Hazlitt? Too bad he wasn't drunk more often. May have saved us from his gasbaggery. Maybe Cockburn should get drunk and save us from his. Or maybe, judging my the coherence of this piece, he was drunk when he wrote it.

This is the audacity of hope one can truly believe in: the darkest hour, just before the dawn. Carry on!

@anon 16:39

MIC unstoppable? Perish the thought! The Chinese are closely following the script written under Carter by Zbigniew Brzezinski. You know, the one allowing us to exhaust ourselves militarily while they creep in at the borders and establish a more-friendly presence that will remain behind when we are gone.

And why should they not? They are paying us to do it for them anyway! Check out the new pipeline they just opened between Turkmenistan and Xianjiing! (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=china8217s-gas-supply-from-turkmenistan-2009-12-28) They actually expect us to protect the new project from the Taliban!

But once they decide they have used up the US military, they will cease funding it and take up that role themselves. At that point, our MIC will be a toothless tiger trapped in the dragon's jaws, sold out by the greedy corporatists who have ruined this nation.

Sorry, Alex, I don't drink :)

The empire will die. It is inevitable. Might as well grab a bucket and stand in front of a tsunami as try to prevent it, and good luck that, I'll be interested to see how that works out for you. Unfortunately, many of us will die with it. That is the price of our apathy, our willingness to tune in to the tube and yes, the Net, to be programmed and distracted, our disinterest in our democratic _duty_ to be well-informed and reasoned in our _active participation_ in our governance, our willingness to fall for celebrity in all things, even politics. Face it - Obama won the celebrity contest. He had the sound bites we wanted to hear, and it was a great way to stick it to all those old white men that rule the world by electing a (gasp!) "black" man. FOOLS! The economic system is rigged. NEITHER major party works in our interests as you are seeing right now. Dems continue the war, continue the anti-democratic policies and activities of the last 8 years (while tossing us a bone here and there about 'transparency'), gave almost a trillion dollars to Wall St., GM, banks and whoever else they wanted to 'bonus', continue a foreign policy bent on colonialism and global control/domination, and will continue the tax cust, and the Patriot Act (thanks to that BS "terrorist" plant -- I mean, plot... yeah, that's it -- plot...). In short they continue to lead us down the garden path while we succumb to the video induced ADD that's being bred into us. Our entire mindset is fed into us by the system itself... be a consumer, buy your way to happiness, if you can't afford it, buy on deficit spending. (And so we have children killing each other over freaking _sneakers_!!) Pay no attention to the actual teachings of your religion because we only want you to be locked into a sect so you'll be used to being told what to think, so we can pervert the religion to justify our greed and aggression. FOOLS! The Democrats have ruined the concept of social programs to assist the poor; they're no longer a _hand up_, they're a small _hand out_ from a system designed to capture those people and keep them _in_ the system, thereby putting their survival in hock to the system so they'll continue to vote in the people who promise to keep the system going - namely, the Dems! How is that any better than the Reps who want to shut it all down and give the money to the rich? It's just different, and it still saps a truck load of money from the middle class because the rich aren't paying their fair share! FOOLS! The US citizenry is at fault for the takeover of America by the corporatists -- yes, even you leftist "activists" who support the system with your volvos and big screen tvs, DVR/tivo boxes, cell phones that do everything but blow you, and all your other little toys that distract you from the fact that you are assisting in your own demise, and splinter you enough that your are virtually ineffectual. A the very root of your lives, you are fully invested in the system, the culture, the debauchery. Bread and Circuses, a sensory orgy of violence, sex, escapism, and scapegoating (because it's not enough to win, you have to make fun of everyone else and/or watch them bleed). FOOLS! You find so many divisive issues over which to fight that the Right wing doesn't even need to give them to you half the time. SIDE TRACK: Stop sending your money to Africa, and Asia, and South America and everywhere else you send money to "save the children" or "build a village" or any damn thing else. PUT THE MONEY TO WORK IN YOUR OWN DAMN COUNTRY YOU IDIOTS!!! Help __OUR__ children. Save __OUR villages__!!! Buy shoes for children in Appalachia (look it up) and urban hell holes that are Third World Countries in all but name. Build and staff a free medical clinic in East LA, where the people survive on less per year than you spend on a Christmas presents, picking your vegetables, butchering your meat and performing a hundred other menial tasks for serf's wages to prop up your out of control consumerist lifestyle. YEESH!! You know the real surprise? That we haven't imploded already. FOOLS!! And before you even point a finger, let me save you time. Even though I have suffered greatly due to the collapse, and am still barely able to keep up with bills, have no health insurance, and am a paycheck away from homelessness, I continue to lead an effort in my community to serve monthly free dinners and raise money and food for the local food pantry. I give free assistance to local small businesses, and appear at numerous fundraisers. I mentor several at-risk children, and my wife and I adopt a family every Christmas. I work mostly from home so I don't have to drive. (I've gone more than a month on a tank of gas.) I've purchase all but one vehicle used so that I don't pay the corporate state by purchasing a new one. I eat local produce, meat and dairy. I watch less than four hours of TV a week. I read several books a month, from current non-fiction to classic literature and everything in between. I promote music and art as necessary to a well rounded life. I do not own a credit card, and pay cash or go without, which I've done for almost twenty years. I champion a humanistic management model that focuses on individual success and fulfillment. I am constantly seeking ways to shrink my footprint. And, occasionally, I rant as I have done here. To be frank, I hope I've upset you. At least enough to get you to think about how YOU are helping to perpetuate the system, whether you currently realize it or not. Take off the rose-colored glasses when it comes to self-assessment. Stop drinking the Kool-aid you're being fed daily - even by the Dems. Whew! I feel better! How 'bout you?

Alexander Cockburn,

Love your background information regarding many subjects:  e.g.  1) influences of organized crime on national policy (General Dynamics, among other episodes);  2) Stock holdings and legal fees of  CIA planners (Allen Dulles, and other players that you have exposed).  Your reputation is assured after the inevitable realization that capitalism is a rotten deal for the earth's people.

Don't pull a William Jennings Bryan.  His entry in the post-capitalism history texts:  Inspiring populist leader and enemy of corporatism in gilded-age America.  Poor fellow, unfortunately on the wrong side of human progress in understanding our evolutionary origins.

Alexander Cockburn: Effective critic of capitalism and social class privilege; incisive wit.  Poor fellow, didn't understand infrared energy-capture by carbon molecules.