They say the Rs are shelving the Ryan Plan to Gut Medicare for the time being, while -- of course -- "quietly" continuing their campaign to gut government funding of social services. As the states encounter more and more budgetary limitations, funding for social programs is inevitably cut. Federal support is also being cut somewhat more gradually right now, but the cuts are growing, and ultimately they will be draconian.
Rs will get their way. They always do in the end.
They are relentless.
And that's the key to the current situation. No matter what happens, the Rs find that events and circumstances always justify what they've done and what they want to do. Cutting taxes, regulations, and services are what they want to do, and they pursue that goal without deviation no matter what.
And they succeed.
They succeed with the sometimes shockingly active collaboration and cooperation of the Democrats, their ostensible political opposition. But as we have learned over the years, the Rs and the Ds are not really opposition parties; they are essentially two phases of one Government Party, both essentially bought and paid for by a shrinking but devilishly wealthy Ownership Class whose interests and demands are the primary focus of the political system.
As was the case generations ago, so it is now: the Government exists to serve the interests and needs of the Owners, no one else.
Unfortunately, this condition is built in to our anachronistic Constitution, and so long as we are governed by that Constitution -- even if only in theory -- so long will Government of, by and for the Rich in opposition to the People endure.
So it was at the beginning, so it is now, so it will be forever unless the People take into their own hands the means and methods of forming a government in their interests.
Unless the People become as relentless in pursuing their interests -- which are going to be in opposition to those of the Ruling Class, there's no way around it -- the consolidation of rule in the hands of a tiny minority of the Rich will continue without let up.
The Rs (with their D collaborators) will continue to succeed, even if it takes them a little bit longer to reach their goals than they originally decreed.
The People must resist.
[AND come up with viable alternatives -- that aren't simply futile attempts to maintain the status quo... ]
Very well put, Ché.
ReplyDeleteConcise. To the point. Etc.
The people still don't think they are in opposition with the rich, unfortunately. They still think they may become one of them someday.
Also, too many are dazzled by the wealth of superficial consumption choices and don't want to rock the boat on that, either. Must have Ipads. Must have Smart Phones. On and on. All too many Americans believe that we will stop "innovating" without the current structure, as if we have to send all the money up to the top of the pyramid in order to provide incentives for the folks laying the bricks.
Of course, that's never made a lick of sense, but too many people believe it.
The real innovators aren't capitalists or business owners. The real talent isn't in the business world, and never was. But Americans think it is. They're dazzled by the Donalds, and think people like him are the folks actually building new toys.
Not the middle class scientists, researchers, inventors, laborers who work for billionaires. But the billionaires themselves whose prime contribution is the collection of money and the organization, taming and disciplining of labor.
I agree we need to rebel and take this puppy away from the folks whipping her. But how do we do so when most people don't even realize they're being exploited? They don't think "class" exists.
(I need to find 21st century words for this.)
The absence of class consciousness among the American people is a real problem to be sure.
ReplyDeleteOf course the major mass media is a big part of why Americans have lost even the limited class consciousness they once had. Seems like it's always "just beginning" to dawn on people that this Media simply isn't interested in attending to the real issues of the People. It's far more interested in promoting the interests of the Ruling Class of which it is a part.
My local paper, long notorious as some sort of Liberal Rag, for example, has been carrying on a relentless campaign against unions, public employees, public pensions, etc., etc., etc., just hammering constantly at how "greedy" and "corrupt" these people are, and how "we" can't afford their outrageous demands.
It's practically every day. This has been going on for years and years, and the current California budgetary woes have merely intensified their anti-union, anti-public employee, anti-public pension campaign.
And yet it seems like only now are readers -- many of whom, if not actually most of them, ARE union members, public employees, and soon-to-be retirees -- are noticing that the paper's stance is not really supportive of the People's interests but instead supports the interests of the paper's owners and top employees.
For years they got away with it because it seemed they were making a rational and coherent argument. Up to a point, I think they were -- there are problems that need to be addressed given the near-ungovernability of California, the persistent budget problems, and the consequences of the Endless Recession (including astronomical unemployment statistics.)
But after a while, even the dullest reader should be able to suss out the fact that the only consistency in their line was to hammer unions and public employees (and their pensions) endlessly. Then whine about Social Security and Medicare and all these Old Farts sucking up the revenues.
Over and over again. This is pure ideological propaganda on behalf of the Ruling Class.
Gee. You mean they're not on Our Side? No. No, they're not. Surprise!
But it's taken years for people to see that because they had been conditioned to believe the paper was "Liberal" -- downright Socialist -- to the core.
If only!
There's an interesting discussion over at dKos on the Working Class -- which helps to clarify the issue, but it also shows how little so-called "progressives" understand about class issues.
One of the difficulties is that so many "progressives" are willing to allow the terms of the argument to be set by those who serve the Ruling Class. And then they eagerly engage the argument on those terms. That happens all the time, and it winds up promoting Ruling Class interests, even if the Ruling Class argument is refuted.
It's one reason why so much movement seems to be backwards. Reversion rather than progress.
If there is little or no vision from "progressives," no forward thinking, then reversion or standing still are the only paths open.
Right now, "progressives" consider it a Major Victory to stand still.
Got to get past that somehow...
Cheers,
Ché
Thanks for the Dkos link. Will take a good look at that.
ReplyDeleteYep. It's a "progressive" victory now just to hold on to parts of 20th century programs.
A major victory when the Dems "compromise" with the GOP to save a fraction of a program from the 60s. Reversion is right.
And I don't get how anyone can compare eras and not come away with the obvious conclusion that our own time actually demands far more than the New Deal . . .
Even holding on to the whole thing isn't sufficient to address our economic, educational, health care and environmental crises.
. . . .
BTW, did you see this about the Koch Bros and Florida State?
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/10/koch-florida-state/
Are we looking at the best education (propaganda) money can buy? The forced insertion of Randian philosophy into Higher Ed?
The Kochs have already done that at George Mason. The broader South is probably ripe for more of the same. Eventually, it will spread to all corners, and the coup will be complete.
I know it's naive, but I did once have faith that the truth will out and will come primarily from our universities. Looks like they're likely the next domino.
Yes, the billionaires' co-option of any institutional counter to their will continues apace. It's not just the Kochs -- though they seem to be the most determined, relentless, and foul of the bunch.
ReplyDeleteInstitutional failure was a feature of the Bushevik years, when so many of the institutions we relied on to maintain some semblance of honor and truth simply collapsed in the face of a barbarian political onslaught, and in doing so exposed just how rotten the foundations of most of them were.
As long as they can control the Future, like Noah Cross and his ilk in Chinatown, the billionaires will be happy. For the moment.
Yet the Truth will out in the end. It always -- well, almost always -- does. The discovery will come from abroad, where points of light still shine, but how long it will take, who can say.
I am heartened by the growing resistance in Mexico to the "drug war" that's been imposed on them from above -- and which has been killing them by the tens of thousands. Mexicans have a lot of practice at controlling the excesses of their often captured and beholden government through public actions like this, and they may ultimately show the way for others (Norte americanos?) to resist and shame their own out of control government.
We'll see.
Cheers,
Ché