Corporatist Oligarchs Have Bamboozled the People

Knowing how I believe that few, if any, differences exist between Repubs and Dems (at the highest levels of politics), a CA friend sent me an email showing what he believes are some of the differences.  He ended by asking if I knew of any Repub in favor of the $15 minimum wage.  My response (slightly edited) is found below.

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Not 100% sure, but I think Senator Susan Collins is for $15 per hour.  Many other Repubs AND many Dems are for a raise to $10 - $12, rather than $15.  [Side Note:  In only a two-person household in 1992, I was making $15 an hour...

and barely scraping by back then.  $15/hour is almost nothing nowadays.]

But none of that proves anything; it's like not seeing the forest because of individual trees.  In general, & in the larger scope of things, today's major Parties both are dictatorial in their running of each Party and they're both Corporatist in nature.  They both marginalize any truly Populist candidates, and they kow-tow to Wall Street.

In my opinion, the whole current Repub v. Dem thing is a complete sham...a Divide & Conquer strategy by Oligarchs.  That wasn't true in the past, but it is now.  No one ever will convince me otherwise.  The last genuine Populist to run for national office was George McGovern in 1972.  Sanders is better than most, but I think his attitude toward things like Drone Wars & Foreign Policy in general, stinks.  Even Rand Paul, a blatant Corporatist, has a better Foreign Policy view than Sanders.  Paul is much more of a non-interventionist than almost anyone in DC.  He has been marginalized almost totally because of it.  The same thing happened to Dennis Kucinich on the Dem side.  

Both Dems & Repubs in the top slots want American Hegemony to continue forever.  They all believe we should be the world's Police Force.  Forget about the U.S. Constitution and International Law.  According to the Republicrats & the Demopublicans, the U.S. Gov't can order the overthrow of any Gov't, change any regime, place sanctions on any country, and bomb any nation it so chooses.  It's insanity. 

No-Sir, in the big picture, there's hardly any difference at all between Dems & Repubs at the highest levels when it comes to really significant issues.  In the rare cases when there is a difference on a significant issue, it's usually because one or the other has given in to overwhelming popular protest...but their core, Corporatist beliefs have not changed.  Politicians are sleazy & deceitful that way.

That's how I see it, anyway.  Forty years ago, things were different... but not anymore.  The political paradigm has changed completely.  Unfortunately, most Americans seem to be stuck in the old paradigm of Repubs v. Dems, Right v. Left, etc.  That exists in name only... and is a testament to how thoroughly the Oligarchs have bamboozled the People.

As I've said many times, the new political paradigm is:  the Oligarchy v. the rest of us.  In socioeconomic terms, the Lower Class is growing larger, the Middle Class is shrinking, and the Upper class has increased its income by 700% in the last 30 years.  The two major political Parties are no longer relevant... except as Edward Bernays style Propaganda.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Non-Democratic Democratic Party Elections and Republican Losers

Here's some food for thought regarding the 2016 elections.

1.  As of the morning of June 10 (Friday), at least two million votes had not yet been counted in Tuesday's California Primary Election.  Hillary Clinton "won" that election by about 440,000 votes... that is to say, she "won" it without at least 2,000,000 votes being counted.  Do the math.  How do we know she won... maybe, maybe not.  Even though she's way ahead in the total delegate count, this situation matters because declaring her the winner prematurely adds to her campaign's momentum... perhaps falsely.  It also may influence Superdelegates to the detriment of the Sanders campaign.  Finally, it simply shouldn't happen... the election/vote count is not over.  Is this democracy in action?  No, this is closer to Fascism in action.

2.  All over the country, people have participated in Primary Elections, casting their votes for the candidates of their choice.  In reality, they are electing pledged delegates to a political convention.  And yet, when that convention (for the Democrats) takes place relatively soon, 15% of the participating delegates will be unelected; they are the Superdelegates, the Party Elites.  They had nothing whatsoever to do with the Primary Election process.  No citizen voted for them in the Primaries.  They will pledge to a particular candidate for other, essentially unknown reasons.  Fifteen percent may sound small, but it's a significant number.  Is this democracy in action?  I think not.  Instead, this is a goofy, non-democratic process concocted by the Democrats after the McGovern loss back in the early 1970's.  The People chose McGovern as their candidate, he lost BIG-TIME, and the Dem Party hierarchy vowed that type of thing would never happen again.  [In other words, they decided that the ignorant public cannot be trusted to solely select the candidate; they need help from the experts in these matters:]  That's how Democrats wound up with 15% unelected delegates.

3.  Add to the above the fact that there have been irregularities in the Democratic Party Primaries in several other States... Iowa, New York, New Hampshire... just to name a few.  Add to that the very odd decision of the Democratic Party hierarchy to have very few debates and to drastically cut the number of participants in those debates early on in the process.  Finally, there are the decisions of the Corporate Media to give the Sanders campaign the smallest amount of coverage of any major candidate... by a large margin.  This despite the fact that he generated massive rallies and interest.  It should be obvious that something fishy is going on here.  [Attention "Conservatives":  so much for the "Liberal Media" (who is more "Liberal" than Sanders?); they are Neoliberal, and those two categories are polar opposites.  Wake up.]

4.  As to the Republicans, it's fairly clear that the Republican Party hierarchy wants to lose the election in November.  I've been following national elections in this great Land very closely ever since 1956.  In all that time, there has never been a Primary season more mishandled by a specific Party than this one by the Repubs.  The Democrats and McGovern came close, but this year & the Repubs get the cigar.

5.  The moneyed interests want Hillary, and barring unforeseen events, that's who they're going to get.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Corporatism Wins Again: The Primaries, Trump, Clinton, Sanders, and Voters

Preface
I'm not a supporter of Trump, Sanders, or Clinton.  Even if any of their supposed Populism is genuine (& with two of them, I'm sure it isn't...with Sanders, I don't know), I don't believe it's possible anymore for a President to significantly change the rotten, corrupt State-Corporate System.  I think all national elections should be boycotted.  I mention all this only so you will know that I'm not biased in favor of any of the candidates.
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Here's one way that Corporatists have hornswoggled much of the American populace in this Primary election.  The night before the largest Primary election in the country (CA), the Associated Press and NBC both announce that Clinton IS the presumptive nominee of the Democrats.  That's a message to the unelected Superdelegates:  get on board with Hillary.  It's also a message to Sanders supporters:  you're wasting your time...stop being "spoilers".  The fact is:  even after the CA election, Clinton still doesn't have enough firmly pledged, elected delegates to be the Democratic nominee.  I imagine she will get the nomination, but that will be due to the unelected Superdelegates.  She has been courting them since her loss to Obama back when.

Here's another way that Corporatists have hornswoggled much of the American populace.  Trump is a candidate who normally would be shunned by the Corporate Media...because of his narrow views, because he apparently has no depth regarding proposed policies, because he appears to have little understanding of anything governmental, social, or economic, because he trumps Dubya Bush when it comes to putting his foot in his mouth, in short--- because he isn't a serious candidate.  The Corporate Media have embraced him (so to speak) because he's a money-maker for them.  The President of CBS (or CEO, or something) smilingly stated that.  That's why the Corporate Media have given him probably three times the coverage of any other candidate---Repub or Dem---in this whole Primary season.

People in the Shadow Government (a well-established concept by both the Right and the Left) must be tickled to death.  Those Corporatists want Clinton as President.  That's because she's a strong Wall Street, Mega Bank supporter and a fierce War Hawk & Perpetual War supporter.  That means more money & Power for them.  They know that Trump will be slaughtered in the November election.  But even if he isn't, even if by some miracle he wins, the Corporatists won't care...he's one of them.  They prefer Clinton only because Trump appears to be unstable, somewhat of a wild card.  Most of the time, it's difficult to determine exactly what he really believes.  The only thing they know for sure is that he's not any kind of Populist.  That's good enough for them.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The American Empire and the Democrat Hawks

Yes, the Republicans (in general) are Hawks, too; but this is about the Democrats.

See the last featured piece on the news broadcast of DemocracyNow.org for May 3, 2016.  The title is something like, "Clinton is a Legendary Hawk"; the interview is with Jeremy Scahill (NYT best-selling author) & Glenn Greenwald (Pulitzer Prize in journalism), both co-founders of TheIntercept.com.  They discuss the foreign policy Hawks, Obama, Clinton, & Sanders...and the Democratic Party Establishment that supports a militaristic foreign policy.

Misinformation & outright Propaganda have resulted in much public support for a militarized U.S. foreign policy that is not only unAmerican, but unethical, immoral, & illegal as well.  Never mind that the Corporatist, Crony Capitalist, Super-Rich are the primary beneficiaries.  

The lesser of two evils is still evil.  The game is rigged...don't play.  Boycott all national elections...it doesn't much matter who is in high office.  [If you absolutely can't give up the opium of the masses (voting), then at least vote for a worthy Third Party candidate.]

The probability is very high that sometime (no one knows when) after the election, one of two things---or both---will happen:  an Economic/Financial Crash and/or a major War.  [Of course, they possibly could happen before the election, but I doubt it.]

The "international financial coterie", to which Professor Carroll Quigley (Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown U.) referred, will oversee the aftermath...elected U.S. politicians will not.  [It's not a "conspiracy"; it's simply political reality.]

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Corrupt

I didn't support his political candidacy, and I don't agree with most of his political stances.  Nevertheless---

From Ben Carson:  "Our political system is corrupt...both Democrats and Republicans...corrupt to the core.".  You may call his statement sour grapes if you wish, but the man is correct.

Don't play a Rigged Game.  Either boycott national elections, or vote for a worthy Third Party candidate.  That message to the Establishment would be heard...if enough people chose one of those options.  Stop being a "True Believer" in the dictatorial, Two-Party Monopoly.  That Monopoly has brought us to where we are today.  Shun it.  That's one method of bringing about a peaceful, political revolution.

For you Sanders supporters, sorry, but he won't get the nomination.  After the massive McGovern defeat, the Democrat Hierarchy set up policies & procedures to ensure that would never happen again... "that" being a Populist getting the nomination.  For you Trump supporters, Romney is correct--- Trump is a phony.  [So is Romney, but that's another story.]  The Donald is not a Populist.  Even if he gets the nomination, he'll easily be defeated (barring unforeseen circumstances) by Clinton.  He's a Corporatist (like her), but his idiocy will be rejected by the vast majority of voters.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Here's One Way Elections Are RIGGED in the USA

In the NH Democrat Primary, Sanders essentially slaughtered Clinton.  He should have received the bulk of the nominating delegates; instead, the delegates were evenly split between the two candidates.  That's because the "superdelegates" [unelected (in the Primary) Party Elites] don't want Sanders as the nominee; they voted for Clinton...most NH voters be damned.  What a farce.

That scenario clearly demonstrates that elections here are rigged in a subtle way... and that's only one of the ways.  The Democrat Party Elites don't want Sanders to run in November.  They will do everything possible to make certain he doesn't.  It won't matter one iota how many votes he receives in the Primaries.

Republicans do the same thing, but to a lesser degree...they have fewer so-called "superdelegates".

Don't perpetuate a Rigged Game...boycott national elections.  When you vote for the lesser of two evils, you still get evil.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well