Death of the Liberal Class

My older sister posted this speech by Chris Hedges, on his book "The Death of the Liberal Class", on her Facebook page and I finally got around to listening to it this evening. While it was a tad depressing to hear how bad things have gotten, it was also very eye opening to hear how corporatized both political parties have gotten to where there's practically no difference between the two anymore. I'd begun to wonder why it was that I have been feeling increasingly frustrated with both Democrats and Republicans lately when I have begun to wonder myself why they both seem to screw up so badly when they are in power. Democrats in particular seem to possess an uncanny ability to commit political suicide or at the very least shoot themselves in the foot with alarming regularity, the latest incident being President Obama angrily and most patronizingly calling progressives "sanctimonious purists" when many of us objected to his once again caving into Republican threats and blackmails regarding their refusal to pass unemployment extensions unless they got a fat tax cuts for the super rich. Well, the President caved in and gave Republicans what they wanted instead of fighting for what he wanted and standing strong against them. And then he had the temerity to insult his base, many of whom have abandoned him in recent months, particularly independent voters, who wholesale voted for Republicans in the midterms. But now to hurl insults at progressives who fought their hearts out to get him elected is really biting the hand that feeds and Obama risks alienating just about everyone who worked for his election. His support is dwindling and I'm afraid he's doomed to be a forgettable one term President except for the fact that he made history by being the first African-American President. Well, in this speech, Chris Hedges calls out Mr. Obama for a number of things and doesn't spare anyone in this speech. I would strongly recommend watching it and listening to what Mr. Hedges is saying here. It's a real call to action from the bottom up, not the top down. Change has always come from the bottom, not from the top, and unless and until we realize that and get up off of our complacent fannies and do something, nothing's going to change and the American Empire, such as it is, is doomed to fail, just like Rome did several millenia ago. Listen. And learn. And more important, do something about it.