America Unraveled

Market Totalitarianism - Can America have a totalitarian government when there are two political parties that regularly fight for control of the Presidency, Congress and the Courts? If, in China, you had two parties fighting to implement their own version of communism, would you not still define them by their overall totalitarian system? American totalitarianism is subtle, and even blinding, in that by continuously justifying most agendas under the need to protect a free market system, Americans believe they are acting in their self-interest. In fact, the free market system is based on the idea that self-interest is a virtuous and powerful motivation to get the most out of people; that a fair and prosperous society is the natural result of getting what you work for. However, what happens when the culture of selfishness that served the market based system so well, creates a completely dysfunctional society where people won’t sacrifice for the future because the voters want it all now? Democracy is cashed in when the nation’s future is sold off to the bankers. Both Democrats and Republicans must pay homage to the free market. The recent US Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, allowing unlimited money to determine elections, merely lifts the mask off what our system always was. The US Supreme Court has ended the charade. What really makes many politicians upset about the decision is that they no longer have as much control over the money as they used to. Recall that it was President Obama who announced on June 19, 2008 that he would forgo public funds; the first presidential candidate to do so. This allowed Obama unlimited fund-raising. Mc Cain, who took the government check of eighty-four million dollars, was outspent three to one by Obama, mostly on negative ads. To pretend as if nothing was wrong prior to Citizens United is absurd. Today, when people espouse the virtues of the free market, they are really advocating a system where commercial interests trump social interests. If a free market doesn’t choose favorites, why do we have so many lobbyists on Capitol Hill? For years, corporations have bought every advantage politicians could possibly sell them, especially tax breaks. How does a new company emerge in an economy where the government has already legislated a tax break for their competitors? If one company gets a free piece of land, they have a big cost advantage over a competitor who must pay rent. America is not a free market, just a market where everything is for sale and money is King. When profit is elevated to the status of virtue, what are the consequences? Companies buy up drugs to create a shortage, just so they can raise the price, not caring if people die as a result. Bankers create financial instruments that implode the economy, just so they can buy one more yacht. When it comes to politics, entertainment, our schools, even our laws, profit is the priority. Despite what advocates of privatization might argue, selling out for financial reward is always accompanied by a decrease in quality, a degradation. The problem is people think they can dip a toe in, get their little tingle, and leave it at that. If you bite, you’re hooked. You can’t complain you just wanted the bait. Oh, you didn’t want to get pulled into the boat, chopped up and devoured? So sorry. The big boys are smart, and look at how things will play out over ten or twenty years. The concession they got long ago, which became the accepted practice, was just the step needed to realize what was always the ultimate goal. In the meantime, politicians come and go, none the wiser. In 1973, Wisconsin native Paul Weyrich cofounded ALEC, which is the American Legislative Exchange Counsel. ALEC’s purpose is to promote legislation “to reduce regulation, lower taxes, limit union power, and privatize everything from prisons to schools.” Representatives from some of America’s largest corporations sit on ALEC’s board. Weyrich “also cofounded the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the Free Congress Foundation.” Yes, the people behind the Culture War wanted a moral cover for what has always been a purely profit driven agenda. People don’t see how this plays out over time. For example, the same people promoting tough on crime legislation hoped to ultimately privatize prisons. People working in Corrections bit the hook of Truth In Sentencing, assuming it would serve their interests; more prisons, jobs and therefore power for their union. They couldn’t grasp that the real agenda was to bankrupt the system, creating a political environment where privatization magically appears as the only option to save the state’s budget. Schools have been treated the same way. The agenda has never been to fix our public schools. When people in cities like Milwaukee, elected school board members who advocated school choice, they created a board with a conflict of interest. Board members elected to promote privatization, had an interest in seeing public schools fail to use as examples justifying the need for school choice. Corporations have realized that they can take their talents in advertising and selling products and apply them to the political realm to further enrich themselves. Weakening organized labor makes it easier to dominate the airwaves. Without the unions, where’s the money going to come from to counter their propaganda? Since most of the media’s political pundits are corporate lap dogs, or are not intellectually capable of recognizing and therefore questioning their agenda, we end up with a society enslaved by the pursuit of corporate profit. If making money is more important than justice or education, why should we expect bankers to act with any integrity? The greed for profit eats away our nation’s soul. People turn their back on their family, religion and country the moment they hear the jingle of the almighty coin. Chasing the money high is no different than any other addiction. Nobody can explain to the addict why they’re making a bad decision. Something greater is calling them. To subvert oneself to any material, whether it be drugs, alcohol or money, is degrading for any human being. The same is true of nations! Most of our political discussion now revolves around GDP and unemployment, without any understanding that those are the ends, not the means. When people have the right priorities, success is inevitable. What is the true measure of whether our institutions are striving for the common good? Americans know that both political parties have sold them out. Great things only come out of self-sacrifice. Does anyone today believe in anything greater than profit?