(4/29/2008) George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress are a bunch of thieving lying money whoring political PIGS. They have proven this statement to be the truth time and time again over the past seven plus years, and they are showing no signs of slowing down or stopping their corrupt ways. Up until now we have not given them a good reason to stop their acts of treason, but I have an idea how we can force them to re-think their wealth concentrating, government bankrupting scams.

These pigs, who are self proclaimed "conservative" politicians, are whoring themselves for a few families with billions of dollars, maybe even trillions of dollars, in wealth. Most of these families got their wealth through successful business ventures, but the inheritance rich children of these families now have their billions being managed through professional money managers, bankers, lawyers, and corporate executives. These wealth managers are the capitalist DOGS our founding father, forefathers, George Orwell, and Pink Floyd all warned us about, and they are the ones who have been busy robbing our government, destroying our democracy, and treating the American people like were all just a bunch of ignorant punk ass SHEEP.

In both George Orwell's book "Animal Farm" and in Pink Floyd's album "Animals" symbolism and satire are used to expose the dangers from unbalanced political systems. Both of these works show how these dangers can negatively effect both citizens and leaders. Both works also show the true nature of people at different levels of the political power structure by using farm animals as stereotypes. Also, both works are written as disguised political condemnations.

Orwell's book is intended to be a hidden criticism of communism, and Floyd's album is an obscured criticism of capitalism. But, in both these artist works three different farm animals, PIGS, DOGS, and SHEEP, are used to symbolize the three types of people that are typically found in the real world of politics, and the inherent dangers to people who are considered sheep from the people who are considered pigs and dogs.

I believe that this political symbolism and satire is analogous to what is currently happening in the American political system. These artist works unwittingly, or perhaps wittingly, expose what the American people (sheep) need to do to protect their rights, freedoms, and opportunities from corrupt politicians (pigs) and mega rich greedy capitalist (dogs) who are currently bloodying America's good name and reputation throughout the world.

In both Orwell's book and Floyd's music the pigs and the dogs collude and conspire to use, abuse, and dominate the sheep. The pigs are tyrannical, self-righteous hypocrites who force their beliefs on the dogs and sheep. The dogs are greedy money-grubbing cutthroats who will do anything to get ahead. And the sheep are the mindless followers who are used, abused, dominated by, and live in fear of the pigs and the dogs.

I believe that many of America's politicians have become the symbolic "pigs" by way of a corrupt system of financing political campaigns. Many of our top capitalist have earned the symbolic title of "dogs" by way of a catch 22, dog eat dog mentality, demanded of them by their "top dog" shareholders and encouraged by some corrupt politicians (pigs). The American people represent the mindless sufferance "sheep" followers who are increasingly being used, abused, and dominated by the politicians (pigs) and the capitalist (dogs).

In reality, as in the Pink Floyd's song "Sheep", the pigs and the dogs are leading the sheep into the valley of steel from which there is no return, no opportunity, no justice, only death. They keep telling us they are leading us to greater wealth and prosperity, but they are lying. By the time you hear the screams of agony and the smells of death it will be too late to turn back or fight back.

The American political system was designed specifically to protect the sheep from the pigs and dogs. This was done in the Constitution by giving the sheep powers over the pigs. The founding fathers thought that these powers would be used by the sheep to demand that the pigs keep the dogs in-line. However, a singular unforeseen weakness in the American political system, campaign financing, has allowed the dogs to override the voices of the sheep. As a result the pigs increasingly only hear the concerns of the dogs and the sheep's voices are ignored. In other words, now days money talks and everything else is just hot air.

Our federal legislative forefathers used their reason and positions of power to fight back against the growing power of the capitalist dogs (Robber Barons) in 1913 with the passage of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution and the subsequent passage of highly progressive federal income taxes and an estate tax in 1915. This legislation forced the successful capitalist dogs to chose between paying huge amounts of taxes to the federal government, or giving much of their wealth away to charities, and they ended up doing both. These new tax laws also prevented these super successful capitalist, the Robber Barons, from buy up every inch of America for pennies on the dollar and thus turning our democracy into an aristocracy.

Unfortunately, the capitalist dogs (Robber Barons) learned something from this experience and this time they have bought off enough of our political leaders to prevent another round of highly progressive tax law changes. In fact, they have been able to reverse our tax structure from a highly progressive one to a highly regressive one. Currently, the highest taxed people in our society are self-employed individuals making $100,000. Not only is this unfair but it is squeezing people in the middle downwards and it is concentrating our countries wealth into the pockets of the people already at the top.

Now the Robber Baron dogs have their political whoring pigs, primarily George W. Bush, his administration officials, and the Republicans in Congress, pushing hard to get the last piece of progressive tax law erased off the books with the repeal of the estate tax. When you here George parroting his favorite solution to all our problems, "make the tax cuts permanent", what he is really saying is "repeal the estate tax for my capitalist dog friends".      

This situation is causing the best system of governance ever devised by human animals, America's constitutional representative democratic republic, to be subverted and regressed back to just another one of the old un-evolved oppressive political systems. Systems where rights and freedoms are by the few, and for the few. Systems like the one's that our founding fathers were trying to avoid when they wrote the Constitution. The type of ruthless, corrupt, and oppressive governments that existed in Europe before the colonization of America, like the monarchies, totalitarians, plutocracies, and dictatorships. The type of governments that motivated our founding fathers to leave these advanced European countries and try to find better opportunities else where, and that inspired them to write our countries founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

If Bush and his Republican pigs in Congress succeed in their efforts to rob and bankrupt the federal government, squeeze out the middle class (99% of the American people), and give all that money permanently to the handful of super rich capitalist dogs it will be a giant step backwards for all the world's democracies, and a death sentence to the rights, freedoms, and opportunities of the American people, and perhaps much much worse.

I know for a fact that America is under attack from within. These treasonous attackers have infiltrated our government and they are helping these few mega wealthy families rob our government of its assets and undermine our democratic form of government. They have already made big strides in this effort with regressive changes in our tax laws that have allowed for the concentration of huge amounts of wealth into the hands of a few families, and if Bush and his Republican friends get their way with the repeal of the estate tax this wealth concentration will be permanent our democracy will be history. They have ballooned the federal debt to $10 trillion thus pushing our federal government to the brink of insolvency. Also, much of this debt is now owned by foreign countries so that when the shit hits the fan blame can be misdirected to nations like China, Japan and Germany. They have created huge trade deficits that are greatly benefiting the economies in China and India but have weakened our economy. They have been destroying the value of the dollar setting the stage of a hyper-inflationary crisis in America. They have started an unwinnable war in Iraq based on lies that has cost our country a fortune in wealth, over 4,000 of our soldiers lives, and has weakened America's humanitarian position in the world. Finally, their deregulation scams, privatization actions, and pork filled legislation has turned corporate America into a greedy cesspool of unaccountable corruption leading our country into fascism and an economy of the "haves" verse the "have-nots".   

The Forbes list of the richest Americans is fiction. The few families who have the greatest concentrations of wealth hide their identities from the American people. They know that if the American people ever found out who they are, how much wealth they own, where they got all this wealth, and what they are doing to keep all this wealth there would be a nation wide outrage and an unending demand by the American people for highly progressive tax law changes including a much higher estate tax with no loopholes for generation skipping. This is a prime example of how the media companies, like Forbes, are playing us for fools.  

Timothy McVeigh recognized that America was under attack and he reacted in the way the U.S. military taught him to react, and in the way his conscience told him to react. Clearly, McVeigh did not believe that there is any place for remorse, compassion, or mercy in his act of war that killed innocent people in the Oklahoma city bombing. Personally, I disagree with what McVeigh did, but than I don't think the death penalty should be legal either.

If America's democracy is going to survive this threat the lowly sheepish American people must wise up and rise up against the idolized pigs and dogs and as the Pink Floyd's song says, "through quiet reflection and great dedication Master the art of karate....we shall rise up".

In these lyrics I interpret the word "reflection" as a realization by the American people that there is a problem (campaign financing), the word "dedication" is the determination by the American people to fix the problem (campaign finance reform), and the words "master the art of karate...we shall rise up" is a beacon call to the American people to do everything in their power to see to it that the problem is fixed, one way or another.

The American people must learn the truth about the dangers and vulnerabilities to our rights, freedoms, and opportunities from a singular flaw in our Constitution's foundation (campaign financing). They need to recognize that it's the Republican Party that has been most corrupted by this system, but that the Democratic Party is also corrupt. Finally, they need to understand that a few mega wealthy families are taking advantage of this system because they want more wealthy, more power, and more control over all aspects of our government.

This singular flaw, political campaign financing, that our founding fathers could not predict and our forefathers have failed to address, is threatening all we posses, all our we have built, and all the future potential yet to be realized.

We must rise up and join together in a insistent unified voice and demand that our leaders pass corrective legislation before it's to late. If our political leaders fail to act we must use our constitutional rights to force out the corrupt politicians who stand in the way of campaign finance reforms and elect new politicians who will pass this needed legislation.

If we fail to get our leaders to make these needed changes we must rise up against the treasonous tyrants and exact the constitutional specified price for their high crimes against our government, or we must learn to be meek, submissive, and obedient as we follow our leaders into the valley of steel.

Now is the time for the American people to "shake off this creeping malaise" and stand their ground if they ever hope to find their way out of this growing complex of political mazes designed by the few to distract, obscure, confuse, and divide. Following are some of Pink Floyd's song lyrics that express the danger we are all in:

"You better watch out there may be dogs about.....Things are not what they seem....What do you get for pretending the danger's not real. Meek and obedient you follow the leader down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel. What a surprise!...With bright knives he releaseth my soul. He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places....For lo,m he hath great power and great hunger....Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.....The Lord is my shepherd" (Floyd - Sheep).

The Pink Floyd lyrics I just quoted foretell the danger of being a sheep in a world run by colluding and conspiring pigs and dogs. The danger is real, the powerful in America do have great hunger for more wealth and power, and the valley of steel represents the world without rights, freedoms, or justice.

If the American people don't wake-up and shake off their foolhardy aloofness and demand that our leaders pass major campaign finance reforms, progressive tax reforms, and re-regulation reforms we may all find ourselves in the "valley of steel" from which there is no escape except death.

Personally, I find some of my inspiration and motivation for political activism through literature and music. But regardless where you find your motivation the key is to become involved. Write, call, or visit you representatives in Congress and ask, beg, and demand that they pass real campaign finance reforms, progressive tax reforms, and re-regulation reforms. Do not stop your lobbying efforts until they pass all three. Also, by boycotting the individuals, politicians, and corporations that are funding this corrupt cancerous system we will have additional leverage to get real reforms passed into law (see "Boycott List").