National & Global Issues for 2020 - Letter to America by Ruby Amatullah

Make Governments work for the People Again

Backdrop:

Every recent survey by Gallup, NPR, and others has revealed that the majority of Americans – irrespective of age, ethnicity, or political affiliation – has lost confidence in their government. ¹ & ²

For a 240-year-old democracy such as the United States, this is a sign of alarm. The American government is no longer viewed as the servant of the people. It is instead regarded as an agent of elites and special interests.

There has always been an eternal war between elites and the common people of society from time immemorial. The rich and the powerful few always try to take advantage of the vulnerability and the lack of knowledge of the masses to exploit them and rob that belongs to the people. Elites’ interests are best served by oligarchy and plutocracy. The rule of law of democracy stands in the way of elite interests. They benefit from authoritarian and corrupt politicians that subvert the rule of law to offer the elites undue advantages. Therefore, elites always try to derail an existing entrenched democracy or in less disadvantageous places, block or destroy a burgeoning democracy.

Alarmingly, there is no boundary for the elites today. They have become transnational and global and immensely powerful. The outcome of that is extreme inequality and injustice that pervade the world including America.

When the global community demands the rule of law based on equality, impartiality, and human rights; today that rule of law is subjugated and distorted by the money and power of a few people at the top. Two powerful confrontational forces are fighting for national and global dominance: one is the collective will of the common people, loud and clamoring on the streets that can be very visible and the other is the master plan of immensely powerful, extremely organized, and extremely well-connected global elites, that is largely invisible, working behind smokescreens.

The concentration of power and wealth is so extreme that the common people have no idea how extreme that ‘extreme’ is, according to the world-famous economist Thomas Piketty and concurred by many others. The ‘extreme inequality’ that exists now in America is unparalleled in human history including the time of the Pharaohs. Piketty demonstrates with his research results that the global phenomenal economic prosperity, largely not shared with the common people of this world, have produced inequalities on the apocalyptic scale. ³

It is unfathomable that in today’s global culture when common people everywhere demand social justice and democracy, only 389 powerful players are trying to dictate the fate of the 7.5 billion people that inhabit this planet.⁴

The purpose of democracy is to place the power in the hands of the people so that the elites can’t exploit them. The American founders fought a revolutionary war against the colonial rule of elites to establish the first democracy in the modern world to free and empower the common people.

Today, unfortunately, it appears we are regressing back to square one: the rule of oligarchy/plutocracy is back again.

It is no longer one country versus another, the global society is rather collectively struggling against the injustices inflicted by the global elites that also control their governments. The American government is the target of the global elites, if they can control Washington, they know they can control the world. So, Washington is the hub of their lobbies. Enormous wealth and power at their disposal, these lobbies are extremely smart and organized, and their alliances and networks are also enormous, but they choose to remain behind the scene. They operate as ‘black holes’ operate in the universe: remain unseen but exert enormous power to control everything around it, even light fails to escape its gravitational force. The global elites behave just like that. They are dark, insidious, and almost invincible.

Therefore, the American public is at the center stage of this global drama. The American people are supposedly the masters of their government. Their position is being robbed by the elites. However, the American people can seize that power from the userpers if they are united, organized, and determined. They can change their unjust state as they can help the world change.

America, especially being the superpower that constitutes 25-30 percent of the world’s GDP, has a common cause with the rest of humanity. If the past is any reference, as this global society becomes increasingly interdependent and intensely interconnected, good leadership in Washington has had profound positive effects on the mindset and modus operandi of the world. On the other hand, the reverse is also alarming.

As we are experiencing today. During the last several decades since the Cold War started and especially since the 1967 Middle East War, Washington’s policies have been to destroy nascent democracies in many places in the world and replace those with authoritarian puppet regimes and military rule. These agendas, in the name of national interests and on the pretext of maintaining stability, benefit elites while the peoples on all sides of an engagement pay a high price. The long chain of consequences these immoral and often inhuman policies cause are extremely costly, counterproductive, and tremendous disservices to America as well as to the global society.

That neocolonial agenda of placing and supporting authoritarian agent regimes is still continuing today: insidious but more forceful and much more manipulative.

The alarming consequences of unchecked elite-orchestrated agendas of domination and exploitation are increasingly manifesting in terms of rising worldwide authoritarianism, corruption, governmental abuse and misuse of power, cronyism, crimes, impunity all that rob a society and devastate its people are spreading and destroying good governance in this global society. The world is becoming a borderless field of exploitation and subjugation.

The global trend of ever-increasing awareness of human rights and dignity leading to the ever-greater demand for freedom and economic welfare among the 7.5 billion people that inhabit the earth is heading for an armageddon confrontation with the elites — local, transnational, and global — unless a visionary global leadership emerges to subdue the elites.

We are witnessing the eruption of mass human grievances and protests against governmental plundering of society under the patronage of transnational elites (local colluding with that of foreign powers) in places like Algeria, Sudan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Brazil, Uruguay, Equador, Venezuela, Lebanon, and many other places in the world. This fight between the people and the elites, if not addressed by a dedicated, sincere, courageous global leader effectively, could lead to a global catastrophe.

Vote for Bernie Sanders

We need a leader like Bernie Sanders – a person of integrity and sincerity – whose track record on justice and human rights is outstanding. He is the first leader in recent time who, taking enormous risk, has successfully created a long-neglected national dialogue focused on the issues of the rights and welfare of the common people. It is encouraging that other leaders are following suit. Our hope is on these leaders who are creating a bold new national discourse that clears the fog created by the predatory elites.

This world is already inundated with many serious problems threatening humanity such as global warming, environmental pollution, water shortages, droughts and wildfires, unparalleled levels of human influx from the elite-exploited and devastated places to the places offering a safer and better life, the East-West tensions, the reckless arms businesses of the military industries that have pushed the world to a dangerous situation, and many more socio-political and geo-political issues that are challenging our world seriously that desperately need good governance and global cooperation. The first and foremost is creating popular and accountable governments around the world to help combat the emerging global problems. Otherwise, the elites are going to be the roadblocks before such global cooperation for peace and justice takes place.

The American public, still possessing the ultimate social power, is the most powerful countervailing force against the global alliances of elites, if they are united and determined enough to change their government and the way Washington handles global affairs. This global leadership can’t be expected from the extremely authoritarian, repressive, and closed-door systems of China or Russia.

They also envisioned that America had a common cause with the rest of humanity. This entire letter is dedicated to their correct understanding that their global pro-people and pro-justice agendas were not only a moral call but also a great service to American people in the long run.

Both Wilson and FDR saw that the root cause of all conflicts and wars is injustice and violation of human rights and dignity. They left a legacy for their beloved nation to comply with the values and the spirit of the charter of this great country: that is to stand in solidarity with the dispossessed, disenfranchised, and suffering people in the world in their struggles for freedom and economic welfare. The wisdom they left behind is that helping establish justice to help uplift life and liberty both at home as well as abroad is not only the dictate of conscience but also profoundly pragmatic that would serve America’s interests best way.

Who are the Elites?

Who are these elites that are identified as the ‘enemies of peace’ by none other than FDR in his famous 1936 Madison Square Garden speech? He openly acknowledged that his administration had to fight against these predatory forces: “We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace – business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering…..”

In 1956 a famous sociologist, C. Wright Mills, in his bestselling book titled “The Power Elite” (Frank W. Elwell, C. Wright Mills on the Power Elite, exposed that a group of politicians, financial institutions, and military-industrial-complex bureaucrats collude among themselves to exert enormous influence on society and government. He termed them the ‘power elite.’⁵

An extraordinary responsibility rests on the American voters to bring about a paradigm shift at this critical juncture of history. A dedicated and visionary leader like Woodrow Wilson or Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) can help the nation come out of a crisis and change history as a world leader. We need a leader like them in this dark hour.

The American voters are the centerpiece of a global struggle, and they also have a rich history of successful struggles against special interests. They fought the civil war in which more than 700,000 Americans perished to free slaves, they also undertook major struggles such as the collective bargaining movement to achieve workers’ rights and welfare, the women’s liberation movement to bring about gender parity, and the civil rights movement all were undertaken and brought to fruition by the American people that, later, changed the world.

One of the Sanders campaign’s biggest successes has involved his popularization of the income inequality discussion in mainstream media. Only a few years prior to the 2016 campaign, wealth inequality and income redistribution were highly controversial talking points. They were easily branded as ‘socialism’ among right-wing groups and ‘nonelectable nonstarter issues’ among center-left political groups. As a result, many among the American progressive left had grown cynical regarding the ability to make their voices heard. The Sanders campaign has established a national discourse that clears the fog created by the characterization of a group by ‘left’ or ‘right’ and bring the key issues of justice, freedom, and human welfare at the forefront.

Sanders’s repetitive and clearly articulated talking points on income inequality revitalized the issue for Americans on all sides. As a result, all Democratic presidential candidates are now scrambling to look more ‘progressive’ than one another. They are crawling over one another with regards to their stance on corporate America and wealth inequality.

This letter is also indirectly addressed to all the progressive leaders and thinkers in politics and the common Americans with “common sense.”

Political leaders can’t be underestimated in their work to help bring about a revolution this nation needs. The issues I identified as the source of dysfunction and degradation of this great nation and the solutions, I believe, could help this nation get out of the present quagmire are laid down for these progressive leaders and the American voters in 2020.

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Issue #1)

‘We Need a Socially Responsible Market Economy, We Are Against Predatory Capitalism’

One of the common anti-Sanders tropes in the media involves his support for ‘socialist’ values including increased public spending as well as increased checks and balances against private profits. However, a review of recent trends in economic growth show that the problem isn’t necessarily capitalist philosophy, but the rapacious predatory capitalism that we see in America and the world today. Since there are powerful negative connotations created against labels and brands such as ‘socialist capitalism’ or ‘democratic socialism’ it is important that the Democratic party focus on the concrete goals and agendas such as freedom, social justice, anti-predatory anti-monopoly, pro-small-and-medium scale business infrastructure and closest-to-full -employment economy. This is an important messaging strategy – the differentiation between capitalism and predatory capitalism – which can help to dispel stereotypes about the Sanders agenda.

The elites, enormous wealth and networks at their disposal, exercise their influence on the government to set rules that favor them at the cost of the common people. These rules are often utterly exploitative and unjust. This is predatory capitalism. All leaders of conscience should work against this modus operandi as FDR fought against special interests to save the nation in the 1930s.

The common people are helpless to challenge this power elite unless they are united and organized under good leadership. The 2020 election is about that agenda.

One fundamental concept the elites take full advantage of is ‘individual rights.’ There is an emphasis on individualism and individual rights especially in the Western world that is extreme and unhealthy, devoid of social responsibility. While individual freedoms are important, the concept of ‘individual rights’ shouldn’t be taken to an extreme level so that it becomes a conduit of injustice. If not checked by the government, a few people at the top, on the pretext of ‘individual rights,’ can victimize the rest of the society by usurping the capacity/opportunity of the common people to exercise their rights. The 3 richest Americans holding more wealth than the bottom 50% of the country — while the bottom 20% own nothing — demonstrates the level of undue advantages taken and injustices perpetrated by the elites by dint of the governmental collusion and unfair regulations.⁶ & ⁷

When 38 million Americans live below the poverty line and 27 million have no health insurance in 2018.⁸ The predatory capitalism can’t hide its exploitative face. This point has been clearly pointed out by many prominent sociologists.⁹ Misconceptions and false indoctrinations have been continuously reinforced in the psyche of the nation by the elite-controlled media and academia to mislead the people. Individual rights should be balanced with the collective rights of a society to attain shared prosperity and harmony. Like many scholars, economists, sociologists exhort that a functioning democracy is not possible without shared prosperity in society, and functioning democracy help sustain healthy capitalism in which prosperity is shared. These two are interdependent concepts.

Authoritarian capitalism such as that of China and Russia and the elite-dominated capitalism in the West become predatory and produce extreme inequality and imbalanced society.¹⁰

Moreover, Thomas Piketty believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this state of inequality is the cause of financial instability. A similar condition of extreme inequality and reckless capitalism existed both before the 1929 economic collapse and the 2008 crisis.

Many opposing forces want the American people to believe that Bernie Sanders is a socialist or promoting socialism in America that is un-American. Some describe a fair system as ‘liberal democracy’, others as democratic socialism or socialistic democracy. All these terms converge on the ideas that capitalism regulated and handled by an accountable democratic government that looks after the interests and welfare of common people in a society. A system that delivers shared prosperity: a fairer sharing of wealth and power within the society and upholds people’s freedom and democratic rights should be the goal of a society. People should not get stuck on the terminologies and the negative connotations that are deliberately created to mislead them. People should elect representatives and officials that would be committed to the goals of upholding rights, delivering justice and fairness, and achieving common welfare. When common people are pleased and confident about their government, they are optimistic and energetic. The society becomes stable and productive. World-famous economists like Thomas Piketty, Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, and others all concur with these basic ideas of justice and shared prosperity that Bernie Sanders is trying to promote in America.

On the other hand, when a society becomes a victim of injustices and extreme inequality, it becomes destabilized and counterproductive. The social costs in terms of higher depression, higher alcohol and drug additions, higher suicide rates, higher crimes, less productivity, and a more unstable economy all drag a society towards a vicious cycle of dysfunction. ¹¹

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United allowing unlimited corporate campaign contributions has become a near-insurmountable obstacle, forcing political candidates to pledge allegiance to special interest groups in order to survive. The concept of ‘individual rights’ was specifically used in this court case, and it was overstretched to achieve the goals of elites. Many capable and principled people who could otherwise provide the nation with good leadership are now discouraged from entering political races, knowing the extremely uneven playing field created by corporate money.

The Court’s focus on individual rights of corporations – artificial individuals before the law – fails to consider the rights of countless real individuals in a society whose welfare could be served by leadership committed to public interests over special interests. This distortion of the concept of ‘individual rights’ is a disservice to society.¹² 17 Chris Hedges, a scholar, and thinker stated: “As long as we fold inward and embrace a hyper-individualism that is defined by selfishness and narcissism, we will never overcome this estrangement.”¹³

In 2016 corporate America’s top 1% earned 87 times more than the bottom 50% of workers. CEO pay increased 930% since 1978 compared to an insignificant increase in the workers’ earnings during the same period.¹⁴

According to a report by President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, “Higher wages for low-skilled workers reduce both poverty and crime…… A 10 percent increase in wages for non-college educated men results in approximately a 10 to 20 percent reduction in crime rates.’¹⁵ 20 Yet these vital decisions are left to dysfunctional and manipulated market mechanisms that favor the wealthy.

Walmart made $15 billion in profits in 2015, yet they refused to pay a $15/hour minimum wage to its employees that would still enable it to make $10 billion annual profits. Taxpayers bailed out Walmart workers rather than the company itself, as the US government paid $6.2 billion to low-scale Walmart workers that year.¹⁶ The Walton family, the owners of Walmart, have an estimated net worth of more than $130 billion. This one family owns more wealth than the combined wealth of the bottom 42% of Americans. Paradoxically, their company receives more welfare than anyone else.

Mergers and buyouts have produced mega-companies that dominate nearly every industry. At every level, layoffs and increased manhours abuse both blue-collar and white-collar workers. A large segment of working Americans survive on additional part-time work, or on combined family income, without any long-term security or fringe benefits. Their future is bleak.

This condition erodes worker loyalty and productivity. Leading sociologists are finding that there are alarming increases in suicide rates among working-class individuals, sickness, crimes, mental illness, family breakdown, and other social problems.¹⁷ Many citizens are increasingly preoccupied with their day to day survival, rather than participation in the civic process. The American dream has turned into a nightmare. No wonder the public has lost confidence in their government.

There are many policy ‘fallacies’ that are deliberately propagated to promote this inequality. Automation is often touted as a tool for increased productivity, even though it also increases unemployment. Automation increases the income of the top people of an organization while the workers are laid-off. The human cost in terms of indignity and sufferings are not taken into account at all by the decision-makers. Similarly, when merging with or takeover of another company takes place the first attempt is to get rid of employees/workers that are expandable. Many tactics and pressures are created to shove extra load on the employees and workers who want to hang on to their jobs. These cutthroat techniques are widely practiced in corporate America.

Human beings are looked at as expendable commodities for another ounce of extra profit for the elites. And society pays a high price.

This cost-cutting and profit-enhancing mania in predatory capitalism, in essence, is inhuman. There is absolutely no regard for human life and the social consequences of such exploitative modus operandi. This culture of extreme greed and inhumanity is counterproductive for the economy and enormous disservice to society. ¹⁸

The ‘trickledown effect’ remains official dogma among many rightwing foundations, even though it is widely disputed by mainstream economists. The deregulation policies embarked in the 1980s during President Reagan’s administration that hugely favored the elites. According to Joseph Stiglitz, neither the workers of developed nor that of developing countries are happy with globalization, as trade agreements are often authored by and for corporations. These trade agreements infringe upon the rights of ordinary workers. This concern forms the essence of recent opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.¹⁹

I believe that had pushed the economy onto a trajectory of increasing inequality. Thomas Piketty, a world-renowned economist — whose extensive research work is widely consulted and hailed by other famous economists such as Krugman and Stiglitz (both Nobel Prize winners) — laid down in his famous book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, that since 1980, income inequality exploded in the US. He asserted, “In my view, there is absolutely no double that the increase of inequality in the United States contributed to the nation’s financial instability.’²⁰

Additionally, the entire concept of a ‘free market’ is only truly beneficial to society if it is regulated and supervised by an accountable government. The role of social movements and civil societies as watchdogs is vital for the wellbeing of the whole society, and not just a few people at the top. This is how places like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong, and Singapore initially prospered beyond expectations. In each case, the government played a responsible and vital role in mediating, maintaining a balance, and looking after all stakeholders so that a business is successful and the society is served. These types of positive governmental supervision/intervention help make all the stakeholders – owners, managers, employees/workers — highly motivated to reach optimization.

This is the secret of the rapid progress and prosperity of each of these South East Asian countries: socially responsible capitalism within the framework of an accountable system of democracy. The trust and confidence on a government and the equal opportunity it help create cause optimism and vigor among common people to be productive.

However, increasingly these countries, like others, are also being subjected to predatory capitalism and heavy influences of the Transnational Capitalist Class.

China, on the other hand, demonstrated rapid economic growth for a while using a capitalistic system under the good stewardship of the Chinese government and its healthy set of rules and regulations. However, as the economy progressed the predatory forces of capitalism also have long been creeping up behind the ‘closed-door’ decision-making process to threaten that fallible system. Its authoritarian system of governance rapidly succumb to corruption and cronyism and rapidly failing to maintain the balance that it did under the visionary leadership of Deng Xiaoping. Now increasingly victimized by predatory capitalism. All studies and surveys show that the Chinese people are increasingly becoming unhappy and dismayed with the alarming levels of corruption and enormous privileges for the elites. They are also unhappy about their state of extreme inequality, lack of freedom, and violations of human rights.²¹ & ²² & ²³

The Chinese government, sensing the dismay and dysfunction and facing the criticisms and dilemmas, is becoming even more regimented, closed-door, and authoritarian recently. In my view, China has taken a wrong turn.

In the past, even if a benevolent dictator, in order to generate rapid development for his people had used an authoritarian system, it had worked only in the short-run before it started to dysfunction.

In the absence of checks and balances, transparency and accountability — corruption, cronyism, and abuse of power become rampant.

Mahathir Bin Mohamad of Malaysia long after his retirement saw the Frankenstein he had created when he was in power: an authoritarian system to facilitate rapid economic development for his country, the system with all its weaknesses succumbed to the misuse and abuse of his successors. Mahathir crushed all his oppositions and critics when he was in power. Finally, realizing the mistakes he had made, he approached his long-time arch-rival to form a new party to defeat his own old party to bring about checks and balances and accountability in the system. Wisdom prevailed on him.

As the American democratic system is run by the power elite, its capitalism is facing a similar fate. The American system as it is today, dictated by the ‘trickledown’ agenda favoring the elites and driven by extreme greed and utterly neglecting the society, may face a similar fate as it faced in 1929 and 2008 unless seriously checked by new leadership. A shake-up of Washington can stop the same pattern of downfall dictated by the same dysfunction.

The hope is that America still has a system in place, the democratic culture is still breathing, and a national consensus is still exerting its influence that could be invoked again. Though extremely powerful undemocratic forces are also posing a threat to this once the best system in the world, the American voters can fix it with one stroke by acting responsibly in the next election. If the Sanders administration takes control, backed by a receptive Congress, bad laws and regulations can be removed, costly and counterproductive policies could be eliminated, and the democratic system and America’s global leadership could be restored. All possibilities now rest on the American voters in 2020.

The irony is, whenever, America is a victim of such policy fallacies due to the absence of dedicated leadership, the world follows suit. Increasingly leaders like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Narendra Modi in India, and multiple populist right-wing groups throughout Europe find their support from none other than a place like Washington. This is why Bernie Sanders’s stance against inequality is so important, as it resonates not just with America but also with the world.

Much negative attention has been devoted to the Sanders campaign’s association with ‘socialist’ thought. However, philosophical debates or tedious descriptions about ‘social democrats’ versus ‘democratic socialists’ threaten to derail the primary message of the Sanders campaign, which involves a pressured push against the most rapacious inequalities here and abroad, the essence of which is about justice and social welfare.

These inequalities and social justice are created by setting rules, as one thinker puts it, shaped by large corporations, Wall Street, and very wealthy individuals in order to channel a large portion of the nation’s total income and wealth to themselves. ²⁴ This, in essence, is predatory capitalism. To rescue the society and the world from the grip of predatory capitalism we need to change those rules via good governance under good leadership. The outcome would be good capitalism. It is important that the Sanders campaign communicates the difference between these two ideas to the American people.

Over eighty years ago in 1936, Franklin Roosevelt warned the nation as follows:

“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace – business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs….” ²⁵

It was President Roosevelt [FDR] using socialistic capitalism rescued the nation from the worst economic crisis the nation faced in the early 1930s. By taking a pro-people agenda he restored trust and optimism of the people, generated a national vigor and raised productivity and employment. He saved both capitalism and democracy from their existential threats.

The essence of the success of a nation is succinctly articulated by a thinker in our time, Chris Hedges: The measure of a successful society will not be the GDP or the highs of the stock market but human rights.²⁶

Upholding human rights is inseparable from achieving economic freedom and social justice. The ‘inalienable rights’ — enshrined in the American constittuion — include liberty, equality of dignity, equity, equal opportunity to pursue life’s fulfilments.

How to achieve that success is elaborated by an economist and a dedicated citizen, Joseph Stiglitz, in his book: The only countervailing power that can help transform the predatory capitalism is the people’s power. However, to exercise that power, there has to be more economic equality. ‘That is why achieving greater equality is not just a matter of morals or good economics; it is a matter of the survival of our democracy.” ²⁷

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Issue #2)

America’s Values Should Dictate Foreign Policies

In a recent interview, when asked regarding changes in the 2020 campaign as compared to the 2016 campaign, Sanders said that more attention would be paid to foreign affairs. American leaders cannot downplay foreign affairs.

In our interdependent and interconnected global society, there is no place for isolationism or indifference. The United States is one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world, constituting only 6% of humanity but 25-30% of the global economy. Neglect of foreign affairs would ultimately mean that we neglect our national interest. A short historical review of the early to mid-20th century is a testament to America’s positive influence on the world.

During this era, America’s agenda had an enormously positive impact around the world. Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’²⁸ set internationalism in motion to help produce a new rules-based world order that would be ‘safe for democracy.’ This may sound ordinary now, however, one hundred years ago when the world still was dominated by the colonial rule and its “might is right” policies, Wilson’s agenda was revolutionary indeed. He stood firmly behind the value-based foreign policy, repeatedly exhorting that in the long run, that approach would advance America’s interests most. His European allies – Britain, France, Italy – did not like his visionary global agenda of peace and justice as it stood against their imperial interests, but Wilson was resolute and relentless.

He agreed to enter the war, reluctantly, only on the condition that he would pursue global peace and promote democracy laid down in the “Fourteen Points’ agenda.

The war was not to achieve victory but to achieve peace, and he succinctly expressed that as “peace without victory.” That spirit of coexistence and reconciliation sent a positive signal to the world. To that end, as he entered the First World War, that European powers stared a few years earlier, he fought fiercely to bring that destructive ‘Great War’ to end. He deployed over 5 million American soldiers and tipped the balance in Europe when Germany was in fact winning. His war strategies manifest that the leader was by no means a timid person as many thinks. Quite the contrary, he was determined to defeat the belligerent enemies to achieve peace. He then was also resolute to create a global condition in which peace would be sustainable. He, like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, truly represented the American spirit proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.

His strategy worked, the war that had no end in sight before came to end within a year. He then relentlessly pushed for a sustainable peace based on sound principles laid down in “Fourteen Points.”

His 4th of July address in 1918 laid down the essence of self-determination, a profound universal principle based on justice.

“The settlement of every question, whether of territory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement or of political relationship upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people immediately concerned, and not upon the basis of the material interest or advantage of any other nation or people which may desire a different settlement for the sake of its own exterior influence or mastery.” ²⁹

This visionary idea, that he understood was necessary to prevent conflicts and wars and sustain peace, is a timeless principle, is as relevant today as it was then. He was the first global leader who set in motion an unstoppable global culture based on freedom, democracy, and economic welfare for which the world remains indebted to this American leader. Since then any American foreign agenda that complied with his principle brought America victory, and any that failed brought about defeat and disgrace for America.

As the world leaders failed to comply with Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” and ignored his wisdom, the world ended up with the most destructive war in human history, the Second World War, only twenty years later and then followed up with the four-decade-long turmoil of the Cold War. It is long overdue we need a leader who can understand the force behind these universal principles.

However, in his footstep, FDR’s efforts helped the world to defeat colonialism. The Marshall Plan’s ³⁰ visionary constructive agenda, unparalleled in history, to bring about a new spirit of care for and investment in others to help change their dire and desperate situations with an ultimate goal of creating a win-win state of affairs. This visionary and humanitarian agenda helped turn the archenemies – Germany and Japan – into allies and world partners. These once belligerent enemies were also prevented from resorting to the communist bloc, thus saving the world from disastrous consequences.

FDR’s relentless efforts to get rid of colonial rule in the world inspired countless people under bondage and energized their struggles for freedom and democracy. This was one of the major factors behind thirty-six countries to become independent in the post-World War II period. A new wave of democracy swept through the world.

In addition, the United Nations was established, which set in place a collective decision-making system to handle world affairs. It should be correctly viewed as a power-sharing arrangement with other countries, when America was the only superpower in the world, in order to create an effective international body to achieve prompt conflict resolutions with the force of the collective legitimacy. The UN’s unique role in the refugee issues, in arranging dialogues and negotiations, by working as an impartial mediator, all geared towards achieving sustainable peace and stability.

These visionary ideas and investments are all America’s contribution to global peace and stability. FDR’s initiatives, in step with Woodrow Wilson’s vision, helped America gain an unprecedented moral standing in the world. That was a great America. These are examples of American leadership that represent the values of the nation and principles with which this country was established.

These pro-people and pro-justice American policies changed the global society ever since. If America could have retained the goodwill and political capital earned at that time, the country could have achieved many of its global objectives at the fraction of the price it paid. America paid an extremely high price for deviating from the wisdom of these great leaders. We need a leader who understands the force behind moral integrity.

The trust and confidence gained in the American leadership could have been utilized to avoid the Cold War and helped transform the communist bloc, as would be done three decades later. Whenever the American leaders reach out to the people instead of the puppet rulers, the nation wins.

Unfortunately, after his death, his visionary path was abandoned under the influence of American elites working with elites of other countries. These individuals had made enormous profits during the two world wars, and they were not happy about the possibility of peace or reconstruction.

The Soviet Union became a second nuclear power in 1949, which triggered a wave of panic across the Western world. President Truman, under the influence of elites and war-hawks, rejected diplomacy with communist leadership and embarked on a more confrontational agenda. He deviated from FDR’s path of freedom and democracy, a path that had previously encouraged diplomatic relationships with the communist bloc to save the world from further war.

Instead, the Truman administration went backward and denied Vietnam freedom, reinforcing French colonial rule. President Eisenhower, in step with Truman and under the influence of pro-neocolonial groups such as the Dulles brothers, went even further. His administration destroyed burgeoning democracies in places like Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), and the Congo (1959-60) and replaced them with repressive tyrants by bribing their top military officials.³¹ & ³²

America had been a liberating force around the world only twenty years earlier, but now it became a vicious imperial power to countless people around the world. The Soviet Union and China, taking full advantage of this global sentiment, launched their own agenda of confrontation. The stage was set for full-scale Cold War.

But American leaders still made valiant attempts to rebuild the country’s reputation. After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Kennedy finally decided to engage the Soviet Union and Cuba constructively to end the Cold War. He made reconciliatory gestures towards America’s arch-rivals, and he planned to cut military spending.³³ Additionally, he tried to maintain a balanced Middle East policy, and he refused to arm Israel in their aims for regional supremacy.³⁴

This change in tone, however, angered elite groups. The military and Wall Street did not like his agenda. After Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson revived militarism and aggression, which triggered a new wave of public protests against American militarism abroad. Johnson also gave massive military assistance to Israel, in order for the country to defeat its Arab neighbors in the 1967 war.³⁵

This consolidated Zionism in America, tens of thousands of Jews who were not Zionists became Zionists overnight committing themselves fully to the cause of Zionism. The rapid expansion of followers of Zionism skyrocketed and the ambition of its lobbying groups. Zionism and its powerful lobby changed the way that business was done in Washington, thus setting the Middle East on a path of turmoil. Johnson’s failed policies angered the American public. American streets were teeming with protests.

Sensing a shift in public opinion against militarism and confrontation abroad, Nixon, in spite of his moral failures on the domestic front, helped to change this belligerent course in foreign policy. Taking a huge political gamble and breaking a long-held convention not to diplomatically engage with China or the Soviet Union or any other communist country, Nixon, in 1972, went to China to start a diplomatic relationship. This, in fact, was the beginning of the end of the Cold War. The Vietnam War ended in 1973. Through breathtaking diplomacy with China, the arch-enemy became a trading and global partner. This had sent a signal to the Soviet Union and thus created an impetus in the diplomacy of détente with the Soviet Union in arms control and the non-proliferation treaty of nuclear arms. In 1989 the Cold War ended. In spite of close to being impeached, Nixon lives in history as a game-changer in our time. His policies during the brief period of 1972-73 were in step with Wilson and FDR with respect to using diplomacy to establish peace.

As the events were unfolding before my eyes, I realized then as I realize today that the American people are a powerful catalyst of change in the world. The paradigm shift that took place in Washington’s policy abroad was caused by the public outcry against militarism and the reckless arms race. A wave of dialogue, trade, constructive engagement swept through from one end of the world to the other because initially the impetus was created by Americans.

However, a decade later this powerful force of peace and stability becomes fruitless at home and abroad when the American people abdicate from their responsibility as citizens of the republic. This was warned by a famous broadcast journalist in the 1950s, Edward R. Murrow,

When the nation’s conscience was paralyzed under the vicious spell of McCarthyism or ‘red scare’ of the alleged communist infiltration in the American government and society. Many innocent people’s career, reputation, and lives were destroyed. This rampage continued unchallenged until Murrow courageously exposed the malicious, dishonest, and overly ambitious agenda of Senator McCarthy and his team of prejudice and fear-mongering. That promptly brought the vicious witch-hunt to an end.³⁶ 8

Murrow often said: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.”

He exhorted citizens to wake up: “There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities.” We need a leader today who can rally the people behind the cause.

Using powerful smokescreens and taking full advantage of the downturn of the economy Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s – embarked on a path of reckless deregulation schemes and pro-Wall-Street ‘trickledown’ policies – produced a ‘transnational capitalist class.’³⁷ 9

This pro-elite, pro-military, and pro-autocracy agenda continues today.

The Clinton and Obama administrations acquiesced to their demands. Taking full advantage of a vulnerable nation right after the 9/11 the elites led Washington to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. Still, both places could have been turned into successes. That would have been America’s enormous achievements, regaining what it lost since the Cold War started. Establishing democracy with a permanent power-sharing arrangement among the rival ethnic groups enabling each to become indispensable in the governance and a mini-Marshall Plan along with few other arrangements could have made spectacular results in those troubled places. The elites, especially the pro-Israeli groups, influencing the neocons in the administration let the historic opportunity get ruined. This cost the American taxpayers trillions of dollars while the elites gained enormously.

At the fraction of the price – that American taxpayers’ have been compelled to pay – America could have achieved stupendous results. These outcomes that are difficult to achieve in other times could have been achieved in a brief period of time under America’s occupation as it took place half a century ago after the Second World War.

This letter would attempt to expose why these golden and historical opportunities were all squandered at the altar of the interests of the American elites and that of Israel. Their goal was not democracy or development, their agenda was to establish Israel’s domination in the region via puppet governments. In order to help sustain authoritarian puppet governments, the elites need the pretext of turmoil. Chaos and sectarian or tribal conflicts were deliberately created both in Afghanistan and in Iraq to ruin the rare opportunity to make these phenomenal successes. Thanks to the neocons in the Bush administration and military working closely with the pro-Israeli lobby.

However, not all foreign policy choices in the past twenty years have been blunders. President Bush surprised the world by attempting to promote more freedom and democracy in the Middle East. He is the first American president to propose and back a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine. His administration was initially committed to this agenda, and Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt, Lebanon, Bahrain, and the people of the Middle East became euphoric about the possibility of the rule of law and a peaceful way of the democratic changes they all have been eagerly waiting for. Many, including Hamas, abandoned armed struggle completely in 2004 to participate in politics. But sadly, Israel disliked the emerging peaceful solutions that stood against its secret agenda of expansion, more occupation, and a greater Israel by forceful expulsion and de-Arabization of the Palestinian land. Within a year the pro-Israeli groups, the neocons in Washington, and the fierce lobbying of the monarchies and military rulers of the region, they reversed this visionary agenda. Special thanks to the Israel lobby that has a stranglehold on the US Congress. The ‘Bush doctrine’ became dead in the water. A distinct possibility of sustainable peace in the Middle East and, as a result, the regaining of the lost trust in America’s leadership in the world were all wiped out by Israel and its network of Arab monarchies and tyrants.³⁸ 11 Their interests prevailed whereas the interests of the Middle East and that of the American people took the beating. This perhaps would not have happened had a leader like Bernie Sanders were in place of Bush not yielding to the pressures of the Israel Lobby and the elites. Therefore, the key to a success in foreign policy, indispensable for American interest and security, is the right kind of leadership in Washington that can withstand the elite pressures especially those exerted by the pro-Israeli groups.

Hamas and other Arab liberation movements, that transformed into peaceful voices desiring to participate in a democratic rule of law after the landslide victories in the elections held under the encouragement and assurance of President Bush, were all declared “terrorist organizations” by the US Congress under the Israeli pressures. A complete reversal of the Bush doctrine that the world had started to admire and trust.

This was no surprise; this was only reminiscent of 2002 when both Senate and House resolution passed to praise the then Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who invaded Palestine in April 2002 and conducted an inhuman killing and destruction operation that the UN people described as “It is horrifying beyond belief.” Defying the 60% American opinion found in the Time-CNN poll and the world opinion, even disregarding president Bush’s peace initiatives at that time that 75% Americans approved, both Senate and the House passed a resolution in May 2002. According to a prominent American politician, that resolution became “the laughingstock of the world.” No wonder, the world saw the American Congress reduced to an Israeli puppet that can’t be trusted on any moral issue anymore. President Bush was humiliated and defied by Sharon refusing to withdraw from the brutal invasion of Palestine.³⁹

It is long overdue now that the American people hold their representatives accountable for such an outrageous violation of American values. Pro-Israeli groups and lobby have reduced a great nation once regarded as the champion of freedom and human rights to be one that is complicit in crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. This is the same Sharon, who in 1982 was responsible for the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in which 3500 poor, armless, defenseless, innocent Palestinian refugees were murdered in cold blood. In spite of this long heinous track record of Ariel Sharon, the US Congress, both houses, shower this man with praises, passing resolutions after resolutions of unconditional support for his and Israeli crimes against humanity. How then the world can trust America? How hypocritical its proclamations on human rights sound to countless people around the world?

As Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist, openly admitted that the ‘Congress is bought and paid for by Israel lobby,’⁴⁰ Friedman line, is shot heard round the world. The American people should demand an answer from their representatives whether they represent the public or Israel?

Coming to the present state, the Trump administration is fully negating America’s values and global responsibilities. His blatant disregard for freedom, democracy, and justice at home and in the world is a disgrace to this great nation. Trump’s policies are pushing the world towards more authoritarianism, corruption, cronyism, and crimes.

Trump, under the heavy influence of Israel via Trump’s son-in-law and the pro-Israeli groups yielded to all their demands: Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, Netanyahu’s all atrocities and moves against the Palestinians who are already at the verge of starvation and subsistence living, pushing the Jared Kushner’s smokescreen so called “deal of the century” that wants to buy Palestinian freedom and dignity with money: a permanent arrangement of enslaving the Palestinian people. It is rejected by the Palestinian people and it is rejected by the world.

Issue #3)

‘The Root of Foreign Policy Blunders are Special Interests’:

Lifting the Veil for Americans:

True success of any foreign engagement – whether diplomatic or military – depends on whether it is undertaken for a greater cause or for selfish purposes. America’s long-term objectives such as democracies and free-market economies are only effective when they also improve the welfare of the common people of the world. Great leaders of the past envisioned this truth.

America’s involvement in the two great world wars – as well as its Marshall Plan, its policy of détente, its China policy of the 1970s, and its Balkan rescue mission in the 1990s – all promoted constructive agendas. These policies were undertaken to stop injustice and to uplift the human condition. The main component of each of these activities was not military operations, but diplomacy, cooperation, assistance programs, and trade initiatives that could help to transform society. Some of these undertakings demonstrated unparalleled care towards helping others. In return, America in each instance received windfall gains of trust and goodwill. The effects of which are immeasurable, these can be felt in the long run in many ways in many forms besides avoiding conflicts and wars.

In the long run, this invaluable intangible gain serves America’s best interests. Trust and confidence in the American leadership to commit and invest in the long-term solutions in a conflict-prone place is what benefits the people of the country and the region. This trust then becomes the biggest barrier against resistance to American policies. The visionary leaders of the past realized that when the people of a place are with America, America wins. The reverse is also true. If the people see America as an imperial power that needs to be confronted and defeated at all cost, America’s defeat or ordeal becomes inevitable. History is a testament to this fact.

With regard to the arms race during the Cold War era, defense contractors and war-hawks were at the root of this struggle. They urged President Truman to “scare the hell out of the country” in order to obtain an unprecedented level of defense budgeting. This attitude compelled communists to match America with a similar agenda. As a result, a full-blown Cold War descended upon humanity – proxy wars, polarized groups, and constant threats of nuclear confrontation. When diplomacy was most needed, it was deliberately marginalized by Western elites.

Whenever America participates in aggression and supports authoritarian regimes, it loses – in Vietnam, in Chile, in East Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and so on and so forth. Belligerent bullying tactics have never served America’s interests. Today with the Global War on Terror, there is a full-force revival of this agenda.

Elites are having a field day. We see never-ending ‘forever wars,’ belligerence towards potential allies such as Iran, and burgeoning associated conflicts such as AFRICOM’s presence in Africa. The ‘war on terror’ provides powerful tools for corrupt authoritarian regimes allied with the United States to crush oppositions and dissenting voices. They politicize state apparatus such as police, military, and intelligence forces that brand oppositions and critics as ‘terrorists,’ to crush them. The objectives of these repressive regimes is not to serve their respective people but to serve their foreign masters so that they can stay in power.

The messaging strategy of the Sanders campaign can reiterate to the American people that entrenched special interests are at the heart of these foreign policy blunders. In reality, there are elite groups in society that actually want a ‘forever war’ or a ‘global arms race,’ as they profit off American carnage. With increased public attention, we can begin the long process of extricating these interests from American foreign policy decision-making.

Theme #4)

‘There is No Bargaining with Dictatorships’

Democracy and the rule of law stands in the way of elite interests. Thus, the ‘transnational capitalist class’ must rely on authoritarianism, militarism, repression, racism, and police states to get what they want from a country.⁴¹ 31

Hawkish policymakers in the mid-20th century took full advantage of Cold War fears to state that countries such as Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, or Congo in 1960 were not ready for democracy. Often, they stigmatized popular leftist or communist leaders to promote their agenda. Instead, they said these countries would need strong military dictatorships that could save humanity from the evil grip of communism. With help from the CIA and its overseas network of military cronies, these groups were responsible for ousting and killing democratically elected leaders in order to install tyrants that would carry out orders from the American elites. 32 These were conducted under the banner of the ‘Truman Doctrine’ of confrontations. This was mainly based on the relentless propaganda of vilifying and dehumanizing the communist block – mainly the Soviet Union and China – by the war hawks and elites. The constant fear-mongering that here is a global conspiracy of these powers in creating a global network of communist and non-communist countries mainly to destroy America. This constant vilification and dehumanization of the other side set the stage for military confrontations and proxy wars in which only the elites gained enormously while the people on all sides of an engagement ultimately paid a heavy price and endured an enormous human toll. 33

But in reality, the leaders of Iran, Guatemala, and others had mostly promoted democracy in their respective lands, and they were trying to uplift the dire economic condition of their people in many countries that existed in the postcolonial period. None of these leaders had an explicitly anti-West or anti-American agenda. Prime Minister Mosaddeq of Iran was actually a pro-Western leader promoting Western-style democracy in Iran. But he was targeted because he did not want Britain to rob 80% of Iran’s oil via the British Petroleum company. He refused to be an agent of British and American elites.

To destroy a nascent democracy, elites systematically bribe military and bureaucratic officials while threatening civil societies with persecution and torture. Global financial networks like the World Bank and IMF are used as tools to sustain repressive regimes. As a result of these trends, a wave of resistance has grown around the world against American involvement in their respective regions.

Countless people now believe that America had abandoned its principles and values to become an imperial power. Volunteers from around the world are ready to give up their lives to defend their societies against American imperialism.

These unnecessary tensions have led to thousands of Americans killed in unnecessary foreign engagements, as well as countless millions of foreigners. Trillions of dollars are wasted on counterproductive outcomes that still are haunting America today. 34

While realpolitik may sometimes be necessary in order to achieve long-term diplomatic goals, there is no situation in which America should resort to either establishing and/or supporting an authoritarian regime to pursue its national interests. It never worked in the past, it is not going to work in the future. In 2005 before an Arab audience the then Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice openly admitted: “For sixty years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East – and we achieved neither. Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people.”⁴²

The real underlying message of this statement is that the US helped install and sustain authoritarian rulers like the Shah of Iran or a military ruler like Pinochet of Chile to serve the elite interest on the pretext of national interest. The pretext was to maintain stability in such places where the people are not fit for democracy – the usual fallacy — authoritarian rulers needed to be placed and supported.

These undemocratic regimes have been one of the major cause of resentment of common people around the world, especially in the Middle East.

On the other, hand if democracies were allowed as the people of the region wanted very much as per the King-Crane Commission report, perhaps we would see an infinitely better Middle East today. In fact the relationship with the Muslim world would be much better. Support for autocracies and dictatorships will only breed further fierce resistance abroad, and it will be a disservice to our national interests in the long term.

Military and political leaders acknowledge that there is no military solution to Muslim radicalism. Deep-rooted issues need to be addressed in order to find long-term solutions. At the most fundamental level, As per President Wilson’s wisdom, long-term solutions must include establishing democracy and protecting peoples’ interests and economic welfare.

Footnotes

Pew Research Center Public Trust in Government: 1958-2019, April 11, 2019, https://www.people-press.org/2019/04/11/public-trust-in-government-1958-2019/
MEGAN BRENAN, Americans’ Trust in Government to Handle Problems at New Low, The Gallup Poll Social Series, https://news.gallup.com/poll/246371/americans-trust-government-handle-problems-new-low.aspx
Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (London: The Belknap Press Of Harvard University Press, 2014)
Peter Phillips, Giants, The Global Power Elite (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2018), p. 9-13.

“Power Elite”, Economist’s Review, July 23, 2009, http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/07/the-power-elite.html

[In 1956, a famous sociologist, C. Wright Mills, used the term to imply the group consisting of the military-industrial-complex (MIC), the big businesses, the financial center or the Wall Street, and the corrupt politicians and collectively this group exercise enormous predatory power.]

Also see: Frank W. Elwell, C. Wright Mills on the Power Elite, http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Mills2.htm
Noah Kirsch, Forbes, Nov 9, 2017, ‘The 3 Richest Americans Hold More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Of The Country, Study Finds’ https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/11/09/the-3-richest-americans-hold-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-of-country-study-finds/#3d872ac73cf8
CHUCK COLLINS AND JOSH HOXIE, Newsweek, THREE PEOPLE OWN HALF THE US, WHILE ONE IN FIVE HAS NOTHING, Nov 20, 2017 11/20/17   http://www.newsweek.com/three-people-own-half-us-while-one-five-has-nothing-716802
The US Census Bureau regarding 2018 findings.     https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/income-poverty.html     Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2018 SEPTEMBER 10, 2019, RELEASE NUMBER CB19-141 ‘The number of people in poverty in 2018 was 38.1 million.’ ‘At the same time, the rate and number of people without health insurance increased from 7.9%, or 25.6 million, in 2017 to 8.5%, or 27.5 million, in 2018.
Peter Phillips, Giants, The Global Power Elite (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2018), p.17, predatory capitalism exposed in the entire book.
Kevin Rudd, The Rise of Authoritarian Capitalism, New York Times, Sept. 16, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/16/opinion/politics/kevin-rudd-authoritarian-capitalism.html Kevin Rudd is a former prime minister of Australia and is president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. His main assertion is that when liberal democracy and capitalism work together, society benefits in terms of maintaining freedom, delivering mass welfare, security, and less inequality. When capitalism is practiced under an authoritarian rule such as that of China and Russia or other emerging authoritarian regimes in many places, the predatory forces render capitalism an extremely unfair system.
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger: The Spirit Level (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009)
Joseph E. Stiglitz, People, Power, and Profits, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, 169-70
Chris Hedges, America: The Farewell Tour, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2018, p.310
GRACE DONNELLY, Fortune, July 20, 2017, http://fortune.com/2017/07/20/ceo-pay-ratio-2016/ This increase in compensation is even more staggering when you consider that the top 1% earned 87 times more than the bottom 50% of workers in 2016, up from a 27-to-1 ratio in 1980.
Bernie Sanders, Guide to Political Revolution, (New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2017) p.12According to the report by President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, “Higher wages for low-skilled workers reduce both poverty and crime…… A 10 percent increase in wages for non-college educated men results in approximately a 10 to 20 percent reduction in crime rates.’ Yet these vital decisions are left to the dysfunctional and manipulated market mechanisms that favor the wealthy and elites.
Ibid., p.8-10, This increase in compensation is even more staggering when you consider that the top 1% earned 87 times more than the bottom 50% of workers in 2016, up from a 27-to-1 ratio in 1980.
Richard Wilkinson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7LzE3u7Bw
Economists Case, Deaton discuss ‘inequality, deaths of despair, and future of capitalism’ https://takegiantleaps.com/economists-case-deaton-discuss-inequality-deaths-of-despair-and-future-of-capitalism/
According to Joseph Stiglitz, neither developed nor developing countries are happy with globalization, as trade agreements are often authored by and for corporations. These trade agreements infringe upon the rights of ordinary workers. This concern forms the essence of recent opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014, p. 294-297.
Sharon Hom, China: Is President Xi Jinping the new Mao? 07 Apr 2018 https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2018/04/china-president-xi-jinping-mao-180407095001970.html “China has gone backward at least 40 years,” says Sharon Hom, executive director of the NGO Human Rights in China. She says the government has failed to learn the lesson from the Cultural Revolution that concentrated power in one leader will “inevitably lead to mass suffering and abuses”.
Radio Free Asia, Explaining China’s Low and Falling Ranking on the UN World Happiness Report, A commentary by Dan Southerland, 2019-04-26,    https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/happiness-ranking-04262019155134.html
ROBYN DIXONBEIJING, China’s surprisingly frank admission at National People’s Congress: Its people are dissatisfied, MARCH 5, 2019, https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-china-economy-growth-20190305-story.html
Roberty B. Reich, Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few(New York: Vintage Books, 2015
Paul Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2009, p.59-60
Chris Hedges, America: The Farewell Tour, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2018, p. 305   The weak and the vulnerable, especially children, will no longer be sacrificed on the altars of profit and the needs of empire. The measure of a successful society will not be the GDP or the highs of the stock market but human rights.

Joseph E. Stiglitz, People, Power, and Profits, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019 p. 246-247
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/fourteen_points.shtml
Pre-State Israel: Recommendations of the King-Crane Commission On Syria and Palestine (August 28, 1919) http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/crane.html, July 4, 1918 address of president Woodrow Wilson
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/marshall-plan
Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers, John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War: New York, Times Books: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2013
Talbot, David, The Devil’s Chessboard, Harper Perennial, New York, 2015, p.9, & many places
Talbot, David, The Devil’s Chessboard, Harper Collins, New York, 2015, p. 8
Ilan Pappe, The Ten Myths about Israel, Verso, London, 2017, p.54
Robert David Johnson, Lyndon Johnson, and Israel: The Secret Presidential Recordings, https://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/abraham/publications/johnson_israel.pdf
Edward R. Murrow: A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy See it Now (CBS-TV, March 9, 1954), Berkley Library, University of California, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=50163c08-7a94-45d6-b5eb-c947f1d049b9%40pdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=ucb.b15308623&db=cat04202a
Peter Phillips, Giants, The Global Power Elite (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2018), p 17, Global Capitalism, 81,85,133,152
John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2007, p. 208-209
Paul Findley, They Dare to Speak Out, Chicago, Lawrence Hill Books, 1985, 1989, 2003, p. ix-xii
https://mondoweiss.net/2011/12/friedman-line-congress-is-bought-and-paid-for-by-israel-lobby-is-shot-heard-round-the-world/
William I. Robinson, Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014). He describes Transnational Capitalist Class elites’ responses to democracy movements, including their reliance on militarism, masculinization, racism, and scapegoating as ideological justifications for police-state repression.
Reza Aslan, How to win a cosmic war, confronting radical religion (London: Arrow Books, Random House, 2010), p 165, 169, 170