US political placebo or real change?

By Joel S. Hirschhorn

When are you likely to seek medical help? When something really bothers you. When you have real, sustained pain, that's when. When do people rise up in revolt against their tyrannical government and abusive economy? You guessed it. They must get very disgusted. In their personal lives they must feel hurtful pain. It does not matter what the news media say. What matters is how they and their families are suffering. They must get desperate. Hope for things changing for the better by making modest changes in the status quo must dissolve. Revolutions are driven by widespread pain, suffering and disgust. Recent drops in gas prices and now a stock market high are exactly what the power elites create when their plutocracy is threatened.

The Second American Revolution that our country desperately needs requires huge amounts of public energy. That energy has been building, but now through manipulation by power elites is ready to be channeled where those elites want it to go: to consumer spending. Much of that energy of discontent is also about to be wasted on a political placebo.

All the momentum for revolt built up during years of the Bush-worst-presidency-in-history is about to evaporate. This is part of the genius of the Democrap-Republicrook two-party duopoly, which is no more than a plutocratic political partnership to maintain the corpocracy and prevent the non-wealthy 80 percent of the population from taking the power that is theirs.

When one of our two-party demons goes to extremes the duopoly partner stands ready as a pressure release valve. The biggest downside of Democraps winning this November is how it will diffuse and deflate all the public pain and disgust generated because of the outrages of Republicrook control of our government. It is not surprising that millions of Americans disengaged from civic life and who don't even accept the responsibility to vote are ready to become placated by a shift from Republicrooks to Democraps. Much more depressing is how neo-progressives writing on Internet sites such as this one are justifying voting for Democraps.

Enthusiasm for Democraps because they are seen as the only alternative to letting Republicrooks keep political power is the litmus test for being a neo-progressive. These neo-progressives are making two profoundly important errors in thinking. First, they have deluded themselves that the when put back in power Democraps will actually perform political miracles and restore the quality of our democracy and produce economic justice. Every bit of historical evidence proves that this hope or expectation is ludicrous.

Second, these neo-progressives fail to understand how much pain and suffering the public must endure if a large majority of working- and middle-class Americans are to stimulate and support a Second American Revolution. These neo-progressives have lost their progressive moral principles; they do not understand the dynamics of social upheaval. They do not understand how the two-party duopoly is designed to – at critical times – dissipate public anger by letting the political pendulum swing from Republicrooks to Democraps, or vice-versa.

These neo-progressives have given up on third-parties and truly independent leaders emerging to wage battle against the corporcracy and the power and economic elites benefiting from the plutocracy. Neo-progressives are not revolution-minded. They are delusional, trusting that Democraps recapturing power will produce incremental improvements in our political and economic systems that reverse all the negative trends produced by the Republicrooks. They do not accept the inevitable reality that Democraps will merely use their new power to maintain their majority status. Democraps will eagerly accept tons of money from all kinds of corporate and other special interests. Will they be better than Bush Republicrooks? Of course, that is certain. But what will they accomplish?

Will victorious Democraps raise taxes on the rich? Will they enact true campaign reform through the Clean Money/Clean Elections approach, and reject all contributions other than small ones by individuals? Will they get us out of job-outsourcing globalization? Will they take a hard line on illegal employers of illegal immigrants? Will they put an end to line-item pork spending? Will they stop deficit spending? Will they stop lying to the public? Will a non-courageous minority become a courageous majority?

The price paid for Bush-relief is the loss of public energy for making more radical and necessary changes in our political and economic systems. Neo-progressives would rather replace Republicrooks with Democraps than replace the two-party duopoly with a new political system that undermines the power of the current plutocracy and corpocracy, and restores American democracy by making "representative" democracy honorable and trustworthy.

With the latest political scandal over Republicrook Mark Foley the odds of a Democrap victory in November have shot up, despite the rigging of gas prices and the stock market. True progressives should be mourning a lesser-evil Democrap victory. A few more years of Republicrook corrupt government and attacks on our constitution could have brought Americans closer to overturning the whole corrupt enterprise.

A Democrap victory and the inevitable excesses they will produce will energize core fiscal and social conservative constituencies for 2008 and produce more moderate and attractive Republicrook candidates for president and vice-president. Perversely, a Democrap victory this year that greatly lowers the energy of national discontent will help Republicrooks in 2008. Just as many conservatives may not vote this year, many liberals may not vote in 2008.

I hope cosmetic rather than systemic changes make neo-progressives happy. It surely will please the power and economic elites that can easily endure a brief dose of Democrap victory dancing. Americans will, once again, think that our political system is correcting itself and working. Certainly, that's what all the talking head pundits will be yapping. American democracy will be celebrated. Republicrooks will say they got the message and over the next few years will "reform" and repackage themselves to regain power in 2008.

When Democraps win and Republicrooks lose this year, non-wealthy Americans will continue to lose. That loss will only become apparent over time. The Democrap political placebo will work for awhile. That pain reduction puts off necessary surgery, letting our cancerous corrupt corporate culture to triumph.  How do we get the real cure?

Knowing what is wrong with our nation and why we need to change things are now givens for virtually all truth-seeing, politically engaged Americans – certainly the kinds of people who read and write for Internet sites such as this one.  Forget brain-dead Republicrooks, conservatives, right-wing nuts and Fox News victims.  Even many die-hard Democraps only care about electing Democraps, not making revolutionary, systemic changes in the structure of our deMOCKracy and government.  Ditto for neo-progressives that are mesmerized by replacing Republicrooks with Democraps.  Forget the Upper Class wealthy Americans that want to maintain the political status quo, including the toxic two-party duopoly.

That still leaves millions of true progressives, independents and just plain fed-up Americans, especially working- and middle-class Americans that feel the pain of an unjust economy poisoned by rising economic inequality.

So please, stop already with all the bitching, ranting and screaming about all the screwed up aspects of our current national calamity.  Anyone that is ready to join a revolution already knows about all the political, economic and social crap that has brought our beloved country down.  Start to focus on strategy and then on specific tactics.  We know who and what the enemies are.  If you want to take back OUR country, then concentrate on strategy and tactics, because what we face is not just winning an election – it is winning a war against political and economic elites and aristocrats that benefit from the current plutocracy and the two-party duopoly.  This means waging war over some years.

The only way to win this war is to gather strength through unifying large numbers of people behind a positive strategy.  As to what we must do strategically, here is an overview of what is in my new book Delusional Democracy: 

1. To counter our MISrepresentative government corrupted by money we must institute at all levels of government the Clean Money/Clean Elections approach to financing campaigns.
2. To counter ineffective MISrepresentative government we must advance various forms of direct democracy, for example citizen-driven ballot initiatives and measures at every level of government.
3. To attack the stranglehold of the two-party duopoly we must enact a number of electoral reforms and other actions that open the political arena to third parties.
4. To compel politicians and even some economic elites to respect the public interest and also reverse toxic economic inequality we the people must convert consumer power into political power.

I am trying to keep things simple for this venue.  Details on these strategies are in my book as is a statistical analysis that presents a compelling case why Americans that really want major changes – not bullshit cosmetic and incremental changes – can easily elect a third-party president.

Convert your anger, disgust, discontent and passion into positive and unified support for specific strategic and tactical measures for defeating our common enemies!!!  We must fight a war and win it with smart strategies and tactics.

Note: This article was first published by JUST Response on October 7 2006. Joel S. Hirschhorn can be reached through: www.delusionaldemocracy.com, where you can also learn about his new book Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government.

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