"Immovably, they insist on the very ideology which enslaves them. The misplaced love of the common people for the wrong which is done them is a greater force than the cunning of the authorities."
~Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, 1944
Today is le quatorze juillet also known as Bastille Day, marking the onset of the French Revolution, which overthrew a hopelessly corrupt, and ineptly deficient monarchy. Far flung wars of conquest had bankrupted the country to the point it could not even take care of its growing number of war veterans. Years of no-so-benign neglect had resulted growing poverty and inequity between the peasants and the ruling class. Sound familiar? Not to fear, the royal warmongers of this country are currently safe, and at this time even seemingly poised for a comeback. If one were to listen to the right-wing media, the biggest issues in the elections of 2010 are not perpetual war, too-big-to-fail banks, or even the continued decline of the middle class from globalization. No, these topics are not even being debated because both of the major political parties are competing for the big money of those special interests, and no substantive change can occur. None of the major media speak of the one solution to this mess: then end of pay-for-play politics.
What we get instead are plenty of wedge issues as a distraction. How long will peasants fall for this? Instead of "let them eat cake" those holding the reins say "let them swallow this BS" and that not insignificant segment of the electorate with racist/homophobic/xenophobic tendencies put their own heads in the guillotine for another election cycle.
4 comments:
I like your analogies.
And I thought Republicans/conservatives were opposed to "handouts."
If Republicans take back the Congress--or the House or the Senate, in the Fall--for doing nothing more than obstructing, saying "No," beating up on Obama, and advocating for off-shore drilling, which they're not talking up now so much as they did prior to the Gulf oil spill, it will be nothing short of a "handout," and an undeserved one.
Ernesto, I could be wrong, but I don't think average Joes and Janes know how we got here--and why the economy is on life-support.
And come this Fall, their voting, or lack there of, may be more a knee-jerk decision (throw out the incumbents [the bums]) as a result of a down economy, than one based on knowledge.
I hope I'm wrong.
Pay-for-play politics have been around it seems like forever. It may take nothing short of a depression to put an end to this practice.
Again, I hope I'm wrong.
It would be a sad day for sanity and a sign of just how delusionally racist some people are if the Party of No pick up more than a few seats. Hell, if they pick up ANY seats it's a sign that something is dreadfully wrong.
If one were to listen to the right-wing media, the biggest issues in the elections of 2010 are not perpetual war, too-big-to-fail banks, or even the continued decline of the middle class from globalization. No, these topics are not even being debated because both of the major political parties are competing for the big money of those special interests, and no substantive change can occur. None of the major media speak of the one solution to this mess: then end of pay-for-play politics.
Exactly, but this thing doesn't have to go down this way with the republicans gaining house seats. The administration and its supporters have largely taken these attacks in silence when they should have went to war challenging every stupid notion these people have been slinging around. These people have been allowed to take lies and create a set of "facts" on the ground without any challenge.
These people have been after the administration from day 1 and have been doing everything they can to subvert the operation of government. It's high treason and it really needs to be characterized as such in relentless fashion. I keep thinking back to the aftermath of the passage of healthcare and how they threatened violence and then tried to act as if someone had attacked Eric Cantor's office--an event that appeared to have been staged--another lie.
They've been spoiling for a fight and have been doing whatever they can to provoke one. If they want war, I say give it to them but do so on a battlefield and time other than one dictated by them.
Greg,
Forget about a war, just throw some facts at them and they wither like a vampire hit with holy water. The problem is that they own the airwaves so they can get their lies out there and repeated ad nauseum until ridiculous assertions are accepted as fact. Many Democrats are hamstrung by their own addiction to special interest cash. The internet is about the only place you could find alternative views to the non-reality of Fox News and their echo chambers at ABCNNBCBS.
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