[Once again Synthesis Blog brings you the rambling wisdom and sagacious meditations of our Synthesis Weekly columnist, Mad Bob Howard. The reclusive and gun-toting Mad Bob can be reached at madbob@madbob.com]

Utah Phillips

Crumbling Faith

“I’m an anarchist – I don’t make rules for other people. I make rules for myself.”
-Utah Phillips

Utah Phillips, legendary songwriter and labor activist, passed away last week at the age of 73. Phillips was born in 1935 and as a young man he served in the army. The gore and human waste he witnessed during combat duty in the Korean War left him angry and deeply disturbed, and when he returned to America, Phillips fell into a life of destitution and alcoholism. He hopped freight trains and moved from state to state and shelter to shelter; then, in his later career as a folk singer and songwriter, Phillips wove the characters he met along the way with the anarchist philosophy he’d adopted to create meaningful music that shone a light on injustice and hinted at a better method of structuring society.

Fingers in the Dyke: All around us we are seeing an erosion of this particular “capitalist” system. Similarly as to how I feel about communism or socialism, I don’t believe there is anything innately wrong with capitalism. All three systems work fine on paper because they are essentially theoretical. The problem is with people and the inevitability of corruption. That’s what we’re seeing today. It’s taken longer than it did to rot out communism, but corruption is devouring our own political and economic system from within.
Consumer capitalism is an economic belief system built primarily on faith. If we all believe things will get better, and keep on spending accordingly, then the system will persist into perpetuity. The economy has been floating on credit cards for the last 20 years. I used to have a problem with the credit cards, and I am telling you it’s the same thing as gambling. You are spending money you don’t have assuming that eventually your personal financial situation will catch up with your spending lifestyle.
But once we lose our faith and decide to hold onto our money instead of sacrificing it on the altar of consumerism, then the system breaks down. This “economic downturn” is ultimately a monster of our own creation — we’ve allowed our faith to crumble.

[More stuff to get the blood boiling after the jump.]

A Long Retirement: Scott McClellan, the former Press Secretary for the White House, has just released a scathing documentation of his time served with President Bush called “What Happened.” In it he paints a grim portrait of an intellectually incurious President whose policies are based more on instinct than intellect. More ominously, McClellan portrays Bush as a man capable of subtle self-deceptions that allow him to justify and rationalize any wrongdoing.
Of course, on cue, the administration has sent out their attack dogs and circled the wagons. The memoir of a man who worked with Bush for seven years has been dismissed as a hatchet-job from a disgruntled former employee. That right there is the Achilles Heel of the Bush presidency: One of Bush’s most loyal supporters essentially defects and the Bush instinct — instead of reflecting on the defection and asking why it happened — is to block and counter-attack. It is an Old Testament eye-for-an-eye reaction and I believe it is in the Bush genes. They are a clan seemingly incapable of self-reflection. They espouse their love of Jesus while practicing the preaching of Moses and Mohammed. Pre-emptive war, overwhelming force, destroy dissent, shock and awe; there’s never even the consideration of turning the other cheek.
Well George W. is still a relatively young man as far as soon to be ex-presidents come. He will have plenty of time to reflect on his decisions rocking in his chair out on the ranch.
Politics, Ugh…: I don’t know where I fall politically anymore. I’m so disillusioned with it all. I just want the government to leave me alone. It seems, though, that we have to have leaders. That being the case, could we get anyone in office capable of honest self-reflection? Or is it a pre-requisite of higher office that one has to believe them self incapable of wrongdoing?
Enough Faith Already: So I guess I’ve had enough of all this “faith.” Here’s what I want: Ideally, I want a shift of power back to the states and local governments. On top of that, I want a government that is ruthlessly pragmatic. I want policies determined on feasibility, not ideology. If the bastards have to take my money then I want it to be used, not wasted.
Summer is Here!: Anyway, summer is here and the students are gone. I’m gonna get off all this depressing politics and economic bullshit. It’s put me in a funk and I’m starting to bore myself. Until next week

Madbob@madbob.com

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Tags: anarchist | belief system | Bob Howard | capitalist system | combat duty | consumer capitalism | destitution | economic system | folk singer | freight trains | inevitability | korean war | labor activist | legendary songwriter | mad Bob | meaningful music | phillips utah | sagacious | spending money | utah phillips

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