Another example of the extraordinary state of affairs in America is this appeal for funds by the Nation of Change organisation-progressive journalism for positive action-which, in part , reads:
We are witnessing a desperate time in the history of this country. Our people are jobless and enslaved by debt, being thrust into poverty without access to affordable education or healthcare. Control of the democratic process has been hijacked by corporate special interests. The plutocrats and oligarchs have seized control over the power structures, media, legal system, and institutions established to defend the American people.
We are locked into immoral, never-ending imperialist wars against outmatched nations who perceive us as pillagers and invaders. The will of the people is ignored by our government, which proves each day to be little more than a defender of the interests of the corporate state and an unfunny political spectacle designed to distract, dishearten, and disinherit our people of their rights and their treasure.
Many have given in to despair or cynicism; however there are those of us who attempt to fight back as the corporatocracy pushes our nation and global community ever closer to the brink of collapse. There are those of us committed to truth and social justice who peer behind the veil of lies and propaganda and who work to mobilize a people's revolution today at Wall Street and in the streets of financial districts across this country. In short, there are those of us who give a damn. Will you support the people's movement?
Help NationofChange continue to fight for the interests of the people. Help us to expose the truth, organize for action, and magnify voices of change while cutting through the corporate lies...
When you couple this appeal with the Four Corners ABC TV powerful report on poverty in Britain through the eyes and voices of expressive children (boy is Australia the Lucky Country!), the obvious warnings are that there have to be major changes in the distribution of wealth and politics. Then some disturbing home truths were made apparent about democracy and the West through the lively and twitchy Q and A session from the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House.
