Know Your Enemy

[Originally posted on June 8, ’02 at http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2002/06/12269.shtml ]

Observations on the tactical strengths and weaknesses of Bush and friends.

STRENGTHS

THE BLITZKRIEG (a.k.a. "time's up!")
Historically, this time honored high-pressure sales tactic has been very successful for the Bush clan. The basic idea is this:
1) Manufacture a crisis that forces people to act without thinking because of limited time.
2) Pound your answer to this crisis into their heads, keeping up the pressure until they finally see things your way.

This tactic was used to brilliant effect during the 2000 presidential election. "The president must be confirmed and inaugurated at such-and-such a time!" the press screamed. "Our national stability is at stake! Gore needs to be a man and concede for the sake of our country!" Since when do we subjugate democracy to fit a schedule?

Then of course, we were served the Patriot Act, the war in Afghanistan, and now the Homeland Security "Department" in the exact same manner. Next course: the Invasion of Iraq.

What bothers me is that these see-thru tactics appear to have worked on the American people. When will they realize there is no worse crisis than the one they have been embroiled in for months?

Oh, is there a terrorist who's going to blow me up? Fine. My life has been in the shitter for nearly a year now. I'd rather go out with a bang than continue to slowly suffocate on poverty, despair, and the threat of fascism. Bring it on.

THE "START A FIRE AND SELL TICKETS TO THE EXIT" TRICK
The idea here is to corner the market on some product and then create a demand for it. Enron exploited this trick to the hilt during the California energy crisis. Some Bush family favorites: oil, vaccine, arms, and drugs. If you're an oil man, what greater gift than for people to stop flying? How about some smack for your pain and despair, scumbag? Daisy-cutters, anyone?

KEEPING 'EM IN THE DARK (a.k.a. "cutting off communications")
Is it any revelation that this has been progressing systematically for months? First, Carnivore is set quietly into place, filtering our e-mail automatically so we can't express any dangerous thoughts through our mailing list. I don't know about you, but I've definitely had problems sending and receiving e-mail since 9-11.

Then there are the anthrax attacks. How convenient for the Bush administration that we can no longer send mail to Congress or the Press without a very long wait subject to "filtering."

Speaking of long waits and "filtering" let's talk about the airlines for a minute, shall we? Now American travelers can look forward to being detained at the airport if their name is on some list and there's a protest in the city they're going to. How far do you think these powers extend? Now we have government screeners and air marshals controlling our every move by air. Watch out for these powers invading land, sea and rail travel.

Yep. I've got to hand it to the Bush team - those guys sure had a good plan for cutting us off from each other. I don't think they anticipated the Internet, though. I do believe this little miscalculation will ultimately be their undoing.

WEAKNESSES

CAPITALISM IS OVER
I'm not an economist, but I know blood when I smell it. The empire is bleeding like a stuck pig. Observe the situation in Argentina, Brazil, and Columbia ... now ask yourself if the IMF isn't sweating bullets right now.

CLUMSY ON THE CO-OPT
The "Co-opt" is one of the most powerful weapons the Establishment has for keeping us in line. You know what I mean - the "Disneyfication" of popular culture, the "Respectable Left" squashing any truly radical dissent. I call this the "catching flies with a drop of honey instead of a gallon of gall" trick.

George W. and his clan have no clear grasp of how to put this idea to work. They are the iron fist without the velvet glove. Their clumsiness in this regard has made them tons of enemies in low places.

Bill Clinton, on the other hand, was a master of the Co-opt. I dare say that if Clinton were still president I'd be sipping down a Starbucks at a 60K-a-year job, shaking my head at the newspaper and saying to myself, "Things will come around. Just give it time."

Fortunately for my soul, my life is in shambles. I have no home, no job, and no plan. Janis Joplin once said, "Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose." In this sense, George W. has been the great Emancipator for thousands of Americans like myself.

Who am I? You might ask. I'm a highly intelligent person whose conscience outweighs her ambition. I and others like me are the biggest threat the Bush Cabal will ever know. This is because a small, determined group of people can change the world, and we are growing day by day, hour by hour.

Final Score: People 1, Bush 0.