Stan Moody

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Manchester, ME 04351
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https://moodyreport.wordpress.com

The Death of bin Laden: Doomsday or Renewal?

May 5, 2011
Author: Stan Moody

We are left to speculate as to the effect of the execution of Osama bin Laden
on the American psyche. On a feeding frenzy since 9/11, the military industrial
complex, the most self-conscious wing of corporate capitalism, will need the kind
of resuscitation that only money can buy.
There appears to be no end of supply.
Pulitzer Prize winner, Chris Hedges, stands nearly alone in his
condemnation of corporate capitalism as the killer of the middle class. His vision,
enumerated in an April 25th Truth dig article, is of a burgeoning ruling class of
insatiable power mongers in control of both major political parties:
They will continue to exploit the nation, the global economy
and the ecosystem. And they will use their money to hide in gated
compounds when it all implodes. Do not expect them to take care of
us when it starts to unravel…It will be up to us to keep alive the
intellectual, moral and culture values the corporate state has
attempted to snuff out…It is not much of a choice, but at least we have
one.
The End of Hidden Agendas:
Certainly, the most confirming evidence of this doomsday scenario is the
emergence into the open of previously hidden agendas. The illusion that the GOP
is the party of individual responsibility and achievement and the Democratic Party
of rights for the powerless began to wilt with the emergence of the American
police state post 9/11.
The Great American experiment as we know it is on fragile ground. Riches
and power are, reportedly, distributed in direct proportion to faith in and
faithfulness to God and/or country, those two strangely interchangeable realms.
At the other end of the spectrum, prison has become a means of disposing of
the rebellious bottom tier of society – those for whom the American Dream has
become an illusion. Here in Maine, one middleclass town in desperate search for
jobs seeks to build a private prison for federal prisoners. The pre-condition is that

Prison Reform, bin Laden, Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Obama, Stan Moody, Maine Department of
Corrections, http://www.scribd.com/stanmoody, https://moodyreport.wordpress.com
Maine prisoners be transferred to private prisons in other states. Out-of-sight; out-
of-mind!
Fate of the Rest of Us:
The bottom tier that now overwhelms our prisons is comprised primarily of
the drug-addicted and minorities. With prisoners, probationers and parolees
standing at some 3% of our population, Hedges’ nightmare reduces to means for
controlling the less rebellious, more responsible among us. He sets the bar at 2/3 of
the population to be detached from hope.
That 2/3, he posits, is a public entranced “…with celebrity meltdowns,
gossip, trivia and entertainment.” Thus, corporate elites have found “…
sophisticated mechanisms to thwart popular aspirations, disenfranchise the
working and increasingly the middle class, keep us passive and make us serve their
interests.”
A Desperate, Grasping Underclass:
Hedges sees the end as a desperate, grasping underclass of citizens, slightly
elevated above the prisoners we now squirrel away. In such a world, those without
power or money become imprisoned by the strictures of economic and medical
survival, fast becoming interdependent. If you fail economically, you fail
medically.
Education, former gateway to success, becomes a symbol of irrelevant
elitism.
Will the death of bin Laden signal the beginning of the end of our national
nightmare? A nation re-defined over 10 short years since 9/11 is now poised to
retreat from its police-state ethic and begin the process of sending hidden agendas
of racism, classism and greed back into the closet.
How that is accomplished depends on our ability to rise to the hope
conceived in liberty. Whether it is accomplished is a matter of the will. On that, the
jury will remain out for a time.
The End or the Beginning of Hope?:
Hedges looks into the future sees the end of hope. His take on the execution
of bin Laden is that we have sealed our fate. Perhaps he is right.
Another prophet, however, offered an alternate option in the announcement
of the execution:
The cause of securing our country is not complete.  But tonight,
we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our
mind to.  That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of
prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our
citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our
sacrifices to make the world a safer place. 

Prison Reform, bin Laden, Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Obama, Stan Moody, Maine Department of
Corrections, http://www.scribd.com/stanmoody, https://moodyreport.wordpress.com
 Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of
wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Sources:
 Chris Hedges. Truthdig, April 25, 2011.
 Chris Hedges. Truthdig, May 1, 2011.

Author Stan Moody has served in the Maine Legislature, was a prison chaplain and has written
scores of articles on prison reform. He is a board member of Solitary Watch and has received
the ACLU-ME Civil Liberties Baldwin Award. Stan’s articles can be read at
http://www.scribd.com/stanmoody and https://moodyreport.wordpress.com.

Prison Reform, bin Laden, Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Obama, Stan Moody, Maine Department of
Corrections, http://www.scribd.com/stanmoody, https://moodyreport.wordpress.com