7 replies to this topic

[Jill]

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult


Saturday 3 September 2011
by: Mike Lofgren, Truthout | News Analysis


Barbara Stanwyck: "We're both rotten!"

Fred MacMurray: "Yeah - only you're a little more rotten." -"Double Indemnity" (1944)

Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America. Both parties are rotten - how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot. The main reason the Democrats' health care bill will be a budget buster once it fully phases in is the Democrats' rank capitulation to corporate interests - no single-payer system, in order to mollify the insurers; and no negotiation of drug prices, a craven surrender to Big Pharma.

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

. . .

http://www.truth-out...cult/1314907779

This is a MUST READ for everyone, but especially Republicans. We know you don't believe us when we try to explain what the Party is really up to. Perhaps you'll believe it when you hear it from one of your own.

Seriously, if you do nothing else of import today, take the time to read this and really reflect on what this man is telling you.

[Mr. Roboto]

This is a great read, not done yet, but thanks for posting.

[freedom78]

He's a bit too lenient on the Democrats (largely by the absence of enough criticism), but this is spot on. "The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie." In other words, the state serves the interests of the economic elite.

[cousin it]

Freedom, correct me if I am wrong, but the US Constitution has out lasted, in length, the constitutions of all other governments. I know, it's anecdotal, but...


We're fucked! I won't live long enough to see it, but with the approaching calamity of Peak Oil and the subsequent mass starvation that it entails, the US will disintegrate sometime in the next 100 years

Yeah, color me cynical.

From the article(Which by the way, everyone here should read... really, it is that fucking important! If you don't read it you are a fucktard)

There is no fundamental disagreement on which direction the two factions want to take the country, merely how far in that direction they want to take it. The plutocrats would drag us back to the Gilded Age, the theocrats to the Salem witch trials.

[Mr. Roboto]

The plutocrats would drag us back to the Gilded Age, the theocrats to the Salem witch trials.

^^^^

[freedom78]

Freedom, correct me if I am wrong, but the US Constitution has out lasted, in length, the constitutions of all other governments. I know, it's anecdotal, but...

Depends how you look at it. Since some countries don't have a written Constitution (UK, for example), it's hard to compare.

[Jill]

He's a bit too lenient on the Democrats (largely by the absence of enough criticism), but this is spot on.

The article was meant as an insider's view of his own party, not a criticism of his political opponents. Kind of like when I go for the jugular against Left Wing Extremist EmoProgs; my focus is on why they're insane, not why Republicans are, even though I could probably write a novel on the subject of Republican insanity.

I'm glad you guys found the article worthwhile. I hope you'll spread it to everyone you know.

I particularly liked this part:

Far from being a rarity, virtually every bill, every nominee for Senate confirmation and every routine procedural motion is now subject to a Republican filibuster. Under the circumstances, it is no wonder that Washington is gridlocked: legislating has now become war minus the shooting, something one could have observed 80 years ago in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.

And this:

This tactic of inducing public distrust of government is not only cynical, it is schizophrenic. For people who profess to revere the Constitution, it is strange that they so caustically denigrate the very federal government that is the material expression of the principles embodied in that document.

And this is dead on, too:

Among the GOP base, there is constant harping about somebody else, some "other," who is deliberately, assiduously and with malice aforethought subverting the Good, the True and the Beautiful: Subversives. Commies. Socialists. Ragheads. Secular humanists. Blacks. Fags. Feminazis. The list may change with the political needs of the moment, but they always seem to need a scapegoat to hate and fear.

It is not clear to me how many GOP officeholders believe this reactionary and paranoid claptrap. I would bet that most do not. But they cynically feed the worst instincts of their fearful and angry low-information political base with a nod and a wink.

Oh what the hell, who am I kidding? I could copy/paste the whole damn thing, but that would be redundant. Thanks for taking the time to read it, everyone!

[cousin it]

Left Wing Extremist EmoProgs

Hey goddamit! I resemble that remark.