I’m trying to process my frustration with “the way things are” and not allow myself to go back into intellectual hibernation because there appears to be no hope for America to “right the ship” at this time. The biggest problem to me is the media. It has been hijacked by some very sophisticated corporate interests and they’ve convinced, I believe, even the “journalists” who should know better that everything is the way it is because “both sides are equally to blame.” I find that argument ludicrous and I find it very discouraging that the so-called “liberal” pundits are not able to fight back against the incredible PUSH to the right in our nation which began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. I’m not arguing that both political parties aren’t – well, disgusting – most people can agree on that – what I’m arguing is that the pandemic problems in America are the result of the republicans push to the right. OK, then the question is what about the democrats? And, to me, the answer to that one can be summed up in the old saying, “when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.” In other words, the democrats don’t seem to be able to fight for their own fundamental values. And, the beat goes on!
The other day I was listening to Thom Hartman, and he is a person who I often feel is “right on” and defending the “liberal” point of view. He has a radio (and Free Speech TV – I recommend you give them your financial support – it’s listener supported media) program where he often interviews people with opposing viewpoints to his own. The other day he was interviewing a right wing libertarian who had been a sheriff in Arizona some time back and who is evidently writing books at present. I didn’t pick up all the details (or the guy’s name) – but, what caught my attention was this guy was the type who’s been using the infrastructure of America for his lifetime, but apparently wants to pay no taxes (well, he wants to abolish the IRS and the typical right wing proposal for some form of a flat tax – at least he used the word graduated) and he was basically espousing abolishment of much of our existing government. As he made his argument (and the reason I’m mentioning it here) he claimed that the republicans and the democrats were equally responsible for a list of problems which seemed absurd to me and didn’t get the “blow-back” I expected to hear from Hartman. For example, to me, it’s absurd to accuse democrats and republicans to be EQUALLY responsible for the national debt. The statistics are clear – Reagan started the massive debt problem with the so-called “trickle down” economic philosophy, George HW Bush notched it up a level, and George W Bush put it on steroids!
Bill Clinton left “W” with a surplus of $250 BILLION annually that was projected to eliminate the deficit in 10 years (which is the Fed’s greatest nightmare – go figure) and George W Bush, with the help of Dick Cheney who famously said, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” turned that surplus into a waterfall of debt by the time he left office. And, this sheriff pointed out that “Obama created the bailout” or something of that effect (which convinced me his information came directly from Fox “news”) and I didn’t hear Hartman correct him that the TARP bailout was orchestrated by Hank Paulsen and George W Bush – Obama had little choice but to implement the final stages of it – which, to his credit, he used partly to save GM and Chrysler. (and thousands of middle class jobs!) These things shouldn’t be debatable – the only reason they are is because republicans shout louder and democrats seem to lack the courage of their own convictions.
Bush/Cheney left President Obama with an economy teetering on depression with an annual deficit in excess of $1 TRILLION, a job market that was shedding jobs at the rate of a MILLION a month, and republicans in congress whose MAIN objective was to facilitate President Obama’s FAILURE! Despite the incredible level of OBSTRUCTION during President Obama’s first 6 years in office, the economic circumstances in America have slowly improved, and the yearly deficits have been cut more than in half. Had there been any level of cooperation in Washington DC during this period there could have been significantly greater achievement for those of us who would love to see the government operating with a surplus again. Obviously, with the American people (well, actually, a small minority of the American people chose to vote in the last election) empowering, unbelievably to me, the republicans to be “back in charge” of both houses of Congress, we should be headed back to another economic crisis – I’m sure they hope it’s in the next two years so they can blame it on Obama.
Everyone who’s paying any amount of attention knows that if President Obama is for it, the republicans are automatically against it. When you look at the FACTS, the deficit is MOSTLY the result of republican “trickle up” economics, the two wars (and, what now appears to be perpetual war – the so-called war on terror) are the result of Bush/Cheney BLUNDERS – Afghanistan should have been OVER in 6 – 9 months and we all know that Iraq should have NEVER happened, the economic collapse of 2007-2008 was the direct result of republican inspired deregulation of key parts of the New Deal (Glass-Steagall in particular), and it was Bush/Cheney who ruined America’s standing as the holder of the “moral high ground” when referring to Human Rights as they threw out the “rule book” on treatment of prisoners of war and authorized a massive amount of WAR CRIMES (part of their justification came via calling the detainees “enemy combatants” which means they aren’t actually “prisoners.” – this is what I call 21st century DOUBLESPEAK!)
I’ll say it again, this spiraling toward second tier status in America is largely the result of republican policy. (and, yes you could add, a democratic party that has little to no FIGHT in it! – I believe they lost the last election because they abandoned their leader and failed to defend their own policies that were WORKING – it’s like the tail is wagging the dog) Our media has been hoodwinked into adopting the Fox “news” mantra of “fair and balanced” evidently failing to realize the “scale” is tipped dangerously FAR to the right – reporting is NOT balanced at all!
No one wants to talk about the opposition to President Obama on the “news” channels – at least that I’ve heard. I was telling a friend of mine the other day that I have plenty that I’m not happy about with our president (much of which you can find in the archives) but I don’t like to dwell on it because there’s so much coming at him from what I consider racist white people (or minions of Fox who actually believe they are a “news” channel) who want him to fail simply because they don’t want a Black person in the “White House.” One of my good friends tends toward the Tea party and, for some reason, is unable to see the racist rhetoric (and signs and code) coming from those who are the majority of that faction. He mentioned that he had watched the movie “42” the other day (about Jackie Robinson) and I told him I feel that Obama is facing circumstances that often remind me of that movie. I really don’t see how anyone can miss the message when right wing republicans refer to Obama, for example, as “uppity.” I’ve heard some republicans refer to our president as “elitist” evidently with no comprehension of the barriers he overcame in order to break the national political “color barrier.”
I would feel as if there was more “hope” in politics (for those who don’t understand my spiritual side, there is always “hope” in Jesus Christ – at least that’s my firm belief) if so many others besides Fox weren’t seemingly “feeding from the same trough.” I have a tendency to listen (on my XM radio) to MSNBC when I’m driving around (or occasionally watching it at home when I can muster the will to watch TV “news”) and, as I’ve mentioned on this site numerous times, Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd – two to the political “heavyweights” on MSNBC – seem to me way too “full of themselves.” They portray themselves as “experts” (Todd is now the narrator on “Meet the Press”) but come across to me as unwitting tools of the “invisible cabal” that is orchestrating America’s demise. Most of us are now fully aware of David and Charles Koch (I really recommend you read “Sons of Wichita” – a very interesting biography of the Koch family) but I don’t think we’re at all aware of the size (or the danger) of the network of wealthy (and greedy) associates they’ve put together over the past 50 years since Charles Koch’s father helped found the John Birch Society. For some reason our national media seems disinterested in educating “we the people” regarding the Kochs and their network of “supporters.”
We’re all witnessing the HUGE amounts of money being POURED into our electoral process, the likewise HUGE amounts of money LOBBYISTS are funneling to our Senators and Representatives that makes it clear our government is CORRUPTED to the core – yet, the media’s attention seems to ALWAYS be elsewhere. I’ve come to the conclusion that the “invisible cabal” I often refer to is much more sophisticated than us everyday Americans can even imagine and, I believe they have their “tentacles” securely wrapped around our so-called “liberal media.” Keith Olberman was trying to open eyes – he was fired (evidently, on top of his liberal views he’s hard to work with – at least that’s what makes it seem more tolerable that his voice was removed from the “airwaves”). Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital owns “Clear Channel” which operates almost a monopoly of “talk” radio stations and after his defeat numerous “liberal talk” stations were “shuttered.” In the case of the station in Portland, Oregon which was replaced by a Fox “sports” station – the ratings were something like EIGHT TIMES higher with the talk show than with its replacement – leaving at least me to believe it was shuttered for totally political reasons. In Portland, a liberal city, you can get Rush Limbaugh from multiple locations, but I had to subscribe to XM to get anything resembling “liberal” talk radio.
All of this should BOTHER everyone – including conservatives – in my view, especially when you learn what kind of person Charles Koch is and what his core beliefs are. Anyone who believes he’s spending what amounts to BILLIONS of dollars to cram his LIBERTARIAN views down our throats for “honorable” reasons is, in my view, either being foolish or not thinking at all. People like Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and lessor minions like Lars Larsen have proven over and over they will say whatever they’re told if the money’s right. Sometimes I believe they have become victims of the very propaganda scheme they’re being paid to promote (the Joseph Goebbels “Big Lie Theory). They may actually have gotten to the point where they believe the lies they’re paid to promote (despite the FACTS saying otherwise) are true. By definition, when you get to that point we’re talking about pathological liars!
If America is to return to the middle class ideals fought for and won during the New Deal and the Great Society (FDR, JFK, and LBJ) she will need a media that is actually educating “we the people” to the reality of this sophisticated PUSH to the right. The Koch’s (Charles and David) Libertarian philosophy has morphed into something that is more in line with the philosophy of the Third Reich or Mussolini’s Italy. As I read “Sons of Wichita” I can see glaring examples of the Kochs pushing in the very direction they (and their father) railed against as their “empire” was forming. There is a group known as “The Family” that the Kochs are almost certainly part of (if you get the chance, read the book “The Family” by Jeff Sharlett and you’ll get a better picture of what I’m trying to say here) which makes me worry that the “invisible cabal” is much larger than even I can imagine. This gets back to my point – AGAIN – If America’s “liberal media” doesn’t soon educate our people FACTUALLY about this push to the right, the damage could last a generation. (or more)