It's been over two years since I've posted anything on this blog, and over three since any sort of political topic has emerged. Yet, I find myself interested on doing just that: Commenting on the state of our nation and government as I currently view it.
To begin, since I last posted I've rejected my involvement with the Republican party, realigning as a disenchanted independent with a mixture of libertarian and socialist leanings. So be aware, this will not be partisan propaganda, but a general rant against the 'system.'
If you haven't already seen the documentary, "Inequality for All" by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, I highly recommend it, as it lays out much of what I'm about to argue in beautiful detail.
Where many, particularly those on the political right, see government involvement as the problem, I see it as the sabotaged solution. It is well understood that the primary political concept behind representative democracy is that of power residing with the people (the Latin terms from which we derive the word republic, res publica, in fact means 'public affair'), the government being the representation of the people's will. As such, when our government goes awry, it is our responsibility to bring it to heel, to bend it to our collective will and assert our authority over it. We are not doing this, and haven't been effectively doing so for decades. Thus, what we see now is closer to that of plutocratic oligarchy, or rule by a wealthy few.
Terrible recent Supreme Court decisions the likes of Citizens United, McCutcheon and Hobby Lobby are exacerbating the problem, and it's about time we collectively 'wake up'. We the People need to once again see our government as truly ours, its primary purpose to provide for the people before the interests of those who saw fit to effectively purchase our system. Despite the misinformation, corruption and ineffective spending habits such programs are oft known for, we need to first view Medicare, Social Security, public universities, public health services and similar institutions as ours, causes we collectively chose to contribute to, and react to our government accordingly. The progressive tax rates, introduction of the minimum wage, public services and infrastructure projects of the New Deal and Great Society modern Koch-bothers-inspired libertarians and tea-party-ers appear to disdain were, in point of fact, products of a far superior age in American politics.
As many know, following the second World War, the American middle class expanded profoundly. College graduation rates soared, home ownership skyrocketed and the very basis of modern middle class living was built on the subsidized education, housing and interstate system of the ingenious, notably socialist-inspired New Deal of the FDR era. American buying power boomed throughout the post-war period all the way up to 1978, when a mere handful years after the dollar was taken off the gold standard (official in 1973), inflation, falling union participation, poor economic policies on the part of the federal government and the altogether falling out of favor of FDR-inspired policies led to the Reagan-esque, pro-big business, ridiculously out-of-balance spending and wealth inequality we see today.
From systematically lessening funding for everything from Veteran's Affairs to higher education and public health services the likes of the FDA and CDC for years, our government, particularly the right as of late, remains determined to tell us that cutting such spending is in our best interest, yet condemns these same institutions when they fail to act as desired. Proclaiming the injustice of ineffective government while extolling the 'virtues' of private industry, many of our elected officials would and do prevent effective public services (and by extension public support for those services) for the purposes of their donors and agendas, rather than legitimately serving the People.
We can apparently afford to launch poorly-planned, sustained wars for over a decade, subsidize every major industry from oil to pharmaceuticals to the point of many such companies paying a negative tax rate and even bail out a prolifically corrupt financial system with tax-payer funds. Yet, we can't any longer afford to properly fund our universities, public health organizations or veterans whom fought for us in said wars? It couldn't be much more clear wealthy donors and political maneuvering take precedence over the People.
To summarize, both primary political parties are generally terrible at a federal (and often state) level. A number of ill-advised Supreme Court decisions made over several decades has allowed corporate America to dominate our government in a manner not seen since the early 1900s. Wealth inequality is at levels not seen since before the Great Depression, supposedly tax-and-spend policies are not aimed at the middle and working classes to anywhere near the degree they were in decades past, yet we're still told so emphatically that government is the problem. Ultimately, it's not: we're the problem.
We have not held our government accountable, and we've allowed our major media networks to convince us we should be fighting with each other over far less important issues. We the People must begin to see our current political environment as a contest between the majority of us and the billionaire, power-broker classes, not between Democrats and Republicans or conservatives and liberals. Our great grandparents figured this out back in the 1930s (it only took the Great Depression), and after proper policies were in place we experienced the emergence of the largest and most prolific middle class in the world. I want that back, we all want it back, and taking our government back is how we start.
