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04 November 2010 By Stephen
Lendman Since the 1980s, neoliberalism
dominated US politics under Democrats and Republicans.
Bush I continued Reagan policies. Clinton hardened
them. Bush II much more, and Obama so far matched Star
Trek, going where no administration went before. Count
the ways. They're manyfold, favoring business over
popular interests, yet he's accused of being
socialist. On November 2, angry voters
responded, shifting right despite favoring many left
of center issues, a combination of outrage and angst
overriding their best interests. Go figure because
what they got will incense them more. During hard times, election
cycles repeat a common pattern. Angry voters throw out
bums for new ones, discarding them next time around
for still more, mindless of what an earlier article
explained - that US democracy is fake. The criminal
class in Washington is bipartisan. Mock elections
pretend to be real. The process is mere kabuki theater
run by political consultants and PR wizards, supported
by major media misreporting, featuring horse race
issues, not real ones. Everything is pre-scripted.
Secrecy and back room deals substitute for a free,
fair and open process. Party bosses chose candidates.
Big money owns them. Key outcomes are predetermined,
and cheated voters get the best democracy money can
buy, each time no different than others. Recall November 2008. Promising
change after eight George Bush/Republican dominated
years, Obama won the most convincing non-incumbent
victory in over 50 years, sweeping Democrats to large
majorities in both houses. On election night, the mood
celebrated hope for progressive change, an end to
imperial wars, and a new day for America. When word
came around 10PM, expectant thousands in Chicago's
Grant Park erupted with chants of "yes we can," hoping
Obama would deliver at a time of deepening economic
duress. Two years later, disappointment, disillusion,
frustration, and anger erupted over promises made,
then broken, once again betting new faces will govern
better than old ones. Think again. New York Times writers took the
lead reporting it, Jeff Zeleny and David Herszenhorn,
for example, headlining, "Restive Voters Divide Power
in Congress as GOP Surges to Control of House,"
saying: They also came close in the
Senate "as discontented voters, frustrated about the
nation's continuing economic woes, turned sharply
against President Obama just two years after
catapulting him into the White House." It showed in
how they "indiscriminately ousted Democratic
incumbents who loyally supported Mr. Obama's agenda,"
decidedly anti-populist whether or not they know it. Times writer Carl Hulse headlined
"Republicans Oust(ed) Old and New Democrats Alike,"
throwing out babies with their bath water. It's what
usually happens in hard times, especially when big
money effectively manipulates minds, pushing them
right, not left, that means over the cliff through
planned austerity when massive stimulus and much more
are needed. Universal single-payer healthcare
for one. Taking money out of politics another. Holding
real elections, not fake ones. Giving Congress back
what the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8 mandates
- the power to create money and control the value
thereof, not Wall Street bankers using it to their
advantage. They delivered hard times, transferring
wealth from the majority to themselves. Obama and
Congress support them, Republicans as guilty as
Democrats. The best Times writer Peter Baker
could say was "Somewhere along the way, the apostle of
change became its target, engulfed by the same
currents that swept him to the White House two years
ago." Instead of denouncing his shameless betrayal, he
said only that he "must find a way to recalibrate with
nothing less than his presidency on the line." Shifting right, not left, is what
he means, what Clinton called triangulation. Obama
earlier promised austerity, more favors for business,
hardline immigration policy, deficit reduction,
continued imperial wars without saying it, and more
for privilege, not people, buying into Reagan's
"trickle down" economics, what, Bush I called
"voodoo." All a Times editorial could do
say is that "voters....sent President Obama a loud
message: They don't like how he's doing his job,
they're even angrier at Congressional Democrats."
Republicans exploited it "turning out their
base....Democrats....fail(ing) to rally their own."
Besides noting a shift right, hard issues weren't
mentioned, instead saying "his opponents (were able)
to spin and distort what Americans should see as
genuine progress in very tough times." For Wall Street, defense
contractors, Big Oil, and other corporate favorites
perhaps, not Main Street that drove voters for change.
What's coming, however, will infuriate them, what no
major media report will explain. For example: -- greater than ever military
spending; -- expanded wars, perhaps to new
theaters at a time most Americans want them ended; -- privatizing Social Security
and Medicare, letting Wall Street racketeers exploit
them for profit, scamming the public at the same
time; -- privatizing public education
as well as increasingly at the university level; -- trashing labor rights; -- hanging American workers out
to dry; -- ignoring growing millions
facing foreclosure; -- letting poverty and
unemployment spiral out of control; -- yet eliminating unemployment
compensation and other social benefits, saying they're
"unaffordable;" tax cuts for the rich, however, will
be maintained; -- enacting more police state
laws on top of many in place; and -- turning America darker, a
reactionary direction pitting bread and butter issues
against ruling elites, both parties offering
bipartisan support, especially new incumbents and
their leadership. The big money backing them
demands it, assuring they'll get what they bought.
It's how US politics works, more than ever delivering
the best democracy money can buy. As a result,
American workers are on their own, out of luck, and
unsupported by both parties. Democrats are no
different than Republicans. As a result, governance in
America is dysfunctional. The electorate remains
mindless to reality. Only grassroots activism might
change things, sweeping all the bums out, electing
progressive independents, reversing repressive and
corporate friendly laws, as well as enacting a new
constitution by national referendum, letting the
electorate decide, not states or Washington. A utopian vision? Absolutely,
adopting working class France's 1968 slogan, "Be
realistic, Ask for the Impossible" through collective
political action, the only way "impossible" goals ever
are reachable, social justice topping the list. Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the
Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/. |
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