What’s happened is that Washington now works for those who can hire an army of lobbyists and an army of lawyers. If you’re in the drug business, and you are selling prescriptions to seniors, and you don’t want to have to negotiate over the prices, Washington works beautifully for you. If you want subsidies to drill for oil, Washington is working for you. If you run a hedge fund and want to pay the lowest possible taxes, Washington is working for you. In fact, there was recently a study, just in the last couple of weeks … in which it comes out that thirty of the largest companies in the United States are now spending more on lobbying than they pay in federal taxes. Think about that. I mean that is the investment, and that’s what they see as the future.
— Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for senator of Massachusetts
As the former adviser to President Obama responsible for setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to watchdog predatory brokers, bankers and lenders, Warren has seen enough of Washington to paint its portrait with an elegant and horrible symmetry. And it’s absolutely true.
In the last few weeks, some Democrats have shown their true colors, or the color of the logos of their corporate overlords. The SOPA/PIPA vote was a revelation in how many Democratic Congressmen and senators are in the pockets of the music recording and motion picture industry lobbies. It was sobering, especially in light of how many Republicans, for differing reasons, were voting against SOPA. At least Harry Reid had the presence of mind to pull the vote off the calendar and “re-group” his party before a bucket of worldwide disaster dumped itself on the heads of Democrats during the 2012 election year.
The Republicans are far less conciliatory, let alone apologetic. If the SOPA/PIPA vote was pulling back the wizard’s curtain in Oz, the current republican presidential primaries have been the trip to an alternate universe. There’s the party’s disengagement from their responsibility for the cause of our current fiscal troubles. Then there’s the doubling down on their patent disdain for aid to the continuing unemployed, and everyone else for that matter, who have fallen off the train because of conservative policies.
These policies were especially effective with a Bush in the White House and enough fear out there in the air to distract the general population from furtive corporate extraction of wealth from the Treasury. But it’s ten years late and the bill’s long overdue. That the Republicans have no recourse but to double-down against reality and give Newt Gingrich a shot at the Presidency says they have enough security from the 1% to shield them and fund their political aspirations, or they’re batshit insane. I think it’s a combination of both.
In 2008, when Planet Waves talked about the coming changes that would be triggered by the Uranus-Pluto alignment, some of us weren’t quite sure what the changes would look like or, for that matter, what the struggle would be. But now that 2012 is here, the gloves have come off, as well as the masks, the makeup, the veils and the falsies. It’s quite clear. Corporations, through their politicians, have nowhere to go but face us this election. In many cases party affiliation is no longer appropriate. If President Obama wanted bi-partisanship, he’s getting it — not from Congress, but from those of us who have learned to become distrustful of government in general. If we haven’t said so before, let’s say it as eloquently as Warren. It’s been bought.
2012 has started in a very interesting way. In the first of the many battles we are about to face, we’ve had our victory in staving off an approval on SOPA-PIPA, and a million signatures were collected in Wisconsin’s recall of corporate tool Governor Scott Walker. Civil war is being waged not between north and south, black and white. The new civil war is one of plutocratic corporate aggression against the country and the planet.
Last week’s Republican primary in South Carolina — the state where the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter — is another twist to the same story. Leave aside the factoids about South Carolina being a low-informed voter state. I don’t believe that’s true. The primary was a wake-up call to the Republican Party that their presumptive inevitable nominee — robot Mitt Romney — was not a shoo-in. Particularly in a rural state like South Carolina. Republicans wanted someone they can relate to, even if it is a known hack and discredited political whore like Newt Gingrich — an arrogant blowhard with lots of cash, a trophy wife with frighteningly perfect hair and a Tiffany’s account. Romney faces trouble throughout the southern states — not a good path if you want the Republican Presidential nomination. Gingrich may walk, talk and act like an asshole, but at least he doesn’t come across like an out-of-touch zombie CEO.
Yes, it’s great sitcom material and a sad state of affairs for American politics, but Jon Stewart remains gainfully employed, and we are watching with more than interest and much less passivity. Something about South Carolina, the week that was, and wiping away a little of the grime that has besmirched our politics and dirtied our politicians is bringing us closer to the point where we’ve worked up enough energy not just to protest but to revolt. Let us pray that it is so. There is so much unreality trying to gloss over what has really happened and what continues to happen to us. Warren is right. The face of the aggressor is neither kind or conservative. It’s impersonal, rapacious and relentless, stopping at nothing and no one to get what it wants. We’re going to need every ounce of energy we have to defeat it.
Brendan, oh my lordie….you mean to say H.G. Wells was telling a True Story??? The Eloi R Us. Ohmeohmy. Just that we have to work really hard to earn our keep as fodder for evil.
Aword – yes indeedy, the raptors are here and they’re watching. See, that’s what Newt’s Moon mission is all about: providing food stocks to our overlords already on the Moon. We send our excess population up there, they send more invasion troops down our way. We get to pay for it all too, why should they? Killing off health care is part of the master plan too: all the oldies die off, so the median age drops drastically and the food crop (that’s us) gets younger and fresher. It’s a win-win situation for them.
There’s a reason the term “Vulture Capitalism” has come out now, although technically speaking vultures are not raptors, just allies. 😉
Off Romney era cars and back to the Newt who’s aboard a space-ship: and Has Newt subscribed to PW yet? Might be helpful what with all his NASA Livin’ in style on the Moon in 8 years plan and all. (I’m assuming that Sands Corp. will be financing the first Moon Casino as well?)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/newt-gingrich_n_1225895.html
Brendan: Yep, I smell – Alien Raptor Overlords (if not rats) to be sure.
Hmmm…a different analogy from Michigan: Is Mitt a Nash Rambler (as in Nash-Kelvinator – washing machines) and the Newt a Hudson Terraplane (Terrorplane?)???? All in the same “company,” the ‘Pub Party, the equivalent of an AMC, and no one wants to drive either car? And no new models on the drawing board…
Forgive the early morning mental drifting.
JannKinz
Fe,
Thank you. Not since Thomas Paine has anybody made the issues so plain and clear. Thank you for making it plain that this is already a war. Thank you for making it clear that the plutocracy is on one side and that this country (as conceived by its founders) and this planet (as life and living itself) are on the other side. Thank you for bringing our attention to the fact that this war and another, both testing our highest aspirations against our basest avarice and prejudices, will be noted to have started in the same place. You are among those who are leading the first charge against the unreality glossing over the windows and doors of our perception, and i thank you.
Brendan:
What an interesting tidbit to introduce in the Merc station on Election Day!! There is a strong likelihood that may well be the case!!
One last thing “Alien, raptor overlords.” 🙂
Fe – exactly, and it seems like the old-time R’s are already trying to have Newt put down already. But, that means they’re supporting Mitt, and they don’t want him either.
Decisions, decisions, and all they have to show for it is a gaggle of not-very-funny clowns. All anybody has to do is make Newt look like John Wayne Gacy, and they all go down in flames. Oh, and Mitt looks suspiciously like Goebbels, so we can even drag the Nazis in on this. Callista is rather Aryan, isn’t she? {I know, I know, I invoked Godwin’s Law way too early – it’s late, and I’m free associating here}
A thought occurred to me: since the Tea Party was given time to respond to POTUS last night, does that mean they are a separate party now? If so, any and all R’s claiming dual allegiances should be stripped from the actual R Party, and be forced to form an actual TP organization. Thus, they would also have to be removed from all committee positions (since they have had to renounce all seniority), the R’s would no longer control the House so well, and the D’s would have a better grip on the Senate. Too bad the inmates make the rules still…
Brendan:
Thanks for the guffaw.
The Mittster android’s chip does seem to have faltered, and therefore the glitches. He’s an old model, who can’t keep up with the pace of data interchange, so asynaptic that he short-circuits.
As for Callista, I keep saying she is from a raptor planet, the birds of prey. If Gingrich continues on a winning path, we may regain both houses of Congress. You know the powers that be will not let that happen. Let the Newtdiscreditapalooza begin!
Nicely done, Fe. This is the year to keep up the pressure on them all, not just the party we don’t like.
Money is the root of all evil, plain and simple.
The Mittster seems to have gotten his program scrambled in the last few days, and it’s not getting any better. We just need to shut off his main CPU before anything serious happens, like the election.
Newt, well, what can I say about him? I’m still convinced Callista is his chaperone from our alien overlords, trying to keep him from exploding and betraying their existence on the planet. He really hasn’t changed much, has he? Just trot out the usual dog whistles, appeal to the lowest common denominator in the R pile o’ poo, and insult your way into the Oval Office seems to be his plan. Except shit plus shit does not equal electability.
I need to buy some popcorn.