The establishment causes massive suffering

There is not just a moral imperative to stop our governments and corporations from killing people, but the need to stop world warfare and destruction from taking Western countries down with everyone else.

Establishment leaders are corrupt

There can be benign individuals in the establishment, but they tend to get weeded out as they rise in power.

Because most US government officials do not go around demanding bribes and sexually assaulting citizens in the US it can be easy to buy into the fantasy of benign national leadership. It is important to study who benefits and who suffers in the US and around the world when decisions are made.

Leaders in the US act towards citizens as Machiavelli recommends in The Prince. As long as leaders don't take property and abuse women then the citizens will be passive.

Though the US founding fathers were no saints they would probably be dismayed at the strength of corporations and political parties. The founding fathers actually left corporations out of the US Constitution, so it is doubtful this is the type of nation they wanted.

Democracy is broken

Power in the US especially is held by corporations and political parties. People are bombarded with propaganda and fluff not just by government officials but by the corporate media as well. Corporate advertising is as normal in the US as swastikas in Nazi Germany.

Government and corporate secrecy means that it is difficult to make decisions with the voting system. Major decisions are made behind closed doors.

Decisions made by corporations are of course kept away from direct democratic control. Selective purchasing can exert control over corporations but there is little people can do to push a corporation to work for the public good rather than for shareholder and CEO profit. Government spending and the giving of tax breaks is also limited.

Because the US Congress is not based upon proportional representation much of the population has no hope of serious representation, and so does not vote. This makes it quite difficult to get critical voices in government.

Political apathy is a key problem, and leaders know how to exploit this. The continual message is that people should go away.

The establishment relies upon terrorism

The Reagan administration's backing of the the Contra's was one of the prime examples in which the US happily backed terrorism against civilians. The US School of the Americas has been quite brutal in teaching "friendly" governments how to subjugate populations. (The new name is Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), but apparently little has changed.)

The US has directly backed coups around the world as well. Many of the military operations of the US kill many civilians, with varying degrees of premeditation.

SOA Watch

Anti-Western terrorism is a response to oppression

The actual leaders of violent organizations, regardless of their culture, are usually after power. Whether defending the status quo or advocating revolution, violence must be viewed with considerable suspicion. The causes that let people attack the US, though, are many.

The US supports the dictatorship in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and this is major fuel for extremists. Western support of Israel, while Palestinians continue to suffer, is a key factor as well. Supporting the Egyptian government doesn't help, either. Occupying Iraq fans the flames of decades of US brutality, along with general Western imperialism.

Fear is a key establishment tool

This is the same model the Nazi government used, and it can be quite effective. Fear makes people desire aggressive leaders.

An interesting documentary series is The Power of Nightmares. The documentary traces the end of the American dream and the hyping of fear in recent years. (Fear is a common theme in propaganda, but it has eclipsed prosperity.)

Some threats are real, but supporting dictatorships and occupying other countries is not about national defense. It only makes the problems worse.

Perhaps sometimes activists downplay external threats, but considering the extreme destructiveness of the US government this is a low priority subject of discussion.

Poverty is immoral

In the US especially "freedom" and "national security" are key propaganda values while poverty is accepted, and hidden. This is a core defect in the model of the world the establishment offers us, and a key motivator for activists.

The corporate media cripples democracy

Much of the greatest frustration activists have is not with war criminals but with the "reporters" who peddle propaganda as fact.

People can change the establishment

Because the elite put themselves first, it will be the population which must demand change for themselves and others.

Sometimes change driven by the general population is more hope than fact, as people often have little interest in politics. The desire for change can also be manipulated by the elite. Still, waiting for corporate leaders and politicians to care about other people and the environment won't give any results.

There can be philosophical differences as to whether unstructured work for change can get results. Sometimes people on the left idealize the ability of the average person or the working class. Conservatives are more likely to want organization in their activities. (There are conservative activists who are working for peace.)

Because few people care about politics, it is possible for an individual to make a difference. Countries such as the US do have a degree of democracy and freedom.