on the economic or the international relations front. Wars, rapine, looting, pillage. That sort of thing. Neo-Liberal governments are suited to the consolidation and institutionalization of the ill-gotten gains of the Neo-Cons. Making permanent, for example, the Imperial Autocracy by which we are ruled -- on behalf of a contracting Plutocracy of inestimable greed and bad intent.

It's a near perfect arrangement. For the Winners.

As I say, the alternation between these two governing philosophies (if you want to call them that) has gone on for decades, and the celebrations of the Peaceful Transitions of Power we've witnessed are celebrations of one faction of the Ruling Class yielding temporarily to the other in a kind of Cosmic Dance. But they are the only two dancers.

You and I aren't even allowed to watch most of what's Really Going On. That's part of why there is such a growing disconnect between the Ruled and their Rulers. "WTF?" is becoming the standard phrase among The People with regard to their Government.

How do you translate that into Action? In fact, what we've witnessed over the years is near total apathy among the public on the one hand and unfocused rage and scapegoating on the other.

Since the collapse of Communism, there really has been no large-scale political/economic force or ideology that can serve as a brake on the worst impulses of a corrupt and nearly unfettered Capitalist/Fascist Globalist Empire.

It's all up to Independent-Minded Individuals.

So, of course, the response of Independent-Minded Individuals to the all-pervading Imperial State is to throw bombs -- or become bombs, whatever. They do it physically or metaphorically, but they do it because it is the only weapon they think they have.

The Star Wars trilogy was all about Independent-Minded Individuals fighting for their "freedom" from the clutches of the Empire...

And of course that's the fundamental mythology of the founding of our own Beloved Country.

Except that it never quite turns out the way the Idealists insist it should.

In our own case, for example, the Intrepid Individualists who founded this country did so on the basis of limited franchise, chattel slavery, genocide, and the extraction of ulimited natural resources. They also did so on the basis of founding a new Empire of their own.

Where we are now is what was built in to the Systems they created.

So it's only natural that people like Ron Paul demand a restart. This is not, at all, the way the Revolution and Founding were marketed. No. No, it isn't. But, anyone who was paying attention back in the day should have been able to see and chart pretty well the course we'd be on.

Jane, et al, are not even at the point of demanding a restart. They don't really know what they want. They have discovered this tool they call "Power" and are eager to try it out on The Devil Himself, Rahm Emanuel.

They have no idea what to do if they "win."

There is no replacement on tap, there is no thought -- at least as far as we can tell -- of an alternate form of government or how it might operate, nor is there any coherent "Progressive" ideology or set of principles by which action and alternatives might be guided.

It's a purely personal endeavor to monkeywrench a governing process they (especially Jane) were not able to affect through advocacy.

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And it is becoming a cult.

Yes, yes, I know, Obamamania is cultish, too. He's the Good Emperor after all. Dig back in your Roman history, and the notion of the Deified Good Emperor occurs really early in the transformation of Republic into the Empire. And so does the Goddess notion.

While a shakeup in the status quo is necessary, whether these actors can accomplish the deed remains to be seen. So far, the Powers That Be are studiously ignoring the rabble rousers, but then it's a Holiday, and everyone's busy. Snowed in. Whatever.

The notion of Rebellion for its own sake is very appealing to a segment of the population, however -- not just pimple-faced boys, either. And given the success of the Teabagger Rebellion in getting attention, there's now "permission" granted for "Progressives" to give it a shot. The principal first goal being the "attention." For some, I think it's the only goal. But that's my cynical nature kicking in.

As I've said, though, the Rebellion as it stands now is only about the pocketbooks of the bourgeoisie. That's the key to understanding the hookup between Jane and her Toad Prince Grover. They see that the Government is colluding in the private picking of their pockets (Grover has known this for ages of course) and they won't have it!

They're doing it with Health Care (Insurance) Reform, they're doing it with all the financial shenanigans, and they're doing it with Everything.

Yes? And?

Rahm is the Devil.

Yes? And?

HEADS! They demand HEADS!

O. K...

What. Ever.

When these people come up with a coherent "Progressive" philosophy, and reach an agreement widely across the social and some political divides in this country about what "Progressive" means, then I'll perk up.

Until then... Good Luck! Happy New Year!

Just remember. The Dance.

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