Wednesday, 27 January 2010 11:22
Share Link: 
American democracy, its vital signs fading away, received last Thursday, January 21st its political extreme unction from America’s highest priestly body: the United States Supreme Court. In what will turn out to be the biggest-yet landmark decision affecting an “intended government” of the people by the people and for the people, the highest court in the land decided by a ruling of 5 to 4 – clearly alongside ideological lines of both Right and Center – that money and power cannot be held back. Not when defining what democracy is or should be, thus determining our fate; clearly, and unashamedly, telling us that, Constitution aside, we are committing first degree mockery when we tout to the four winds that we are a free people living under democratic rule.
After so many efforts in vain to limit the influence of money on our elections, McCain-Feingold reform legislation in 2002 representing a small isolated success, this decision by the Court has made any future campaign finance reform, and the prospect of two branches of government somewhat uninfluenced by special interests, an improbability if not an impossibility.
Under the pretense that the public has the right to be exposed to a multitude of ideas, the doors have been blown open to allow Corporate America to impose its influence first, and then strangle democracy. While the two elective branches of government are now under special interests’ continuous assault, this decision will go far beyond and render them captive. Placing unions with companies in the same light, both able to promote and spend freely on any particular candidate, is a bad ruse when we are all aware business has a manifold capacity to garner money for political action than labor.
Purely coincidental, if very apropos, on the very same day that the US Supreme Court was rendering its devastating decision for working democracy, Air America was shutting down its operations, ceasing to supply programming to approximately 100 radio stations nationwide. This progressive, low tone liberal voice, just a murmur relative to the ultra-conservative strident noise ruling the airwaves, and the sick, fascistically-exuberant patriotism of the iconic Limbaugh-Hannity ilk, did not meet its demise solely on ideology, but the sad fact that Americans must be entertained at all times whether the topic deals with mundane affairs, religion or politics. Fortunately for progressive talk radio, some of the best talent available delivering the center-left message – a few, former Air America hosts – were already broadcasting via syndication through other networks. It is a sad realization, nonetheless, that in this nation of ours, entertainment value ranks above information value.
What has happened to Air America may be thought of as irrelevant to politics, just one more case of poor business decision-making, and there is some truth to that. But when the abyss between the interests of business and those of the non-corporate people is so great – no better institution to reflect that than the US Chamber of Commerce – the exit of organizations such as Air America brings in front of us that monstrous reality: that the Right has an undeserving advantage to influence… no, brainwash… all Americans.
For years I have thought of the State of Oregon, if not a microcosm of America, at least a leading political indicator as to where America was going. Across the Columbia from where I reside, I get to observe the sister-state where independent thinking, a la Tom McCall or Mark Hatfield, always seemed to cleanse Republican politics to an acceptable humane standard… at par, at least, with Democratic politics. And that brings me to the most important issue of the day in Oregon politics, one that has much to do with this article’s critique of the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court.
This Tuesday evening, while writing this column, I am watching on TV the early returns of the election held today; two issues on the ballot, propositions 66 and 67, representing a referendum on the funding for much needed educational and social services strangled by smaller budgets during this economic crisis. In simplistic terms, source of funding was placed on the backs of those who up to now had benefited from a more regressive form of taxation (top 2 percent of wage-earners and corporations). One would think that the outcome of such an election would be a no-brainer, both propositions passing with 70 to 80 percent of the vote… but here is where advertising money enters politics, with plenty of room for half-truths, lies and innuendo. So far, tallies are indicating a close race, both propositions passing with 55+ percent of the vote. [Someone close to me whose career is in providing vocational support for disabled adults is probably in pins and needles watching these results!] And all this is happening even prior to any impact by the ill-fated decision of the US Supreme Court!
And while I am watching the election results, I am reading an article by Jeff Manning of The Oregonian (1-24) covering an analysis of Oregon wages, and what has happened in the state since 1990… with the top 2 percent of earners having had their income increase by 29.5 percent (adjusted for inflation) while workers at the 50 percentile had only seen an increase of 2.4 percent in that same almost two-decades period. Oregon’s rich getting richer and all others falling behind! The gulf between rich and poor continues to widen not just in Oregon but throughout America.
Did I say that America’s moribund democracy had been given the last rites by this Court decision? A more appropriate depiction than last rites would have been burial services, for the life support systems keeping democracy alive in America have been ready to be disconnected for a very long time.
-
2010-01-27 21:01:27 |70.80.73.xxx| mr. xyz - Congratulations to Oregon
Congratulations to Oregon for voting the right way. There's a systemic imbalance where the share that owners of capital have received from newly-generated wealth has increased and that of labour has decreased. As most people work and don't own businesses, this means depressed demand and deflationary pressures. This systemic problem must be addressed, and tax policy is one way to address it.
As for Canada; 20 years ago, Pierre Trudeau had been out of office for six years, was it? Brian Mulroney accounted for more debt than did Trudeau despite the mythology to the contrary, which the Reform Party also adopted. The health care problems are a function of the hacking at the deficit and debt policies that begun under Mulroney (tough the zero inflation strategy caused him to as I said have larger deficits, particularly during the recession that marked the end of his term, making its way into a prolonged jobless recovery)... these policies continued under Chretien - only without the stupid zero deficit experiments which caused howls of outrage in the Reform Party, which is ironic considering that the fathers of these Reformists were in the money printing-advocating Social Credit Party. So this is not progressivism, this is right wing deficit hawkery that got Canada in this predicament.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
I have lived in Canada most of my life. We were subjected to the "progressive way of life" when we elected Pierre Trudeau. In a six year time period, Canada's debt went from $17 billion to $465 billion. We were saddled with a "bill of rights and freedoms" that "protects" all citizens from virtually any thing. When fighting broke out in Lebanon a few years ago, fifty thousand "Canadians" demanded that the Canadian government get them out of there. These people were living in Lebanon. They have Canadian citizenship so they can get pensions when they turn 65 and free health care when they need it. Our justice system was overhauled and now murderers get life with paroll in ten years. Most just serve ten years. A person who steals {Bernie Maddoff types) can receive up to 20 years with parole in ten years depending on how much they get away with. So much for human life under the leftists. Dollars are worth more than people.
Our heath care system, which was touted as one of the best in the world 20 years ago, is now bankrupting the system and waiting room waits can last up to 18 hours, with most people having to wait a minimum of 10 hours. People have died waiting. Our doctors are leaving because they still have to put up with law suits and disciplinary procedures from the bureaucrats who oversee the system. The people who make the most money in health care are the government appointed managers. The unions, not to be out done, threaten, and actually do go on strike until their demands are met, causing more problems.
Gun controll laws have been implemented that make farmers and ranchers criminals, while the gangsters can get guns almost anywhere. So guess who carries the guns and guess where our murder rates have gone. With the liberal thinking courts we have killers who have been charged with manslaughter out in two years. A signifigant number of the bad guys are from the middle and far east. Deporting them can take up to ten years if they are shipped out at all.
Trotsky and Marx had a good sales pitch, and the progressives have picked it up and run with it for many years now, but if you talk to the people from countries dominated by the far left, and the people in countries like Canada, you will hear that the system is not all it's cracked up to be. High taxes, slow medical system, a military that has to borrow aircraft to lend assistance to other countries, and a governmental system that is broken. We can elect either Liberals or Conservatives and we find the only major difference is the Conservatives don't seem to steal as much as the liberals. Other than that, there is not much between the parties.
If we could get government out of our lives and let free enterprise work, we wouldn't have to turn our money over to other people to spend, or perhaps I should say waste. The Americans have a good system, but the dark cloud of the progressives is doing to the USA what it has done to so many other countries and it's not pretty. When Che Guevara was Castro's muscle, he murdered many people, yet to the far left he is a hero. Chavez has turned his dogs on protestors in the streets, killing at least two. He has shut down all news outlets that speak against him, and yet to the left he too is a hero.
If the American people would get back to reading the Constitution and the works of the founding fathers, I believe that the horrendous debt and deficite levels that are going to cripple your country for years to come will start to fall into a reasonable range. As it is, the people in power now are being so greedy, they are going to leave their children and grandchildren a legacy of debt, brought on by a need for power and a desire to subjugate their fellow citizens.
God bless America, I hope she survives.