Partisan Politics, Part 2
(Continued From Partisan Politics:
How Did It Get This Way?
Unfortunately, during the last three decades most Americans have been conditioned by wealthy corporate powers. Most Americans bought into Reaganism and the corporate culture because it was made to sound patriotic and even religious. That enabled the psychology, attitudes, traits and culture of American corporations and other wealthy special interest groups to spread like an epidemic virus that has increasingly infected most Americans.
That culture of greed has made most Americans think that greed and self-interest is alright, and it’s made them not think about the state of our neighborhoods, communities, environment or infrastructure, humanity as a whole, or the working poor, or the poor. Instead, it has made people buy into the policies and actions of huge corporations, banks, lending institutions, manufacturing industries and the U.S. Religious Military Industrial Complex.
The fact, however, is that it was and is a sham created and perpetrated by and benefitting the wealthiest few Americans who now hold 90 percent of the wealth of the nation, who have been able to rule so completely by simply claiming that what they do is in the name of God and Country.
"Religious" Republicans repeat the deceptive and hypocritical Reaganite-Bushite mantra against "big government" and taxes. But the fact is that they like big government when it suits their purposes, and they simply don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. And, even though they now wail against deficit spending, they were the ones who put the U.S. government deep in debt because of their tax cuts for the wealthy, their obscene no-bid contracts that enormously benefited and enabled corporate war profiteers, and their policies and laws that benefited corporate exploiters and polluters, predatory lenders, industrial giants, etc.
We can and will fix this, as soon as enough people get the message, and be strong and courageous enough to stand up for the truth. For only we, the people, can ensure that truth and justice prevails. Only we, together, can work toward reforming this political-economic system, its inequitable economic policies, its favoritism to the wealthiest few, its corporate globalism, and its global U.S. militarism, all of which have increasingly widened the already huge income gap between rich and poor, shrunk the middle class, increased the working poor population, exploited people in this and other countries, and wreaked terrible conflict, division, havoc, violence, death and destruction in the world.
Having said that, it is not to say anything against political, social and fiscal conservatives who are reasonable, caring, and honest, and who are willing to sit down with liberal progressives and work together, find common ground, and come up with needed solutions for the common good. Reasonable and honest conservatives should have a place at the table, to provide their perspective.
The trouble is, the American Republican Party was co-opted in the 1980s by right-wing extremists and wealthy imperialists. The late William F. Buckley Jr. and Irving Kristol, the fathers of the Neo-Conservative Movement, enabled them. However, while Buckley and Kristol provided an intellectual rationale for their right-wing ideology, the ones who gained political and military power as a consequence were Ronald Reagan and his administration, and Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who led the "religious right."
In the 1990s Democratic President Bill Clinton managed, in spite of a Republican controlled Congress, to fend of Reaganism for awhile, and Clinton produced a booming economy and balanced budget. But, in 2000, the Republicans came back with a vengeance, and their goal was to further an agenda set forth in a document titled document entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, written in September 2000 by a right-wing conservative think-tank called Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The PNAC document calls for global dominance of the U.S. Religious Military Industrial Complex, and it has been enormously successful. Building on and expanding on Reaganism, it made the wealthiest few Americans very much more wealthy than they were 30 years ago, and that’s why they fight tooth and nail against Barack Obama, resorting to deception and slander to try to stop any initiatives to establish significant reform and regulation. They wanted and still want free rein to continue the inequity and unfairness that has been so devastating to the vast majority of us.
Granted, the political climate has been gradually moving a bit from the right, which allowed the rhetoric of Democrats to begin to address some progressive issues and speak up for the majority and the working poor. Their rhetoric included at least a little bit of awareness of all the poverty, hunger and homelessness which has devastated so many American families.
The problem is that most politicians in Washington D.C. simply ignore the huge problems that impact most Americans, such as food insecurity, job insecurity, housing insecurity, along with the problems of inequity and insecurity around health care, prescription drugs, education, inflated and rising costs, price gouging, a degrading economy, a weakened dollar, global warming, a degrading environment, depleted fisheries, political corruption, corporate corruption, economic corruption, unregulated and unchecked greed, fraud, war, and all the other problems that have been exacerbated by right-wing Republicans in Congress and in the Bush Regime, and by many Democrats who have been almost equally culpable.
Why aren’t Democrats doing what they should? In the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, about 80 percent of the funding for the political campaigns of both Democrats and Republicans was provided by the wealthiest one percent of the population. The wealthiest few learned some time ago to invest in both sides, so no matter which side wins they will get what they pay for.
Democratic presidential candidate Obama did not really change that, even though many Democrats have been led to believe that his campaign funds came from average people who could only afford small donations. But, even though Barack Obama is beholden to Wall Street, he has been courageous enough to nibble just a bit at that bribing hand that feeds him.
However, we think Obama is the most fair politician around. He generally does not demonize or lie about the opposition, but reaches out to find common ground, and he is certainly the best man to be president at this time. But, it could be said that he, like most other politicians, did what was politically expedient in order to get elected, and as president he has said and done things to appease the wealthiest few and their huge corporations. And that concerns me.
For example, Barack Obama has said that the country’s current challenges "are simply too big for government to solve alone." Of course, there is some truth to that. We all have to help in whatever way we can. However, it is a statement usually made by Republicans who merely want to continue Reaganism. And Obama has gone so far as to say he would enhance Bush’s "faith-based" initiatives by steering federal taxpayer funds that were formerly used on social service agencies, to religious groups. But he does so to pander and cater to the religious right, and that would be a tragic mistake.
Unfortunately, all politicians have pandered to the Christian Right, to the point where in 2008 being a Christian became a litmus test for being the American president, in spite of the Constitution and the intent of the founding fathers. After all, we cannot have real religious freedom without religious pluralism and equality of religions.
Of course, Obama feels that talking about his faith was necessary, and it’s no wonder, since right-wing neo-conservatives have been claiming God for themselves during the last 30 years. But it is wrong and unconstitutional to bring a specific religion into politics.
Remember, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
Most of the founding fathers felt the same way and agreed with Jefferson, who also wrote: "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man."
That is still true, and just as relevant today as it was in the 1700s. And while Obama is doing what he thinks is politically expedient, it perpetuates the mistakes of Reagan and Bush.
Furthermore, speaking of mistakes, under Obama’s command the U.S. military continues to use depleted uranium munitions, cluster bombs and white phosphorous in densely populated areas in violation of U.S. and international laws and treaties. It ignores the Geneva Conventions that specifically prohibit the use of weapons and materials that cause unnecessary harm by remaining active and deadly after a battle. Consequently, many innocent civilians are killed or maimed, and many babies born in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from illnesses and deformities and brain damage that were caused by the U.S. military's massive and widespread use of toxic and radioactive materials.
Furthermore, justice is obstructed by Obama as long as he refuses to order investigations into numerous and blatant U.S. war crimes committed by the Bush administration, which should be held accountable under the rule of law, since they were in violation of the U.S. laws, the U.N. Charter and Conventions, the Hague Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuremberg Tribunal Charter. Similarly, Obama has also endorsed the latest FISA legislation giving retroactive immunity for telecoms that engaged in illegal electronic surveillance. But no country or president or company should be allowed to act as if they were above the law, especially international law.
But, even though Barack Obama is really not the agent for the real and lasting change that we need, he is the best that this system could produce, considering its nature. And it's not just politics. During the last elections we saw how the commercial news media focuses on dirty sensationalism and jumps all over stories about conflict and "punching and counter-punching." The commercial media tends not to serve as ethical journalists to help the public be fully informed on the issues. Instead, they stoop to the level of tabloid journalism and cover the mud-slinging, because they think that’s what sells. And sadly, it does, so that what they cover. We didn’t hear much about important issues. We heard about what each side said that was offensive to the other side. And, sadly, the media does not keep politicians honest, they merely encourage them to be offensive.
There certainly was a whole lot of mud slinging from malicious right-wing Neo-Conservatives. They resorted to slanderous, deceptive half-truths and outright lies against Obama, because they typically believe the best defense is a strong offense.
For example, they accused Obama of wanting to "redistribute the wealth by taking money out of your pocket and giving it to someone else." But the fact is that Reaganites and Bushites have been redistributing the wealth of the nation to the wealthiest few for the last 30 years, and especially during the eight years of the Bush presidency. Obama merely seeks fair, equitable economic policies that are in the interests of all the people.
Republican attack ads on television against Democrats in the 2010 election campaigns claimed Democrats would "raise taxes and take away jobs," and even used the term "job killing taxes" to mislead and deceive voters. But the truth is that fair-minded people merely want the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, and lower taxes for the middle class and the working poor.
Republicans even stooped to even worse tactics in the "battleground" or "swing" states to prevent Democrats from being able to vote, claiming that the 2002 voting act (HAVA) legalized their dirty tricks.
Now Americans should realize that Neo-Conservative right-wing Republicans have done all that to serve, enable and benefit the wealthiest few and the huge American corporations, especially those in the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex that Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us against back in 1961. And America’s status in the world has been damaged by the foreign policies and actions of Reagan and Bush, which have been mostly about obtaining or controlling natural resources and/or maintaining or gaining strategic military footholds in other countries.
Americans need to realize that divisive, harmful, bad and even evil leadership can be very cunning and loves to masquerade as good. It often even thinks it is good, which is why it often succeeds when the political climate is ripe. Many people are easily fooled by demagogues who appeal to the human ego and its tendency toward feeling superior, whether it’s because of wealth or religious beliefs or nationalism or race or political ideology. After all, the murderous tyrant Adolf Hitler easily rose to power in the 1930s by making the German people feel superior and powerful, and he was the epitome of the worst kind of demagogue.
Granted, Ronald Reagan was nowhere near as bad as Adolph Hitler, because Hitler was so blatantly evil that the vast majority of people in the world and even most Germans eventually recognized it. However, the script Reagan followed as a corporate television pitch man made him even more successful, because most people did not recognize him for what he was. He was able to open the doors wide for the forces of self-interest, greed, inequity, racism, nationalism, militarism, and political and corporate greed and corruption.
The attitude and policies Reagan brought to the presidency in 1981, many of which were copied between 2000 and 2008 by George W. Bush, are some of the biggest reasons why we have had such bitter partisan conflict and gridlock; political corruption; corporate corruption; bad relations between labor and management; and huge and unfair income disparity.
Here is a video that illustrates the impact of the Reaganite war on labor unions, for instance:
To make matters worse, along with horribly unfair and inequitable income disparity came diminishing protection of the environment; increasing racism; growing poverty, hunger and homelessness; a shrinking middle class; and diminishing financial status for the vast majority while the rich have been getting a whole lot richer - incredibly richer. And that's just the domestic problems.
Furthermore, if a good Democrat actually advocated the kinds of changes that are needed to establish real fairness, equality, equity and justice, he would be in grave danger. For corrupt people do not stop at deception, fraud and malfeasance. Consider why John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were killed. It’s the same elsewhere, because moderate Israeli President Rabin, and moderate candidate Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan were killed for the same reasons. They and many other good, conscientious, progressive leaders, who served in the best interests of humanity and the people as a whole, and especially of the poor and disadvantaged, have been assassinated by those who love and lust for worldly wealth, power and domain and will stop at nothing to acquire and/or maintain it. And they are very cunning and adept at covering their tracks and getting unstable, zealous scapegoats to do their dirty work.
That’s why Obama has not appeared "too liberal" or punitive against the greedy, corrupt, self-righteous people who have gotten us into this mess. He sometimes can’t resist rubbing the Republican’s noses in the messes they’ve made, but he’s the least partisan politician in America, even so. He truly seeks Republican cooperation, even though so far they’ve denied it and are in denial about who is really most at fault for our problems.
Of course, Democrats are also culpable. And, no matter what President Obama does, he cannot solve our most serious problems. Remember, the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1992 did very little to stop Reaganism and prevent or deal with its rampant political and corporate corruption. In fact, it continued and increased in the 1990s during the eight years Clinton held office, as was made obvious by the shameful and counterproductive "welfare reform" law, and all the corporate scandals and ripoffs exposed during that decade. Then Reaganism was continued and further enabled and exacerbated by George W. Bush, and it continues under Obama.
Granted, there were some token legal actions against the most blatant and exposed political and corporate corruption, but those actions have dealt only with what is like the tip of a huge iceberg, and only the tip shows above the surface while the rest is hidden. The basic problem is still there. Corporate and political corruption and abuse of power is immense and pervasive, and the army of highly paid corporate lobbyists who bribe and influence politicians in Washington D.C. is only part of the problem.
The basic problem is that partisan politics is hopelessly flawed, inherently divisive, and inevitably corrupt. It does not and cannot serve the interests of all the people. And the biggest part of the problem is that it’s based on the idea that we should choose sides, fight for power over each other, and be forced to accept the results of a winner-take-all partisan contest for presidential monarchial power.
Furthermore, another big part of the problem is that it is fueled by money, which has invariably led to corruption. And that becomes even worse when you consider that 80 percent of the funding for the political campaigns of both major parties is invested by the wealthiest one percent of the population, who also pay for all the lobbyists who continually influence and bribe members of Congress.
Unfortunately, die-hard Republicans are in denial and cannot see that things are now as they were in 1929 after three successive Republican presidents in a row favored and gave license and free rein to the wealthiest few, at the expense of everyone else, and brought the Great Depression down upon America.
America was divided long before that, of course, because in certain ways, the American Civil War that flared up in 1861 existed long before that, and has never stopped completely.
There was a brief respite from 1941 to 1945 when Americans came together to defeat two very strong common enemies during World War II, but Americans went right back to it, and it started to get really bad again in the 1960s. The battle lines may change location, and the issues may change slightly, but Americans are still fighting each other. In fact, the American people are more sharply divided across ideological partisan political lines than they have been since 1861. We are dangerously divided and in conflict, and even if Barack Obama is able to establish a bit more unity during his term, it would not last if we continue and perpetuate the political-economic system that brought us to this point.
It should be obvious that we need to thoroughly reform and improve the whole political-economic system. And we also need a truly free press with unbiased, ethical investigative journalists who are willing to keep politicians honest — because the news media has failed miserably in that regard.
Actually, we need a thorough reformation of government, along with a reformation of religion, to put an end to theocratic imposition, an end to partisan party politics, an end to division and polarization, an end to bribery and corruption, an end to congressional oligarchy, an end to the juvenile competition for the "throne" of sovereign power, and an end to the presidential form of monarchy.
We need to face the fact that the present American political-economic system is not merely wasteful, divisive and damaging. It does not produce government of, by and for the people. Not really. What it often does produce is government of, by, and for the rich, regardless of which party wins control of Congress and the White House.
Because partisan politics breeds and fosters dishonesty, greed and corruption, it can turn otherwise good people into disingenuous and dishonest demagogues who launch misleading, slanderous attacks against each other. After each election we become either winners or losers, and usually far more than half of the population is not represented by our government. In fact, only the wealthiest few are truly represented.
We would know that if the commercial news media did their job. In fact, if they had done their job, President George W.Bush would not have gotten away with denying habeas corpus and due legal process to any human being or his own fellow citizens. He would not have gotten away with violating the Constitution; starting illegal wars on false premises; committing war crimes; allowing torture of prisoners; violating national and international laws and the Geneva Conventions; assuming dictatorial powers with impunity, and avoiding deserved impeachment. If they media had done their job, things would be very different today.
We are in deep trouble now because the reality has been that the most money talks, and the most money rules. And great wealth can not only richly reward those who can very cleverly pull the wool over your eyes. It has even bought elections, as we saw particularly during the 2000, 2004 and 2010 elections.
If we do not reform the system, another right wing demagogue will rise up, who has learned that he or she must not merely wave the flag, thump their bible and rattle their sword. They would know they must not so blatantly favor and enable the wealthiest few, and they would probably promise to provide more help to the middle class, the working poor and the poor. But, he or she would thus be even more deceptive.
After all, consider the political rhetoric of extreme right-wing ideologues. Their rhetoric has been very divisive and deceptive, and some of it has even created a hostile and dangerous political climate in America. Their misleading rhetoric has falsely tried to deny that global warming and climate change is caused by careless human industrial activities and products. They falsely tried to connect President Barack Obama to socialism and "Big Brother" government; to equate clinical abortion to murder; to equate international diplomacy with "placating the enemy and putting America at risk," and to equate universal health care as "government takeover."
All those claims were deceptive lies, serving the interests of the wealthiest few and their corporations and insurance companies, at the expense of all the rest of us. Health insurance premiums keep going up higher and higher, with higher copays and higher costs for procedures and medications.
The irony and hypocrisy of it is that most of those who are enabling the greedy claim to be freedom-loving, bible-believing Christians, and they repeat the decades-old "Moral Majority" mantra that they want to "restore God to America." They hold rallies and swear "obedience to God," masquerading as Christians.
They march to the same drummer, whether they are politicians or talk show hosts or authors or televangelists or "journalists," and they are divisive hatemongers and character assassins. Most of them try to slander and falsely depict Barack Obama as a Hitler-like Nazi and/or a Stalin-like Socialist. And many gullible and desperate people swallow the propaganda of these deceptive, right-wing demagogues who appeal to hegemonic nationalism, emotions and prejudices, and falsely feign religiosity to further their bigoted, extreme right-wing political agenda.
Their arrogance and self-importance were demonstrated by Tea Party members who were elected to Congress in 2010 when they got angry that Congress dared to pass legislation during the lame-duck session. Tea Party politicians want a permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, and they want a full repeal of the estate tax, which would give another huge windfall to the wealthy. And, to top it off, they are angry that Congress did not give Tea Party politicians more leadership positions in Congress.
Of course, there are left-wing extremists too, but outspoken leftists are usually not deceptive or slanderous, even though they sometimes exaggerate, often indulge in mockery, and are sometimes nearly as offensive, divisive and polarizing are the right-wing extremists are. And that, frankly, is because right-wing extremists are the worst offenders because they cannot be honest. If they were honest, only the greediest of the wealthiest few would support and vote for them.
Therefore, we need to face facts. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution established "freedom of speech, and of the press." However, that does not mean one can lie, slander, or deceive. It means we can be free to tell the verifiable truth even if it criticizes those in power. We all have the right to tell the truth, and even voice our opinion. However, when claims and opinions are voiced in public or broadcasted or published, they should not include lies, slander, or deception. If they do, the guilty should be held accountable.
See, there is a very big difference between legitimate political dissent and "whistle blowing," as opposed to the divisive, misleading, deceptive, slanderous hatemongering. That is unethical and undemocratic. That kind of deceptive and inflammatory rhetoric has fomented political paranoia and anger among right-wing conservatives, some of whom who are very gullible, easily roused, and easily incited to anger.
It could even be said that their kind of rhetoric even incited gullible, malicious people to violence and even murder. There have been several recent examples of that, the most recent being in Tucson, Arizona. It is divisive, malicious hate speech that stokes the paranoia and inflamed the misguided passions of malicious people who claim to be patriotic and religious. And, in that sense, these misguided, self-important, self-righteous hatemongers can be equated with the leaders of any other terrorist group that claims to be religious in an attempt to gain power. They masquerade as good, and even think they’re good, when they are far from it.
Their hatemongering and fearmongering is also designed to fight needed reforms and regulations, and thus it is very deceptive. Even though they are responsible for the inequitable political-economic system and want to perpetuate it, they push the buttons of hate, fear and prejudice, to fool gullible people who have been victimized by the system.
Some leaders of the Tea Party movement have gained followers by exploiting and misleading people who are frustrated with government’s inability to deal with injustice, inequity, and unfairness. But they are hypocritical, because Tea Party leaders are among those who have supported and enabled those that created the mess we’re in. A Gallup poll in 2010 revealed that 80 percent of Tea Party members are Republicans. They are simply right-wing extremists, and the ire they raise creates gridlock and prevents progress.
Granted, even though those who revived the John Birch Society's ideology and originated the Tea Party Movement during Bush’s reign were essentially Reaganite Libertarians who were "against big government," some of them were actually against political and corporate corruption. But, while most Libertarians believe that "big government interference" is at fault, they do not recognize that the corruption was caused by government’s failure to sufficiently regulate business and industry to protect the public welfare.
Besides that, the Tea Party Movement is now merely one of many misleading right-wing extremist elements that are part of the underlying infection that we must be aware of and guard against, because they all divide us and pit us against each other.
However, even more dangerous is the newly formed right-wing American Action Network (ANN), which paid for slanderous, misleading and often false attack ads on television against Democrats in the 2010 mid-term election season. The organization was created by right-wing politicians and their funders as soon as the Supreme Court enabled the ultra wealthy and their corporations to spend more money than ever influencing elections. Its board is filled with right-wing Republican politicians and millionaire and billionaire businessmen, industrialists and financiers. They falsely claim that the Democrats are responsible for ruining the economy and creating the deficit, and that the Democrats will raise your taxes. But these wealthy hypocrites are responsible for the crisis and are simply afraid that the Democrats might succeed in forcing them to start paying at least a little more fair share of taxes. That’s why they indulge in such dirty politics.
In the final analysis, even though there have been times when partisan politics created choice between valid conservative and progressive ideas, it usually does not. Partisan politics is a winner-take-all competition for political and military power, and often that power has been won by pretenders and deceivers who masquerade as good.
That’s why the term "Imperial Presidency" was coined in a book written in the 1970s, critical of the Nixon Presidency. It was used again in criticism of Ronald Reagan, and more recently of George W. Bush, such as in the book titled The Limits of Power: the End of American Exceptionalism, by Andrew J. Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University, West Point graduate, and retired Army officer who submits that the Bush Administration negated genuine democracy, ignored the Constitution, and declared that the Executive Branch is not accountable to Congress. That view is also expressed by David Swanson in his book, "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union." But, in spite of that and rather than establish proper Constitutional reforms, the Obama Administration is taking advantage of the precedents regarding executive privilege established by Republicans.
Americans should learn and recognize how the imperial Bush Regime’s secrecy, power grabs, abuses of power and violations of national and international laws and the Geneva Conventions have set dangerous and perilous precedents that we must abolish and not follow. Even more important, we should not expect President Obama or anyone else to be a hero-king (imperial president) who will save the world.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration's arguments of legality are similar to Bush’s regarding policies about presidential power and prerogatives, and the use of covert operatives in other countries. That is reflected in everything from institutional momentum to the continuity of the power of career employees in federal departments and agencies in which the same cultures and mind sets endure. And it is even reflected in the Obama administration’s refusal to prosecute the people who perpetrated many of the illegal and wrong acts authorized by the Bush Regime.
The point is that no president can lead us to unity and harmony, or to government that is truly democratic. But we can have government of, by and for all the people, and we will have it as soon as enough people get the message. Then we will never again be divided, and Obama will not be replaced by a partisan "pretender to the throne." We will share the "throne" as equal joint heirs, and, at long last we will have government that is truly of, by and for the people. We will be able to govern ourselves, determine our own destiny, and use the common wealth for the common good.
Democracy can exist only if government operates with the consent and the direction of the people as a whole body politic, when they have equal voice and equal opportunity to name who they want to represent them in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Unfortunately, as it is now, we do not have truly representational government, and thus we do not have true Democracy.
That's why the message from the Spirit of truth is so very important. It shows how we can end the abuse of power and the divisive competition for power, and instead share it as we should.
On the pages titled 21st Century Declaration of Independence and How the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, it is explained how, if we the people choose wisely, we can actually be represented by a government that is truly of, by the for the people. We can put an end to political partisanship and religious bigotry. We can establish true political democracy, equality and equity, and we can establish true religious freedom and equality.
America can become a good example to the world, when we treat all religions, races, nationalities and cultures equally, and when we establish real democracy. We can lead the way in liberating humanity, if we have the courage and the faith to do so.