In the immortal words of one Lisa Simpson, “The city of Washington was built on a stagnant swamp some 200 years ago, and very little has changed. It stank then, and it stinks now.” Call me cynical, passive, gutless. I am on the cusp of admitting defeat on behalf of the American people, but not in the way you might think. The forces of corruption and the will of the economic elite that have been running this puppet show for about a century now are threatening our very survival. But how do we reclaim what we’ve lost?

Obviously we must identify that which we strive to cultivate. We must organize. We must educate and solidify movements in the hope that there is still strength in numbers. But if the system itself is what’s rotten, if the gears of the establishment are rusted over and immobile, what hope is there for the people to replace it?

The power structure itself is a machine that is not in need of repair — it is in need of being replaced. This is of course a paradox. If the people themselves have no effect, no access to the true levers of power, how can they replace a broken system if the only system within which they can operate is the one they’re out to replace in the first place — the one that’s impotent and utterly ineffective?

I can’t be the only one that understands this. I’ve stopped watching or paying any attention to cable news. They won’t tell you the truth the way independent minds like the ones on this site and others will.

It struck me the other day that I’m a mere 23 years old and have only spent two or three years of research and immersion in anything I can get my hands on touching history, political movements, economics, wars and conflicts, big business and banking. If someone as fresh-faced and amateur as the armchair poli-sci lecturer that I am can figure out that the whole game is a scam, that the mega-wealthy run the show and always have, that the sprawling financial institutions can have everything bought and paid for with puppet strings from here to Moscow before you can figure out which grammar school gymnasium you’re supposed to go “cast your vote” in - then there are two possibilities:

1) The overwhelming majority of politicians from both parties who claim to defend the Constitution as they have sworn to, the judicial system all the way up the chain, the White House suits who make vapid statements every day, the talking heads on television and radio that are responsible for shaping your view of the world and the opinions you’ll later claim as your own — are all woefully ignorant of the big picture. The politicians, presidents, and pundits who don’t talk about the depressing yet true state of affairs regarding the American people and their Constitution and the economic elite marching toward totalitarianism simply don’t know about the problem.

After all, if they had done their research, they’d be on TV and radio day and night warning Americans about the false two-party paradigm, the dangers of central banking, the subversion made possible by corporate campaign financing, and everything else threatening the liberties of the people. But of course they don’t, which means in this scenario, all our public figures simply haven’t figured it out yet and are naively towing the establishment’s line. This seems improbable to say the least.

2) Those public figures in important enough positions to influence public policy are, in large part, reading from a script that has been approved by the establishment’s directors themselves. They are complicit. When Barack Obama talks about wanting to end the war in Iraq, despite the fact that people more powerful and influential (and yes, wealthy) than him got us into Iraq, he is not being naive. He is lying and deceiving the American people in order to allow the rotten machine to continue grinding out more of what the ruling class desires. When a career congressman tells you he’s in Washington fighting against special interest and corruption, he’s lying to you, as he probably owes his job to special interest and corruption. Let’s just say his back isn’t scratching itself.

As for the talking heads in the media, with the likes of Olbermann and Beck, they just might be that clueless. After all, they’re already professional script readers.

It may be me, but the second scenario seems a hell of a lot more likely. With the power of the internet and vast libraries and archives, political, historical, cultural, and economic information and opinions from the last 200 years has never been more readily available. I know big government itself is a clumsy beast whose faults most often lie in the simplest explanation — incompetence. But big money controls big government, which means the empty suits in power are either a) along for the ride as the puppets they are, or b) actively assuming their role in achieving the perverted worldview of the elite, at the expense of the people who (at least ostensibly) are responsible for them being in office.

The harsh reality that the entire system has indeed been hijacked does not change, no matter which of these two scenarios is the most accurate. The truth stands, even if there be no public support; it is self-sustained. Gandhi said that.

So we’ll fight on, for God’s sake. The Constitution and our freedom as a people are as worth defending now as they’ve ever been. But we must recognize that we cannot fight the system from within. We cannot defeat the economic and bureaucratic elite at their own game. Not while we’re playing by their rules, which have been designed to ultimately divide the world into one of masters and serfs. Concordantly we must tend to our own gardens. We must ignite the fires of change in our communities, in our own families, amongst friends, neighbors, and relatives. We must focus our energy on sustainability for ourselves and our own way of life. We must overcome manufactured barriers of race and class and religion and sexuality and politics. We must see the current climate in our nation for what it really is — we the people versus they the tyrannical — not the way they want us to see it - we the people versus them the other people who sort of disagree with us kind of.

The only way to watch this outdated paradigm perish is to unplug ourselves from it, as its sustainability is only as extensive as our dependence on it. It requires our cooperation, our participation, and our sanction to continue. Don’t let go of your national pride, your heritage, your identity, no matter how you define yourself. Be proud of who you are, and even more proud to call those who differ from you your fellow human beings. But in any way you possibly can, for the love of liberty and in the spirit of our founding document, redeclare your independence from the domestic tyranny which has befallen our people. It’s never too late.

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