100 days

Thought I would reprint my reply to a fellow couchsurfer in Holland. She's doing an assignment for a paper over there on what Americans think of Obama's first 100 (or so) days. Due to lack of response from those she actually met here, she put out a questionnaire to the active groups in the places she's been.

Hi ...
Just got your post, maybe too late, since I think it must be early Saturday morning there, but I enjoy the opportunity to respond nevertheless. Here goes:

Michael Polera: grocery store crewmember + home care assistant + gigging musician

I had little expectation for Obama, although I did want the democrats to win, simply because of the horrendously destructive and insane behavior of the neo-con republicans the last eight years.

The country seems to me a bit saner, without complete fools at the helm. But not much of substance has changed.

I would attribute this lack of change to the fact that both parties, as well as the mass media, are at the mercy of the real powers in the world. These are the global banksters--those willing to fund illegal and immoral wars and oppression in order to make a profit. The Trilateral Commission, of which Obama is a member, was a Rockefeller creation; the Federal Reserve (a private central bank) was created by JP Morgan, Loeb and the banking elite to steal the wealth of the nation--and it has. These and similar entities (IMF, World Bank, CIA) constitute a transnational shadow government which effectively sets US and global policies.

I saw the economic crisis coming--and it is more than a "crisis". The current debt-based monetary system would need to consume the entire resouurces of the Earth to sustain itself. It will fail. I am in fact surprised the system has lasted as long as it has.

The "crisis" has affected my life personally in that I declared personal bankruptcy last year. After drowning in debt for many years, then being unemployed and nearly homeless, then after finding three jobs (see above) and still not making bills, I knew the game was up. Getting out of the debt system has been tremendously beneficial to my life and serenity. I am living something of a life again.

The economic crisis has also spurred myself and many friends to start home gardens, and begin rebuilding lost community. There is a "transition towns" movement to try to organize for the new economics of the post-peak-oil, post-corporate-capitalist world. These are hopeful developments.

Obama's intention to expand the war in Afghanistan is a tragic mistake, but to be expected because he is a protege of Brezhinski (founder of the Trilateral Commssion). By expanding the war, Obama has blood on his hands now and will begin the moral demise we have seen in every president since Kennedy (who was killed because he attempted to stand up to the above-mentioned shadow government--and was the last president to do so). Obama's giving trillions of dollars to the banks who created the economic mess is to be expected, but is still disappointing.

Successes: I like Obama, am glad he got elected, and hasn't been killed. I think the African American community is naturally empowered by his success. I am also glad he is beginning to open up relations with Cuba again, and that he is closing down Guantanamo--but these are drops in the bucket. There is still going to be an embargo against Cuba, and there are a thousand Guantanamos the US uses all over the world, not to mention what goes on in prisons right here.

I have been pessimistic about America's future since I was a small child, and remain so. (I was born in the year JFK was murdered.) Substantial systemic change would entail shutting down the Federal Reserve--I'm not holding my breath. Substantial moral change would entail an end to warmaking, for starters, and ultimately a recognition that there is no enemy or "Other". (Jesus had that about right.)

My hope is with Life itself, the Great Spirit beyond all these arrogant human-made social structures. So I practice meditation, am getting back into macrobiotics, and generally avoid politics. If I can live a simple life and try to keep my heart open, then maybe some serenity will come through that I can pass on to others.

In this direction, today I was forwarded an article by Naomi Klein which sums up the 100 days for progressives. She says we need to reclaim our power from the false hope we placed in Obama, and begin to do the direct action needed ourselves to try to take our country back. Unfortunately, it seems to me the military-industrial-prison-government-media-corporate complex holds just about all the power, and does not hesitate in using it violently and unjustly.

I guess this is the price Americans are paying for being silent collaborators in hundreds of wars, and the massive oppression of the third world, all of which has been going on for decades to prop up what capitalist greed could wring from the system. And like the Germans after WWII, we can no longer convincingly say: "We didn't know."

P.S. Sorry if I seem negative--it's been hard trying to live as a conscientious American. I am also the son of a German-American immigrant who lived through the fascism and war. I gather from your site that you are a young and positive activist. Your openness and travels I see have already touched many people. (I agree the couchsurfing movement is wonderful.) Keep up the good work, and please continue to change the world for the better. Thanks for the opportunity to write and best of luck with your assignment!

Sincerely,
Michael Polera