|
Dissolve into Evergreens
|
||||
|
On a path's F-U prime time's F-U BEJATA's F-U rashundatramble's F-U thebrotherlove's F-U FORMICA's F-U busblog's F-U Bruce P's F-U Thudfactor's F-U My Own F-U Justin Oldham - Politics and Patriotism
Wilco The Flaming Lips The New Radicals John Mayer Zero 7 Dream Theater Radiohead Death Cab for Cutie The Notwist O.S.I. Ani Difranco The Shins Elliott Smith Badly Drawn Boy Chroma Key Coheed and Cambria The Streets Andrew Bird Sufjan Stevens Atom Site Feed 
|
11.04.2004
I think the point I am trying to make by showing just how angry and resentful people have become is to illustrate just how bad this "win" by Bush and Rove actually was for America. It goes beyond a difference on issues. Some people have even said that they could take losing a fair fight, but this was warfare by the nastiest means. Bush did not beat us by presenting a better vision for America. As much as some conservatives like to promote their ideals of small government, lower taxes and putting more responsibility back into the hands of individuals we all know that Bush's record, aside from the tax cuts, bears little resemblance to that agenda. Bush's humble foreign policy turned into a bullying of the world, and a middle finger to our best allies. He has racked up deficits by "bribing" everyone he could find with handouts. And what hurts worst of all is knowing that for the sake of political gain Bush has refused to take any responsibility for his policies that have cost us credibility and human lives in a war sold to us with bald faced lies. Its one thing to lose to honorable men. But to lose to cheats? That really hurts! We lost because every move we made was ridiculed on radio stations and TV shows across the country. The message went out that Liberals were destroying America. Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy became objects of ridicule. Tom Daschle, one of the most gentle and soft spoken men in the Senate was compared to Satan. We wondered what we ever did to deserve this kind of scorn and hatred. What happened? We stood in the way of people's greed. Here we were asking for laws to protect workers, here we were asking for a raise in the minimum wage, here we were demanding that polluters pay for their pollution, here we were saying that we should provide health care for everyone. We passed laws to reduce corruption, exploitation and environmental degradation. We were standing in between very powerful people and their money and we were using the power of the government to demand that they share with the rest of us, that they take responsibility for their fellow countrymen. That -- could not be tolerated. So these rich men, decided we had to be stopped. People had gotten way too comfortable with the idea that government should work for them and not for the powerful. So they undertook a plan. It involved pouring tons of money into think tanks and media outlets. They pushed for deregulation so they could buy up AM radio stations across the country and put on talking heads that pushed a message coached in terms that would sell the agenda without saying stating its true purpose. 1) Destroy people's faith in government 2) Create a division between liberals and mainstream America As a result we got evil teachers and unpatriotic peace activists. Good people that were out working for good causes all of a sudden found people calling them names and told that they no longer represented "their values". A surprise to people that were trying to help other people. Time after time polls re-affirmed that America still held very liberal views on the freedom to do as they please in their own homes, that we should be accepting of all types of people and that government should work in ways that make our lives better. But when people went to the polls they voted for candidates that did not support that same agenda. They were voting for radicals with radical agendas. Not at all in line with traditional American values. The liberals suddenly found that the landscape of words had changed. Even the word liberal, rooted in "freedom" had become poison. Those of us familiar with concepts like "Newspeak" heard alarm bells go off in our heads. The terms of the debate had been dramatically reduced to a set of carefully chosen "talking points" that always put right wing ideas in such a favorable light that even arguing against them made us look bad. After all, who doesn't "support the troops"? The answer: Unpatriotic liberals like Ted and Hillary who would rather coddle the terrorist than support our own troops fighting to "defend our freedom". The truth was of course that "supporting the troops" really means giving a blank unaccounted check to the top military contractors and rubber stamping any and all boondoggle projects that come up for funding. Because you see, there had been calls by many to cut back on military funding after the end of the Cold War. We thought, wrongly, that our insane levels of military spending was only necessary to fend of the communists. Not at all. It had become an institution whereby we the taxpayers would support many of the largest corporations in the world with runaway spending that flooded into Wall Street. We were threatening a major source of easy wealth and we had to be stopped. So any attempt to turn off the spigot induced howls of derision. Among the liberals we started to refer to this onslaught of newspeak as the "Mighty Wurlitzer". Pretty soon it turned its sights on the traditional media outlets, claiming that they were biased against "conservatives", that they were "liberal" (by then a dirty word) and that the only way the media could correct this "problem" would be to allow the hordes of paid right wing shills to promote their message. The corporate funded media machine was ready. Soon enough they had their own network, Fox News, a corporate tool to promote a pro-corporate message in terms that would appeal to people's sense of fairness and "rightness". Much flag waving and appeals to patriotism ensued. The corporate-funded right even had their own army of "experts" churning out studies that (surprise) proved that pro-corporate legislation would be "good for the economy". The key, they know, is that if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes the truth. "Saddam was responsible for 9-11" ... and we get a war that deepens our reliance on the military contractors and secures a valuable resource for our Wall Street buddies. "Everybody that pays taxes will get a tax cut" and "The rich pay the most taxes so they will get most of the tax cuts" ... while technically true, glosses over the fact that we will be financing these tax cuts with borrowing, that the lion's share of the tax cuts will go to the wealthiest citizens and that when it comes time to pay back those debts it won't be the wealthy that will have to sacrifice. Economists agree that Bush seeks to shift the burden of taxation away from investment income to consumption. In other words... working class people are getting stuck with the bill for this deficit. This last election Kerry ran a very traditional campaign, stumping on issues, trying to sell the American people on what his presidency would do for them. But he was fighting an uphill battle. The media whores were mobilized at they attacked him for being a Flip Flopper, a charge, that we will soon learn, is applied to any candidate that seeks to challenge the corporate party. The right wing talking heads came out in full force to discredit Kerry and they attacked him personally, day in and day out. They attacked his wife, and once he picked a running mate, they attacked him as well. That most of the attacks were latter proven to be lies was irrelevant. The damage had been done. The election had been framed as a contest between the "good guy cowboy that will protect us from the evil terrorist, the activist judges, the 'homosexual agenda' and baby killing abortionists. All false. Bush's real agenda is to implement a pro-corporate agenda to enrich his masters. Its the record of his first term and we can expect more from the second. That Bush, the "freedom fighter" is a thrice failed business man, and pampered son of a former president is all glossed over in the war of words. So we did not lose on issues. We lost on tactics. And that's why we are so angry. |
Comments:
Post a Comment
|
About Me
Any Box 
|
||
|
Dissolve into Evergreens
|
||||
