HN&S: 10/10/11: Resistance

I am always somewhat bemused--not amused, not c-mused, but truly bemused--when I read those oft-cited/posted/repeated, presciently cautionary speeches of Roosevelt, or Eisenhower, or Truman, or even Smedley Butler, about the encroaching dangers of BIG government.

These worthies carefully--even lovingly, it sometimes seems-- describe SOME increasingly obvious, malign, and invidious consequences of this or that the other, institution or policy or event, which always proceeds from the creation, installation and maintenance of some, potentially repressive GOVERNMENT agenda.

They prophetically decry the Military/Industrial complex, or the National Security State, or the evils of massive fortunes in accumulated wealth, which empower private interests with the capacity to overwhelm and drown out contrary or contradictory voices, howsoEVER "popular.".

And then these prophets strenuously, ringlingly enjoin the people to "resist."

And this is where the bemusement sets in, hippies...my head grows heavy and my eyes grow dim.

Just exactly how the FUCK, I wonder absently, do these statesmen--FDR, Ike, JFK, et al--expect the "people" to resist that much POWER??? The Military Industrial COmplex hasn't grown any weaker; the national Security State hasn't grown any less intrusive, and those enormous fortunes haven't goptten any SMALLER in the last 50 years. And resistance ALREADY was damn near impossible, even then...

Resist them?
Who? Got names?
Where?
How and With What? Money is the ONLY meaningful factor anymore. Voting is basically futile. And what's left? At Bunker Hill, at least BOTH sides had muskets and black powder. In the NEXT extreme, we've got 22s and Piper Cubs, and they've (6,000/rpm) 20 mm, Vulcan mini-cannons and F-22s.

No contest! hippies...

But I'll see ya at the beach...