From The Ramparts

                                                             From The Ramparts

                                                            Junious Ricardo Stanton

                                                                       Karma

            Karma is an ancient concept that was articulated in India but you find it in most indigenous cultures, it simply means we reap what we sow. It is the law of cause and effect. Karma applies to all actions, it applies to our thoughts, values, motives and behavior, there are always consequences for everything. Karma is personal and collective. The consequences may not be quantifiable, nevertheless there are consequences.  There is an old saying, "whatever is in the well will come out in the bucket."

            The election results shouldn't have surprised you, if you were in tune with the pulse and sentiment of the masses and not the corporate media.  The corporate media's function is to create perceptions, to manufacture public opinion, to distract us from what is really going on and shill for the 1%.  The media rarely reports on or focuses on the increasing income inequality, the hardening economic apartheid, the decline in the standard of living and rising tide of indebtedness for Americans young and old.

            Major discontent has been percolating beneath the American psyche for a long, long time. This discontent first manifested during George W. Bu$h's term as president. Millions were upset about the 2000 election results when the US Supreme Court stopped the Florida vote count and gave the election to Bu$h. The disgruntlement increasd because of corporate fraud but abated following 9-11 because of the media propaganda for the bogus "war on terror".

            Ultimately it was the wars and the collapse of the global economy that spurred new feelings of angst and dissatisfaction. This anxiety manifested openly in the Tea Party, an amorphous assortment of dissidents mostly of conservative and libertarian bent worried about the direction of the country. However, the Koch brothers co-opted  the grassroots Tea Party movement and transformed it into an ultra conservative arm of the Republican Party and set Glen Beck and Sara Palin up as their spokesperson figureheads. The discontent did not disappear or dissolve.

            Next came the Occupy Wall Street movement that brought the US class war into consciousness. Because of Occupy, the term 1% is part of our everyday vocabulary. The Occupy Wall Street movement spread across the country and around the world. After ignoring it for several months the corporate media began to demonize and mock them. Finally Obama forcibly shut the Occupy Wall Street movement down all across the country in 2011 so they would not be a factor in the 2012 election but the genie was out of the bottle!

            The Black Lives Matter Movement is a grassroots movement of mostly young people appalled by the growing trend of police killings of Black people. They tapped into a vast reservoir of discontent amongst Black people. But a countermovement arose when billionaire George Soros attempted to co-opt Black Lives Matter by pumping millions into it to steer it in a different direction.

            Fast forward to Tuesday November 8, 2016. Hillary Clinton lost the election for numerous reasons foremost because the people wanted "real change'. A Gallup Poll showed Americans' satisfaction with the way things were going dropped from 29% in June of 2016 to 17% in July one month later. http://www.gallup.com/poll/193832/americans-satisfaction-drops-sharply.aspx A twelve point drop in one month! Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump addressed this dissatisfaction, but Hillary Clinton did not.

            Bernie Sanders' Socialist message and popularity forced Hillary Clinton to copy his populous rhetoric but people knew she was Wall Street's girl.  In a twisted irony Donald Trump a billionaire businessman, a non politician and reality TV celebrity became the voice of resistance, the embodiment of the revolt against the 1%.

            The ruling oligarchy's Karma and her role in it were Clinton's undoing. Her warmongering, her active support of  her husband's policies that led to mass incarceration of Black and Brown people, the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act which opened the way to Wall Street shenanigans and the crash of 2007-08, the passage of NAFTA that led to the loss of millions of jobs and the demise of American manufacturing, what Bill and Hillary said about and against Barack Obama in 2008, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation exposed as money laundering influence peddling, pay to play operations. Her Karma was just too much to overcome so she lost.

            What is the lesson for us? Black people were the only major constituency that still voted for Hillary Clinton even though not to the level we supported Barack Obama.  How is it knowing how the Clintons' policies negatively impacted our communities, millions of Black people still voted for her? Why did we vote for her despite the Leakileaks, despite how Bill Clinton and George W Bu$h ripped off our people in Haiti?!

            What can we learn from this?  We must remember we come from an ancient people of genius who made a way out of no way. We were resilient and resourceful when we couldn't vote, when the US Constitution supported slavery and politicians did not court our opinions or favor. Let's not succumb to fear, despair or defeat over Donald Trump's election.  That Karma will take care of itself. Let us rekindle the energy and spirit that allowed us to survive slavery, violence, state and Klan terror to rise up and dismantle legal apartheid. Let us create a new vision for ourselves and create positive Karma.

                                                            -30-