Many pundits have recently lamented about how
the Democrats have become just as vociferous in "Bush hating"
as the GOP was during the Clinton administration.
This may indeed be true, but the reasons for such intense hatred
are completely different. President Clinton
was hated not for his policies, which proved to be beneficial to every
strata of the American populace,but simply because
he was not one of "them."
"Them," of course are the right-wingnuts motivated
by a mixture of racism, fascism and/or religious absolutism,
and America's plutocratic elite -- the hereditary
nobles that despised Clinton as much for his humble roots as for
his modest increase in their tax liability. Common
to all Clinton haters was the bizarre economic theory that:
a) government is inherently bad; b) an unfettered
free market will solve all social problems; and
c) that all taxation (especially on the wealthy)
is theft.
The unprecedented American prosperity during the
Clinton years (achieved without a single GOP vote in Congress)
gave lie to this radical economic theory.
As when any cherished dogma is challenged, the reaction by the ideologues
was not to admit that -- hey, maybe we're wrong
-- but to begin a systematic attempt to destroy Bill Clinton, resulting
in the impeachment fiasco.
For ideologues from Bolsheviks to Busheviks, their
ideology is sacred holy writ that can magically solve all problems.
It makes its proponents "smart," and anyone failing
to agree on the brilliance and infallibility of their creed a "fool."
Inconvenient facts that contradict the ideology
are either ignored, or if too obvious to ignore, branded a lie.
For the ideologue, it's a comfortable form of
mental auto-pilot.
In this respect, today's "conservative" movement
is more of a criminal conspiracy (for the leaders who understand the scam)
and a cult (for the deluded followers voting
against their own economic interests) than a legitimate political movement.
It's been designed that way. Why?
Because this ideology doesn't serve the vast majority of the American people's
interests -- in fact, it victimizes them.
Therefore, to achieve "conservative" electoral
success, lies must be told. Deceptions and misperceptions must be
engineered.
Sophisticated propaganda techniques must be employed.
Truth and justice must be turned inside-out in order to achieve their
ideological goals.
Unlike most grand conspiracy theories, this conspiracy
isn't just a theory, and not even secret. If there is an ideological godfather
of the American neocon conspiracy, it's philosopher
Leo Strauss (click here for the hidden-in-plain-sight truth, here for an
excellent
analysis of Straussian philosophy, or simply
do a Google search on "Leo Strauss").
In short, the Straussians (who now man the highest
offices of the US government) believe that the unwashed masses are much
too ignorant to be fully informed participants
in the democratic process, and that they should be manipulated with lies
and
snookered with hypocritical religious platitudes
to endear them to their leaders. Strauss and his devotees are themselves
immune to theocratic flim-flam -- that's just
for the rubes -- they're atheists.
Strauss provides an intellectual justification,
if not encouragement, for government lies and other malfeasance to accomplish
a
political end. But what political end could be
so important that our government must engage in the deliberate deception
of its own citizens?
Consider George W. Bush, who has lived his life
with none of the economic concerns of the vast majority of Americans.
George W. Bush never lived in a household where
tough decisions whether to make a car payment or pay a light bill had to
be made, or where unemployment or illness had
wrecked economic havoc. Nor has George W. Bush ever had to worry
about his children left at home unattended while
both parents worked, unable to afford child care. Mr. Bush never
even
suffered a momentary twinge of worry about being
drafted and sent off to a foreign land as Cold War cannon fodder.
Similarly, George W. Bush floated from business
failure to failure with no apparent ill effect on his standard of living,
or on his employability with corporations eager
to capitalize on the Bush family name. No, those kinds of worries
are
for the "little people." For America's
hereditary nobility, calls can be made and strings can be pulled.
Is there any doubt that the GOP exclusively serves
the interests of the hereditary nobility, of whom Bush represents,
at the expense of the peasants? Do not
doubt the power of America's dynastic aristocracy where 2% of the population
controls 50% of the wealth -- with disproportionate
wealth comes disproportionate power.
Of course, the Republican Party also supports
other political positions that don't directly benefit the interests of
the nobles,
such as pandering to the gun nuts, fascists,
racists, and Christian theocrats.
But pandering on these issues helps to maintain
their electoral demographics, and thus, their ability to protect the nobles'
interests.
How else can the nexus of environmental deregulation,
abortion, free trade, school prayer, aggressive war and tax cuts for the
wealthy be explained?
Lavishly funded by the nobles, the Republican
Party and their co-conspirators have only one central, inviolate principle;
maintaining and enhancing the wealth and power
of the nobles.
The result is manifested in the GOP's concerted assault on the principle of progressive taxation.
The GOP knows that popular programs such as Social
Security and Medicare can never be abolished politically. They also
know
that these programs can only be funded through
progressive taxation on the rich. Therefore, the only way to kill these
programs and
the resultant tax liabilities on the wealthy
is to deliberately bankrupt and cripple the American government through
a policy of tax reduction.
To this end they have been remarkably successful
just three years into the administration of George W. Bush.
In good Straussian fashion, George W. Bush and
the Republican Party utilized a conscious strategy of lying to an all-too-easily
deceived peasantry -- offering refunds of "your
money" to the voters, when what they were really planning were gigantic
tax cuts
for the plutocrats and cuts in crucial government
services vital to the peons.
There is also no secret about this strategy. Just
check-out Grover Norquist, the powerful head of the innocuously named
Americans for Tax Reform. Norquist has
publicly boasted of his goal of "making the American government small enough
to drown in the bathtub."
The prescription drug bill that recently passed
is illustrative. Contrary to being a solution to runaway drug prices for
those
on fixed incomes, this bill is designed to do
the opposite. Instead of benefiting senior citizens, the bill's true beneficiaries
are
HMOs and drug companies. Skeptical readers
should know that this bill explicitly prohibits the government's exploitation
of its buying power to negotiate lower drug prices.
Again, the interests of the nobles are served at the expense of the peasants.
Need another example? How about the Bush
administration's plan to "reform" workers' overtime laws, which will result
in
longer hours and lower pay. Could the GOP's devotion
to the nobles' interests, and contempt for average working Joes
and Janes be more obvious?
Just as the feudal nobility of old had no interest
in the welfare of the peasants other than how they could be exploited economically,
militarily and sexually, today's aristocracy
shows a similar lack of enlightened self-interest, much less civic duty.
Were the peasants
justified in hating their feudal lords?
Which brings us back to the subject of "hating"
George W. Bush. Certainly, America's nobility loves him -- he has,
after all,
made them much richer by reducing their tax burden.
But for the middle and lower classes, it's class warfare at its worst.
When polluters can poison their air and water
with impunity; when crony capitalists can loot their retirement funds without
fear
of prosecution; when they alone among all industrialized
nations lack guaranteed health care; when they work significantly more
weeks a year than their European counterparts
(if lucky enough to stay employed); when the price of their labor continues
to
fall while more and more wealth is concentrated
in fewer and fewer hands; and when America's sons and daughters are killed
and maimed in a trumped-up war, isn't a little
hate justified?
Links to www.evilGOPbastards.com
will be appreciated.