By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Representative democracy is suffering a bloodletting. Those with the love of money and power, greedy to see it die a death from the thousand cuts that began under Nixon, found purchase in the growing fundamentalist movement under Reagan and have, with a fanatic devotion to duty, delivered us into the hands of the oh-so-elite one percent. Worse, according to lefty pundit and activist, Cenk Uyger, thanks to a corruptly ideological Supreme court, that is now only 0.00024 percent. Those with extreme wealth can contribute as pleases them, and pay well for the power they purchase. Uyger repeats Thomas Jefferson’s warning, “The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”
In the summer of 1981, Ronald Reagan made a public showing of good faith negotiations with overworked and underpaid members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), who had staged a strike. PATCO was one of a slim handful of unions that had supported Reagan’s election to the presidency, personally assured that he would be their friend and advocate well into the future. Little did they dream that only a short while later, his administration — poised on opening a vein into the circulatory system of American populism — would pull the plug on their demands. He was sorry to have to do it, he advised them, but he was invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, which supersedes the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act to enable injunctions against strikes that endanger public health and safety. In short order, Reagan fired all 11,345 air traffic controllers, replacing them with half that number of hastily-trained scabs. St. Ronnie the Reagan had busted the unions.
That was the beginning of the decline of worker protections in the USA, the eroding of bargaining power, and a watershed moment in the GOP’s heartfelt desire to destroy the labor movement and shift power back into the waiting hands of big business. In the 1950s, around 35 percent of the country belonged to a union, providing stability to the middle class and ensuring worker rights and benefits. Though the individual unions were sometimes heavy-handed and belligerent, corruptible and defiant, they wielded enormous power. Their demands alarmed the business community, who knew the union bosses held the winning hand, lest they direct their members to lay down their tools in solidarity and strike, ending manufacturing production. It was a fiscal stand-off that built the middle class.
At their height of power, unions provided a no-nonsense buffer between American employers’ tendency to gain excessive profit while providing despicable working conditions and meager salaries, and the needs of a united workforce of skilled laborers and their families for a decent life. The decline of unions in American culture and the rise of public lethargy regarding labor issues have led us to the worst income inequality of any country in the developed world. Our incomes continue to fall while corporate profits soar. Without advocates, those with jobs won’t rock the boat, despite the fact that it’s slowing sinking out of sight.
Stagnation of personal income has widened the breach between the business class and the working class, leading to a political system that has been weakened unto anemia from decades of chip-chip-chipping away at the laws and regulations that kept corruption at bay. Assertions from FOX News that if you have an air conditioner or a cell phone, you are not poor, raise the specter of the “let them eat cake” era of elitist excess that lost many a plutocrat his head. We have regressed back into an American Gilded Age, and maybe this accounts for Hillary Clinton’s recent commentary that “excessive partisanship flowing through the nation’s political system is causing the U.S. to march backwards instead of forward.” (I hope every once in awhile she busts the Big Dog’s balls for NAFTA, but I’m not holding my breath.)
Perhaps there wouldn’t have been a NAFTA, shipping jobs off willy-nilly and driving a stake through the heart of American manufacturing, if unions had continued to be the gold standard for the working class. They now account for an all-time low of 11.3 percent of all workers. Limits of their power are evident in Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s shameful yet successful coup on collective bargaining in the public sector, leading to a serious decline in public works and employees nationwide. And perhaps if we still had hard-nosed advocates for worker rights and salaries, we wouldn’t be sending chickens to China where they can be processed for mere pennies and shipped home in frozen cargo holds, to be sold to unsuspecting citizens sans labeling (and let me simply add, buyer beware!)
If the people still had an advocate, as they did when unions protected their jobs — if they still had a voice, not silenced by those who game the system with purchased influence and favor — if they still had the guaranteed government protections and corporate oversight they could depend on — perhaps the percentage of people relying on government benefits in the last decade would not have reached a historic high. You remember them, don’t you? The “takers?” Otherwise known as over 50 percent of the United States population?
Now, believe it or not, I’m not necessarily pro-union, but I am pro-fair. Over the last forty or so years, all the rational laws put in place to protect the public have been systematically eliminated, bit by bit, pecked away, mostly when we were not looking. Without the unions, there isn’t “fair” to be found in the workplace. And if this is what the Republican privatization process looks like, following the phantasmic whims of the money hounds and the free market, it’s no wonder we’re all keeping a low profile, awaiting the next footnote to our great national decline, the next disconnect with rationality.
Like the one we got this week, thanks to four right-wing Supreme Court activists and one swing vote justice who hasn’t got the sense God gave a goose.
The GOP, which has made an art form of projecting its own internal demons onto others, has gone at every Democratic Supreme Court candidate, sniffing at them like bomb dogs, seeking some sign of “activism from the bench.” It should be no surprise then, that the Roberts court is the most activist court in recent memory, shaving away the edges of established laws they dislike and whittling away an earlier century’s progress. At issue in the recent ruling on McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission was the amount of money a wealthy person could contribute, should s/he wish to give the maximum to each candidate in any given party. Citizens United had already established a definition of “corruption” that looked past the obvious and decided that huge giving was in no way a corrupting influence between the giver and the receiver of such largesse.
Justice Kennedy, ironically and unlike his fellows, is not ideologically predisposed to favor conservative issues exclusively. But in the 2010 Citizens United case, he revealed his disconnect with reality on the ground after the Bush years (which, in my opinion, changed everything) by writing, “Independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption,” and, “That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy.”
Ummm, wait — say what? NOT cause them to lose faith? This man doesn’t just live in a gated community, he’s cloistered! And that was just in Citizens United. In McCutcheon, Kennedy has once more decided that millions of dollars passed into the eager hands of political candidates won’t result in the appearance of corruption, let alone pay-for-play itself. The cap on aggregate political giving has been raised to as much as 3.5 million dollars, argued Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This has been likened to money laundering, where the action of the middleman washes intent and culpability out of the end product. No harm, no foul, decided the right-leaning Justices, because — money equals speech and corporations are people, and dark money and PAC money and yadda, ad infinitum.
Alito, Roberts and Scalia get the full brunt of my disgust. They’re corporatists, and while ultimately, I can’t judge their intention, I can surely disapprove their method. Here’s what Jon Stewart has to say to Scalia, ditto from me. And Thomas, who wanted to eliminate ALL caps? Who can explain that one? White coat, sleeves that tie.
Now, I expect that you and I can agree that money has corrupted our political system and that the only daylight we could have anticipated — given the rogue capitalism moving like a virus across the planet — was an enthusiastic demand for renewal of campaign finance reform. But any defense of McCain-Feingold restrictions on campaign contributions would no longer fly under the Citizens United-McCutcheon corruption standard. Thanks to five of the nine, we can stick a fork in campaign finance reform, dear to the heart of liberal (then) Senator Russ Feingold and maverick-conservative Senator John McCain, who attempted to limit the influence of money in elections with bi-partisan legislation. Dreams of public money limiting the obscene spending of an election year are behind us, at least for the moment.
So what now? Amendment. We are left nothing else. I agree with Cenk Uygar, who tells us, “Every generation of Americans has amended the constitution that we may have a more perfect union. Except one. Us. We must get money out of politics. We must amend.”
To that end, he and his fellows over at The Young Turks have created a group known as Wolf PAC, its only purpose to amend the constitution in order to “get the corrupting influence of money out of politics.” Uyger is dead serious about what he calls its “unstoppable mission;” his group is already fleshed out with volunteers and a history of wins. And if the thought of amending the constitution feels too big to wrap your arms around, consider the specifics of his pitch:
Our founding fathers were geniuses. They put a certain provision in the constitution because they knew that a day like this would come. We have never had to use it yet. But we have threatened it many times and that threat has been incredibly effective just as many times. The clause is Article V of the constitution and it says that you don’t necessarily need 2/3 of Congress to propose an amendment. You can have 2/3 of the states circumvent a corrupted Washington and propose a convention to get the same amendment. You don’t need Washington at all. 34 states propose a convention for this specific issue. 38 states ratify that amendment. And we have our democracy back.
That sounds do-able, easier than getting the gawd-forsaken congress to agree on anything. As Uyger says in his article, stranger things have happened (like women getting the vote). You can read the plan, volunteer, sign an amendment petition, and contribute skills or resources here. At minimum, read what the group has to say. We don’t have a lot of options now. We’re painted into a corner, and we all know how dangerous that can be.
This nation is built on a triad of equal powers: the executive, the judicial and the legislative. The judicial and legislative have lost all credibility, and the executive is, to put it mildly, struggling. When all three legs of the republic begin to twitch, it’s time for the citizens to rethink their priorities.
We Americans are a reformist society, constantly changing and morphing into the next iteration of ourselves. In the eye of the hurricane that is the coming Grand Cross, the activation of awareness of our shattered political system is only one of the important insights we can pull into our heart chakra, flood with the alchemy of love, determined to offer ourselves a better solution and a kinder, more productive future than the one we’ve made thus far. Now is when we must act together, to help heal our world.
The daily exchanges of energy we read about here at Planet Waves show us a detailed picture of the options being offered up by the universe. We’ve come to that point where we each must choose to step into our power, for the sake of all we hold dear. We think it’s politics we’re discussing here, but it isn’t. Remove the political from the conversation, and we’re talking about community health and education, mutual challenges and neighborhood causes, the well-being of acquaintances and loved ones. We’re talking about feeding ourselves and our neighbor, about flourishing or foundering. These are topics we all share concern about, investment in, politics be damned. Let’s each bring our best to the table, starting here and now.
Jude,
Barbara Hand Clow has this to say about the Pluto in Cancers and it fits my parents and my husband’s parents very well:
“Pluto-in-Cancer (1912-1939): The Pluto-in-Cancer generation is protective, nurturing, and very needy. In much of the West, they inherited great wealth and property, forming the basis of their value systems that they anxiously guard. They enlarged the growing and lucrative military-industrial complex, which guaranteed protection even to death; supported corporations that are granted unalienable rights; and built a medical system dedicated to keeping people alive at all costs. Their slogan in the United States was “better dead than red” (communist). This is not a judgment, since after all they inherited the creations of Pluto in Taurus, the “plutocrats” who pinnacled the industrial age that was joyfully expanded by the Pluto-in-Gemini generation. Each generation is like a loop in a chain that pulls tight whenever the chain is stretched.” {snip}
“The Pluto-in-Cancers are inherently controlling and protective, so they resisted passing knowledge and resources to their children because they don’t trust anybody but themselves, yet the press calls them the “Greatest Generation.” I contend that this aging generation has overwhelmed societal balance because it is instinctually plutonic! This may be because Pluto was in Cancer when it was first sighted in 1930, and then the previous Uranus/Pluto squares occurred right afterwards in the early 1930s. These transits triggered the Depression and the rise of Fascism between the two world wars.
On the heels of the of the Cancer and Leo generational tension, along comes the Pluto-in-Virgo generation who need to assume roles in society. But the Pluto-in-Cancer folks are still holding on and being cared for, which has meant the Pluto-in-Leos have had less time and resources for their Pluto-in-Virgo children.”
Note: The only problem with this last sentence is, my husband is Pluto in Leo and I am Pluto in Virgo and both of us have Pluto in Cancer parents who were too young to fight in WWII and as such are not called the “greatest generation” because they were kids during that war and as a Pluto in Virgo I don’t have Boomer parents but Pluto in Cancer ones. So it depends on when in the generation the people were born I guess.
“The US has 75-year olds taking any job they can get, while 40-year olds have never even gotten a decent job! Ironically, the Uranus/Pluto conjunctions were in Virgo during the 1960s, so the Virgo generation knows what needs to be done to reform society! They are extremely frustrated and determined to have their way because they see that the older folks clearly don’t know what to do.”
BHC goes on to describe the Pluto in Libra folks: “the upcoming Pluto-in-Libra-and-Scorpio generations (born 1971-1995) value deep compassion and kindness.”
My experience with most Pluto in Libra (Gen X) folks is that because they grew up in the excesses of the “me, me, me” 1980’s (where we had programs on TV that glorified wealthy people such as “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous) they are less about compassion and more about amassing “stuff.” I say that because when polled, Gen X said they would rather make a lot of money than help make changes. This may have changed now that they are in midlife. I hope so.
An interesting (and not astrological but you can meld the two) website about generational influences is this one called “The Fourth Turning” (based on the book of the same name: http://www.fourthturning.com/
Interesting commentary, Carrie — thanks for adding to the conversation. I resonate to the generational “flavors” topic a lot, especially as regards Pluto. I think Fox News syndrome, for instance, playing to the fears and frailties of the ‘tribe, circling their wagons’ is courtesy of the Pluto in Cancer folks, who fought and survived WWII and are now leaving the planet in a steady stream. While it’s understandable that they consider their considerable achievements under attack — or ‘values,’ if you will, especially since they accomplished so much change in so short a period and at so high a price — things do not remain in a vacuum. “This too shall pass,” speaks for what is bad as well as good; the impermanence of everything, essentially. They fear chaos, but that’s where we are. Establishing order with fascistic overtones defeats their best instincts, the very thing they fought to defeat; irony is always with us, isn’t it!
The other thing that speaks to me about this generation, especially among the patriarchs, is the “emotional silence” issue that so many of the Pluto in Leo generation abhorred about their fathers. It’s only been in the last decade or so that we’ve heard the stories of PTSD and the madness of war that had been locked down tight within these elders, finally erupting as explosive emotion at the end of life. Getting these folks into some kind of therapy or counseling was like pulling teeth, it mostly just didn’t happen. Self-protective, stoic and pretty darned Crabby, if you ask me.
Hard to see the landscape because of the trees, but the big generational influences are clearly pulling the train. If we can bring enough consciousness to bear to deal with our existential challenges to assist the planet to right Herself, there are remarkable times ahead of us.
Oh and one more note, I also read that the last Pluto in Sag generation gave us the Founding folks of the US Constitution. I am still looking into that to make sure it is correct.
Ah Jude. Not dead indeed. Be, thanks for that insightful info and Paul, bless you!
On a different (but apropos) note; I was looking at generational influences this weekend because I have three young adult females in my home and one young male. I limited myself to just looking at where Pluto is for them and their generational “flavors.”
The three adult daughters have Pluto in Scorpio. Interestingly enough, they keep telling me their friends (both here in real time and online) who are their age are totally changing (Pluto) the idea of gender and sexuality (Scorpio). Then I read research that states that their age group is the most open to gender fluidity and varied sexual orientations. They also tell me (and I have noted this) they share everything; information, stuff, ideas, friends; Scorpio also rules shared resources. They also seem to have a deeper sense of the dark sides of things at an early age and they are very unhappy with the way their elders have messed things up. Shadow material sits hard on some and easy on others of this group; depending on their family of origin and upbringing. Gee, these sound like Scorpio issues, yanno?
A New Age friend I know mentioned that Gen Y are the Warrior children come to bring great social change via matters of shared resources, sexual and gender changes, and opening the darkness and changing how we see that shadow side. She also said Gen Z are the Crystal children come to bring an expanded awareness of humanity’s place in te cosmos.
Then there’s my Pluto In Sagittarius son and his cohort. I see him and his friends being aware of so much and being so open to a different way of believing in the universe. Pluto (great changes) in Sag (higher order love and inspiration, philosophy, a bigger view of the universe) sounds to me like these kids will change how we humans view ourselves in the herd; instead of separate smaller herds divided by religion and other small-minded values, perhaps these kids will open all that up and expand (Sagittarius) our awareness of who belongs to the herd (all of humanity, all of life on earth)? They seem to question everything and have larger views of life and groups.
That’s just looking at generational Pluto for Gen Y and Gen Z in a general way. It gives me hope. As a Gen Jones (Pluto in Virgo) I hope to facilitate them as much as possible to be positive (because any generation can go negative as well).
The cycles are so amazing, be — so perfect, bringing awareness around for another pass, sparking those who are finally ready to ‘get it,’ (whatever it happens to be for them.) When I was young and impatient I used to ponder the role of the Lords of Karma with considerable apprehension, unaware that taking — our remediation, sensitization, awakening — one step at a time is a truly compassionate process, given our fear of change and reluctance to face ourselves.
The upcoming transits are such a heady collection of inner prompts and turning points, beginnings and endings of cycles, it reminds me of the channeling that has, for so long now, told us that we would be “activating” information seeded within us for such a moment. It’s an exciting time to be alive, despite its challenges! I look forward to our conversation each weekend.
And thank you, Aword, I’m always pleased to hear from you as well. The topic may not be warm and fuzzy, but having you chime in is.
Len, bless you for reminding us all that this is an era of communication, creating options that make changes and movement-building easier, once it’s been established as necessary. Identifying the end of this kind of corruption as necessary is a matter of, as Uyger mentioned, finding the common denominator in the consciousness of BOTH parties.
We sometimes hear Republicans fancying themselves populists, given that the movement began with rural farming folk in the 19th century, denouncing economic exploitation, although the movement — which identified itself with the working class — approved government oversight and intervention which is anathema to today’s GOP. Dems are comfortable with progressivism which is more an intellectual understanding and an urban movement of the 20th century, more focused on civil rights and social issues, but also deeply aware of the economic disparity at the heart of such exploitation. The two movements often cross over and have more in common than not, that’s what has potential to be tapped. If we needed an excuse to really talk to one another, this is a good one, eh?! Excellent, I’d say. We need to get about it sooner than later … we, the people.
On topic, there are some good reads out there on the SCOTUS issue. I’ve been watching their deliberations develop for quite a while, so this decision came as no surprise … but we’re still waiting to see what happens with Hobby Lobby and the dreaded contraceptives challenge. That decision will come in June, and it’s a toss-up … the inclination to swing conservative is no doubt tempting, but there’s evidently murky ground in such a decision that might open corporations up to further litigation, so they’re treading carefully.
From Huffy, an interesting snippet:
“Bill Maher did not mince words about his dismay surrounding the Supreme Court’s recent decision on campaign contributions.
“Maher blasted the court’s McCutcheon v. FEC ruling on his show Friday night. He specifically went after Chief Justice John Roberts’ reasoning that large donations are not reflective of “quid pro quo corruption.”
“Either he is a liar or he is too naïve to hold any important job including, and especially, this one,” Maher said. “This is like a legal ruling written by the little mermaid.”
[…]
“Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), paralleled Maher’s sentiments on the ruling.
“This is a court that knows essentially nothing about elections. It’s the first court in a long time on which no one has ever run for office,” said Whitehouse, comparing the five justices who ruled for businessman Shaun McCutcheon to “the ultimate amateur … who says, ‘I know how to eat, so I can open a restaurant.'”
Here’s an encouraging TruthOut article on the political disconnect of BOTH parties.
And for those interested, a Jim Hightower article on “Moral Mondays” and the (grrrrrr!) House legislation on national parks, at Political Waves.
Jude: Thank you for a learned timeline, fingering crucial turning points (Justice Kennedy’s questionable reasoning), and the potential for a solution (constitutional conventions). The idea of how such conventions could convene using social media and “flash mob” experience provides for some interesting possibilities that could conceivably become future SCOTUS cases. It all depends on finding a way to motivate a sufficient number of people to participate in the same way that recent minimum-wage initiatives have done.
Thanks, Jude. The update summary of news might not “make my day”, but your reporting always does.
When will we ever learn? If it’s any comfort, in the year Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed there was a Fixed (as opposed to a Cardinal) T-square between Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto, with Saturn closing in on the 4th (Taurus) empty leg (of a grand cross) but not quite making it in time. Transiting Neptune then (1793) hovered between 29 Libra-0 Scorpio, just as the north node (opportunity) these days has been doing. As it was then, revolution is in the air now. If Article V can’t do it; if we can’t get 38 states to ratify this amendment, we have an alternative. Just sayin’.
Seriously, there is hope. As today’s transiting retrograde Mars recedes back into Libra he will also be making a conjunction with the U.S. Sibly PROGRESSED Mars, and that will be happening this upcoming week. It will precede the total lunar eclipse, also in Libra. Another progressed planet in the U.S. Sibly chart is Mercury (thinking) at 20+ Aquarius which is only 2 degrees away from an exact trine (facilitate) to U.S. progressed Mars (action) in Libra, which is within an orb to be effective. In about 2 years from now, the U.S. progressed Mercury will station direct in that same degree (20) of Aquarius. It will start to move forward after more than 20 years of looking back.
Right now, that stationing retrograde-soon-to-be-direct progressed U.S. Mercury is sextile the U.S. natal Sibly Chiron (wounding, healing) at 20+ Aries (individuality, ruled by Mars) and trines the Sibly Juno (equality, partners) at 20+ Libra, who is only separated by 2 degrees from the progressed Sibly Mars (action) at 18+ Libra (balance). In 2 years we will be getting ready to elect a new president. My heart tells me we will not have to chop anyone’s head off; we will find a better way.
Oh, and just so you know? That empty leg of the Fixed T-square that cost Marie and Louis their heads? Well, that would be the same degree (22+) of Taurus where Jupiter and Saturn met in 2000 to start their 20 year cycle of social growth that will end in 2020. When Mercury stations direct he will be in the same degree (20+) of Aquarius, where Uranus was in 2000 when he squared the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction. Here in the U.S.A. we can participate, even lead in resolving the imbalance that surfaced over 220 years ago in France. We will do it with a progressed retrograde Mars in Libra for Pete’s sake, sextiling a stationing direct progressed Mercury in Aquarius.
My hat’s off to you for this inspiring piece today and to paul the Musicman for his whole-hearted support of the goddesses, without which (along with Neptune) we would never achieve balance.
be all you can be
Sweet Paul, shining so much light! I’ve long been an admirer of the micro-loan system that puts resource in womens hands, and pleased to see it grow. So much common sense seems to baffle many of us and that surely is commentary on our topsy-turvy times. I have every faith in Goddess’s ability to overcome this last desperate push of the out-of-kilter masculine energies but she will do it her own way, won’t she, softening and humbling hearts.
As well, the idea of sharing, of improving the commons, is making a comeback, in direct proportion to the monumental need, I’m sure. Seems a perfect counter to the absurd ranting of billionaires that they’re being persecuted for their wealth.
Each Christmas season, I give a collective gift to my ‘Angelic Family’ by supporting Heifer International that provides farming options in poor villages and communities. Over the years we’ve given chicks, ducks, geese, goats and this year, I thought it critical to supply bee’s. The families receiving the gifts are trained in their care and shown how to produce and market the by-products: eggs, milk, honey. Once established, they are then expected to give the same gift to someone else within their community, to pass on the good.
Here’s the thing I find the most amazing. Doing good, sharing, being of help to others and making life better for those around us FEELS GOOD. It FEEDS US. It’s the internal gyrascope that brings us back to Self and grows our humanity. Why is that so difficult a concept, I wonder? Why are we so afraid to be all we came to be?
Hugs to you today, Musicman. Be blessed.
Good morning Jude!
On a day when Venus is on the cusp of entering Pisces and conjuncting Nessus, reading this is like bringing an underworld of emotional grief to the oceans surface and watching it evaporate into a monumental invocation of love.
The women of Afghanistan have voted, with extraordinary courage, to take control of their destiny. The political has indeed become reeeeal personal! It is time for the astrological to become real personal as well! The Goddess, reclaimed and holistically expressed, in personal behaviour across the Union is a force majeur that no amount of cash to bash can deflect.
I would get Jon Stewart on the phone Jude and ask him to facilitate the initiation of Women’s Cooperative Movements in every State. With his energy and chutzpah, he could have it done by the 15th!
The Bank of Gambia’s profile of lending money is real simple! Lend it to a man, he will sit under the mango tree in the hot sun….and drink the lot! Lend it to a woman, she will work all day out in the fields, harvest all of the crops, clothe and feed the children, run the home, and pay back every butut!
It is after all only males who think it is a patriarchal society!
Have a great day!
paul