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As difficult as it is for me to challenge my own ‘betrayal bond’ with the United States of America, I am posting here further excerpts from the book I introduced in last evening’s post, America’s Sacred Calling: Building a New Spiritual Reality (2010) by John Fitzgerald Medina.

Medina writes:

The Extremes of Wealth and Poverty as an Impediment to Peace and Spiritual Growth

“Ironically, as mentioned above [see last evening’s post] in the face of widespread rising poverty in the United States and throughout the globe, astonishing levels of wealth are nonetheless being amassed and increasingly concentrated in the hands of a very small cadre [a nucleus or core group] of super-rich, powerful individuals.  In the United States, the gap in wealth distribution is currently greater than at any other time since 1929, the year of the Great Depression.  Similarly, practically every Third World country has a small cadre of rich elites (obligarchs) [a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people] who live lavish lifestyles amidst the abject debilitating poverty of their fellow citizens.  Related to this, the Universal House of Justice warns that the widening gap between the rich and the poor throughout the world is a major impediment to peace:  “The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. (The Promise of World Peace, pages 10-11)” Along similar lines, ‘Abdu’l-Baha states the following regarding wealth:

“If a judicious and resourceful individual should initiate measures which would universally enrich the masses of the people, there could be no undertaking greater than this….  Wealth is most commendable, provided the entire population is wealthy.  If, however, a few have inordinate riches while the rest are impoverished, and no fruit or benefit accrues from that wealth, then it is only a liability to its possessor.  If, on the other hand, it is expended for the promotion of knowledge, the founding of elementary and other schools, the encouragement of art and industry, the training of orphans and the poor – in brief, if it is dedicated to the welfare of society – its possessor will stand out before God and man as the most excellent of all who live on earth and will be accounted as one of the people of paradise.  (The Secret of Divine Civilization, page 24)”

“It would be accurate to say that one of the defining features of capitalism is that it encourages individuals to concentrate wealth.  Capitalism also lacks any moral constraints that admonish and encourage individuals to expend such wealth for the benefit of others.  This alone practically guarantees that ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s above admonition will remain unheeded within the current economic paradigm.  He asserts that wealth that is not utilized for the benefit of the overall society is actually “a liability to its possessor.”  I believe that this is a reference to the spiritual deficits (deficits in the virtues of generosity, compassion, justice, humility, and love) that likely multiply in the souls of any individuals who devote their time and energy to selfishly amassing physical treasures while, at the same time, showing little concern for the general welfare of the community.  It is probably the case that such individuals may outwardly appear prosperous, and yet, they may actually be experiencing spiritual starvation and a poverty of the soul.  (pages 179-181)”

Keeping the World Safe for Capitalism

“Such poverty of the soul is clearly evident in the corrupt social, political, and economic arrangements of the global order.  These prevailing arrangements are based on blatant physical power and control and are not mediated in any sense by moral or spiritual constraints.  Indeed, physical wealth is the chief mediating force in global politics and economics.  Wealthy elites are able to exercise tremendous power not only within their own nations, but also beyond their respective nations’ borders.  Elites may live in different countries, but they often collaborate with one another to exert extreme control over the resources and governmental institutions of the planet in order to maintain the prevailing unjust global order.  Within the United States, big business interests (American multinational corporations, huge investment banks, and rich owners/investors) hold a powerful sway over the government.  Through the instrumentality of the U.S. government as well as through American-dominated international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, big business entities project their power onto the global stage where they consistently promote economic, political, and military policies and actions that make the world safe for capitalism (actually, safe for the easy exploitation of the masses).  Such U.S.-led policies and actions effectively preserve the privileged position of American big business interests throughout the planet as well as protect the positions of elites within impoverished countries where ruthless oppression is often used to maintain the gap between the rich and the poor.

“The control of agitated hungry populations typically requires the use of military force.  Not surprisingly, in order to maintain the global arrangements described above, the Unites States has been, and continues to be, the leading supplier of weap0ns on the planet.  [bold type is mine]  By the end of the 1990s, the United States accounted for seventy percent of the commerce in weapons to the Third World.  Significantly, even after the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1989, the United States continued to flood the world with weapons.  For instance, it provided arms or military technology to belligerent parties in ninety percent of the fifty most significant conflicts that occurred between 1993 and 1994.  [See HERE]  In November 13, 2006, The Boston Globe reported the following:

“…it is the United States that by far remains the top purveyor of high-tech arms to areas where…the likelihood of armed conflict remains highest.  A study last year by the progressive World Policy Institute found that the United States transferred weaponry to 18 of the 25 countries involved in an ongoing war….  [M]ore than half of the countries buying U.S. arms…were defined as undemocratic….  “The U.S. would be significantly affected if there was an arms treaty that took into account human rights abuses and conflict areas,” added William Hartung [World Policy Institute]….  “The U.S. government still wants to be able to do convert and semi-covert arms transfers.”  [rest HERE]”

“The findings above are very significant considering the fact that many contemporary outbreaks of famine are related to armed struggles and devil wars such as the recent conflict in Somalia.  Thus, arms transfers and U.S. military aid to the Third World contributes considerably to world hunger because they help keep famine-inducing armed conflicts alive.

“It is ironic that the United States has often touted itself as the prime promoter of worldwide democracy when, as noted above, a myriad of undemocratic governments have received military aid and weapons from the United States.  Some of these governments have essentially acted as American-influenced puppets that have served to maintain political and economic conditions that are favorable to the Untied States and to American-based multinational corporations.  During the 1800s and 1900s, the United States established such governmental arrangements throughout the world in a variety of countries in Central and South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific region.  Indeed, these arrangements were cultivated especially in Third World countries where profits could be made through exploitation of cheap labor and/or the exploitation of minerals, and so forth.  Along these lines, sociologist James Loewen states, “From 1815 on, instead of spreading democracy…we [Americans] sought hegemony [domination] over Mexico, the Philippines, much of the Caribbean basin, and other nations.”  In many instances, the U.S. government blatantly worked hand in hand with wealthy Third World oligarchs to actually create puppet regimes.  (pages 181-183)”

The author’s next section:

Overthrowing Democracy in the Name of Capitalism

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SEE:

— US is top purveyor on weapons sales list — Shipments grow to unstable areas

By Bryan Bender – The Boston Globe Staff / November 13, 2006

— SOURCEWATCH – Arms Control – June 4, 2008

— Interesting collection of current foreign aid statistics by nation HERE

Also see:  Third World Traveler –

THIRD WORLD TRAVELER  is an archive of articles and book excerpts
that seek to tell the truth about American democracy, media, and foreign policy,  and about the impact of the actions of the United States government, transnational corporations, global trade and financial institutions, and the corporate media,  on democracy, social and economic justice, human rights, and war and peace,  in the Third World, and in the developed world.

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