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Under the social contract, the citizen surrenders some of his liberties in return for defense against foreign aggressors and domestic criminal elements. With the advent of the age of chemical, biological and radiological warfare, politicians understood that they had lost the ability to keep their end of the contract. Maintenance of a bloated war machine continues to serve the interests of the military, industrial complex. The politician’s prime concern became self-preservation. Representative government became a disguise which the plutocrats continue the consolidation of their wealth and power.

It has long been understood that political platforms are advertisements designed to obtain political support and are not to be taken seriously. Progressives, tired of governmental gridlock, demanded a voice, not just a vote. Unwilling to listen or to confront the plutocracy, Biden is trying to buy enough political support to convince the plutocrats that the public frustration can be assuaged, that the public can be convinced that the two-party system provides an adequate road to reform in spite of accumulating evidence to the contrary.

Plutocrats understand that a functioning representative government or an armed international coalition is capable of controlling them. Our government has always feared loss of sovereignty using the UN or ignoring it at our convenience. Trump withdraws from international agreements and attempts to forge bilateral, secret understandings with thugs such as Putin, Kim and Netanyahu. Trump is also a useful tool for completing the destruction of representative government.

Many voters understand that our existing political and religious institutions have abandoned their moral authority. Can the justice seekers of movements such as those of Me-Too, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter and supporters of a Green New Deal coalesce to create a real right-to-life movement? Could such a movement maintain its independence against ideologues who would attempt to hijack it? Highly unlikely! Do we have any other choice if we would be free?

John Gibson

Owatonna