Are Our Leaders Fit to Govern?

If not, what do we do now?

By now you’re probably well aware of what is being revealed by Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the financial and military support provided to Israel by the USA and its allies in the western world.

Genocide and enabling genocide are war crimes, and our leaders who are complicit in it are war criminals.

Most mainstream media reporters are as well, since they minimize the death and destruction in Gaza, and often don’t report on vital information about this conflict. Steve Skrovan, who also writes on Substack, made the observation that the mainstream media has become a stagnant pond. Well put, Steve.

Telling us that objecting to genocide makes us anti-semitic, especially with so many Jewish people leading the protests and demonstrations around the world, is an insult to our intelligence. Our political leaders insist this is the case, as though Palestinian lives don’t matter and genocide is perfectly OK.

The gaslighting is over the top and unbearable, and there are still gullible people among us who are swallowing it.

Palestine has become a war against us, and our right to protest, free speech and correct information.

War is very profitable to some. And there’s a group of very wealthy people that profits from waging wars, and pillaging and destroying countries. Unfortunately, our political leaders support this, and will do everything in their power to allow it to continue. We can see this from what’s happening in Gaza, the way our political leaders talk about it, and how they persecute those who are protesting this ongoing genocide.

Many of us, for the first time, are seeing up close on our social media feeds what these people are willing to allow, and how self-serving and uncaring their outlook is.

I think most of us would like to see an end to war. But take a look at what Palentir CEO, Alex Karp has to say:

“We think these things that are happening across college campuses are a sideshow. No, they are the show. If we lose the intellectual debate, you will not be able to deploy any army in the West, ever.”

In case you haven’t heard of this corporation, Palantir is “…one of the world’s most advanced data-mining companies, with ties to the CIA, Palantir’s “work” was supplying Israel’s military and intelligence agency with advanced and powerful targeting capabilities — the precise capabilities that allowed Israel to place three drone-fired missiles into three clearly marked aid vehicles.”

When I look back on the past thirty years or so (and probably much longer), I see a pattern of propaganda, invasions, coups, and political meddling that benefit these the western elite at the expense of everyone else, including citizens of their own countries, and the planet that gives us life.

For me, all this begs the question, are the people leading us now fit to lead? Do we want these people running the show? Is the world better off for the systems they’ve put in place? Should killing innocent people be the way we solve international problems?

The global majority are tired of it and, through things like BRICS, are reducing their dependence on this group, and creating a level playing field where countries treat each other fairly and resolve problems peacefully.

I applaud them. There is no place for war in today’s world, and we need to move onto a more mature way of interacting as countries, so that we can all thrive.

Karp’s words would be a dream come true for most of us. The ability to wage wars is not a right, and should have been replaced by peaceful international problem solving mechanisms decades ago. Maybe this moment is ripe for this kind of change.

Not only is war a humanitarian disaster, but the environmental consequences of war are immense, and difficult to measure. And the greenhouse gas emissions created by the super wealthy are enormous.

Can the world afford to keep these people in the manner to which they have become accustomed? Are the things they value compatible with the kind of future we want?

How can we support a change in the power structure from within the nations whose leaders and elite classes are causing so much damage?

We can’t continue with a system that thrives on war and greed at the expense of everyone and everything else, and we need to learn how we can make the changes that will get us onto a more sensible and constructive footing.

What has been sacrificed in Gaza and other areas of the world can’t be undone, but it needs to be stopped. And maybe this tragedy can become an opening to something better for all of us. We can’t unsee what’s been revealed. Together we have to acknowledge the horror of these times and create a path towards a better future.

One of the first steps to changing a structure is learning to understand how it operates, and there’s a free online event coming up next week that explains this.

Next Tuesday, May 14th at 1pm, there will be afree online Zoom event called Wealth Supremacy: Decoding the Operating System of Global Capitalism. It will be hosted by Jeremy Lent and will feature Marjorie Kelly who recently wrote a book called Wealth Supremacy.

I’ve read Jeremy’s two earlier books, and he’s a thorough researcher and an excellent writer who is very concerned about the direction humanity is taking. I’ve also been involved with his online community, The Deep Transformation Network, a thoughtful and caring community. I hope to gain some insight into how our system works and how we can make effective change to the system that is killing us.

You can read more about this free event, Wealth Supremacy: Decoding the Operating System of Global Capitalism, and register for it here. I hope to see you there.