A rise of progressive libertarians in the US?
Predicted for 2011 -- Global youth uprising
| The youth might win a war waged in cyber space. We trim, blend, and append three 2011 articles from: (1) Raw Story, Jan 11, on Celente by Stephen C. Webster; and two from DownsizeDC, (2) Feb 8 on aid by Jim Babka, President, and (3) Feb 10, on terror by Perry Willis, Vice President. |
by Stephen Webster, by Jim Babka, and by Perry Willis
- Trends analyst predictions for 2011
In a wide-ranging interview with Russia Today (Dec 31), American trends analyst Gerald Celente made a raft of prognostications on humanity's growing trends.
As founder of the Trends Research Institute, Celente has made a number of accurate predictions in the past, including the rise of gold as an alternative store of monetary value and the popularization of hyper-local, organic food commodities. He also foretold the economic collapse, predicting at the start of 2008 that it would happen later in the year.
Thanks to his track record, Celente has been featured by mainstream media outlets and has a strong following among American libertarians.
His overall prediction for 2011: Get ready for the cyber wars.
"[The Internet is] exposing the corruptness, the ineptitude, and the double dealing going on that [governments] don't want the public to know about," he told RT. "The more freedom of information that goes out, they're going to start using cyber war and the war on terror to take that Internet freedom away from America."
He predicted a rising tide of government and private intervention online, with entities acting alongside each other to shut down speech they dislike.
"But in 2011, the game's gonna run out," he said. "...On one end, it's a wake-up call and on the other hand it's [an effort to] screw the people."
"What we saw in England, again with 'off with their heads,' what we saw in Italy with the students taking to the streets, you're gonna see in Spain, you're going to see in Ireland. You already saw it in France. Figure it out.
The US is going to be slower, but it's going to happen here at a different level. Remember, the US has been beaten down and pushed down. You're going to see a revolution worldwide. What's going to unite them in this cause is another major trend: Journalism 2.0.
"The Internet has become the great connector. They all know what's going on. They're all Facebook. They're all together. They have a system where they're interacting and relating. It's a different kind of social network than the other one, but the same."
He added that cyber war and cyber crime -- the likes of which targeted companies that refused to do business with WikiLeaks -- will escalate throughout the year.
"The worse conditions get, the more you're going to see cyber crime. The worse economic conditions go globally, the more you're going to see cyber wars. It's going to be a new element of warfare. It's an Internet nuclear bomb waiting to go off. You can bring down entire financial systems, stop bank transfers. You can blow apart, without ever having to light a fuse, a whole stock exchange... Every major computer-connected industry or service is a potential target for cyber war."
He predicted that government-sponsored cyber war would ultimately follow economic sanctions that fail to produce desired results.
Celente also predicted the rise of "progressive libertarians" in the US, which had already begun as early as 2007 when Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) became popular among not just conservatives, but progressive youth as well.
The hybridization would be "libertarian in the sense of government staying out of people's lives," he said, and progressive "with the government having control of issues where they can make a difference."
To see the article, click here .
The article was circulated by the Democratic Freedom Caucus within the US Democratic Party. For more on the caucus, click here .
JJS: One may assume that libertarians are just conservatives but actually many libertarians are anti-war.
- End Aid to Dependent Dictators
How does an Egyptian feels toward America? Tear gas canisters used against Egyptian protesters said "Made in the USA”. US politicians have given Egypt's Dictator-President, Hosni Mubarak, $60 billion over the past 30 years.
And Mubarak isn't the only one. Foreign aid does little to build good relations with other countries. Instead, it makes foreigners think that we want to dominate them, and hold them in bondage to their corrupt rulers.
Citizens can contribute to voluntary groups with an international reach. We don’t need politicians to coerce us to fund their aid preferences.
To tell Congress your thoughts, click here .
- To win the war on terror
Fearing the terrorists is like a cat fearing a mouse. All the terrorists in the world amount to no more than an anemic mosquito on the snout of a whale. There are more murders by American criminals each year than have been committed by terrorists in the past two decades.
Americans have overreacted to the terrorist threat, and the politicians have encouraged and exploited our cowardice to trash the Constitution and expand the power of The State.
If Ernest Hemingway had the right definition of courage -- “grace under pressure” -- then our country has shown little grace in the face of not much pressure. The official “War on Terror” amounts to one giant national cringe.
We can do better, with less effort and more grace. We can stop being afraid.
Instead of large armies, invasions, illegal spying, torture, detention camps, Kangaroo courts, or multi-billion dollar Congressional appropriations, instead of shredding the Bill of Rights or the Geneva Conventions, all we need is a little backbone. And a little common sense.
Let’s scale back the official government war on terror. Replace it with a smaller, more focused anti-terrorist police effort in keeping with the rule of law. It will not be possible to stop all terrorist acts. Accept that.
Do not participate in the public hysteria when terrorists attack, but put the terrorist act in its proper place in the vast scheme of crimes, accidents, disease, natural disaster, and generic tragedy that is man's lot on earth.
Discourage politicians from fomenting and exploiting hysteria to expand their own power at the expense of traditional American principles.
To declare your lack of fear to the politicians, and recruit others, send a "I Am Not Afraid" declaration to Congress. Request that they repeal the “Patriot Act”. click here
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Editor Jeffery J. Smith runs the Forum on Geonomics.
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Also see: Corruption Leads to More Corruption
US aid rules in Somalia are impossible, says UN envoy
Get real about language, but get real about people, too |
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