The Picture of Dorian Gray
How dreadful!" cried Lord Henry.
"I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable.
There is something unfair about its use.
It is hitting below the intellect."
--The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
__________________
Well, it seems we have come to the apotheosis of Mr. Bush's ownership society in the government's takeover of the banks (Bailout Becomes Buy-In as Feds Move Into Banking.)
Just as likely, we ain't seen nothin' yet. It is odd to have a group called the republicans who claim to champion small government acting so blatantly against their stated position (Signaling a Shift to Europe's Path.) FOX news economists reassure their legions that Paulson and Bernanke are free market economists, yet they fully support the bailouts and nationalizations. Either one is or it isn't; one can't be both.
How can the small government republicans, responsible for the largest budget deficits and largest expansions of government via the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) and the recent bailouts, still say with a straight face they support limited government and will slash our taxes? How can they look at themselves in the mirror each morning?
All of this is saying, "Vote democrat." The question is, "Why is that?" There is no division between the democrats and the republicans, other than their rhetoric, and their words are lies. And the lie is, we are still a democracy.
While most see this latest move as socialism, economist blogger Dark Wraith says it has moved beyond that, into "definitional 'fascism': the fusion of corporate and state sovereignty into a governing coalition."
It all feels like the people are being given a bum rush to judgment.
Labels: bernanke bailout, economy tanks, nationalization of banks, phony war on terror, PWOT, republican fascism as socialism
posted by rangeragainstwar at 10:16 AM
8 Comments:
Ranger, check out this utter Bullshit...!
As I wrote at M&C some officers need to fry over this!
this would be a good thesis if the Republican and Democratic Party were indeed equivalent.
i don't think they are. the Democratic Party has plenty flaws, and the Clinton DLC is essentially the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. in other words, they kinda went along with the laissez faire "globalist" economics of the Republicans, and may do so again. Obama will probably govern center-center-right.
however, i believe the Republican Party has become, riding on the wave of "movement conservative" coalition of "free traders", laissez faire economists and fundamentalist christianity, a singularly rightist (not "right wing.... rightist as in fascist) phenomenon in American politics.
they embody the government/corporate coalition of which you speak, and have taken the Nation deliberately into that mode.
far from a government by-and-for the people that becomes in effect the guarantor of human rights and liberty, the Republican's conception of government drives toward Corporate Plutocracy, in which the ONLY function of the government is to be a conduit for public monies into corporate profit margins..... because the "free market" does "all good", and that which the "free market" does not accomplish, should not be in the first place done.
understand, that much of the Republican success has been achieved by manipulating the Libertarian undercurrent of our Liberal American psyche.
the "rugged individualism", the "government as the problem/enemy", along with simple aversion to paying taxes and the authoritarian desire of the religious zealot to impose by government fiat that which they cannot achieve by religious conversion.
however, understanding the nature of the true Liberalism that sprang from the European enlightenment and inspired documents like the Declaration of Independence and a governmental form defined by the American Constitution carries with it an understanding that THE REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPT was not to abolish government, but to turn its purpose to the service of We the People.
at any rate, the Republican have slammed America so far to the right that we are in fact looking at a protofascist reality in the United States.
i simply do not equate the undercurrents of the Democratic Party, with all its flaws, to be in the same rightist direction as the Republicans.
i do not see the equation. i think the Democrats represent a move back toward the center away from rightist, corporatist, theocratic extremes.
Ghost,
The problems facing the US are a collaborative effort- the Dems have not been a loyal opposition but rather an enabler of failed policy ON ALL LEVELS AND ARENAS.But now they are asking us to believe that they are the solution.Never happen GI!
I like your analysis and historical perspectives, we separate on the here and now.The dems are part of the problem , but they are being marketed as the solution.
Both Parties are screwing the pooch.Something strange is afoot and it's way beyond my ability to comprehend. jim
Jim: I think the simple answer is, as Bill James said about the Black Sox scandal, they all wanted the money and they all wanted it all.
Our Congressional system was designed for an agrarian society, where wealth was land and political influence was social influence. The largest landowners, the "community leaders", had access to the levers of power. The Jacksonian rebellion in the 1840s changed that, a little. The downfall of Big Capital in the Crash of 1929 helped, too.
But since the end of the New Deal accomodation some time in the 1970s or 1980s the gloves have come off the oligarchs. They have flooded the system with cash, and have ensured that the only way to get into or stay into office is on a tidal wave of money. Both parties are beholden to this lucre. There has become no way for a truly "populist" candidate to get a hearing.
Combine this with the risible state of political education and sophistication of the American public, which ensures that any of these populist pols are Sarah Palins: ignorant, woodenheaded bigots and know-nothings.
We're NOT in good shape socially or politically to be heading into hard times economically. I predict that the only faction of the American people who will fare well out of the next four years or so will be the oligarchs.
CT,
Thanks for the link.SSDD. jim
FDC,
My fears for the US citizenry extend way beyond the next 4 years.The next 4 will just be the introduction to the new realities of our economic status.If we don't adapt then we'll cease to exist as a democracy.Hell thats almost true right now. jim
FDC,
My fears for the US citizenry extend way beyond the next 4 years.The next 4 will just be the introduction to the new realities of our economic status.If we don't adapt then we'll cease to exist as a democracy.Hell thats almost true right now. jim
CT,
I'm a former 4.2" Platoon Ldr. and as such know a wee bit about mortars. It's beyond the realm of reason to believe that two each 120 mm mortar rounds fell out of the sky and landed exactly on these unlucky soldiers and at the same time a tank was firing at them..The probable dispersion error would preclude this.And pls don't tell me it was a lucky shot-this just doesn't happen., especially with mortars that can't possibly be properly registered-these insurgents don't have FDC type coordination.And if they do then the Army is lying about our success in Iraq.BTW- if i were the insurgents and i had a mortar then i'd fire at the tank with WP- one always addresses the greatest threat first.
However you cut it this is a bucket of crap and these soldiers will never come back to life.A microcosm of this phoney war. jim jim
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