Ebbie, you asked: "Even supposing that you are right, GfS - which I do not - what do you propose we do? If "they" are as entrenched as you believe and the system is as cohesively corrupted as you delineate, just how are we supposed to combat them?"

Combat them? Hmm. Well, let's be realistic here. What are your chances, as an ordinary citizen, of "combating" the great forces which run your society? I mean, really, what are your chances????

What was an ordinary Chinaman's chances of combating Kublai Khan? What was an ordinary Roman's chances of combating the Senate of Rome? Or Caesar? What is an ordinary Russian's chances of combating the Kremlin and the Russian power structure? What was an ordinary Frenchman's chances of combating Napoleon? What was an ordinary Spaniard's chances of combating the Catholic Church and the King? What is a present day Chinese person's chances of combating the ruling system in China? How would an Iranian or an Israeli go about combating their ruling systems and fundamentally changing them?

Ha! These systems all fall or change, Ebbie, only when they are forced to either by an internal collapse caused by their own gross insanity and inefficiency or through military defeat by an outside enemy who is too strong for them. Do you see the system that is running the USA falling or changing in its basic nature any time soon? I don't. It's got both political parties tucked in its vest pocket, it's got the mass media onside, it's got a hypnotized and compliant consumer public, it's got the military and the police onside, it's got the business community onside, its got the legal community onside, and it has no foreign enemy strong enough to defeat the USA in an all out war. Therefore, it's not going to fall or alter its basic nature for the better in the forseeable future. It's almost certainly going to increase its oppressive control over people's lives.

Here's what you do: As GfS suggested...number one job is to make sure you are carrying NO debts! Get out of debt. It is those in debt who will be hit the hardest when the screws tighten another notch or two.

Number two job is make sure you're not in trouble with the law in any way.

Number three job is to have a skill and a source of income that you can rely on (if possible).

And after that? Focus on the small things in your life which really matter, and I think you know what those are. They are the intimate aspects of your own life. They're your loved ones, your family, your friends, those you have a connection with at the heart level, your immediate community, and your own personal dreams as a uniquely developing human being. That's what your life is really about anyway. It's not about national politics. It's about you yourself as a developing human being and it's about the other people whom you know and love.

I don't place my hopes in the field of politics at all. I place my hopes in the field of my own personal life, and my own life has VERY little to do with whatever the hell is going on in the field of politics, I can assure you. I regard it as I would some kind of ridiculous circus act carried on like the phony show put on by the Wizard of Oz. You never get to see the little man behind the screen, and you never will. So what? He's not a real part of your life anyway, he's just a big noise made by a big, stupid wind that blows but knows not why it is blowing and cares not who it sweeps away when it does.