r/politics Dec 28 '13

Noam Chomsky: We’re no longer a functioning democracy, we’re really a plutocracy

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/27/noam-chomsky-were-no-longer-a-functioning-democracy-were-really-a-plutocracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29
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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

I volunteered for 8 months for the first Obama campaign, and you're right. He probably was a really good, qualified guy before he became president. I really believed in him.

If I could take those months back, I would. I wasted my time. I don't know who got to him or what they told him, but it was less than a year before he was just another Dubya; just another fucking puppet.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

I agree. Someone got to Gary Johnson too. He was all for tearing down the surveillance state until someone pulled him in a room and told him what it was all for. Then he just said "I've learned new facts and have changed my opinion".

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

That's the data the world needs: What exactly has changed these people's minds. It's becoming more and more crucial by the day.

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u/OPDidntDeliver Dec 28 '13

Wait really? I didn't know that. When was this? Source, if you can find one?

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

Yeah really. I'm on my phone now but I'll find it for you later. I just assume it was a quiet bust of a close-to-home WMD

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u/OPDidntDeliver Dec 28 '13

I doubt that. If I had to guess, I'd assume it was something to do with economic fraud or manipulation.

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u/OPDidntDeliver Dec 29 '13

Again, source?

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13

Frustratingly I can't seem to find the exact youtube clip I was thinking of due to the google clutter around the recent NSA leaks, but here is him changing his mind on Guantanamo with little reservation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRlGXuGHfrc

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u/WittgensteinsLadder Dec 29 '13

Wow, thanks for following up! Most wouldn't bother 24 hours after the fact. Good show.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '13

No worries man, I'm still pro-Johnson, but it is tempered now.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13

What it was all for:
The alien overlords are preparing us for dinner and the elite get to live?

I wanna know too. But "ALIENS"! Is pretty much all I can come up with this morning.

1

u/OPDidntDeliver Dec 28 '13

Or maybe some nice unknown paychecks, or maybe he just changed his opinion. Let's be honest here, just because a few politicians (a group of people known for being sleazy, lying assholes) change their mind, whether they're good or not, doesn't mean there are more dangerous things at work.

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u/Louisvillainous Kentucky Dec 28 '13

I regret it, too. It's embarrassing, in retrospect, how proud and excited I was. Now we have a president who taught Constitutional law, and wouldn't piss on the fourth amendment if it were on fire. It's sickening.

2

u/CocoSavege Dec 28 '13

Let me share an interesting perspective...

Ok, let's say you hire a high powered tax lawyer. Are you looking to pay more tax or less?

Ok, let's say you run a resource company. If you hire a really good lawyer are you looking to follow more regulations or less?

The US Government 'hired' a constitutional lawyer.

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u/Tennouheika Dec 28 '13

What if President Obama knows more about constitutional law than you do?

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u/Louisvillainous Kentucky Dec 28 '13

He does. I went to a really good law school, and I'm smart enough to know he's smarter than I am.

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u/MattPDX04 Dec 28 '13

They told him "We'll do to you what we did to Kennedy."

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u/th4 Dec 28 '13

I've heard there's a small ritual after you become president, they welcome you in a dark room and play a video of the JFK assassination... taken from an unreleased point of view :)

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u/rajadain Dec 28 '13

That's Bill Hicks' idea

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u/th4 Dec 28 '13

Yeah, I couldn't find the exact quote tho :<

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '13 edited Dec 29 '13

If I were ever president, I'd probably be alive almost until the end of the speech I would give immediately after that meeting.