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The
End of New Deal Liberalism
Has
Obama allowed the Dream to die?
We have reached a pivotal moment in
government and politics, and it feels like the last,
groaning spasms of New Deal liberalism. When the party of activist
government, faced
with an epic crisis, will not use government's extensive powers to
reverse the economic
disorders and heal deepening social deterioration, then it must be the
end of the line for
the governing ideology inherited from Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson.
Political events of the past two years have delivered a more profound
and devastating message:
American democracy has been conclusively conquered by American
capitalism. Government
has been disabled or captured by the formidable powers of private
enterprise and concentrated
wealth. Self-governing rights that representative democracy conferred
on citizens are now
usurped by the overbearing demands of corporate and financial
interests. Collectively, the
corporate sector has its arms around both political parties, the
financing of political careers,
the production of the policy agendas and propaganda of influential
think tanks, and control
of most major media.
What the capitalist system wants is more—more wealth, more freedom to
do whatever it wishes.
This has always been its instinct, unless government intervened to stop
it. The objective now is
to destroy any remaining forms of government interference, except of
course for business
subsidies and protections. Many elected representatives are implicitly
enlisted in the cause.
A lot of Americans seem to know this; at least they sense that the
structural reality of
government and politics is not on their side. When the choice comes
down to society
or capitalism, society regularly loses. First attention is devoted to
the economic priorities
of the largest, most powerful institutions of business and finance. The
bias comes naturally
to Republicans, the party of money and private enterprise, but on the
big structural questions
business-first also defines Democrats, formerly the party of working
people. Despite partisan
rhetoric, the two parties are more alike than they acknowledge.
What could be better examples of this than Obama caving in on the public option
and caving in and breaking his promise to end the tax cuts for the super-rich?
Worse, it seems he did both just to get Bitch & Boner to like him.
Is there any cause that would turn Obama into a fighter?
Is there anything that Obama would go to the mat for?
If Obama wins a second term, that'll make sixteen years in a row where
the little guy was told to "suck it up" while the super-rich raped the world.
The most staunch Obama defenders said he's always been a "practical centrist,"
and that we're getting the same Obama that we voted for in 2008.
Who agrees with that?