Jared Yates Sexton: Money For Empire, Suffering For The People

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/money-for-empire-suffering-for-the

I’m sure you’re exhausted. I know I am. The back-and-forth between President Joe Biden and the best-senators-money-can-buy Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, all while Republicans watch with glee from the wings, has taken a mental and emotional toll. We’ve watched this movie before. We’ve seen where it goes. As news rolled out Tuesday that members of the party were beginning to advocate for means-testing and paring down of investments, it became apparent where all of this is heading.

When Biden began pushing his “Build Back Better” agenda, it was met almost immediately with calls from the Right of “tyranny” and “overreach,” the traditional means by which the GOP opposes literally anything its rivals propose with weaponized conspiracy theories. But the truth, of course, is that these proposals are as moderate and common-sense as they come. For the past forty years neoliberalism has required crushing austerity within the United States, ensuring that investment into infrastructure, healthcare, education, and other human projects has fallen by the wayside, creating an alarming gap between America, the supposed “leader” of the Free World, and all of the other industrialized nations. What is being fought over right now wouldn’t even bring us up to speed or erase the majority of the damage done as hypercapitalism has bled us dry in order to redistribute our money into the pockets of the wealthiest individuals and corporations.

The “debate” is preposterous. Manchin and Sinema are bought and sold several times over, the GOP has no desire to cooperate, and any accurate and honest coverage of this entire sordid instance has to focus on the fact that America, as a nation, as an empire, has put its pursuit of power and hegemony in the world over the fate of its people. So much so that even a mild and modest investment in their fates is now considered as both unnecessary and an impediment to further imperialism.

On September 21st Congress did something astounding: it passed a bill with unanimous support.

The HAVANA Act (Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks) first passed unanimously through the Senate, which is a veritable miracle these days, and then, after a brief pause, made its way through a completely complicit House. The bill that did the unthinkable by uniting Democrats and Republicans of all stripes addresses the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” that Americans stationed abroad have complained about for years now, a completely inexplicable, unexplainable “illness” that has left our diplomats, spies, and intelligence agents complaining about discomfort, headaches, and general anxiety.

*snip*

[pecosbob]

1. Hear, hear.