Do you get the sense that politicians have been lying to you? It’s a good bet that if Zogby, Gallup, or CNN/Time would run a poll with this question, the answer would be close to 100% saying “yes”. Yet voters seem so afraid someone could cook the bird that lays what most think are golden eggs they turn a blind eye toward Republicans and Democrats who are dining on goose year after year.
The Democratic Party is liberal. It is not the kind of classic traditional progressive that marked liberalism in the middle part of last century. Something like a neo-Marxism is infecting the party and represents it more and more. Democrats constantly seem to be working to find a way to promote wealth redistribution in the hopes of setting a proletarian elite establishment in authority over everyone’s life. If John F. Kennedy ran for office today, Democrats would reject him as a right wing extremist.
The Republicans are no better. Global establishment moderates are firmly in control of the GOP. Forget Goldwater and Nixon, what would Ronald Reagan say if he could be aware that his party was promoting amnesty for illegal immigrants, a federal prescription drug program, or expanding the Department of Education? Think about it before you answer. Reagan did the same thing when he was President.
But would the Gipper be for a $90 billion dollar annual trade deficit with a communist enemy that is pointing their nuclear missiles at the United States? It seems clear that Reagan would be calling China an “evil empire”, rather than a strategic “trading partner”.
One might argue there is no real difference between the two parties today. That would be wrong. There are clear differences. The GOP is promoting global hegemony based on corporate international elitism and the Democrats are promoting world socialism. These are some plain distinctions between the two parties, but only on the kind of government omnipotence that should be established, not on the question of such in the first place.
It is notable that the domestic policies of these two are starkly similar. The differences only manifest themselves in terms of the global vision held by each party. Democrats would give tax breaks based on social security payroll deductions, knowing that income tax would be required to make up the difference. The GOP would privatize some part of FICA to boost the stock market with federal payroll deductions (voluntary — at least, initially). Of course, Republican leaders know that market failures would require the government to make up the difference with income tax.
Where did the “contract with America” go? No one is even remotely talking about getting rid of the Department of Education. Americans still work until the end of May to pay their taxes in what is nothing more than modern slavery for almost half of their lives. Trade deals continue selling good jobs to foreign countries where cheap labor is an irresistible enticement that hypnotizes both parties. The thought of American sovereignty as more important than cheap labor is now passé for both Republicans and Democrats.
On social issues, the GOP has capitulated. Ken Starr told ABC’s Sam Donaldson a few weeks ago that Roe v. Wade is “established law” and that we should just move on. Republican candidates are caving to the Log Cabin group in state after state. Even those GOP candidates who need the NRA’s support have started to compromise on our Right to Keep and Bear Arms. All it took was a few weeks of a murderous rampage in the nation’s capital and suddenly outlaws with guns are the only ones leading Republicans can accept.
Are Americans fooled? Not really, voters know they are being sold down the river. But we cannot figure a good way out of an established system where each party plays “good cop, bad cop” with their base. Instead of voting for candidates who stand on the values of their constituencies, most go to the polls and vote against the one who scares them the most. And the landscape now includes so much to lose as politicians on both sides of the isle rant about the imminent attack that will cause more destruction than 9-11.
Voters are afraid to see the end of an American dream that, ironically, is surely over if they don’t wake up. Fear has an electorate believing lies. Politicians from both the Republican and Democratic establishment know it. Fools notwithstanding, the best thing to shore up entrenched power is an illusion. It makes everyone believe they could lose the pittance offered by corporate elites or some socialist collective upon which average people depend, and for which most don’t have the courage to seek an alternative.
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”