Gods of the Marketplace

Unfettered capitalism is white collar crime,
with which the people have become too familiar 
--RangerAgainstWar 

The trouble with selfish motive
 is that they begin to look like principles,
 and you end up sending your kids to die for them 
--Robert Brault 

~Mr. Gardner, do you agree with Ben,
or do you think that we can stimulate growth
through temporary incentives?

~ As long as the roots are not severed,
all is well. And all will be well in the garden 
--Being There (1979)
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Some apres-election thoughts:

First: the primary system that serves us our cookie-cutter twins every four years is a dud; it may work at the state or local level, but cannot operate adequately on the National.  Instead, it reliably delivers demagogues who lack the aptitude to govern The People.  They are Pandars.

We have learned to take what we are given -- superficial, shallow leaders with a veneer of poise, confidence and and verbal acumen, with a faint whiff of elan (not too much!).  Like children being coaxed to eat some unsavory, we are told that there are starving children elsewhere (Be happy you have food!)

The primary system delivers losers wearing various masks of success and we buy into the gambit, wasting our votes on buffoons or downright righteous idiots.


Second:  Capitalism is no longer a functioning adjunct to democracy; ultimately, Capitalism will destroy our United States system of democracy.

Democracy requires discipline, production and commensurate consumption. Capitalism today is delivering the opposite bill of goods:  It is undisciplined, and productivity is no longer our yardstick of excellence. Today's Capitalism is based upon profit versus the good of society at large.  Additionally, Capitalism fosters the flow of our wealth to regions beyond our borders.  Presidential contender Mitt Romney's closed Swiss bank accounts and his offshore Cayman money are examples of this.

The consumption process in Capitalism and in Democracy are conflicting ideas.  The Republicans want the benefits of Capitalism to accrue to the monied strata, which has always been a goal of Capitalism (up to now) but this is in opposition to what a Democracy needs in order to sustain individual freedoms and liberties.

Our Constitution addresses democracy and freedom, and this is translated today into Free Markets and Global Economy, but this sort of Capitalism will destroy out way of liberal thought.  This is true in both foreign and domestic policy.

Neither presidential candidate addressed this issue, and the "S" word (socialism) has been carefully excised from both party's national dialog.  The topic is not about what to do with General Motors or any other company, but rather, what are our national priorities and what are we?

Capitalism and Democracy have two competing sets of requirements, while our election cycles are always about Capitalism at the expense of Democracy.  Monetary concerns have clearly trumped Democratic concerns, at the latter's expense.

Machiavellian

It's gonna be a new day for you
A new day for you, new day for you,
new day for you
--New Day for You, Basra

Oh,when the working day is done,
Oh, girls,
Girls just wanna have fun
--Girls Just Wanna have Fun, Cyndi Lauper
______________________

The Washington Post's editorial staff has been cheerleading for democratic candidate Obama from the primary's start. But one WaPo blogger, Chris Cillizza in his appropriately titled blog The Fix, observed the Machiavellian nature of the primary race yesterday and lo, it was Obama's camp who were the Machiavellians (What Went Right for Obama):

The Obama campaign realized that the only metric that mattered in the end was delegates, a strategic assumption that Clinton never made. (As late as Tuesday night she was touting her popular vote victory and her ability to win swing states. Both points are as true as they are meaningless; the nomination is decided on delegates, nothing else.)

How silly of Clinton to think that the votes of the average citizen actually mattered. Especially those of coal-mining, embittered sorts. She ran an old-fashioned campaign in these New Times, where you daren't admit that politics as usual is politics as usual. Had she only re-read her Vance Packard. People don't want real, they want to think themselves new, uplifted, updated.

Had she only noticed that bookstores are packed to the gills with "Self-Help" manuals. Had she only combined the message of any of Oprah's gurus with a little uplifting Sunday sermon rhetoric.

"Be audacious!", "Be Your Best You", "Find The Universe's Purpose for You." It is not about graphs and tables and conciliation and bipartisanship. These are dire times, and people just want to feel a little better. Better than they really are. Unfortunately, Hillary didn't learn the vital skills of packaging herself as a guru capable of shepherding and ferrying the people to some imaginary better shore. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, where are you we when we need you?

Hillary needed a little consciousness-raising, to learn that it no longer is what it is, it is what you want it to be. A little Baudrillard might have helped her out. She could have constructed a reality to take her outside of the Old Clinton paradigm, perhaps even accessing some sort of ironically self-mocking Hillary. Surely the boilermakers were a start. She didn't have Obama's "Pooky and Ray-Ray" (he doesn't either,) but surely there was some home girl self she could have accessed.

It really was all about us, but not in any realistic, old school politics sort of way. No, it was in a mushy, touchy-feely sort of way. We wanted to feel cool, hip, young and multi-culti. Down with the white bread way of politics. Step out of the beltway, forgetting for the moment the reality, which is that is where your politics actually occurs.

Cillizza gave an honest assessment of a cool, efficient Chicago party machine, well-oiled with now-inmate Tony Rezko's ill-gotten booty. This was not a populist contest; this was a delegate-grabbing exercise by a more efficient campaign which cultivated the veneer of populism.

Even in defeat Clinton is demonized. The WaPo's Robert Novak writes on a a conference call between Clinton and NY Rep. Nydia Velazquez, "who suggested that only an Obama-Clinton ticket could secure the Hispanic vote ("Playing for the No. 2 Spot.") 'I am open to it,' Clinton replied, according to several sources."

You would think that would be seen as a conciliatory gesture to party cohesiveness. Instead, opponents said "(t)alking about an unlikely dream ticket further slows the party unification process that Clinton's critics say already comes two months too late because of her."

Even though candidate Clinton played it fair and square, and stayed in the race until the end of the primaries, which was her right, and even though she conceded she would accept second fiddle if it were offered, still she is the wicked witch. I proffer that if she had declined second fiddle, she would also be denounced.

At least if she had lost by an embarrassing margin we could all pity her. Instead, she ran neck and neck, and that is the hell of it. She is truly damned if she does, damned if she doesn't.

This is not a voting process I'm proud of. Why doesn't my vote count? Why are the delegates chosen to represent me having their votes chopped in half? Am I only worth half of an Iowa voter? Someone please tell Michael Moore: 1/2 is less than 3/5ths. I am worth less than a slave in 1787. Ain't I A Woman? This is 2008 -- what gives?

It's time the U.S. reconsider the delegate - superdelegate process, and the electoral college while we are at it. What is wrong with allowing everyone to vote for their president, and having everyone's vote count equally?

________________

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