>I don't think it is a lie; how do you construe being a working class
>resident of greater New York City --- and in some cases not even a legal
>citizen --- as being "responsible" for US foreign policy? The Pentagon is a
>slightly different matter, although there is still the aspect of the
>passengers on the plane.
You would have been able to infer that I don't hold non-citizens of the US responsible for US foreign policy. But of course the citizens of NYC aren't responsible for US foreign policy, it is American citizens collectively. Working class citizens are entitled a vote too I gather.
>That is the nature of class societies --- people with guns standing over us.
>And wherever you go in the world, 9-11 has been a great excuse to increase
>the numbers of cops and soldiers.
You infer that political dictatorship is inherent to a capitalist class society. I believe you are mistaken. The nature of capitalist class society is that it is an economic dictatorship, not a political dictatorship. In other words it is the nature of a capitalist class society that, instead of standing over you with guns, the ruling class stands over you by monopolising the means of production and demanding you obey them or starve. The political state and the people with guns are under the democratic control of the people. The capitalists don't directly control the people with guns (and don't usually need to), they control the purse-strings of the people who control the people with guns.
The US military (the people with the guns) are responsible to the the citizens of the US, collectively. They get their orders from the politicians freely elected by Americans. Not from self-appointed dictators. I don't see how Americans, can expect other people especially those who get no say in who their government is, to let them off the hook. Of course the American people deserve to reap what they sow.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas