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This week on CounterSpin: Research from Harvard’s Institute of Politics finds young people worried about the state of US democracy and even the possibility of civil war. Yet US corporate journalists seem to feel nothing truly new is needed beyond the same old counsel: The “system” basically works, the US leads the world in rights and liberties, and “centrism” between the two dominant political parties is the wisest course, regardless of the content of their policies.
The Harvard project leader says young people still “seem as determined as ever to fight for the change they seek.” And in that, they have examples of folks who didn’t necessarily have odds in their favor, but who showed that even a small group of people, willing to confront entrenched ideas and power, really can make change in the public interest. One example is today’s guest: Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, author and radio host. We catch up with him this week on CounterSpin.
Transcript: ‘Our Democracy Is in Perilous Decay, and We Can Turn It Around’
Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at media coverage of Kyrsten Sinema and pharmacies’ opioid guilt.
Journalist Chris Hedges and Prof. Wendy Brown of Princeton discuss the theories and history, behind the many regrettable ways in which the current neoliberal economic order continues to diminish democratic institutions around the world. Well worth a listen!
https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/539955-neoliberalism-wendy-brown-princeton-university/
Thank you! Tag-team kleptocracy is only supposed to work for our boss, landlord, creditors; y’know, everybody BUT we the peons? I’m sure our 400yr long colonization & 240yr long Civil War are ensuring our subjugation and their profits. III% psycho cops, Oathkeeper company thugs & Boogaloo Boi agents provacateurs are NOT exactly new, or unique to the US?
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/12/10/as-fascism-casts-off-its-disguises/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/10/summ-d10.html
https://mronline.org/2021/12/10/the-fierce-determination-of-ordinary-people-to-build-an-extraordinary-world/
Chris Hedges says the only way is to understand these disinherited ones’ anguish and make common cause with them.
Journalist Maria Ressa, placed blame for the growing failure of democratic institutions worldwide at the feet of online social media, during her acceptance speech for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Well worth watching!
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/12/10/nobel_peace_prize_ressa_muratov
We’ve LIVED a Civil War, a few hundred years, already. The other side simply neglected to inform us about our all being on the perpetually LOSING side?
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2013-10-09/review-the-five-stages-of-collapse-by-dmitry-orlov/
https://truthout.org/articles/alec-is-pushing-a-bill-that-punishes-banks-for-divesting-from-fossil-fuels/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=210&v=XUfmo80kAxI&feature=youtu.be
https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/12/6/22821677/nyc-de-blasio-withheld-covid-neighborhood-death-data
Regarding blame for the deaths in the opioid crisis:
Please expose the role of the FDA who issued a certification saying Oxycontin was unlikely to cause addiction.
This was a financial deal between big pharma and government agencies
at the expense of the public. This is the biggest crime of that crisis, not the drug stores.
Note: the same people are still in charge during the current health crisis.
Ralph Nader is in the same pantheon of national treasures as Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky.