I think that the invective flying back and forth between the Right and Left completely misses the mark. The Right calls the Left "latte sipping, brie eating limousine liberals" and the Left calls the Right "religious fanatics and gun-toting red-neck morons."
All of the above may indeed be true, but it misplaces the true battle line.
What does sipping lattes or toting guns have to do with today's political issues? Such sticks and stones are red herrings meant to divert attention from the real division in the USA.
Recall what Deep Throat told Bob Woodward long ago on the cusp of another national nightmare: Follow the Money!! And as the old saying goes: Money equals power and that leads to the defining issue of our time: Who runs this country!!!
To find out, we have to follow the money.
No one, no thing in this world has more money than US Corporations. They have more money than ordinary mortals can imagine. So the operative equation is: money equals power and that is the primary axiom of politics.
Corporate money buys corporate political power which to a greater or lesser extent is beginning to control everything in our time. And the single-minded goal of the elite who wield that power is to keep it and expand it. Their purpose is to guarantee a friendly environment for their companies to operate, to be the master of their own destinies and to maximize profits come hell or high water.
And there is also only one institution in our society that can match that power in any credible way, the US Government.
The US Government has been developing a corporate regulatory structure since the time of Theodore Roosevelt and the corporate hierarchy is determined to stop it.
Only the Federal Government is able to knock on a CEO's front door and tell them that they are being bad boys and girls. Only the Federal Government has the clout to cause enough pain to control corporate behavior.
So whatever else you hear, whatever other issues roil the body politic these days, I submit that everything boils down to the ongoing struggle between the US corporate establishment on the one hand and the Federal Government on the other. The corporate strategy to win that struggle is to de-claw and co-opt the government's ability to tax and especially regulate.
The corporate elite also regard social programs, the "welfare state," as an unwarranted expropriation of THEIR money. They don't accept any responsibility for the poor, the infirm or the elderly because they are Darwinians and believe that only the strong will survive.
The Right Wing mantra since Ronald Reagan has been "tax relief" (it's YOUR money!). And that along with the whole mythology of "government waste," "welfare state" and "creeping socialism" has been constructed to erode the effectiveness of the government in exercising control over corporations. Since tax money is the lifeblood of any government, that is the Right Wing's prime target. Tax cuts cause burgeoning deficits which, they expect will promote cutting government programs.
The Reagan deficits were no accident. They just didn't create the level of civil turmoil that would have justified a wholesale cutting of programs. However, this is a multi-pronged attack. Industry-friendly cabinet officers were appointed who viewed regulation with a wink and a nod. Over the twelve years of the Reagan/Bush administrations, the regulatory structure was severely eroded.
But an embarassing episode intervened in the Right Wing effort to wrest the government back into the hands of the corporate elite and return to the "golden years" before Franklin Roosevelt. In 1992, Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush and became president.
From the very beginning of his term, Right Wing operatives were unleashed to spread rumors and disinformation, undermine Clinton's popularity and ultimately bring him down one way or another. However, not only did Bill Clinton prove to be adept at staying one step ahead, but his tax reform, passed soon after the start of his first term, resulted in closing the deficits and ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity. Clearly Clinton had to go.
Early in Bill Clinton's Presidency, an extensive Right Wing infrastructure emerged. It consisted of a network of operatives from Matt Drudge on the internet, to Fox News to Rush Limbaugh and a legion of imitators across talk radio. The mainstream press was silenced with ever-present threats at intimidation. The epithet "Liberal Media" caused reporters and editors across the print and electronic media to cower under their desks.
A new and decidedly dangerous era had dawned in American politics. The Left found itself blindsighted and largely unprepared for the onslaught. The corporate elite had pumped money into think tanks, foundations and operatives to take up their cause and take back the government. They formed alliances with libertarians as well as the fanatic Religious Right. Each element of the coalition seemed ready to put its own ultimate agenda on hold until the hated liberals could be vanquished.
Next post "Reframing the Question"
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