“Election” Shifts D.C. Even Further Toward Reactionary Right with Still More Gridlock on the Horizon (archive)

(archived from November 5, 2014)

by Scott Creighton

UPDATE: And the way for dems to compete next time around? Ignore your liberal base and make the “pragmatic” move by leaning further to the reactionary right:

In a media bubble where popular positions are often dismissed as politically dangerous by virtue of their progressive origins, pundits frequently press Democrats to embrace a roster of centrist positions that are actually unpopular. Indeed, as political strategist David Sirota pointed out (Washington Post, 6/11/06), pundit-approved Democrats frequently embrace politically unpopular ideas, from the Iraq War to NAFTA-style trade deals”  Fair.org

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Every couple of years, here in the states, we practice our special brand of “democracy” during which we are treated to a gaggle of millionaire and billionaire demagogues running around pretending to give a crap about the general population while simultaneously demonizing anyone who isn’t considered in their camp or the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, the disabled, labor unions, uppity teachers… well, you get the idea.

That’s not just one political party, that’s both. It’s called the Washington Consensus or the “Business Party” as I like to call it.

We have “elections” where folks supposedly get to choose between one super-rich member of the Business Party or the other or vote on various pieces of legislation on electronic voting machines. I’m not going to bother explaining my concerns over electronic voting machines. They are notoriously insecure and as one might understand when one learns they were pushed on us in 2002 by a Bush/Cheney plan called the “Help America Vote act” (after the 2000 was stolen by Bush/Cheney), they are insecure because they were designed to be insecure. For more info on that, go read BradBlog or Bev Harris’ site Black Box voting.

Yesterday we repeated our constitutionally mandated Kabuki Theater production of “freedom and democracy” and the results were understandably predictable:

 

“Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) won re-election on Tuesday, despite being one of the most unpopular governors in the country.” HuffPuff

“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) won re-election after a close race in which Democrats were holding out hope…” HuffPuff

Billionaire Rick “Scott, a former healthcare executive (who’s company stole billions making Rick rich) who was first elected in 2010, was considered one of the country’s most vulnerable governors after years of low approval ratings.” HuffPuff

“Ernst’s (R) campaign gained momentum after her television ad — in which she highlighted her background castrating hogs and her promise to cut pork spending in Washington, D.C.” HuffPuff

Those who serve the interests of the one party system remained in their positions and millionaires and billionaires, America’s oligarchs, were made governors so they can implement the Scott Walker austerity measures across the various states they now lord over. And the whole thing takes place without “serious” journalists even raising an eyebrow at the audacity of the reactionary coup.

But the exit polls always tell a slightly different story don’t they?

In the absence of a Democratic agenda to vote for, voters found something to vote against, registering their anger with the direction and structure of the economy. Attitudes measured in exit polls were negative in the extreme, with eight in 10 saying they were dissatisfied by the performance of Congress and 54 percent giving the thumbs down to Obama. A potent majority was unhappy with the U.S. economic system itself, with nearly two-thirds of voters saying it’s unfair and favors the wealthy and only 32 percent saying it’s fair to most people, a shift even since 2012. (One percent deemed the economy “excellent.”) HuffPuff

So the vast majority of the people understand the system is rigged against them by the ultra-rich … so what do they do? They elect the ultra-rich to positions where they can enact even more reactionary legislation. Makes sense right?

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who was recognized as being in danger, apparently did get the boot from voters, who picked Republican Bruce Rauner, a venture capitalist and self-proclaimed member of the “.01 percent.” Quinn hadn’t yet conceded as of early Wednesday morning. HuffPuff

According to the results, republicans maintained control of the House and took control of the senate. The numbers are now 44 dems to 52 republicans with independent and 3 races still undecided.

They also nearly swept the gubernatorial races across the country. Fifteen democrats won compared to 31 republicans.

I suppose we can be thankful that our reactionary masters don’t implement “democracy” over here in the same fashion they do in places like Iraq, Egypt, Ukraine and Libya though in many ways I think the cruelty of this method may be even more detrimental to our collective will. At least in those nations the population understands they’ve been subjected to coups by our “national interests” and their monstrous leaders, the technocrats and oligarchs are completely illegitimate. Here, we have to sit around wondering just how stupid our fellow Americans can possibly be, voting for the kinds of people we all know have only the interests of their shareholders and fellow oligarchs in mind. I guess that’s the real power of “Amercian Democracy” and it’s no wonder we are trying to impose it everywhere we can. Rick Scott and Charlie (used to be republican) Christ are now talking about bringing the state back together so they can work in a bi-partisan manner (Business Party). Yep, the Washington Consensus at work.

Sad day but we all knew it was coming.