Process to end US turmoil.

The U.S. is a country suffering from institutionalized intellectual laziness. We are Rome reborn and suffering from the same problems, the major difference being that we can destroy the planet in an hour as opposed to the month or two required to send legions to Spain. Our unexamined belief in our "rights" given our means needs to change.

Scottie,

You seem to have some enlightened opinions. Could you elaborate please?

They're just opinions and I'm not sure how enlightened they are but it seems to me, over the course of my half century here that Many Americans just aren't interested in deconstructing the processes of manufacturing consent which allows the ruling class to continue treating people, both here and abroad, so poorly. Americans are convinced that wealth. . . and always more wealth. . . will result in improvement. Many buy into the infinite growth in a finite sphere mentality and the investors are chasing returns based on that set of ideas so the finite value that comes into a concern is arrogated by the investors with precious little for the labor that creates the value. We are militarizing everything and spend hugely "projecting power" abroad to maintain our neo colonialist structure while our media tries to convince our gullible electorate that people who question this hate our freedoms. . . not limited to muslims. . . have a peek at what our leadership has done in Latin America over the last century. . .

It won't stop until there's a massive rethinking of our role in the world but that won't happen because it's all about wealth and power for those elites in control. Our particular brand of crazy allows for the idea that our leadership could start slinging the big bombs around if things start to get really rough. . . and we've done it before.

I wish I could be more optimistic but our propaganda machine is so huge and so well implemented and there's more than enough crazy to go around here. . . look at the popular figures on the infotainment media. . .

-- Updated April 19th, 2012, 11:57 pm to add the following --

. . . and aside from the crazies like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Don Imus, Pat Robertson, Ann Coulter. . .

When Peggy Noonan and George Will pass for "enlightened reasonable opinion" I get the feeling we're in the crapper.

Scottie,

Agreeable assessment.

Do you think anything can be done to change all this? Are you willing to try?

What do you think of the ideas I have put forth in this thread?

I don't think any meaningful reform will be possible as long as a significant portion of the electorate remains gullible and stupid. The problem is that you can't call 'em stupid because then they get all offended and refuse to listen to reason. . . boo f*(|@#ing hoo. Ironically, lots of these folks are the same people who believe that a good whack upside the head is a good way to make someone realize they've screwed up. . . direct bootstrap friendly confrontation with the brick wall of cold hard reality and all that. . .

Our propaganda machine is finely tuned by the use of ad agencies, PR firms and such. . . people who excel at manipulating language who represent the people who own the media and have systematically dismantled any fairness doctrine. Once private interests own the media they call for a complete lack of regulation and responsibility to disseminate publicly useful information not consonant with their interests and call it free speech. Regulation is no longer a public service issue. . . it's a "freedom" issue.

I think what really needs to happen is that conflict of interest must be removed from public service and people need to be aware that public service is pubic service, not special interests taking office and upholding the political/economic status quo for the purpose of enriching themselves. This is a problem with governments everywhere. The most ambitious seek, and often get, power and always seem to act in their own interest and that of people who can help them hold on to power.

Clearly we should be able to see that simple majority - 50% + 1 - is a significant part of the problem. We need serious electoral overhaul.

I'm not sure that having a citizens' jury will help. I think our current apparatus would be fine if we could somehow stop treating finance issues as speech issues, impose strict term limits on congress and the judiciary, have better oversight of the appointment process for those officials who must appoint people. We must reinstate significant antitrust laws and reinstate strict and comprehensive financial, environmental, and labor regulations. We have to prevent special interests from becoming our government because what's happening is that the people best equipped to handle the rigors of doing business are receiving welfare through tax cutting, legislating in their favor which should be going to public causes.

Indeed, indeed. You personally, would you become part of something to change all this, and put fourth all this needed change?

Yes I would become a part of something aimed at either educating people, taking direct action or both.

Not just any old group of course, what specifically are you looking for when you join?

That depends.

I'm not interested in violence. The only revolution I'm interested in is moral/intellectual revolution.

A main area of interest to me is counter propaganda, not propaganda to balance propaganda, but education aimed at teaching people to understand when they're being propagandized - to consider how social convention underpins power relationships because, I think, when people become willing to shed the veil of convention and willing to take some intellectual risk they can cease to see the current system of power relationships (political/economic) as a necessary evil which is the best we can do and begin to recognize it as an un-necessary evil which we need to change.

So you want to open up your own school, or start teach-ins about recognizing propaganda?