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8/21/2012

Why is this 2012 election so important?

1)    You’ve probably heard over and over that this election will decide in what direction the country will go.  Yes, that’s true, as far as it goes.  But what we must understand is that this election will basically decide in whose direction the country will go.  

    This is not simply a question of direction --right or left-- it is instead a question of who is behind the directing.   It is the people driving the direction that matters most, for it is people who make decisions, run for and hold office, provide monetary support and put together the legislation, the policies, the programs, the rules and regulations that ultimately move the government and the country in a particular direction.

    So as a voter YOU must decide who you want directing the country, driving the government, spending your money, or deciding the issues by which your life will be affected.  Unfortunately, most of those people are NOT running for office, and therefore are not elected.  There’s the rub:  the people we think are going to be our elected representatives or Senators are often not the people who make the decisions that affect our everyday lives.  So this election is about the unelected people who are in positions of power.

    Permit me a small tangent here.  There is a sense in which the office-holders - the politicians themselves - really have very little to do with our everyday lives.  They are too often not in charge of the political machinery.  Behind the operations of government are so many lawyers, lobbyists, bundlers, handlers, aides and staffers, plus the moneyed men and women who like to tell those politicians just what they should do or not do, that the politicians turn out to be little more than marionettes dancing to the tunes that the puppet masters play.

    On the other hand, it is precisely because the politicians are turning over their offices and consciences to the string-pullers that makes it all the more imperative for every citizen to want everything to do with those who are giving away the store to the behind-the-scenes actors.  It is a time for scrutiny not inactivity.

    What I am saying is that this election is so much about who is really in charge, and who is calling the shots, and who is donating enormous amounts of money. There is every possibility that we the people will not decide the direction in which the country will go.  We will instead have decided for us who is really going to lead us and on what path we will go because decisions vital to our democratic process are already being made by forces that have gathered in secret and who are unseen by the average human eye.

    So, let us say that President Obama is re-elected:  Anathema to some and Shangri-la to others.  Unless by some miracle a Democratic Congress (both House and Senate) also follows suit, the outcome will be about what it is now: gridlock.  Nothing much will change, and the puppeteers will still be in charge, albeit in a way that will somewhat test their abilities but not overly much.  Let’s say that Romney wins and the Republicans win a majority in both houses of Congress.  That will be the end of democratic representative government as we have known it.  For then the behind-the-scenes actors will have no one in their way.  In fact, they will own the Congress, the Presidency and the Court.  They will own the federal government and will use it as they desire to gain their own ends. 

2)    This election is about takeover, not makeover.  Too many average voters believe that there is little difference between Republican and Democrat politicians: they are all essentially the same, they complain.  That has been somewhat true in the early modern era, but no more.  It has all changed.  There are few moderate Republicans left, at least who hold office.  There are more extant conservative Democrats who vote for things like right-to-life legislation, or for breaks for corporations, and who belittle the labor movement.  No, we are not living in the era of cooperation or compromise or accommodation between the parties.  We live in a situation where ideological rigidity holds sway, and where creative legislation or expansion of civil rights or of the voter franchise or of inventiveness in seeking greater support for those with special needs or unusual circumstances are all seen as wasted spending, extravagant spending, or as affecting the ability of small business owners to hire more employees.

    To be more precise, we have the tendency to think that this election, as with others past in which our economic future was at stake, is simply a matter of changing horses in mid-stream; a chance for the other party to see what they can do, with little regard for what they say they will do, for what they have already demonstrated in the past they will do, or for what they will not do, given their philosophy.  But this election is not about a simple change of philosophy; it is about control.

    The radical Republican Right-wing has decided that it is not enough simply to makeover the government and its policies into a slightly different way of doing things. This is an all-out battle to win CONTROL of government so that the Democratic Party will be on the outside for generations to come.  If you don’t understand that fact, you understand nothing about what is at stake in this election.

    Let us review in brief why I say that this is a potential coup d'état and not your usual election.

    A)  The Koch brothers, and other millionaires and billionaires like Sheldon Adelson working with them or on their own, want everything in government to mesh with their right-wing, top-down, corporate-protecting, laissez-faire, tax-loophole, privileged class values.  They are committed to revolutionizing this government so it never again passes legislation favorable to labor, minorities, the poor or the vulnerable; they want to tear down or repeal universal health care, abortion rights, environmental or consumer protection legislation.   They are predatory in their quest.  If you don’t believe it, watch in the movie “Koch Brothers Exposed” what they did to a small town school district in North Carolina.  This is war, and if more voters don’t catch on soon, the battles will all be over and the Koch Brother types will be the victors, and they will be the robber barons running this country.

    B)  If you haven’t caught on yet, consider the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United.  If you think that was just a fluke, you must consider what the hoards of money from Super-PACs are doing to change the election dynamics throughout this country.  The negative ads --with outright lies as their foundation -- are twisting the life out of our election process., and distorting the outcomes.  Voters with bumper-sticker mentality are actually persuaded everyday by these negative ads. 

    But that’s not all.  The law does not require anyone to disclose who the donors are or where they are from, or how much they are giving to influence the elections.  Thus it is, that YOU, the voter, are being kept in the dark as to the very people who are attempting to buy your election.  That’s right!  You have no way of even knowing if the election for your local Congressman (or State Senator for that matter) is being bought by a millionaire businessman who will expect favors in return that may hurt local ability to grow the local economy in the future.  You have no idea who it is that is buying your Congressman and how that will affect your schools, your health care, your children’s education.  You just don’t know…

    C)  A third leg of the revolutionary stool is the attempt by radical Republicans in over 30 states to cut back on access to voting.  The so-called anti-voter fraud laws are clearly a part of the conspiracy to take over the government, not to enhance it or to make it more democratic.  The voter ID laws and the suppression of early voting, plus unreasonable requirements for registration all work together, not to correct a problem of voter fraud, but to perpetrate a fraud on minorities, the elderly, young people, and those living in poverty who would have the most difficulty complying with these laws.  Compliance with these laws is made extra difficult in order that those who do seek qualifying picture IDs will have an even harder time getting them.  Tactics such as closing state offices early where such IDs can be found, or opening them at odd hours, such as 9 am to 12 pm on every fifth Wednesday in a month (3 per year?); or closing branch offices in those areas where citizens will be forced to take a public bus to far-flung sites -- all are designed to prevent, not enhance a person’s opportunity to comply. 

    This voter suppression is not random; it is not dissimilar legislation.  These laws have been put together by forces that know what they are doing.  They are part of the right-wing conspiracy to steal this election and to disenfranchise the voters who supported President Obama in 2008.  This is a planned and organized assault on our democratic election process.  It is a blatant attempt to overcome the concept of one person, one vote.  In Pennsylvania alone, the voter ID law may well disenfranchise around 750,000 voters, enough to swing that state to Romney, as touted by the speaker of Pennsylvania’s assembly when he said that the voter ID legislation they passed will deliver the state’s electoral votes to Romney.

3)    And finally, this election is about tearing down the machinery of federal governance that has kept in place a concept of government that believes in equal rights, fair play, controlling predatory practices, and giving everyone a fair shake by distributing tax revenues so that no one is left behind.  It begins, in essence with FDR and the New Deal.  The conservative Republican movement, especially the neo-cons, have targeted the policies and programs of the Roosevelt era for years now. 

    Social Security is the bane of their existence.  They want desperately to change that program so that the federal government can no longer have control.  They want to get that money into the hands of the bankers and the financiers by establishing the concept of private accounts that will grow as Wall Street grows.  Unfortunately, when banks close or Wall Street goes bearish or really falters, there will be no one to pick up the pieces for the persons who lost their retirement savings. 

    That’s just the beginning.  The other programs of big government that rankle these anti-federalists the most are both related to health care:  Medicare and Medicaid.  For the sake of brevity, let us simply recognize that the Paul Ryan plan for Medicare, no matter how you slice it, is meant to fundamentally alter Medicare. No matter what is said about options, the outcome will eventually be the destruction of Medicare as we know it.  That is the goal.

    It is Medicaid that is clearly in the sights of the big government hunters.  This is the program that causes state governments apoplexy.  It is often the largest mandated but not fully funded part of their state budgets.  Since devolving programs to the states has been one favorite method of conservatives for un-doing or cutting back on federal programs that help the vulnerable and those with special needs, this is the tactic they have chosen to eventually render this program ineffective.  If the states get hold of Medicaid, you will see administrative costs go up, benefits go down, and eligibility change drastically.  This tactic has nothing to do with states’ rights or states’ abilities to innovate, and everything to do with denuding a needed program. 

    Let us consider here the fact that while destruction of Medicaid has little to do with the theory of state sovereignty, there is nevertheless a conspiracy afoot to return that concept to a cornerstone of revolution.  The right-wingers are not just concentrating on diminishing the role of the federal bureaucracy, they are at work diligently trying to enhance the role of the states in this offensive.  Look at Wisconsin and Ohio and their anti-labor movement.  Look at Arizona and their egregious legislation and practices aimed at immigration.  Look at Texas and the governor’s threat to succeed.  Look at many of the states where the legislatures and the state houses have been captured by the right-wing Republicans who have gone forward with radical changes to education, social spending, and welfare programs.  They will, of course, tout these changes as desirable, but don’t forget to look at their rankings in terms of achievements, especially in education and health care.  Not very good, I’m afraid.  But their goals are not the construction of better programs; their goals have to do with the diminishing of programs run by government.  They are not in the business of innovation, but they are mightily concerned with private business and the welfare of businessmen and women, not to mention their own aggrandizement. 

So do not look to slogans or talking points or high-sounding rhetoric for your keys to what this election is about.  It is about none of those.  There is only one issue: who is going to run your economy; who is going to decide your fate; who is going to dictate the terms of your education and thus of your career; who is going to make decisions for you in terms of your health and well-being; who is going to decide for you certain matters of conscience and tolerance?  This election’s outcome is not just about you, my friend.  It is about the directors, not the direction.  Make a wrong choice, and it will be about the power of an elite controlling the government and all of its functions.  It will be about the powerful weakening governance so that the avarice of certain holders of wealth can be more than satisfied.  It will be about a right-wing takeover, not a makeover.

8/05/2012

Will the Oligarchs Prevail?

This week, I want to return to several themes that I have written about, this time using a Newsletter from Senator Bernie Sanders, the Progressive Independent of Vermont, to elucidate those themes.  His is a viewpoint that I not only respect, but admire as well.  A point well taken, which we will mention later, is that a Progressive agenda is paramount at this stage of our development as a country.

1)  There is more at stake in this election than the viability of the candidates themselves.  There is at stake the fundamental purpose of this country: are we a democracy operated on the basis of government “of the people, by the people and for the people”, or is government for sale to the highest bidders, to be run by a small oligarchy who happen to hold the economic power necessary to control and manipulate society according to their best interests?  It is a question for the ages, for the threat to democracy from a small cadre of oligarchs is ever-present in this society, and in others as well. 

Look carefully at England where an aristocracy has flourished even into the present day: an elite that has had little compunction, in certain eras of that country’s history, about its role in making sure that the aristocracy and richest industrialists had the power to determine the course of that great nation.  Not unknown in other nations, the center of their focus has been a monarchy which, in its essence and at its core, has an elitist principle: that the King or Queen is sovereign, and that all else flows from that fact.  Of course, today there are vast numbers of British republicans who would prefer to do without a monarchy, but their view has not prevailed.  Fortunately, the modern monarchy is restricted by Parliament in its actions, but not entirely. 

Without going into that particular controversy, let it suffice that our own country has fought from its beginnings to separate itself from either a monarchial or oligarchic form of government.  In fact, in the earliest stage of this representative democracy, it is clear that George Washington could have assumed the powers of a monarch had he been so inclined, but he chose to act as a President restricted and guided by a Constitution, even giving up the reins of governing after a suitable time (two terms).  There were others around him who would gladly have bestowed upon him the trappings of a monarchy, but they did not prevail.  That cadre of elitists has not disappeared.  In fact, today they are more prominent than they have been since about the 1920s. 

We are at another juncture in our history where the elitist oligarchs want to seize control of our economy, our government, our wallets, as well as our destiny.  Led by “he who would be King”, Mitt Romney (a mere puppet, to be sure), these industrial and financial elitists seek a coup d'état that has been planned out for years.  It is that very planning that the rest of us have basically ignored, to our own imminent peril.  Ignorance, apathy, and denial are the bedrock upon which these ultra-rich have staked their futures.  They believe with all their fiber and being that they can take over this country without so much as a shot being fired, or a whimper heard, because they have the money, the position and the accumulated power to allow them to accomplish their ends.  You want proof, you say?  Take a long look at the brief movie titled “Koch Brothers Exposed”.  There it is in black and white!

But back to Bernie Sanders.  He makes this point in his newsletter:

“I want to take this opportunity to share with you my views about what I consider to be the most serious crisis we face: the need to defeat the effort of the wealthiest people in our country to convert our American democracy into an oligarchic form of government where virtually all economic and political power rests in the hands of a small number of enormously rich families.

The history of this country has been the drive towards a more and more inclusive democracy -- a democracy that would fulfill Abraham Lincoln’s beautiful phraseology at Gettysburg in which he described America as a nation “of the people by the people for the people.”

We all know American democracy has not always lived up to this ideal. When this country was founded, only white male property owners over age 21 could vote. But people fought to change that and we became a more inclusive democracy. After the Civil War we amended the Constitution to allow non-white men to vote. We became a more inclusive democracy. In 1920, after years of struggle and against enormous opposition, we finally ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote. We became a more inclusive democracy.

In 1965, under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, the great civil rights movement finally succeeded in outlawing racism at the ballot box and L.B.J. signed the Voting Rights Act. African Americans could not be denied the right to vote. We became a more inclusive democracy. One year after that, the Supreme Court ruled that the poll tax was unconstitutional, that people could not be denied the right to vote because they were low-income. We became a more inclusive democracy. In 1971, young people throughout the country said; “we are being drafted to go to Vietnam and get killed, but we don’t even have the right to vote.” The voting age was lowered to 18. We became a more inclusive democracy.

Today, after centuries of seeing this country move toward a more democratic and inclusive society, we are now witnessing the most severe attack on our democratic foundations, both economically and politically, that has been seen in the modern history of our country. In terms of the distribution of wealth and income, in terms of concentration of economic ownership and in terms of political power, fewer and fewer Americans are determining the future of our country. This is a trend we must reverse.”

2)  A point with which we must reckon is that power is already in the hands of the very rich in this country.  The gap between the richest cohort and all the others of us is out of kilter to the extent that 98% of us are fast losing any power to control our own destinies.  If Radical Republicans (the front for the elitist rich) have their way,for example,  public schooling will be relegated to the trash heap of history, and the rich will be all that can afford to send their children to private academies and universities.  The rest of the public will be relegated to schools that teach only the curriculum approved by the powerful, taught by teachers hired for their political views rather than their ability to teach, and administered by private corporations that are controlled by the same rich folks.

Bernie speaks in his newsletter to the economic gap that currently exists in our country.

“Economically, the United States today has, by far, the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth and that inequality is worse today in America than at any time since the late 1920s. Today, the wealthiest 400 individuals own more wealth than the bottom half of America -- 150 million people. Today, one family, the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, with $89 billion, owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of America. Today, the top one percent own 40 percent of all wealth, while the bottom 60 percent owns less than two percent. Incredibly, the bottom 40 percent of all Americans own just three-tenths of one percent of the wealth of the country.

In terms of income distribution, the top one percent earns more income than the bottom 50 percent. Between 1980 and 2005, 80 percent of all new income created in this country went to the top one percent. In 2010 alone, 93 percent of all new income went to the top one percent.

In terms of economic power and concentration of ownership, the six largest financial institutions in the country (JP MorganChase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Metlife) own assets equivalent to two-thirds of the GDP of this country -- more than nine trillion dollars. These giant Wall Street institutions produce half the mortgages in this country and two-thirds of the credit cards. Three of the top four are larger today than they were when we bailed them out four years ago because they were “too big to fail.”

That is what is going on economically in this country. A handful of billionaires own a significant part of the wealth of America and have enormous control over our economy.”

3)  The “kicker” in all this is that one-and-a-half branches of our government are already under the control of this elite faction (plus numerous statehouses and legislatures).  The House of Representatives demonstrates every day by its intransigence, its attacks upon the poor and middle classes, and its legislation, favorable to the wealthy and the powerful, that it is already supporting a different form of governing than that to which we are accustomed.  The Senate, although with a slim majority of Democrats, is still held hostage by an arcane rule of procedure -- the filibuster and cloture rule -- which is used by minority Republicans to block any meaningful legislation.

But, as Senator Sanders points out, it is the Supreme Court that has thrown its weight behind the coup that is developing by its decision in Citizens United, thereby proving  where its allegiance stands.  The oligarchs have been given a tool for democracy’s destruction which cannot be matched for effectiveness.  Bernie again:

“In my view the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was one of the worst and most anti-democratic decisions in the history of our country. What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United was to give enormous new political power to the wealthiest people in our country, in addition to all of the economic power they have. That decision allowed corporations and the super-rich, without disclosure, to spend as much money as they want to buy candidates and elections. In essence, the Supreme Court said to America’s billionaires: “You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.” That is what Citizens United is all about.

Why should we be surprised that one family, worth $50 billion, is prepared to spend $400 million in this election to protect their interests? That’s a small investment for them and a good investment. But it is not only the Koch brothers or Sheldon Adelson. There are at least twenty-three billionaire families who have contributed $250,000 or more into the political process up to now. My guess is that number is really much greater because many of these contributions are made in secret.

From one end of this country to the other, hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent by the very wealthy to defeat candidates who represent the needs of working people. Not content with controlling the economy, they also want to dominate our political system as well.”

4)  There is only one direction left to those of us who make up that other 98% of the population.  We must resist the takeover of our society by elitists and again expand the scope of our franchise, our democratic institutions, and our constitutional democracy.  We have no choice.  The fight must begin by recognizing that we are at war with forces that want to change our way of life. We must exert consumer pressure on the “too big to fail” corporations to force them to respond to consumer demands and needs.  We must proceed by winning local offices in local, county and state governments.  Our efforts must culminate in the education, fostering and election of new people to represent us at all levels, and in the education of a woefully ignorant electorate.  And finally, this struggle must be characterized by progressive principles: by the expansion of voting rights and laws that enable, not restrict, early voting, weekend voting, ballot-by-mail voting, and by policies that lead to fair and equitable responsibility for the just operation of government; by the principle that private and public sector cooperation is our goal, and by the principle that grass-roots citizen involvement in determining the direction of government and institutions is our mission.  Bernie Sanders admonishes us:

“There is only one antidote to the plans of Big Money. We must fight back. We must educate and organize the working families of our country around a progressive agenda. We must build a strong grass-roots movement which demands that government work for all the people, and not just the wealthy and corporate interests. We must demand that the President and Democrats end their timidity, forcefully stand with struggling families and take on the greed of Wall Street and the top one percent.

As part of our progressive agenda not only must we resist cuts in Social Security, we must lift the cap on high income earners so that Social Security will be strong for the next 75 years.

Not only must we oppose cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, we must see health care as a right of all and continue the struggle for a Medicare for All Single Payer health care system.

Not only must we oppose placing the burden of deficit reduction on the backs of working families, we must demand a progressive tax system in which the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.

Not only must we oppose those who deny the reality of global warming, we must demand the transformation of our energy system away from fossil fuels into energy efficiency and such sustainable energies as wind, solar, geo-thermal and bio-mass.

Not only must we oppose cuts in unemployment compensation, we must fight for a jobs program that creates the many millions of jobs our country desperately needs.

These are pivotal times in the history of our country.”

It all comes down to those important words uttered by President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, PA on November 19, 1863:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”