The wedding of state and corporate power is at unprecedented levels. The implications for democracy are ominous. Elections are formalities, often more like auctions to be sold to the highest bidder. There is no proportional representation. In a winner take all system the Dems and Repubs got the game all sewed up. And their sponsors the banks are not only too big to fail they are too big to jail. Meanwhile, the ranks of the out of work and out of house and home continue to swell. Basic freedoms of free speech, right of assembly and the right to privacy are being eroded in the name of protecting them. People are saying enough to inverted totalitarianism. The Occupy movement is a popular citizen response to grievances and inequities not being addressed and a universal feeling the system is rigged to favor the rich.

Chris Hedges is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars in the Balkans, the Middle East and Central America. He writes a weekly column for Truthdig.org and is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. He is the author of American Fascists, Empire of Illusion, Death of the Liberal Class, and The World As It Is.