Wow, getting a little worked up eh? The problem with political action is that the problems we are dealing with our systemic, rather than superficial problems. The system IS the problem, so action within the system is always ultimately futile. This includes tearing it down and replacing it with whatever other utopian form of government you like. The sad fact is that unless people as a whole change drastically, it is simply impossible to have large societies without large control structures, and large control structures mean hierarchies and the inevitable abuse of power that comes with it.
To paraphrase Ran Prieur (ranprieur.com) civilization isn't simply destructive and corrupt in the way a schoolbus is yellow, but in the way a schoolbus is a motor vehicle. Change that and it ceases to function.
The good news is, civilization is destroying itself along with the rest of the planet, so the only real question is if it will collapse before or after we completely destroy our resource base. Things are picking up speed now, and it is obvious that we are in the endgames now. So my course of action is to watch the drama unfold, keep my vibes positive, and get my land up and running and completely off the grid. Of course, this is what I'd do even if our society wasn't already sliding down a slippery slope straight for a huge cliff.
To kind of bring it back on point, I know it is cliche and cheesy, but we can't deal with TPTB on their turf. The physical world-politics, military force, etc- is undeniably in "their" control, and it is not only pointless, but actually counterproductive to counter them on this level (and suicidal to try violent resistance). That is what they expect, and they know how to use this type of thing to their advantage, (for example, hire a couple black-masked thugs to rampage in Seattle to demonize and ostracize the anti-globalization movement, etc). We need to take them on on the spiritual level, where we hold the ultimate upper hand, in that their power is self-limited by fear and delusion, we have the ability (though rarely used) to connect to the infinite. So as cheesy as it sounds, the best thing you can do is pump out loving awareness (which transforms everything it touches). At the very least we need to stop feeding this oppresive cloud of collective negativity that is smothering us. Getting mad about injustices only make the situation worse.
There is some work to be done here in the physical, but that is necessarily focused "close to home", with self and family the most important place to create harmony and unity, and community building is also very important. Support local farmers and artisans and local activity and ecomony of all kinds. Instead of fighting what you don't want, trying building what you do want (sort of the macro level of the law of attraction).
The best part is, TPTB are completely blind to this sort power, because it is completely foreign and incomprehensible to them.
Also, teto, I'm sick of this line "Gosh, I sure wish somebody would have told that to all the people who lost their lives fighting for liberty and freedom of expression. I guess nobody considered that their great great grandchildren would piss away their hard-won freedoms"
First of all, do I even need to say that this "land of freedom" has never been free, and was created by systemically annihiliting a whole continent of diverse cultures, many of which were FAR FAR more free than ours has ever been. Second, while the soldiers in the wars may have believed they were dying for noble causes, wars, ALL WARS, are ALWAYS about resources, but almost always cloaked in the cloth of religious or moral or cultural ethics, etc. IE, contrary to popular legend (ala public schools) the civil war had a lot more to do with the south having a fraction of the ecomonic activity and wealth of the north, yet paying the vast majority of federal taxes. If anyone was fighting for freedom, it was the southerners (though once again, not really, just fighting for a bigger piece of the pie). Same story with the revolutionary war.
Or were you thinking of the Mexican American war where we invaded and conquered half of Mexico with no provocation (and kept it to this day). The indian wars? Vietnam? Iraq? OK, so now your going to say WW2 right, but would we have actually fought Hitler if he hadn't threatened us directly? Of course not, look how cozy our government is and has been with all sorts or evil dictatorships. Maybe none of them killed quite as many people as the nazis but that is only because the weren't as powerful. Civilization is inherently repressive and controlling, regardless of the outer trappings.
ranprieur.com has some great essays on the subject of collapse (as well as fascism in america and all sorts of other interesting spiritual and political topics. Check out the essays section.
Life after the oil crash had a great comments on SHAFTA thing, but that day has for some reason disappeared from the archives.
seeker of truth
follow no path
all paths lead where
truth is here
E.E. Cummings