012: #$hitsStillFuckedUpAndBullshit

On this episode of The Future Is A Mixtape, Matthew & Jesse go beyond Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next and his apt citations of policy successes in other societies found outside the U.S., and will instead grapple with the stasis of the Left and its tragic inability to wrest change from the Death-Dealers of Neoliberalism. How can we learn from both the past and present to make another world possible? How can we transcend the suffering and carnage found in our daily lives that are as deceptively petty as buying child-socks at Target, but are, nonetheless, consumer rituals made heavy by unseen violence? Join our co-hosts as they do a politically drunk version of Jiu-Jitsu via the wreckage of what lies behind, around and ahead of us. Jesse & Matt will then imagine what strategies and tactics are most deserving of our attention in the here-and-now, so we can transcend The Poison Pyramid and finally arrive at The Golden Square.

Mentioned In This Episode:

Prior Discussions on The Poison Pyramid:

Episode 001 on Religion: “The Desire for Certainty”

Episode 002 on Capitalism: “The Invisible Hand”

Episode 003 on Celebrity: “Star-Fuckers”

Prior Discussions on The Golden Square:

Episode 007 on Food: “Grammars of the Palate”

Episode 008 on Shelter: “Gimme Shelter”

Episode 009 on Healthcare: “An Apple A Day . . .”

Episode 010 on Education: “Squaring the Golden Square: Education”

Viewing Copies of Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next

What is a ShitBox? “The ShitBox Commercial Product Review”

The History of Basic Income’s Origins from Thomas Paine & Beyond

Mother Jones Magazine: “250 Years of Campaigns, Cash, and Corruption: From George Washington to Citizens United, a Timeline of America’s History of Political Money Games”

Moyers & Company: One-Hour Documentary - “The United States of ALEC”

The Original Exposé on the Koch Brothers’ Wealth and Political Manipulation by The New Yorker, published in 2010: Jane Mayer’s “Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers Who Are Waging War on Obama”

A Story of Winners and Losers in 99 Homes: YouTube Excerpt of Michael Shannon Discussing Why America Only Bails Out the Winners

Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes: The Feature Film. Starring Laura Dern, Michael Shannon, and Andrew Garfield.

The Los Angeles Review of Books: “On Bureaucracy and the Left” by Guy Patrick Cunningham

David Graeber’s The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity and The Secret Joys of Bureaucracy

The Norwegian American: “How Norwegian Do It: National Elections in Norway”

The 28ers’ Official Website: “The organization was established in 2012 from the ashes of Occupy Riverside, and is now a 501(c)4 non-profit that aims to pass a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by creating exclusive public financing for all federal elections, and forever sever private wealth from politics.”

Joe Scarborough in Politico: “Obama’s Friendship with Wall Street” (2011)

The Sunlight Foundation: “The Max Baucus Health Care Lobbyist Complex”

Lawrence Lessig’s TEDtalk: “We the People, and the Republic We Must Reclaim”

Counterpunch: “The Woman Who Blew the Whistle on Halliburton Gets Canned”

Financial Times on No-Bid Contracts: “Contractors Reap $138bn from Iraq War”

UC Davis’ Center for Poverty Research: “What Is the History of the Minimum Wage?”

The Official Website for Wolf PAC: It’s Vision, Plan and Course for Actions

Wolf PAC’s Progress Toward Calling for a Constitutional Convention: Five States Thus Far

What Is an Article V Convention? It’s Origins, History and Potential for Change.

The ERA Movement: The Equal Rights Amendment Act

Beacon Broadside: “Phyllis Schlafly: Still Wrong (and Mean) After All of These Years”

Old Enough to Die in War, But Not Old Enough to Vote? A Wikipedia History of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and How Student Protests Pushed Congress to Enact Its Ratification Process for Later Passage in 1971.

The Washington Times: “Noam Chomsky: The Republican Party Most Dangerous Organization ‘in Human History’”

The Washington Post: “Democrats Troll House Republicans, Sing and Wave ‘Bye-Bye’ as AHCA Passes”

Youtube Video of Democrats Singing “Goodbye” Song

Youtube Video of Democratic Convention Where Sarah Silverman Says to Berners: “Can I Say to the Bernie-Or-Bust People: You’re Being Ridiculous!”

Gawker: “Report: Hillary Clinton Used Static Noise Machine to Prevent Reporters from Hearing Fundraising Speech”

CNN News: “Sanders Supporters Shower Clinton Motorcade with Dollar Bills”

Jane F. McAlevey’s No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age

Moyers & Company: Marshall Ganz on Making Social Movements Matter: “Occupy Mistook a Tactic for a Strategy”

Murray Bookchin: Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm

Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything: The Climate Versus Capitalism

Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams: Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work

What was the Mont Pelerin Society, Its Aims & Who Was Its Founders?

Nancy MacClean’s Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America

The North Star: Mark Fisher’s “Exiting the Vampire Castle”

Russell Brand’s Brilliant Counterpunches When Being Cross-Examined by Jeremy Paxman on BBC’s Newsnight (& Not Getting All the Ethical Issues Right - How DARE HIM!)

Cenk Uygur’s Ill-Conceived Idea of Starting Justice Democrats Instead of Doubling Down on Wolf PAC

New Poll Shows Money in Politics Is A Top Voting Concern

According to 2015 Study, 90% of Democrats, 84% of Republicans and 80% of Republicans Say That Money in Politics Has Too Much of an Influence on Our Democracy

The Los Angeles Times: “California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelves single-payer healthcare bill, calling it 'woefully incomplete'”

Ryan Skolnick: “Anthony Rendon Is Wrong: SB 562 Is Not Woefully Incomplete”

Robert Pollin’s Defense of SB-562 in The Intercept: “Why Single Payer, Now, Is for Real”