I am wondering if in my lifetime we will ever see the day when the media and our political leaders will be able to deal openly and honestly with the American People. I’m guessing it will never happen. But I am hopeful that as more information becomes available to more and more people that it will keep getting increasingly difficult for the media and political leaders to bamboozle The People in the future.

The Reality is that the ruling elite in this country, and for that matter, all over the world, think The People are idiots. Thus, they feel we are incapable of understanding high minded foreign policy and economics. So rather than tell us the truth of the matter, they instead concoct elaborate propaganda campaigns made to appeal to patriotism and appeal to authority.

Case in point would be World War 1. One could argue that at that time the U.S. was still largely a country of ignorant bumpkins living on farms. Thus, our political leaders could not approach The People and explain “we need to enter World War 1 because we have a financial stake in who wins or loses. If Britain and France lose the war, we stand to lose billions of dollars in loans.” Instead they had to concoct propaganda about “The War to End All Wars” in order to motivate people to accept military action. The sinking of the Lusitania was effectively used as a 9/11 type moment to goad the people to war. The Lusitania was running weapons and supplies to the allies and was a legitimate target. But because innocent people were killed, it was considered a travesty and a rallying point pushing America toward war.

World War 2 was similar in the sense that America had a strong financial interest in who won that war. But at the initial outbreak of war, Americans were strongly isolationists. It was feared by our political leaders that they could not explain the financial reasons why America had to go to war. Never mind that American Corporations helped build Hitler’s War Machine. Never mind that Grandpa Prescott Bush was involved in helping weaponize Hitler’s Germany. But the attack on Pearl Harbor once again provided the necessary 9/11 moment to help galvanize public support for war.

In the end, while there were financial reasons for WW2 along with monumental foreign policy shifts, The People accepted WW2 as noble due to the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Never mind that FDR and Churchill were well aware of the Nazi concentration camps but chose initially not to make this their central reason for the war. In other words, while we look back on WW2 as a time when the U.S. and Great Britain championed human rights, it didn’t start out that way and only became that toward the end. How far America has drifted from being the ‘good guys’. During WW2 we were against torture and for the proper treatment of prisoners of war. We had moral clarity. We knew right from wrong. Now we’re adrift in Dubya’s moral quagmire.

The Vietnam War. Can anyone tell why we fought that one? Oh yeah, the ‘domino theory’. Remember? The commies were going to take over the world? Remember that if we didn’t fight them over there we’d be fighting them on the shores of San Diego? The War on Communism was the Global War On Terror of the 1950’s all the way through the early 90’s. What were the real reasons for going to war with Vietnam? Natural resources and priming the war machine. Billions of dollars were made by the military industrial complex. The real reasons for invading Vietnam were similar to the real reasons for invading Iraq. It was about shifting back to a war time economy and allowing administration cronies to come in and steal tax payer dollars. But political leaders and the ruling class elite knew they couldn’t come out and tell the American People that. So they concocted their own 9/11 moment known as the Gulf of Tonkin.

See the pattern yet?

I often wonder if the political leaders, media, and ruling elite would be better served just telling the American People the truth about their choices for military action.

For example, we did not invade Iraq because of WMD, ties to Al Qaeda, mushroom clouds, or an ‘imminent threat’. The real threat was in Afghanistan and Pakistan but we glossed over that. The real reason for invading Iraq was to help secure oil reserves for the oil corporations. Also, Saddam threatened to start trading oil in Euros, a move that would hamper America’s ability to float debt. Also, Saddam had negotiated contracts with Russia, France, and Germany to develop Iraq’s oil fields locking out U.S. and British corporations. This is why those countries opposed the invasion of Iraq.

I think if the ruling elite were honest with the American People they might actually go further with their agenda as opposed to contriving elaborate propaganda schemes for appealing to patriotism. I think if they had told the American People that we needed to invade Iraq to protect the financial stability of America, the majority of Americans would go along with it. There is a finite amount of oil in the world with the bulk of the reserves being in the Middle East. Oil is surging in price because of increased demand from India and China. In order for America to protect its way of life it has to secure future oil needs. Hence the real reasons for invading Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now I for one disagree with this logic. I feel we would have been better served moving toward energy independence rather than fighting costly wars that drain our treasury and human assets. The problem with their equation for wanting war for financial gain is that they leave out the American People. In other words, the oil corporations and the military industrial complex are the ones profiting off these wars at the expense of the American Tax Payer. We The People are seeing no return on our investment.

I often wonder if Americans were enjoying $0.50 a gallon gas, or if Iraqi Oil was paying for the entire military operation, would there be any opposition to the occupation of Iraq? I doubt a majority of Americans would oppose occupying Iraq if Iraq’s Oil was paying for it and we were all enjoying cheap gas.

What happened in stead is that the ruling elite got greedy. They are sucking us dry and giving us no return. This is terribly short sighted and in the end will hurt their efforts. For a mere pittance such as cheap gas, they could have bought the support of the entire United States. Instead they keep asking for more when we have nothing left to give. Had the Administration been honest about their war intentions and kept their initial promises that the tax payer would not be footing this bill and we would see a return of cheap oil they probably would have had more success. Mind you, it’s success for them either way in the sense that everyone connected with the Bush Administration has profited enormously. At this point I don’t think they care beyond squeezing the tax payer for every last drop they can get before BushCo leaves office.

How much longer will the firewall between reality, the ruling elite, and The People exist? Will America continue to succumb to the whimsical propaganda pushed by the media? Or will the expansion of the availability of information finally change the dynamic?

It’s my opinion that the firewall as it once was is eroding. It’s getting harder and harder for the media to control the message as they once did. Most people under 30 get their news from the internet and The Daily Show. They have a natural distrust for the primped and pressed News Anchor. They have a natural distrust of the slick politician.

It didn’t take long to deconstruct the invasion of Iraq. Sure, the initial propaganda blitz by the press and the Bush Administration worked. But a after just a couple years, the entire house of cards collapsed. The truth was laid bare starting on the internet until it was so clear that even the media establishment had to acknowledge it. The propaganda shifted away from the reasons why we invaded Iraq (WMD, Al Qaeda, imminent threat) to “now that we’re there, we can’t leave”. And that’s pretty much where it’s at today. The People in general accept that they were bamboozled into supporting and ill conceived and poorly executed invasion and occupation.

I for one would prefer some honesty and frankness from our politicians and media absent the firewall. For example, the main reason why the Bush Administration is upset with Iran is because they chose to contract with Russia to build their nuclear power plants. Also, Iran in the past threatened to trade oil in Euros and recently made that switch. That’s what has Bush and Cheney in a twitch. Iran is no more of a threat to the U.S. than any other country with nuclear weapons. In fact, Iran is less of a threat in so much as they don’t have nuclear weapons and do not have the capability to deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States.

Will we ever get beyond the firewall as a Nation? Hard to say. The Ruling Elite continues to think we’re all idiots. Maybe they are right. Maybe it’s by design hence the de-education of The People over the last 30 years. Maybe their ridiculous pulling of our patriotic heart strings will continue to work its magic on The People when it comes time to goad us into the next war. But I’m holding out hope that in the future as more and more information becomes available to more and more people, that the standard old propaganda tricks will become ineffective.