August, the Month of Change
The stunning rate of economic and financial breakdown in the U.S. and world economy should underscore the message which Lyndon LaRouche has been stressing recently: August will be a month of change, profound change. And any citizen concerned with the survival of his or her nation, and the human race as a whole, had better conceptually prepare himself or herself to engage politically in unexpected ways. Because by September, the political situation will have qualitatively changed, and decisive action will have to be taken.
Just a hint of the drama of the upcoming developments is available in what is being publicly released about the economic and financial implosion. While LaRouche was way ahead of the crowd in projecting the impending bankruptcy of General Motors from the policy signals made public in February/March 2005, it is now obvious that that's where the situation is headed—with all the attendant devolution of related industries and communities, and the nation's machine-tool capability, that goes with it. The bank insolvency crisis, which was splashed all over the front pages of the U.S. press with the run on IndyMac (which has now filed for bankruptcy), has been suppressed as much as possible by the powers-that-be, but is equally dramatic. Just for example, sources close to the Federal Reserve report that the Fed has a secret list of 700 banks in critical danger, and another 700 in serious trouble.
The LaRouche movement has long been preparing the ideas and programs which can uniquely get us out of this crisis—and, in fact, is the only leadership currently on the scene to do so. While in-depth proposals are available, the approach has been summarized effectively in LaRouche's "three steps to survival":
- the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act;
- a two-tier credit system; and
- the formation by the U.S.A., Russia, China, and India of an initiating bloc to create a new international fixed-exchange-rate credit system to replace the presently bankrupt international monetary system.
Under these circumstances, it is crucial that representatives of the lower 80% of the population by income-bracket—in contrast to the economic and political elite—become an active factor in politics. It is this portion of the population that has suffered, increasingly, over the past 35 years of de-industrialization, and, at the same time, has been marginalized by the agreement among "party professionals" on both sides of the aisle to adapt to the rules of the globalized world. Party clubhouses have been canned, media have replaced personal campaigning, money has taken center stage. The disastrous results are clear.
But, in a revolutionary period such as that into which the demonstrative failure of the leading institutions to prevent economic and political disaster has led us today, the broad base of the population must be engaged in the solution.
Not surprisingly, we are seeing an activation of this layer of the population, internationally. In Europe and elsewhere, this has been shown in action on the streets. Here in the U.S., the phenomenon is less visible, but a significant element of motion has come to the fore within the Democratic Party, in the wake of Hillary Clinton's suspension of her campaign. Thousands of supporters of Clinton, who had been mobilized as part of her campaign's championing of the interests of the lower 80%, and women, reacted to the virtual coup d'état by the sponsors of Obama by becoming activists. They are in crisis, and they want to learn. More should follow.
Dramatic change is coming, whether the American people are ready or not. Educate yourself now, before it's too late.
