Both Parties Serving Their Corporate Masters

As I watch the debt-ceiling crisis play out in Washington, I am more fully convinced than ever of what I have long suspected: Democrats and Republicans are in cahoots. They make a show out in public of having rival world views--the Dems profess to uphold the interests of the common man, and are for justice and caring for the sick, the elderly, and the poor, while the Reps are siding with the wealthy and big business. But they're playing on the same team behind the scenes. In the end, after the Dems have said all kinds of sweet things about the social contract and shared sacrifice and making the rich give back some of what they've stolen from the rest of us, they cave to whatever it is the Reps want.

So in a sense both parties win, that is, if by winning you mean winning another election, not winning in the sense of helping their country or their fellow citizens. The Dems win by making nice speeches, as Obama is so good at doing, and the voters who just look to their words and not their deeds will vote for them again come election day, while the Reps win by appearing to have the upper hand, bringing those wimpy Dems to heel. So they both "win" with their constituencies, and they both win behind the seen in the form of campaign contributions from the super-rich and the mega-corporations.

And so it is with the debt ceiling. Obama has said a lot of strong words, railing against the rich, claiming that everyone has to sacrifice. His sheeple will only remember his words when it comes time to cast their vote in 2012. They'll have it in their heads that he "stood up" to the Reps, when I would bet money that all those hours he has spent behind closed doors with congressional leaders has been spent playing video games or talking about their golf games or chuckling about what nonsense they're going to tell the American people when they emerge from behind the closed doors.

It's all show. All smoke and mirrors. The point is not to fix the economy or create jobs or balance the budget or tax the rich or make cuts. The aim is to destroy the economy. The aim is to create what is being called neo-medievalism, the death of the nation-state and the full control of the world by various corporate lords. The question is: Will Americans rise up against this tyrrany, as have Iceland and Greece, or will we go quietly and without complaint into poverty, decline, and collapse?