Keyser Söze
They Plan to Kill Democracy? Watch This.
In the film The Usual Suspects we learn of Keyser Söze who, when his wife and children were set upon in his own house by a gang seeking to teach him a lesson, killed his family before turning the gun on all but one gang member. He was allowed to live to tell the tale of a man so dangerous he would kill all that he loved before he would let anyone take it from him.
If folks intend to wait for another set of elections to roll around before America, fatigued by the incessant stream of fuck-ups and replacement suck-ups, vote out the Republicans and replace them with the D-publicans it’s going to be too late to do anything.
I warned you, dude. I fucking told you, bro.
The corporate media is covering for the fascist takeover because they are all owned and controlled by multi-billionaires, too. So they feed you a daily dose of framing discussions within acceptable parameters, feeding you talking points to use in your social media arguments, and dutifully reporting the open purchase of indulgences from the Orange Pope as just an unfortunate side-effect of Freedom, like mass shootings. Can’t do nothin’ about it.
Has anyone noticed a pattern of behaviors, where they shoot first and ask questions later, so to speak? The legal restrictions on the Muslim ban immigration orders issued during the first go-round were not given any serious legal considerations, because any competent law student would recognize the first amendment forbids respecting an establishment of religion.
Or maybe they did tell him that, and he thought, “Well, I’m not respecting them, at all!” Kind of like how he confuses “political asylum” for “insane asylum” and that’s why he riffs on Hannibal Lecter when he talks about border crossings.
The elderly mind does not get sharper. The best of what we saw in terms of mental acuity over the past year is as good as it will ever be again, and we will be seeing worse than the worst we saw.
Here’s hoping Judge Merchan sentences him to four years in jail for his 34 felony convictions, deferred for community service in the Presidency, and should he ever vacate the office, he is to serve the remainder of his sentence in captivity. That will keep the sneak from resigning in 2026 and moving to Riyadh, where he was just awarded a contract for a gigantic hotel by the Saudis. Imagine that.
Clearly, the modus operandi is Act First and Keep Going, and unless some folks are willing to step outside the boundaries to get to the people who are already operating outside the boundaries and STOP THEM, then we will be no better than reactionary to only that fragment we can address through institutions. We are going to have to operate in the realm of material culture.
There are real steps that can be taken, but do not hold out hope Joe Biden is going to do anything of substance. He’ll toss off a few more pardons, commute some more prison sentences, and leave a note for his predecessor reassuring him he kept the seat warm. Everyone knows Grover Cleveland was the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Can anyone name the guy who served in between?
Ever ponder why the rising bourgeoisie in America would invent a political class and share power with them? Their vision was it would be made up of landowners, but even in the eighteenth century there were plots of all sizes; one could be of relatively modest means and still be considered electable. The state was not meant to have much power, but surely the ability to levy taxes, regulate commerce, raise a militia, and establish laws offered the chance for commoners to hold significant sway.
Part of it belonged to a philosophy of self-governance and the primacy of the People, but another aspect has proven more practical, especially during severe economic crises, such as the Depressions of the early 1870’s and 1930’s, or during the Great Recession in 2007, or the Neoliberal Fallout of 2016 - present. The Democrats like to say that Trump is the cause of Republicans losing seats from 2018 - 2022, but then the Democrats, too, lost a very significant number of seats in 2024, and lost to Trump. The pattern looks like people getting angry at politicians and voting them out, regardless of party.
The problem we have run into is that it has become apparent that no matter which corporate party a politician chooses to affiliate with, they are still affiliating with a corporate party, and not with working people.
I know, I know, the Democrats say they are for working people, but since the Great Depression, when did the federal government last create a People’s support program with the scope of Social Security? Single-payer health care would be one, but there was never an attempt at that by Obama. Besides, the Democrats fear being called “Communist” (Anyone else notice the Republican pejorative became “Communist” when “Socialist” Bernie Sanders became a popular national figure?).
There is something Joe Biden could do that would help the working people, more than a photo opportunity at a picket line. He could nationalize all American-owned liquid assets being held overseas, at this moment. Take them all, divvy it up evenly, and cut checks to every American with his name on them, if he wants. It’s not a small amount of cash (There are over $31T in total foreign assets), and it’s in the form of dollars, and rupees, and yen, and rubles, and crypto.
It would be a striking blow to the bourgeoisie and Dogecoin’s biggest fanboy. It would force a massive cultural shift, and demonstrate that when trickle-down doesn’t happen, all that wealth starts to weigh on the blockage. When it no longer can hold, the wealth comes as a flood, at once.
It would force the Supreme Court to put restrictions on the Executive, if there was to be a successful challenge. They would have to weigh the short-term, relatively small loss for the Bourgeois against the long game of increasing Executive powers.
Of course this is a fantasy. Old Joe is no Keyser Söze, there is no way he would bite the hands that have fed him so well, even as they dismantle the structures that gave him his life’s work and purpose.
To get through this crisis we will have to do more than THINK outside the box, we are going to have to start ACTING that way, too. We cannot wait for corporate party members to do anything—they have become the box that is holding us.
Remember, elected officials are a new creation, a buffer class, to take the heat off those who are actually in control. We know our electoral system is corrupted by money, we know our President-elect has brazenly announced he is for sale, and the plutocracy is turning the state into a kleptocracy. Because they know if we ever get democracy back they are going to be fucked. We the People are seeing through Bourgeois “freedom” and recognize, more and more, it is not our own.
They are willing to literally burn the planet to get what they want. What are you willing to sacrifice to stop them?
Final note for today, and through the remainder of 2024: Please consider buying a full 2025 subscription to my page for yourself or as a gift for someone you know will enjoy critical approaches to social power. It’s 50% off for the full year (just $50) if you purchase before December 31. That’s less than a dollar a week, and your support keeps the public sociology alive, literally. Thanks!