Must Read: An Interview With Mike Lofgren, Author of "The Party Is Over"

[trof]

Mike Lofgren spent twenty-eight years working in Congress, the last sixteen as a senior analyst on the House and Senate Budget committees, which gave him ringside seats on the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, debates on the Pentagon budget and the amazing antics of various deficit-reduction commissions. His "coming out" article as a citizen, "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult," garnered over a million views on Truthout. Lofgren has expanded on the insights of that article in his just-issued book, "The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted." Lofgren talked about the current situation with Truthout's Leslie Thatcher in a recent email exchange:

Excerpt:
"Of course people like the Koch brothers or Sheldon Adelson are engaging in a rational exercise to maximize their wealth. Their contributions will come back manifold in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, and exclusive franchises. The primary purpose of the GOP these days is to provide tax breaks and other financial advantages (such as not regulating pollution and other socially costly externalities) to their wealthy donor base. All the rest of their platform, all the culture wars stuff, is simply rube bait.

Since the GOP is loath to tell the public in straightforward terms what their economic agenda is, and the media are not exactly forcing the GOP's hand, and, finally, the people are operating in a knowledge deficit, Republicans respond by sleight of hand: "We're more American than that Kenyan socialist in the White House!" Or "The Obama administration is riddled with Muslim extremists." Or "Planned Parenthood is taxpayer-subsidized murder." Or "Obama wants to take away your guns." Even "Obama raised your taxes," when in fact he lowered them. Stuff that is not terribly persuasive to well-informed people, but a lot of people are surprisingly ill-informed, and very few institutions - the corporate media least of all - have any interest in their being well-informed."
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10661-stone-cold-sober-an-interview-with-mike-lofgren-author-of-the-party-is-over

[xchrom]

1. our Dystopian Present. nt

[think]

2. Kick and Rec!

[stupidicus]

3. that sums it up somewhat nicely

I've been arguing since the early days of the Pee Party rise, that it was all about moving the already off center ideological dividing line further to the right, as a last hurrah for the monied interests.

It's rather obvious that they and their political masterminds have long been aware of the threats to the size of their coffers coming on several fronts. To name a few -- the health care problem, AGW, income inequality and all the problems that produces, and all of which will require dreaded socialistic solutions. Compounding their problems, there's also that looming brown demographic tsunami they associate with the very same "socialism" they dread. They are (and have been) trying to maximize the size of their coffers now so as to keep it healthy once events dictate it be eroded to maintain social order, much as they were accepting of before the New Deal..

It's kinda like the way they bought their tickets in 2012, minus the earth shattering.

The reason they've been able to get away with all of this, is because of the "liberal" media myth. We can hardly expect their partners in crime to be revealing the conspiracy they are a part of, now can we? The simple fact of the matter is, the truth is an existential threat to that crew, and the monkey wrench in their plans. The only unanswered question in my mind, is whether the pursuit of media ownership by lefty interests starting decades ago was simply a strategic or tactical error, or whether it's indicative of the fact that there simply is an insufficient enough amount of money with lefty interests left in this country to stand against the fascism/oligarchy, plutarchy -- whatever you wanna call it -- to prevent our serfhood.

I'd argue based on how far the dems have shifted rightward on so much in recent decades, that the goal sought long ago is reaching fruition.

[Duppers]

4. K & R

It is a must read.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. K&R

Well worth the read.

[BOG PERSON]

6. that's right

the good years are over. we can look forward to stagnation, austerity, or world war. or all three. i dont know.