DEMOCRACY IN THE HANDS OF IDIOTS, PART III

Okay world, that ritualistic, vacuous exercise in futile optimism, known as an “election” in America, is over, and the idiots again have spoken.

But how could they not? After all, the entire concept of “democracy” in America’s corrupt, two-party system is nothing more than a farcical illusion, and the extent of this corruption has only been magnified by the Koch brothers controlled majority on the United States Supreme Court, who, in recent rulings, gave billionaires and corporations unbridled power to buy politicians of their choice.

In previous Pravda.Ru articles, I have argued that history is nothing more than a pendulum incessantly swinging back and forth between overreaction and regret, and the recent elections in America have vividly confirmed this thesis.
The coup of 2000, for example, that—thanks to a heavily politicized Supreme Court—saw George W. Bush steal the election from Al Gore, forever shattered the myth that politicians are concerned about “public service.” If this were the case, then Bush, and indeed any person with a modicum of integrity, would have conceded defeat instead of defying the will of the people.

If there is one reality that slimy politicians can count on in America, it is the fact that Americans are notoriously devoid of long-term memories. Although Bush entered office amid great outrage, the (conveniently timed?) attacks on 9/11/2001 quickly elevated him, and likeminded filth like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, to almost godlike status.

Segueing off of this deification, these kleptocrats decided to both ensure Bush’s reelection and further enrich themselves and their cronies in the military-industrial complex by manufacturing fictitious reasons to invade Iraq.

After all, history has shown that American voters are loath to change presidents during wartime, and, as Bush’s reelection demonstrated, it doesn’t matter who instigated the war, or for what reasons.

By the time the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld lies were exposed, it was too late. But the regret it caused did result in the election of Barack Obama.

And, once again, optimism reigned supreme, especially amongst progressives who, for decades, were compelled to hold their noses while voting for Democratic candidates who championed none of their interests, but who represented the lesser of two evils.

It didn’t take long for Obama to prove that his campaign promises of progressive reform were empty words. In many ways, with the increased spying on American citizens, the targeting and imprisonment of reporters and whistleblowers, the extrajudicial executions of American citizens, and the zealous defense of Bush-era abuses and abusers, Obama demonstrated that his administration was no better than the previous one, and, in some cases, perhaps even worse.

This disillusionment with Obama recently caused American voters, who just a few years ago were incensed by the lies, venality, and racism exhibited by the Republican party, to put Republicans back into power.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic!

After all, America’s two-party system is designed for nothing more than stagnation, and politicians schmoozing with lobbyists to obtain lucrative jobs after leaving the political arena.

In America, the strategy for political victory of one party over the other is simple. Even without a majority in one or both Houses of Congress, there are usually enough minority party members (especially in the Senate) to foment obstruction and delay. While this would seem to be a formula for political suicide, the reality is the President usually gets the blame for failing to “get things done”; therefore, Republicans simply blocked anything Obama attempted to do, despite the best interests of the people they supposedly represented.

This, in turn, gave them the ability to denounce Obama for the very stagnation they created.

Now that Democrats are the minority party in Congress, they will assume the role as architects of obstruction and delay, so, in 2016, they can castigate the Republican-controlled Congress for failing to get anything meaningful done.

And the pendulum of idiocy swings on.

I realize I may sound harsh for condemning the idiocy of American voters, because the reality is that oftentimes they really have no choice. Politics is a loathsome, dishonest, and corrupt business that repels decent human beings; therefore, only the loathsome, dishonest, and/or corrupt aspire to become politicians.

For example, a prank telephone call made by a disc jockey to governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin proved Walker is firmly in the pockets of the billionaire Koch brothers. He was reelected anyway. And Greg Abbott won the governorship of Texas, even though, while serving as attorney general, he went to extraordinary lengths to impede investigations into whether a man named Cameron Todd Willingham had been wrongfully executed.

Still, voters cannot be absolved from blame. Political appeals to the basest instincts in human nature; the creation of contempt for the poor and working classes to obscure the economic inequalities that are causing the middle-class to vanish while the rich get richer; negative campaign ads that attack opponents instead of promoting a candidate’s own merits; and the exploitation of hatred and bigotry that causes people to act against their own economic interests are only effective because voters have habitually and predictably allowed them to be.

This is why many critics of American-style democracy have argued that voting as a means of social change is nothing more than an illusion. Some have even argued that the only way to create a nation where human rights are more important than corporate rights; where being “pro-life” does not just focus on birth and death, but also on enhancing the quality of life during the years in between; where “natural” and “human” are viewed as more than just resources; and where the Bill of Rights applies to everyone, not just the rich and powerful, is through a revolution.

Unfortunately, it is too late. Tactics that have been rubber-stamped by America’s so-called “justice” system—the indefinite detention, torture, and extrajudicial execution of American citizens; GPS, cameras, drones, and satellites tracking everyone’s movements; facial recognition technologies; and the unrestrained spying by the NSA, CIA, and FBI—will cause any revolutionary overtures to be decimated in their infancy.

So here America stands, a rudderless ship occupied by idiots elected or appointed by idiots. And when it sinks, Americans will only have themselves to blame.

David R. Hoffman, Legal Editor of Pravda.Ru