Trickling Down

It is trickling down, no doubt about it, but what’s trickling down is not at all what we have been told. It’s certainly not the big money from the top trickling down to create jobs as should by now be perfectly obvious even to the slowest minds among us. This absurd idea of trickle-down economics I think was first seriously promoted by Saint Ronnie the Boneheaded, but has become one of the major claims made by Republicans ever since, an article of faith they cling to in spite of its demonstrable failure.

What are trickling down are the (entirely predictable) inevitable consequences of several years of unregulated capitalistic free-market practices. Remember that for a capitalistic economy to function everything must be a commodity, especially land, labor, and money. Unregulated, or improperly regulated corporations and wealthy individuals, over time, will eventually accumulate most of the wealth, as it takes money to make money. Eventually a few at the very top will control most of the wealth while the vast majority of “little people” will increasingly suffer. Is this not what we are seeing at the moment? Capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction and although it is still hanging on here in the U.S., if nothing changes it will eventually be doomed. Most large industrialized societies have recognized this and have accordingly adapted themselves to some form of democratic socialism that insures a somewhat more equitable distribution of wealth, call it welfare if you will. Here in the U.S. socialism has been made into such a horrible possibility it can scarcely even be mentioned, even though there are already socialistic aspects to our economy, the Post Office, Police, Firemen, Highways, free Elementary education, Veterans hospitals, and etc. So obsessed have we become with capitalism we have now managed to commodify even morality, ethics, and honesty, commodities readily for sale in the halls of Congress, the White House, and even the Supreme Court. The result of this is plain to see, just look around.

As a result of this overly passionate romance with capitalism we have now reached a point where the dividing line between sedition, treason, and politics as usual has been badly blurred if not erased entirely. You rarely hear the word sedition (incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority) anymore, but it seems to me we see this more and more lately, especially when it comes to abortion, Gay marriage, and even taxation. These attempts are not described as seditious, although it seems to me they could be. Treason (the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance…) is a more serious matter, but when Republicans announce publicly their goal is to overthrow the Obama administration (the lawful government of the U.S.), we do not hear it described as treasonous, although in my opinion it could be.

Isn’t it always the case that the party that is out of power always attempts to regain it by defeating the party that is in power? Of course they do. What has changed is the means employed to regain power, a change that began during the Clinton administration, when, unable to defeat Clinton at the ballot box they began to employ means that had heretofore been pretty much off limits, mainly his private sexual behavior, but also anything else they could think of, like accusing him of illegal investing and even of murder. This is a technique I have described as “roviation” (roviate v. to smear, slime, malign, denigrate, and attempt to destroy an opponent through the use of innuendo, rumor, slander, outright lies and any other despicable means available. Roviation works more effectively when done in collusion with major media). ”What makes the current situation so different is the elaboration of this deplorable behavior. Never before has one political party (we only have two) simply announced they would refuse to participate in governing. Republicans announced from the very beginning of the Obama Presidency they would be the party of “no,” and would simply not cooperate, a vow they have religiously kept by blocking everything Obama has wanted to accomplish, including even his appointees to various offices. Also unprecedented is their announced intention of making sure Obama will be a one term President. This would not be unusual if it were not accompanied by their refusal to cooperate in governing to bring it about. Not only have they refused to cooperate with Obama they have also now manufactured crises that need not have existed at all, and have admittedly taken hostage the full faith and credit of the United States, as well as also trying to take hostage union rights (as in the FAA case). Even blackmail is not above them. Traditionally the losing party has had the responsibility of accepting their (perhaps) temporary status with the understanding they would still cooperate in governing and attempting through compromise to solve the problems of the nation. By refusing to compromise at all they have violated the most basic of expectations for a minority party. By refusing to compromise, automatically saying no to everything to block attempts to improve employment or other problems, and deliberately manufacturing crises that need not have existed at all, they have crossed the line from politics as usual to sedition and treason, and all of this in the service of free-market capitalism and at the expense of the, to them, little people. As I have said repeatedly, what used to be the Republican party has morphed into little more than a criminal conspiracy, funded and encouraged by their capitalist masters and against the traditional values of our (previously) democratic political system.