Why did the Democratic Congress betray the voting public?
Betrayal is often a consequence of wishful thinking. It's the world's way of delivering the life lesson that it's time to shed the vanity of one's innocence and grow-the-hell-up. Apropos, here's lesson number one for political innocents: Power serves the perpetuation of power. In an era of runaway corporate capitalism, the political elite exist to serve the corporate elite. It's that simple.
Why do the elites lie so brazenly? Ironically, because they believe they're entitled to, by virtue of their superior sense of morality. How did they come to this arrogant conclusion? Because they think they're better than us. If they believe in anything at all, it is this: They view us as a reeking collection of wretched, baseborn rabble, who are, on an individual level, a few billion neurons short of being governable by honest means.
Yes, you read that correctly: They believe they're better than you. When they lie and flout the rules and assert that the rule of law doesn't apply to them or refuse to impeach fellow members of their political and social class who break the law -- it is because they have convinced themselves it is best for society as a whole.
How did they come by such self-serving convictions? The massive extent of their privilege has convinced them that they're the quintessence of human virtue, that they're the most gifted of all golden children ever kissed by the radiant light of the sun. In other words, they're the worst sort of emotionally arrested brats -- spoiled children inhabiting adult bodies who mistake their feelings of infantile omnipotence for the benediction of superior ability: "I'm so special that what's good for me is good for the world," amounts to the sum total of their childish creed. In the case of narcissists such as these, over time, self-interest and systems of belief grow intertwined. Hence, within their warped, self-justifying belief systems, their actions, however mercenary, become acts of altruism.
The elites don't exactly believe their own lies; rather, they proceed from the neo-con guru, Leo Strauss' dictum (the modus operandi of the ruling classes) that it is necessary to promulgate "noble lies" to society's lower orders. This sort of virtuous mendacity must be practiced, because those varieties of upright apes (you and I) must be spared the complexities of the truth; otherwise, it will cause us to grow dangerously agitated -- will cause us to rattle the bars of our cages and fling poop at our betters. They believe it's better to ply us with lies because it's less trouble then having to hose us down in our filthy cages. In this way, they believe, all naked apes will have a more agreeable existence within the hierarchy-bound monkeyhouse of capitalism.
This may help to better understand the Washington establishment and its courtesan punditry who serve to reinforce their ceaseless narrative of exceptionalism. This is why they've disingenuously covered up the infantilism of George W. Bush for so long: Little Dubya is the id of the ruling class made manifest -- he's their troubled child, who, by his destructive actions, cracks the deceptively normal veneer of a miserable family and reveals the rot within. At a certain level, it's damn entertaining: his instability so shakes the foundation of the house that it causes the skeletons in its closets to dance.
By engaging in a mode of being so careless it amounts to public immolation, these corrupt elitists are bringing the empire down. There is nothing new in this: Such recklessness is the method by which cunning strivers commit suicide.
Those who take the trouble to look will apprehend the disastrous results of the ruling elites' pathology: wars of choice sold to a credulous citizenry by public relations confidence artists; a predatory economy that benefits one percent of the population; a demoralized, deeply ignorant populace who are either unaware of or indifferent to the difference between the virtues and vicissitudes of the electoral processes of a democratic republic, in contrast to the schlock circus, financed by big money corporatist, being inflicted upon us, at present.
Moreover, the elitist's barriers of isolation and exclusion play out among the classes below as an idiot's mimicry of soulless gated "communities" and the pernicious craving for a vast border wall -- all an imitation of the ruling classes' paranoia-driven compulsion for isolation and their narcissistic obsession with exclusivity.
Perhaps, we should cover the country in an enormous sheet of cellophane and place a zip-lock seal at its southern border, or, better yet -- in the interest of being more metaphorically accurate -- let's simply zip the entire land mass of the U.S. into a body bag and be done with it.
What will be at the root of the empire's demise? It seems the elite of the nation will succumb to "Small World Syndrome" -- that malady borne of incurable careerism, a form of self-induced cretinism that reduces the vast and intricate world to only those things that advance the goals of its egoist sufferers. It is an degenerative disease that winnows down the consciousness of those afflicted to a banal nub of awareness, engendering the shallowness of character on display in the corporate media and the arrogance and cluelessness of the empire's business and political classes. It possesses a love of little but mammon; it is the myth of Midas, manifested in the hoarding of hedge funds; it is the tale of an idiot gibbering over his collection of used string.
What can be done? In these dangerous times, credulousness to party dogma is as dangerous as a fundamentalist Christian's literal interpretation of The Bible: There is no need to squander the hours searching for an "intelligent design" within the architecture of denial and duplicity built into this claptrap system -- a system that we have collaborated in constructing by our loyalty to political parties that are, in return, neither loyal to us nor any idea, policy nor principle that doesn't maintain the corporate status quo.
Accordingly, we must make the elites of the Democratic Party accountable for their betrayal -- or we ourselves will become complicit. The faith of Democratic partisans in their degraded party is analogous to Bush and his loyalist still believing they can achieve victory in Iraq and the delusion-based wing of the Republican Party who, a few years ago, clung to the belief, regardless of facts, that Terri Schiavo’s brain was not irreparably damaged and she would someday rise from her hospital bed and bless the heavens for them and their unwavering devotion to her cause.
Faith-based Democrats are equally as delusional. Only their fantasies don't flow from the belief in a mythical father figure, existing somewhere in the boundless sky, who scripture proclaims has a deep concern for the fate of all things, from fallen sparrows to medically manipulated stem cells; rather, their beliefs are based on the bughouse crazy notion that the elites of the Democratic Party could give a fallen sparrow's ass about the circumstances of their lives.
In the same manner, I could never reconcile myself with the Judea/Christian/Islamic conception of god -- some strange, invisible, "who's-your-daddy-in-the-sky," sadist -- who wants me on my knees (as if I'm a performer in some kind of cosmic porno movie) to show my belief in and devotion to him -- I can't delude myself into feeling any sense of devotion to the present day Democratic Party.
Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist, is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: philangie2000@yahoo.com Rockstroh is a contributing editor to Cyrano's Journal Online
i'm a little more fatalistic... i see no phoenix like rising from gutting or retooling either party. akin to snipping branches, when the disease infests the root.
i understand people come to truth in their own time, even if denial is taken to extreme... i too tire and grow very short of temper with the "wait & see, this time it could work out, we may be saved" crowd distracted from realities, hoping/wishing, changing bets on the scrimmage players, expecting a different outcome to the game. i don't have any answers on how to proceed, but an accurate acknowledgment of the scope and depth of the problem would seem necessary.
even if the players change; to effect any positive change for the sheeple the laws governing the players must change, or their "end runs" round accountability, lawful constraint and undue influence from lobbying and deeply imbedded (AI)PAC's who's dual loyalties are not in the best interests of "us" will not be impeded. any players changed that seek to alter the rules of game are promptly quashed/brought into line by bribery and or blackmail. the game of voter/sheeple distraction continues as our freedoms are bled and field-dressed. catch-22, so what to do?
as usual Phil, a well written piece
by
kikzz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 92 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 10:20:45 AM
The present day Democratic Party must go the way of the Whigs ... If not, the Democratic faithful should take to the wearing of powered wigs; they wouldn't look anymore ridiculous than they do now, supporting the party.
by
philangie (19 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 10:43:34 AM
Let's be honest. The "united" United States is HISTORY. OVER. Finished. Kaput. We most certainly are NOT "united". The very idea of a sea-to-shining-sea transcontinental nation-state is a quaint 17th century antique on the same shelf as the Monoe Doctrine and "the Divine Right of Kings"...remember that gem?
Capitalism, using corporate hit men, has done a drive-by on Democracy and murdered that dream in cold blood in the streets of the Former USA.
Both parties have now become the public relations face of corporate fascism trying to convince voters that democracy still thrives? It's a rancid steaming crock!
When the government won't even obey the laws - that government negates it's own legitimacy - de facto. There are NO provisions in the Constitution which stipulate government may LIE.
That makes the USA is a thing of the past. The parties are shills for corporate fascists. And "WE the People," dear friends, are on our own - just ask the citizens of New Orleans.
Ballots or bullets. We tried ballots. Look where that got us.
Screw the parties - buy a weapon! I recommend a shotgun - it can take out several with one blast, rip big holes thru walls and everyone understands the meaning of that click-clack when another shell is chambered.
Good luck!
by
mrk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 47 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 2:34:34 PM
The worst problem we face is not the GOP fascists -- it's the Dem Party apologists, who help this atrocious party of traitors to continue posturing as "opponents" of the GOP fascists. There's nothing more crippling than being led into battle by partners of your enemies -- which is what trying to fight the GOP by banking on the Democrats amounts to.
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RichM (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 227 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 3:50:41 PM
I completely agree with the analysis of the ruling class, but the Democrats' weaknesses have something to do with the extraordinary lack of support they have in the media and from the left. I never hear anyone say a good word about them on TV, including Jon Stewart and other lefties.
When Texas Dems left the state to try to stop DeLay's redistricting scheme, I watched numerous reports on TV and every single one openly ridiculed them and provided no explanation of their reasoning.
Similarly, everyone on TV and the web mocks them as timid or compromised. The best they get from the left is "hold your nose and support them." How courageous are they supposed to be in this environment? They are like battered wives who are condemned by their friends for failing to stop their husbands.
I'm forced to wonder how today's well-chastened Dems would be if they had genuine support from the left, and could count on it, even when they have to make political compromises to get and hold the kind of power they'll need to do what we want.
by
SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:49:42 PM
It was a great rant Phil, made so by the truth expressed within. Problem is though, that we are on the cusp of total fascism, I mean killing the in-country opposition with the same visciousness as we do the Iraqi's. Since I'd prefer not to have myself (or more so) my family die, how do you suggest we fight. I can shoot a rifle, but I think the bad guys have a much more impressive arsenal.
by
miconoclast (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:54:08 PM
I"m also aware of the terrible things people are capable of doing to one another -- and I'm afraid the right-wing hate machine has prime far too many of our fellow citizens for Jack Boot viciousness.
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philangie (19 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 5:06:57 PM
If you weren't aware you wouldn't have the insight shown in your rant. Here's the problem though: While what you say about the Dems is true, we can use them to at least stave off some of the the bad stuff that is coming down. With some breathing room and a lot of hard work maybe then we can begin to turn things around. Without the Dems things will get a lot worse very quickly. Also SamGruen above makes some very good points.
by
miconoclast (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 comments)
on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 5:37:59 PM
