Monday, January 31, 2011

The Hypocrisy of Empire

Consider the following recent events:
  • The U.S. response to the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo
  • The U.S. response to the uprising in Egypt
  • The U.S. response to the Wikileaks revelations
In the first case, the U.S. is doing a tolerably good job of defending the principle of freedom of speech. Of course, the speaker in this case is criticizing a U.S. rival, so in now way is he doing anything to upset the interests of the Empire.

In the second case, the Empire has been caught between its rhetoric in support of "democracy" and support for our chosen dictator in this part of the world. As a result, the U.S. response has been weak and ineffectual, and it is hard to imagine that the gap between rhetoric and action will endear Empire to the population of Egypt.

In the third case, because the interests of Empire have been directly attacked (or more accurately, the U.S. hasn't been attacked, Wikileaks has merely been shining a flashlight into dark corners that the government would rather not have investigated), the principle of freedom of speech clearly has no applicability here, at least in the eyes of the Empire.

So, we learn from these examples that the U.S. only supports freedom of speech that is agreeable to the U.S. government. Furthermore, these examples are hardly unique: of hundreds of examples I could choose from, I picked these because they are fairly recent.

I am convinced that even more than thuggish behavior, the thing that most upsets people is hypocrisy, and the Empire is drenched in hypocrisy. Of course, to maintain an Empire, perhaps it is necessary to engage in widescale hypocrisy - otherwise, there would be no justifiable rationale for the Empire.

One way or another, I expect this Empire will eventually collapse. When it does, I hope that whatever nation arises in its place in Cascadia has enough sense and humility to deal with the world honestly, so that even if not powerful, it is a nation that can be respected.

Friday, January 28, 2011

High Speed Rail in Cascadia?

I recently ran across a Facebook page for "High-Speed Rail for Washington, USA". Frankly, this seems to be rather a pie-in-the-sky goal. At least they are focusing on the right goal - get people out of cars and airplanes and into a much more efficient and environmentally friendly mode of transportation. However, we don't even have passenger rail of any sort throughout huge swathes of Cascadia! Take a look at this Amtrak system map. Amtrak won't get you within 100 miles of Yakima, which has a population of 85,000 people and is the 10th largest city in Washington. Amtrak doesn't even get within 200 miles of Boise, Idaho's capital and largest city (and that's via Nevada, not even a part of Cascadia).

As we enter the Long Emergency of declining energy supplies, passenger rail service may be the only viable means of overland transport outside of riding a horse or walking. Huge areas of Cascadia may really suffer if we don't make an effort to build a passenger rail system that is at least up to third-world standards before it is too late. Let's lay off the dreams of a high-speed rail system in some never-to-come Techno-Utopia, and instead concentrate on building something that will meet the needs of real people in the real future we are likely to experience.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Cascadian Independence

As things continue to deteriorate around the world and at home, the case for us in Cascadia to get off the train of Empire gets stronger and stronger. Here are some links to groups that are working toward this goal:
At the present, none of these initiatives seems likely to gain much of a following, but as the collapse of the Empire proceeds, hopefully ways to proactively and peacefully obtain Cascadian independence will begin to gather momentum.