Posted on 11/22/2022 3:05:36 PM PST by Jacquerie
Most people's view of politics is shaped by the stifling limits of the two-party system. Politics is seen as something politicians do, which has little to do with "us."
The two parties, the Democrats and Republicans, appear, to quote Frederick Engels, as "two great gangs of political speculators, who alternately take possession of the state power and exploit it by the most corrupt means and for the most corrupt ends--and the nation is powerless against these two great cartels of politicians, who are ostensibly its servants, but in reality exploit and plunder it."
It should be no surprise, then, that most people detest politics--or that an estimated 93 million eligible voters didn't cast a ballot in the 2012 presidential election. There is a widespread recognition that the game is rigged--something colorfully expressed by Republican Sen. Boies Penrose in 1896, addressing big business: "I believe in the division of labor. You send us to Congress; we pass laws under which you make money...and out of your profits, you further contribute to our campaign funds to send us back again to pass more laws to enable you to make more money."
And yet, to the extent that ordinary people are awakened to a desire for social change, they will, at various points, turn toward electoral politics--witness the enthusiasm in Election 2016 for Bernie Sanders because his speeches address the concerns of ordinary people in a way rarely seen in U.S. politics.
At some point, people who want genuine change ask themselves: If governments set policies that serve the interests of business, then surely we must find ways to win policies that serve ordinary people. Who can we vote for who will represent us--our concerns and our demands--in Congress and in the White House, but at other levels of government as well?
But when ordinary people do turn to politics, they find that neither party seems to work in their interests. The Democrats and Republicans answer to the interests of what used to be called the "captains of industry"--the bankers, industrialists, traders, investors and other corporate bigwigs.
No matter which party is in power, the vast apparatus that administers the state is intimately connected to business interests through a revolving door of lobbyists, lawyers and so-called "regulatory" officials, who rotate between the state and private sectors.
There's even a special word for the way in which government agencies aimed ostensibly at regulating an industry end up advancing the interests of that industry--regulatory capture. The result is that, with few exceptions, officials are "naturally" committed to what is euphemistically called a "good business climate."
Of course, the parties aren't necessarily open about this. The Republican Party does sell itself as a friend of free enterprise. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, doesn't shout its cozy relationship with big business from the rooftops.
For example, Hillary Clinton just announced her support for the recent Verizon strike. But her whole résumé as a Democrat should remind us that this is political posturing, and not at all reflective of where her allegiances, nor those of the party she represent, lie. More telling is the fact that she netted $675,000 dollars for just three speaking engagements in front of Goldman Sachs executives--where, according to an observer of one of the events, she sounded, not at all surprisingly, "like a Goldman Sachs managing director."
Article from April 2016.
I read this without noticing the source. I don’t find much to disagree with. Will read the rest later.
I agree. Don’t know the author but the article says a lot of how I think 🤔.
Yes. It's why I posted it. We need to understand that government is its own interest.
Witness the Deep State these past seven years in its jihad against MAGA. Establishment GOP is no threat. We, the Deplorables, are the enemy of the state. The Deep State knows this and will only come down harder on us.
The GOP, indeed, no political party can restore free government.
That is up to us, We the People.
Agreed. That is a very thinly-veiled truth but not enough people have looked behind the veil. Or, they do know but are indifferent. I was just surprised that I have said what Engels said pretty much verbatim.
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