'America is now officially for sale'

[Newsjock]

Source: The Independent (UK)
By Johann Hari

The laws and policies of the legislature of the United States of America are now effectively on e-Bay, for sale to the highest bidder. Are you a Wall Street boss who wants to party like it’s 2007? Are you a Big Coal baron who wants to burn, baby, burn? Are you an insurance company that wants to be able to kick sick people off your rolls? Meet John Boehner, the most powerful Republican and soon-to-be Speaker of the House. But – of course! – you already have.

... This is the story of the modern Republican Party. They use the cultural signifiers of the good people of Middle America to get their emotional identification, meanwhile they pillage Middle America and redistribute its wealth to the rich. Sarah Palin is the queen of this cause. She presents herself as a warrior for hockey moms and Momma Grizzlies, while spreading fictions to stop those very people supporting social programs that could save their lives: remember her claim that Obama’s healthcare plan involved setting up “death panels” to execute the old and disabled? Her true slogan is Shill, Baby, Shill.

This is all made easy for Republicans by the fact that most of the Democratic Party slithers in the same trough of corruption, begging from the same billionaires and corporations, and so can deliver only a tiny notch more for ordinary Americans. This makes left-liberal ideas look discredited, when in truth they are largely discarded. To name just one: the very high unemployment in the US has been presented by Republicans as proof that economic stimulus doesn’t work. But in reality, Obama’s stimulus was appallingly small, and was counter-balanced by the fact that the individual states were slashing spending and laying people off. Once you add the two together, there has been no net stimulus in the US economy at all.

The essence of the Tea Party – and the relevance of ‘A Face In The Crowd’ – can be seen most plainly in Glenn Beck. Just over a decade ago, he was a drug-taking, pro-abortion, perpetually drunk DJ on morning radio. One of his famous “pranks” was to ring up the wife of a radio-show rival a few days after she had a miscarriage and taunt her about her loss. But then he stumbled into political commentary. After 9/11, Beck began to articulate a blubbery, blubbering hysteria, calling for the shooting of Michael Moore and the poisoning of Nancy Pelosi. He announced that any government program helping ordinary Americans was a step towards “communism”, and prophesied: “The country may not survive Barack Obama? If he does fundamentally transform America, we’re done. You don’t have to worry about a 2012.” He shot up to be the second highest rated show in cable news, and assembled hundreds of thousands to a rally on the Mall. At times seems quite conscious of the manipulation: “They’re getting so tired of me saying there’s a Marxist in the White House, I gotta take it up a notch,” he reportedly said to one private audience.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-america-is-now-officially-for-sale-2125447.html

[Kennah]

1. I disagree

It's sold

[progressoid]

2. Yep. It was sold a loooong time ago.

[City Lights]

5. Yup.

:cry:

[rhett o rick]

3. It's been sold. nm

[CrispyQ]

4. All that's left is for them to figure out how to steal the little the rest of us have.

They're doing a pretty fine job of that, as well.

[rhett o rick]

6. It's easy. They borrow money from China on our credit card. nm