Iamon lyme:

> No one who talks about the 'ignorant masses' assumes they are part of that group.

But aren't we all ignorant in one way or another? I am sure that before the 9-11 attack a lot of Americans knew a lot about Islam. And after 9-11 they know even more.

The same can be said about communism. I am sure that during the Cold War people in western Capitalist countries really made an effort to learn about Marxism. I am sure they all sat down to read Marx, Engles and Lenin, then based on the "reasoning" that you talk about people made up their minds as to whether it was good or bad. Western governments sold anti-communist propaganda, and people really made an effort to analyze and reason what was going on. There never was any fearmongering involved.

Now we have a budget crisis. I am sure the vast mojority of the American public went to analyze the action of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. They they carefully looked at the budet for the last 30 years and figured out how the money was being spent and where the cuts should happen so as to do what is best for the economy.

The public really, really does it best to educate itself so that they can analyze and reason political and economic events around them. Then when those in power try to sell fear and propaganda, the masses are prepared to say "You fearmongering liars, we got you all figured out!"

Am I a part of the "ignorant masses"? The answer is, we all are. I am the worst kind. I am educated. I read and study politics and economics. I reason theourgh the lies and manipulation. Yet I do nothing to change anything. I am an ignorant hypocrite who is all talk and no action. But then, if I took action, I would probably a revolutionary of sorts, because capitalism can never change unless it is dismantled completely. Then we get Communism, whether Leninist as in the Soviet Union, or the brand sold by Deng Xiaoping in China. Either way, the masses remain disaffected and alienated, and one elite is replaced by another. So I lower my head and say: "Nothing can be done." Those wihtout an ideological compass merely become terrorists and use violence to channel their social discontent. Like the idiot neo-nazi in Norway. Incapable of admitting that the problem is capitalism itself, he fills himself with hatred of socialism and goes on to attack the ruling left-wing party.

The US is not stuck in a debt problem. This is nothing new. For the last 150 years or so bankers have been exploiting developing nations and forcing debt defaults by governments. The only thing that is new is that now it is happening to the one country that used banking to its own advantage for the last 100 years. For most of the 20th century the USA used the debt of other countries to gain political and economic advantage. Now it is America's turn to experience what Third World Countries have experienced for the last 100 years. The USA is now in serious trouble, a lot more serious than people realize. Both political parties are going to come out pointing the finger at each other and spoon feeding their propaganda to the masses. The public won't even realize that the real problem is the fascist Military industrial complex that drains billions from the Treasury, and rich and powerful that give tax breaks to themselves. People won't even realize that BOTH political parties are to blame, because both parties play the same dirty game.