Because You Never Asked

 

(2/11)

     The title of this essay is an obvious reference to the socio-political battle lines that have been more clearly defined in Wisconsin by Governor Scott Walker’s attempts to use budgetary concerns as an excuse to destroy unions, the political opposition, and, in a broader context, the Social Contract of a nation. Much of what I’m about to say has already been said in varying outlets of information, but it has been done in a piece meal fashion that does not frame the issue well enough for the progressive side. I’d like to bring it all together in a battle ready argument in this essay.

     The first thing that must be understood is the magnitude of this struggle. It is a life and death battle for the soul and identity of the United States of America . In the last few decades, the neo-con wing of American politics has been so successful in the stubborn pursuit of their goals that the end game is now in sight. A finishing neo-con victory in this universal battle embodied in what is happening in Wisconsin would result in what I’d refer to as “Corporate Fascism”. This is no joke. We are teetering on the brink.

     This has been an evolutionary process that began with Ronald Reagan’s emergence to the land. Many blows have been thrown but the first knockdown was scored recently with the “Citizens United” case, where a Supreme Court that has been methodically  infiltrated by neo-con ideologs, has given corporations unlimited reach into the electoral process (for more, see essay “The End of Democracy”). This is extremely significant in a political system that demands huge sums of money to run for office. It has left the progressive elements of American life jelly legged and woozy. They are on the ropes and the neo-cons are going in for the knockout.

     What is ironic about this struggle is how America ’s extreme right (that seems to be the only “right” left in America ) has profited from an economic disaster of Depression-like qualities. Such financial cataclysm, historically speaking, has usually resulted in a leftward drift, and, indeed, perhaps it did in this case with the election of Obama in 2008. But his leadership has been so tepid, the neo-cons have been able to outmaneuver America ’s left. Once again, this conjures up the name of Rupert Murdoch. For the first time in American history, one side of the political spectrum has a propaganda outlet in the form of a huge media conglomerate. If one is to fully understand post-Vietnam American history, this “axis of evil” embodied in Reagan-Murdoch must be fully recognized. I defy anyone to say post Ronny-Rupert America is a better place than its predecessor. This is a line that must be drawn in American history if we are to ever recover from its wreckage.

     By now it is rather transparent this idea of fiscal, budgetary necessity is being used as a smokescreen to defang the political opposition. What Governor Walker is doing is a political maneuver, not a fiscal maneuver. It is also transparent that Wisconsin is a microcosm of a national Republican strategy to destroy not just an important financial arm of the Democratic Party, but, more importantly, the nucleus of its organizational capacity. How to fight back?

     If it is understood, as it should be, that Wisconsin represents a universal struggle rather than a local one; if it is understood that Wisconsin represents a struggle to preserve a dignified social order throughout the world of modern corporate capitalism, then the progressives resisting this neo-con onslaught must frame their arguments in universal terms. This is big. It has nothing to do with the minutiae of the numbers in Wisconsin, and, if the “resistance” is properly constructing their point of view, nothing about the particulars in Wisconsin or any other state should be uttered. It should never be forgotten these budgetary shortfalls and fiscal “crises”, regardless of whatever degree of veracity they entail; regardless of the solutions that could be used to solve the problem, are being used by the neo-cons as an excuse to destroy both their political opposition and a social order not to their specifications. Talking about the numbers, or the money, or anything else having to do with the accounting voodoo of any of these local battles, is nothing more than taking your eye off the ball and should be taboo for the “resistance”. It is a trap they should not be lured into because it would make them have to argue in neo-con terms. Don’t go there!

     The first and most fundamental question the “resistance” should be asking --- and this should be the foundation for both their denial of the neo-con rhetoric and the propagation of other solutions --- is WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS FISCAL CRISIS? Is it the little people in their unions with their “exorbitant” salaries? Is it their pensions and health care plans? Is that what caused these budgetary crises?

     Get real!

     We all know who caused this universal financial crisis. We all know who brought this whole global economy down. We all know why there is not nearly enough tax revenue to balance these budgets anymore. Even though we all know, somehow, because of the way in which people like Governor Scott Walker are allowed to frame this debate, it is necessary to refresh our collective memories:

     It was the gazillionaires at the top of the private sector that took us all down with their reckless and even criminal behavior (I guess William Holder, Esq., Attorney General of the United States , is still on vacation). And who does the bidding of these private sector gazillionaires in the halls of government? What politicians are most funded by these gazillionaires? What politicians most share their ideology and self interest? I’ll tell you who --- people like Gov. Scott Walker ( Rep. Wis.), people like Gov. Chris Christie ( Rep. N.J.), like Gov. John Kasich (Rep. OH.), Gov. Mitch Daniels ( Rep. IND), Gov. Rick Scott (Rep. FL.), and the rest of the GOP lineup. And what is this “ideology” (which is really just a smokescreen for self interest)? Don’t regulate. Don’t oversee. The government should stay out of it. Let the private sector function with as little oversight as possible. Let the “market” take care of it.

     And the market took care of it, boy did it ever!

     So whose fault is it? At this point I’d like to call in my good friend and retired officer from the Starship Enterprise, Mr. Spock. Mr. Spock has been examining the facts in this case and will render his completely objective, thoroughly logical verdict.

     “So Spock, whose fault is it”?

     “Well, if we apply good logic to the facts of this case, it is obvious people like Governor Scott Walker and the ideology they represent caused this financial crisis”.

     “Thank you Spock --- “

     “But one thing bothers me. It seems many of the Democrats, in the last decades or so, went along with this, which would seem illogical”.

     “Ah, good point Spock. For sure, many of our respected, so called center-left politicians have colluded in all this, or, if you may, have been bought off as well. Not all of them, but enough to allow the neo-con agenda to move forward. But the important thing to remember is not who, but what. What has been enabled in American politics is the methodical advancement of the neo-con ideology. In the end, it is the ideology that must be turned back. It is the ideology causing the damage”.

     Spock nods slowly, digesting the information. “Yes, logical, completely logical”.

     So this is the bedrock of the progressive argument: IT WAS YOUR FAULT GOVS. WALKER-CHRISTIE-KASICH-DANIELS-SCOTT, not those humble public workers you are trying to destroy.

     So Gov. Walker and his ilk blow up the global economy and what happens next? The rest of us, including all those workers the Governor claims are the problem, loan them more than a trillion dollars to get them back on their feet again. And it works, at least for “them”. Wall Street, the benefactor and ideological brother of Govs. Walker et. al., is back in business, turning huge profits and handing out millions of dollars in personal bonuses to the same dudes that caused the crisis. And yet, somehow or other, this bounty of wealth is not “trickling down” to the rest of us.

     But you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Here’s the good part: Govs. Walker-Christie-Kasich-Daniels-Scott refuse to tax their uber rich buddies, in fact, quite frequently, they lower their tax rates!

     “Huh? We just gave you more than a trillion dollars; you won’t help us out with the financial mess you created, and you want us to pay even more”!?

     “Sorry, if you tax our gargantuan fortunes, it will un-stimulate the economy”.

     “So you want us to give up our pensions, our health care, our ‘exorbitant’ salaries --- “

     “C’mon, you coddled teachers don’t even work in July and August”.

     “Yeah, but you guys make more in one week than we do in ten months trying to deal with 30 hormonal ogres in a classroom”.

     “I’d say 40 by next year”.

     An uneasy silence ensues. A desperate progressive speaks up, “Mr. Spock, does this seem right to you”?

     Spock doesn’t hesitate, “No, totally illogical. When those responsible for this financial disaster receive more than a trillion dollars from everyone else so they can go on making huge sums of money without being asked to give anything back and then ask everyone else to give them more in the form of decreased salaries, pensions, health care and such so that the society, other than themselves, can function on a much lower level, that is totally illogical. My research has also shown that the idea of lowering rich people’s taxes in order to benefit everyone else is illogical. In fact, it is even more illogical that you are debating this. Quite logically, I can only assume humans are a substandard species”.

     Did somebody say “health care”? When it comes to budgetary short falls, ballooning debts and the tsunami of ruin coming to drown our children and grandchildren, health care is the alpha-male hippo in the room. Govs. Walker-Christie-Kasich-Daniels-Scott will bitch and moan like John McEnroe when discussing the skyrocketing costs of health care and how we simply cannot afford this slimy pulp of bloody abortive material anymore. If we don’t get serious about not healing the sick --- we are doomed.

     But I have a question. Why do we spend so much more on health care than any other developed nation and get such poor results ( America ’s last ranking amongst nations for the general health of its populace was 37^th)? Why? Because people like Govs. Walker-Christie-Kasich-Daniels-Scott have stood in the way of every attempt at an efficient, contemporary form of universal health care in this country since the days of Harry Truman. They work for their insurance-drug company benefactors, as they always have, and now they come to us and say we can’t afford it. They caused the problem and want the rest of us to sacrifice even more! Sound familiar?

     So here is the progressive argument in its most digestible form: this financial debacle was not our fault, it was the fault of neo-con thinking in its purest form. It created a global economy whose liabilities now far outweigh its assets and the rest of us who fix their toilets and cut their lawns had to loan them almost everything we had to get them rolling again on Wall Street. Without hardly missing a swallow of Dom Perignon, they started making millions and billions all over again, but still refuse to give anything back to the rest of us in an attempt to close the budgetary gaps their actions created. Instead, they want the rest of us to sacrifice even more (and they still want us to fix their toilets and cut their lawns). You can ram that up your fat asses Govs. Walker-Christie-Kasich-Daniels-Scott!!!

     “Mr. Spock, is that a fair argument”?

     “Logical, quite logical, except for the last sentence which seems to be something metaphorical, a concept my alien mind has never been able to grasp --- but I like it in spite of its illogical qualities”.