The current partisan political fiasco in Washington, D.C. is merely a further indicator of how corrupt, divisive and counterproductive partisan politics is.
That's why the Dictionary defines a Partisan as "an adherent or supporter of a person, party or cause, especially one who shows a biased, unthinking allegiance."
That is so true, and the sad fact is that in America the term "bipartisan" merely means that both the "lesser of two evils" and the worst of the two agree on ways to serve the interests of the wealthiest few while pretending to serve all of us.
Granted, many if not most politicians begin their careers with good intentions. But power corrupts, and those in power are temped by those who bribe and flatter them. And inevitably partisan politician must by hypocritical to the extent that they claim to serve all the American people when they actually serves their party and those who support them.
That's why the Dictionary defines a Partisan as "an adherent or supporter of a person, party or cause, especially one who shows a biased, unthinking allegiance."
That is so true, and the sad fact is that in America the term "bipartisan" merely means that both the "lesser of two evils" and the worst of the two agree on ways to serve the interests of the wealthiest few while pretending to serve all of us.
Granted, many if not most politicians begin their careers with good intentions. But power corrupts, and those in power are temped by those who bribe and flatter them. And inevitably partisan politician must by hypocritical to the extent that they claim to serve all the American people when they actually serves their party and those who support them.
Moreover, while one party, the lesser of the two evils, does try to serve the interests of the middle class, the working poor, the elderly and others who need our help, the worst party serves mainly the wealthiest few and must resort to misleading and deceptive rhetoric, and, when that is not enough,to unreasonable obstructionist tactics and even extortion to get their way.
Therefore, this is to say that we really need to alter and reform our political economic system in order to share political power, rather than fight for power over each other, because we cannot have a truly united nation and we cannot have a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people, as long as we are perpetually in conflict and divided by a counterproductive partisan political system with its competition for the throne of presidential power and control of Congress.
Obviously the U.S. Government does not serve our interests. Instead it favors and entitles the wealthiest few (regardless of which party wins). Therefore, we should fulfill our right and duty to alter and reform our government, claim our divine inheritance as equal joint heirs, and establish government that actually represent all of us, at long last.
Remember, in 1861 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln said: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Lincoln said that as the national union was being broken by Southern states, which led to the Civil War. And Lincoln was of course quoting Jesus of Nazareth, who was speaking not only of a house as we think of it, but also as a nation (as Isaiah did speaking of the Jewish nation being the "House of Jacob").
Lincoln and The Civil War (1861-1865) are relevant to this discussion because that war changed America. Its impact and repercussions have been felt ever since (particularly in the last half of the 20th Century to the present). It originally made partisan political conflict and division worse and it set back rather than furthered progress toward real democracy in America -- and it still does.
Granted, the great American experiment in trying to establish democracy has produced some successes in getting the people to pull together democratically toward the common good, but those successes were only partial, and they have not lasted long.
For example, in 1800 Thomas Jefferson's and James Madison’s Democratic Republican Party won a fiercely contested election over very wealthy banking and corporate interests, but gradually and steadily over time the power of money prevailed again.
In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt's Democratic Party won an easier election over a very corrupt wealthiest few and their banking and corporate interests, but even though his successes were more concrete and gradually made America and its middle class great, it wasn't very long before Roosevelt's legacy began to be damaged and put in jeopardy. In fact, right-wing ideologues have been trying to destroy it for the last 60 years, and particularly for the last 30 years.
In other words, even though conscientious democratic ideals prevail once in a while, the political pendulum of partisan politics keeps swinging back, because right-wing partisan political demagogues keep figuring out how to dupe enough of the American people to get elected. They have become more and more clever and cunning at misleading, dividing and conquering, simply ignoring what is true and good and instead appealing to the ego, pride and prejudices of gullible people, and pretending to serve all the people when they actually serve the wealthiest few.
That is why America has become terribly and bitterly divided and in conflict, and partisan politics merely exacerbates and perpetuates the conflict and division, rather than resolving it. That's why the people are divided into two main opposing sides, and even into more extremely partisan factions, and are prevented from standing together on common ground. And that is why there seems to be no hope for peace, or harmony, or cooperation, or collaboration.
That is where we stand now, apart and at odds, and we all should realize why.
It's because too many people cannot see the truth because they have not learned the lessons of history, or simply refuse to face it. They unwittingly repeat the mistakes of the past because they have been misled by corrupt, self-important, self-righteous political leaders who have colluded with hypocritical right-wing “religious” leaders. They cling to and push a "Dominionist" imperial world view. They believe their political party and their religion entitles them to rule, but while they masquerade as religious patriots, they actually serve themselves and Mammon, betraying both God and the Founders of their nation.
Is it not partisan to say that. It is righteous truth exposing greed, hypocrisy and bigotry. The truth must prevail over half-truths and falsehoods that are sold as truth. Good must prevail over evil that masquerades as good. And when good people are silent, greedy scoundrels taking refuge in patriotism and hypocrites taking refuge in religiosity take over and rule. That's what has happened, and that's why we are in this terrible predicament.
Even though humanity has evolved somewhat beyond prehistoric times when men fought with clubs to become chief of their tribe, now the greedy, self-important, power-hungry few use money as their club. And since the modern form of democracy based on partisan politics became well established by 1800 in America, Americans have not advanced much in that regard, and recently, in certain respects Americans have regressed.
Americans are divided and ruled by partisans who wage a war of words to defeat their competitors and gain power over them. And we still don’t have free choice. Rather, we are faced with choices, and we have to choose sides and join opposing political camps. Thus, after every election we are still hopelessly divided and become either winners or losers in a winner-take-all battle for the “throne.”
Now we should realize why that is so problematic and counterproductive, because most people think partisan politics and competition and battle for political power is the most civilized and reasonable way to determine who wins the power to rule, even though it is not. In fact, it is usually neither civil nor reasonable, and it produces a nation and a house divided and in conflict.
Regardless of which partisan party wins, our worst problems are not solved. Money still rules, and the people are exploited and taken for granted. American is not a nation united by truly representative democracy with government of, by, and for the people. Instead, we are ruled by the wealthiest few and by a partisan presidential form of monarchy, with a plutocracy and oligarchy in Congress and a partisan Supreme Court with a majority that was appointed by right-wing partisan presidents.
In fact, the political economic system has increasingly been rigged by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. Government during the last 30 years. Consequently the only real winners are the wealthiest few, since financial wealth is now the biggest factor in determining election outcomes and in influencing legislation by bribery (which they call "lobbying").
Because the almighty dollar rules and drives political action, partisan political warfare usually causes even good people to become corrupt, dishonest, and even deceptive. That is why we are so polarized and divided, and the U.S. Government fails to serve the interests of the majority of the people.
That's why we should remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, who also said "The principles of Jefferson are the axioms of a free society."
Lincoln said that not merely because he loved Jeffersonian Democracy. Lincoln also admired Jefferson because even though Jefferson loved the core, universal spiritual teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, he rejected certain church doctrines and dogma that he considered "corruptions." Moreover, Jefferson demanded freedom of religion with freedom from theocratic imposition and Theocracy, denounced theocratic political action, and wrote that the First Amendment religious freedom clause was intended to build a "wall of separation between church and state."
Some right-wing Christians in America today ignore or deny that, but they do not realize that Jefferson's view was consistent with what Jesus said -- that we should give government its due and give to God what is God's; that we should value God-given spiritual treasures over material treasures, and serve God rather than Mammon, because we cannot serve both God and Mammon. Despite that, the "religious right" serves Mammon while claiming to serve God.
That does not mean that being rewarded for good work and being prosperous is wrong. It means that greed and lust for money are wrong.
These are important facts to consider today, and Americans should remember the words of Jesus, Jefferson and Lincoln because right-wing partisan political ideologues who claim to be patriotic and religious simply ignore those words and facts. They are driven by self-interest, and care little about their fellow human beings who suffer.
That is why conflict has been building for 30 years and has grown sharper, because since 1981 the Reaganite Republicans and Reagan Democrats have gotten away with claiming to serve God and Country while they fight for greater material wealth, power, and domain.
They've been able to relish in Reaganism because of Reagan's charm and ability to sell Reaganism as patriotic and religious. They have virtually had their way concerning politics and the economy, and the terrible consequences of that have become increasingly clear during the last three decades. The vast majority of us are suffering because of it.
Of course, in the 1990s President Clinton managed to do some good (like balance the budget, produce a budget surplus and avoid committing American troops to battle on foreign soil). But Clinton tended to do what was politically expedient and colluded with Republicans in certain instances at the expense of many Americans (as he did with the so-called "Welfare Reform" in 1996).
President Obama and the Democrats have also done some good. But, even though Mr. Obama is an extraordinarily reasonable man and remarkably restrained (considering how maliciously and outrageously he has been attacked by misguided fools who accuse him of being a "Fascist" and a "Socialist"), he has failed in some very significant ways.
Mr. Obama has talked a lot about advocating change and promoting ethical and democratic values, but it is clear that he expediently moved to the right of center and caters too much to those who have the most money. He chose Wall Street insiders and former executives of the biggest banks as his economic advisers, which revealed that he bowed to the powers and forces of greed and self-interest rather than choose progressive economic reformers to advise him. That's why even though we drastically need economic reform, we are still mired in the status quo and the majority keep getting worse off financially while the rich few keep getting richer.
Nevertheless, Americans actually made the best choice they could in electing Mr. Obama, since he is very bright and for the most part very reasonable. But he has so far been unable or unwilling to get to the root of our problems. It could even be said that in certain cases Mr. Obama has simply sold out or allowed himself to be extorted by Republican deception and obstructionism, particularly with regard to the insufficient health care "reform" act, Social Security and Medicare.
Still, electing Mr. Obama was a step in the right direction, albeit a very small step, because he has been reduced to doing what is politically expedient. He has unable or unwilling to address the root causes of our problems, and he has been forced to using rather ineffective band aids rather than using needed medicine to cure the underlying infection that has led to Plutocracy and the inevitable giant income gap between the richest few and the working poor. (See Poverty: America's Greatest Shame.)
When the right-wing Republican appointed Supreme Court Justices gave the wealthiest few and corporations free rein and license to try to buy elections, Mr. Obama did voice his criticism of it in a speech before Congress. But apparently he's really done little more about it.
Mr. Obama speaks of being a democratic advocate of the people, but even his health care act is terribly insufficient. Health care in America is now more expensive than ever -- to the point where millions of elderly Americans are now paying more than half their income in out-of-pocket health care costs -- in premiums, copays, cost of medication and medical equipment, and other costs insurance will still not pay.
Considering that and Obama's willingness to make Medicare cuts and allow health insurance companies to make health care even moreexpensive to the insured, it is easy to suspect that he bows to the wealthy who proudly claim that because they've made it, everyone should be able to, and unashamedly think that "You must be self-reliant because it's every man for himself."
The main problem, however, is that because corporations and the wealthiest few finance and bribe both Republicans and Democrats, they get the best government that money can buy to suit their purposes. And that is the consequence of 30 years of Reaganism.
But, it wasn’t always this way.
“This government is your government. It is not the property of the elected few. We consent to be governed. We do not elect to be ruled. But if your interest as an American citizen is confined to the tuning of a television set, the scanning of an editorial or column, without careful study of the issues and the answers offered — then it may well turn out that some day your actions will indeed result in electing to be ruled." — Republican Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater,1964)
Goldwater was wrong about a lot of things, and he was vehemently disliked by anti-war activists because he was a proud and militant “hawk” (as opposed to the peace-promoting “doves” of the 1960s). However, Goldwater was correct about citizen responsibility, and he would have been horrified by the so-called “conservative” Reaganite Republicans of today who have made such a horrible mess of things and turned so many Americans against their government.
Why is that? Well, it mainly because Ronald Reagan falsely claimed that: "There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts."
Reagan even said: "We must remove government's smothering hand ... to reinvigorate those social and economic institutions which serve as a buffer and a bridge between the individual and the state." And "Through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom."
Reaganites have been repeating such misleading rhetoric ever since. But the fact is that Reagan's rhetoric was simply deceptive corporate and banking propaganda -- designed to prevent government regulation of commerce and enable corporations and banks to pay little or no taxes and operate with free license.
If you read Ronald Reagan's Real Legacy, you will see how and why he erroneously claimed, and probably even believed, that private institutions like big businesses, corporations, religious groups and other private interest groups were the real providers of our freedom and liberty, not government.
However, as the Founding Fathers said, government should promote the general welfare, ensure domestic tranquility, secure the blessings of freedom and liberty for all the people, and exact justice for all. And, in fact, only good government can do that.
Good government does that by ensuring there is sufficient internal revenue to properly regulate business and commerce, build and maintain the infrastructure, establish and enforce laws, provide for the common defense and safety of the people, educate the people, ensure the people are informed by ethical objective journalism that keeps politicians honest, and actually promote the general welfare of the people.
Unfortunately, right-wing Reaganite Republicans, Libertarians and "Tea Party" extremists claim otherwise.
In fact, they even deny that government should promote the general welfare.
In fact, they have misled Americans by claiming and acting as if Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment Insurance are "Entitlements" and gifts provided by the wealthy to people who are simply not "self-reliant." But that is simply not true. They are in fact insurance policies that all workers pay for with lifetimes of hard work and paying the premiums in taxes. They are not “entitlement” programs. They are insurance programs that we pay for.
Ironically, it is the wealthy do receive entitlements.
They benefit from programs designed to reward the wealthy just for being wealthy and privileged, and the wealthy receive a lot in interest payments, government subsidies, bailouts, tax write-offs and refunds, tax breaks, tax loopholes, tax shelters, and other welfare for the rich.
James S. Henry, an economist, lawyer, investigative journalist, Edward R. Murrow Fellow at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Fellow at the Institute for Global Leadership, and contributor to The Nation has written: "Indeed, if there is a class that is truly dependent on government subsidies, handouts and protection that it doesn't pay for, it is this new American aristocracy. So it is no accident that we may soon come very close to electing a president whose sole passion and preoccupation is to serve and defend the interests of this ruling, avaricious, tax-dodging class."
At the time he was speaking of Mitt Romney, who certainly did represent the wealthiest few and yet received a lot of votes from Republicans. And even though President Obama is far better, he also very obviously caters significantly to the wealthiest few and the Wall Street powers, because they were the main funders of his campaign, as well as Romney's. They've made sure that they win regardless of which party wins, and consequently neither Democrats nor Republicans can or will fix the problem. Money rules and we lose.
Therefore, this comprehensive article is intended to show you how and why partisan politics is so divisive, counterproductive and damaging to the public and the nation because it is so totally driven by money -- which is why we must progress and advance beyond it.
Dirty Partisan Politics
We are plagued by many blatantly biased, misleading and even deceptive partisan political diatribes and claims because they work by appealing to our lowest nature -- the nature of the beast, and of the lynch mob, the witch hunters -- the nature of hatemongers and demagogues.
Many gullible people are easily deceived by demagogues who appeal to fears, anger, biases and prejudices, and because most of the demagogues serve the forces of greed and self-interest they even fight dirty to maintain the status quo, kill regulation and reform, and slander their critics and opponents.
They are significantly successful at it too. There is an enormous amount of false information and misleading misinformation that is accepted as truth by the audience of Fox News and/or the extreme right-wing politicians that make the same false claims. For example, their audiences (or blind flocks) have been led to believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that he was a player in causing the terrorist attack on America on 9/11/01. They also believe that climate change and global warming is not real or caused by Man; that Barack Obama is Muslim and was not born in the United States; that all Arabs are Muslim and all Muslims are terrorists; and that immigrants are out to steal your job and yet are too lazy to work.
All of these claims and beliefs are proven absolutely false by real facts. And yet, Fox News audiences and the blind flocks of extreme right-wing political and religious leaders insist they are true, and they even insist on it with aggressive zeal.
Why are they so aggressive and zealous? Because they feel justified. And that’s because right-wing deceivers and demagogues appeal to the ego and the emotions and prejudices of bigots, racists, imperialists, and greedy, selfish, self-righteous people who have no respect for people of other races, religions, cultures, nationalities, or lower financial status.
The demagogues are successful at gathering and misleading their blind flocks because they indulge in the tactic of fear mongering, and many of them even want to induce panic. They also resort to character assassination, which has been so evidence since November 2008 when they started to label president-elect Obama a “Socialist,” and have since even accused him of being a “Fascist,” a “Communist,” and a “Tyrant.”
Demagogues have other often-used tactics as well. As is mentioned in the article titled Why the Religious Right Is Wrong, they attempt to revise and rewrite history, claiming that their political and religious beliefs are in tune with the Founders of America and with Jesus even though their beliefs are actually the opposite. And in fact, Thomas Jefferson and Jesus of Nazareth would call them bigots and hypocrites who serve not God, but Mammon.
Unfortunately, the corporate commercial network news media has become rather complicit, in that they do not refute the falsehoods. They have become less ethical and more like the sensationalist titillating tabloids, and they too fail to keep politicians honest. They fail in their duty to work at real investigative journalism, and they often cover partisan mud slinging more than they cover ethical, honest, reasonable and fair political dissent or debate, because they know tabloid sensationalism and scandal sells.
In fact, the corporate network media has been and is biased to the right. Just consider all the coverage by the corporate media of Republicans in Congress quick to accuse President Obama about misconduct of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2012. Then consider that during the Bush presidency neither the Congress nor the corporate network media had much (if anything) to say about the Bush administration's use of public resources against its political opponents and its actual use of the IRS in the same way the Obama administration allegedly did.
Of course, scrutiny and investigation of the IRS’s activities is certainly warranted when allegations are made. However, the point is that there is a huge difference between the behavior of the media and partisans in Congress depending on whether the president is a Republican or a Democrat, because practically no one in the commercial media said anything about the Bush administration's false claims and abuse of power during his reign.
That is one of many clear indicators of how corrupt and unscrupulous the partisan political system has become, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why about 40 percent of Americans eligible to vote do not vote because they are sick and tired of the dirty political partisanship (and because they realize that whatever party wins, the richest few win).
Furthermore, many Americans merely listen to the misleading commercial attack ads on television and then vote influenced by those that were most successful at appealing to their fears, anger, biases and prejudices, and do not bother to take the time to learn what the candidates actually stand for.
Instead many Americans believe what they want to hear. A recent example was that Mitt Romney, who in the past had spoken a lot about the importance of religious diversity and tolerance, instead resorted to misleading and hypocritical rhetoric in his campaign, saying: "I don't think we've seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious conscience, religious freedom, religious tolerance that we've seen under Barack Obama."
That remark was simply absurd, and it revealed much about Romney, Republicans, and dirty partisan politics in general. And it's probably one of the least obvious reasons why he lost.
Demagogues vs Good Public Servants
In spite of the tendency toward thoughtlessness, bias, dishonesty and deception that usually emerges in partisan political campaigns and competition for power, American partisan politics has produced some good leaders who were good thinkers.
In fact, many partisan politicians have been drawn to public service out of a sincere desire to correct what’s wrong, make life better for all citizens, and improve our infrastructure, cities, states, nation and world.
For example, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did that between 1932 and 1945 when he overcame the very wealthy forces of greed and self-interest, provided a New Deal for all the people, and set in motion the things that provided widespread prosperity and enabled the middle class to grow large and great.
The problem is that many presidents have only claimed to serve all the people but actually served the rich forces of greed and self-interest. Their legacy is the opposite of Roosevelt’s, and they made things worse by heavily favoring the wealthiest few at the expense and to the detriment of the vast majority of people.
Notable examples were the three Republican presidents from 1921 to 1931 who had negated successes made in a preceding progressive era, and other examples were the three Republican presidents who gained power in 1969, 1981 and 2000, who negated many successes and benefits achieved by Roosevelt's New Deal.
Republicans Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush took advantage of the fact that many Americans by then had forgotten or simply did not know that it was the Democratic New Deal that had enabled the middle class to grow very large and made America so very great in the 1940s and 1950s.
Because too many Americans had not learned the lessons of history, those three Republican presidents were able to serve the wealthiest few who financed and supported them, while merely pretending to serve all the people, and that’s why America is so unfair and ruled by a privileged, entitled, wealthy few.
Many Americans have become aware of their legacy, because fair and objective scholars and historians have reported that the actual records regarding violations of legal laws and precedents by the Nixon, Reagan and Bush administrations were remarkable. Thus in the last ten years more and more people have realized that the political economic problems that plague us were 30 years in the making.
Most Americans are fed up with the politicians in Washington D.C. Even back in July 2010, when Americans were asked in a poll how much confidence they have in various leaders to "make the right decisions for the country’s future," Barack Obama got 43 percent, congressional Democrats got only 32 percent, and Republicans got only 26 percent.
It is because during the last three decades Democrats have, in far too many instances, become merely the "lesser of the two evils" that divide us, and too many Republicans have become far more corrupt and deceitful. And the so-called "Tea Party" is, for the most part, made up of right-wing partisan ideologues, some of whom tend to be extreme ultra-right-wing versions of Republicans. And the so-called "Tea Party Patriots" even resort to spreading paranoid conspiracy theories designed to instill fear and create hate for humanitarian humanists while spreading thinly disguised propaganda touting "Christian" Dominionism.
The “Tea Party,” while claiming they support and defend Christianity and the U.S. Constitution, actually violate both. Poll data reveals that that "nearly half of respondents who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement are also part of the religious right." (And anyone who doubts they are wrong should read Why the "Religious Right" Is Wrong.)
Moreover, an article on the Tea Party by George Monbiot of The Guardian states that: "We now have powerful evidence that the movement was established and has been guided with the help of money from billionaires and big business. Much of this money, as well as much of the strategy and staffing, were provided by two brothers who run what they call 'the biggest company you've never heard of,' David and Charles Koch.
In fact, the modern “Libertarian” and “Tea Party” movement really had its origins with the radical right-wing John Birch Society, and Fred Koch (founder of Koch Industries and the father of David and Charles) was one of the founding members along with Robert Welch in the late 1950s. But while moderate conservatives like William F. Buckley Jr. managed to diminish the status of the John Birch Society for a good while, it has come back stronger than ever in the form of the “Tea Party.” And it is backed by Billionaires who claim to be constitutional, patriotic and religious when they are far from it. They are driven by greed and self-interest, and merely masquerade as good to pull the wool over people’s eyes.
The poor gullible stooges who demonstrate and do their bidding feel "righteous" because they have been misled by demagogues who have distorted and twisted not only the Constitution and the intent of the Founding Fathers. They have also twisted and distorted the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and they simply ignore the Golden Rule and the Universal Divine Imperative common to all religions.
The right-wing Republican "Tea Party" claims James Madison as their champion, but they misinterpret Madison and the Constitution and attempt to rewrite history. They ignore the fact that Madison was a leading advocate of the Commerce Clause, which gave the federal government broad powers to regulate interstate commerce. And they ignore or deny that such programs as diverse as Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Dwight Eisenhower's federal highway system and Barack Obama's health-care reform are in line with Madison’s thinking.
In spite of that, the right-wing Reaganite Neo-Conservatives, the “Federalist Society,” and the “Tea Party” berate, slander and denigrate liberal progressives and “federal bureaucrats” --- even though they too are, or seek to be, federal bureaucrats themselves.
They claim that certain federal programs are "unconstitutional," and they claim that Madison would agree with their argument. They even claim that “states rights” trump federal authority, even though in the Constitution the Founding Fathers realized and established specific powers of the federal government over the states, as was reasonable and necessary to prevent any state from violating universal human rights and moral codes of justice and fairness that are to the benefit of all the people (as Abraham Lincoln realized).
Consequently, because of the Reaganite "Conservative" twisting of truth, the gullible, misinformed Tea Party activists have been dressing up in Revolutionary War costumes claiming that the Founding Fathers were hostile toward a strong federal government.
They even still cling to the words of Ronald Reagan, who claimed that: "As government expands, liberty contracts." Reagan also said: "Through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom."
That was merely very cunning corporate propaganda. And it's false.
Keep in mind that George Washington wrote to James Madison, saying: "The [commerce] proposition in my opinion is so self evident that I confess I am at a loss to discover wherein lies the weight of the objection to the measure. We are either a united people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of a general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending it to be."
Both Washington and Madison, like Jefferson and most of the other Founding Fathers acknowledged the need for a strong federal government to keep the peace, promote the general welfare, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and ensure justice for all the people of the nation and union.
Furthermore, Abraham Lincoln later echoed their ideas as he fought against the Southern forces of greed, self-interest, racism and injustice who claimed they were merely demanding “state’s rights” as they insisted on extending the institution of slavery Westward on "religious" grounds.
Madison, in fact, wrote: "If the new Constitution be examined with accuracy, it will be found that the change which it proposes consists much less in the addition of new powers to the Union, than in the invigoration of its original powers.” "The proposed change does not enlarge these powers; it only substitutes a more effectual mode of administering them."
It is the height of hypocrisy for the Reaganites to condemn the bureaucracy of the federal government on one hand, and on the other hand fight to be in control of the federal bureaucracy as well as our public schools, institutions, facilities, etc.
If you examine the actual writings and intent of the Founding Fathers, it is only reasonable to conclude that the political agenda of modern right-wing Reaganite Republicans is simply hypocritical and wrong. And the state of the Union since 1994, and particularly since 2001, reflects just how wrong they have been. And in fact, they still are as they persist in fighting reform and refuse to balance the budget in a fair, equitable and reasonable manner, preferring to keep enabling and entitling the wealthiest few at our expense.
Unfortunately, because they have been so cunning, misleading and deceptive, many Americans have been led to believe they really are patriotic and religious. Consequently, the Democrats have been forced to the right by the hypocritical right-wing demagogues who have gotten away with slandering and labeling Democrats as "tax and spend liberals," and they have succeeded in making liberal a dirty word.
That is ironic, because the meaning of the word “liberal” is: “Favorable to progress or reform; advocating individual freedom of action and expression; advocating representational government as opposed to aristocracies or monarchies; advocating freedom from bigotry and prejudice; open-minded and tolerant; characterized by generosity,” etc.
Stopping the Partisan Conflict and Division
We can stop empowering deceptive hypocrites who claim to be patriotic and religious, and we can make partisan politics obsolete. We can prevent any person from being able to sit on the monarchical "throne" of the presidency, and put an end to the divisive competition for the throne.
After all, why should we be divided and fight for power over each other?
Why should we follow, support and empower egocentric individuals who seek power over those who disagree with them? Why should we be either winners or losers in a continuous, winner-take-all partisan contest for power? Why should we perpetuate an unstable partisan political system that creates, fosters and perpetuates corruption, conflict and division?
Why should hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars be wasted on commercial television for political campaign advertisements that are generally misleading, offensive, and terribly annoying, when all that money could be far better invested in our country and in our people?
It is a very sad commentary on our system when more money is spent on misleading, deceptive, slanderous mud slinging at political opponents than are spent on advocating a positive, constructive political platform. And it’s tragic that such dirty politics work to get deceptive candidates elected.
Even if the "best man" wins, at least half the people usually lose. And even a relatively good democratic president like Barack Obama cannot do what must be done to unite us.
Even if Obama were not attacked and slandered by deceptive attacks and impeded by obstructing tactics, as a politician he does what is politically expedient and fails do do what must be done. That's partly because Reaganism is still dominant in politics. But, for whatever reason, Obama's promise for greater transparency and accountability has not been fulfilled. He obligingly chose Wall Street insiders for his economic team. He has not mapped a proper path to peace, and has not yet learned how to effectively deal with his enemies, either foreign or domestic. He has surrendered to Republican intimidation and permitted cuts in needed human services while not seriously demanding increased revenue to reduce the debt. He is either unable or unwilling to demand that corporations and the wealthiest few pay their fair share of taxes.
Of course, part of the reason he's been prevented from doing that is because Republicans claim that "we cannot spend more than we take in," claiming that spending is the problem, not the lack of sufficient revenue. They simply ignore or deny that except for military and police spending, government programs have been cut to the bone, and corporations and the wealthiest few pay far less than their fair share of taxes, to the point where some pay little or none at all.
Obama has also continued the military and foreign policies initiated by the Reagan Administration, as well as those initiated by the Bush Regime (even though they violated U.S. and International Law). Obama apparently accepts the Reaganite and Bushite idea that almighty police and military forces are the only way to establish law and order in the country and in the world.
Unfortunately, that ignores these crucial facts:
1) Good leadership recognizes that establishing fairness, equity and justice for all are crucial in establishing peace and tranquility in the nation and in the world; and
2) Leadership that thinks it must resort to armed military and/or police forces to control the people has failed to do that.
Reaganism ignores that fact, and the hegemonic Reaganite and Bushite world view is that the U.S. Military must be the Policeman of the world, at any cost, which is why Reagan’s 1986 budget included $553 Billion for the military. In contrast, Bill Clinton's last budget called for $371 Billion for military. But then George W. Bush's last military budget was $771 Billion. And now, even though Americans elected Barack Obama because he promised change, his defense budget has called for spending $813 Billion on military.
Furthermore, it must be repeated that it has become very apparent that in spite of Obama's rhetoric he tends to appease the rich and powerful who are still robbing us blind.
Granted, Obama was able to get some health care reform legislation passed, but it falls way short of what’s needed. Equally inadequate is their so-called banking and financial reform. It was a weak slap on the wrist of the forces of greed and self-interest.
Obama has also failed to correct many other wrongs, such as correct the "security" culture fostered by the Bush Regime, which was just as interested in spying on Americans who dissented from and criticized Bush’s policies as it was in spying on people who actually posed a threat of violence and destruction.
But, even if Obama could succeed in correcting wrongs and establishing some needed reforms and regulations to stop enabling the greedy and favoring the wealthiest few, his success would probably not provide the reforms and regulations we really need. And what he does manage to establish could be short-lived and negated by another right-wing pretender.
That’s why it is now crucial and imperative that we significantly reform our political-economic system. For unless and until we put a stop to it, the partisan political pendulum would probably swing back to the right. It’s happened many times before, and it would happen again.
In fact, now it’s worse, and it’s even more likely that yet another arrogant, hypocritical, right-wing demagogue could rise to power waving the flag, thumping his or her bible and rattling his or her sword, claiming to serve God and Country but actually serving Mammon and the wealthiest few (even more than Democrats do).
Therefore, it is imperative that we reform our political-economic system, but we must understand what the basic partisan political divide is really about.
The Basic Partisan Political Divide
Those who sit on the right side of the political isle operate on the belief that right versus left means right versus wrong. However, they the word "right" in this case does not mean correct. And, as is explained in the article about Sheep vs Goats, Jesus foresaw and explained the conflict and division two thousand years ago, and the modern son of man provides further clarification.
It’s somewhat like the political divide in 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Their conflict was similar in some very basic ways to the present conflict.
Reaganites, like the Hamiltonians, believe in "Meritocracy." They believe that people should be self-reliant; that government should not need to promote the general welfare (despite what the Declaration of Independence says); that private charitable organizations alone should provide help to those who need it; that government is best when it regulates least; that big businesses, corporations and banks should be free and unencumbered by government regulation and oversight; and that legislation and laws should enable the wealthy to get even wealthier without restraints, because their "earned" prosperity will naturally trickle down on those below and benefit the whole country.
Unfortunately, their Laissez Faire right-wing political ideology wrongly assumes that the wealthiest few and their large banks, businesses, corporations and insurance companies will operate honestly, ethically and fairly. But, the truth is that unregulated and given free rein, they usually do not earn their income honestly and fairly. Furthermore, private charitable organizations cannot possibly provide all the help that is needed.
These truths have been painfully evident many times, especially in 1920s and early ‘30s, and increasingly again during the last 30 years.
History has shown time after time that the Republican claim is deceptive and their logic is flawed. After all, our current economic crisis was caused by three decades of Reaganite policies, legislation and deregulation, because they didn’t learn the lessons of history.
That’s why the rich have gotten so much richer, the middle class has shrunk, the working poor population has grown, and poverty, hunger and homelessness increased. It is similar to the historical consequences of Republican dominance in the 1920s, when the rich got richer and corrupt and caused the financial crisis and stock market crash of 1929, followed by the Great Depression.
Unfortunately, Right-wing Republicans, Libertarians and the “Tea Party” love laissez-faire government. That’s why Ayn Rand has become a cult hero to many of them (along with Ronald Reagan, who was a champion of laissez-faire government). Some of them even consider Rand a prophet. However, Americans should understand that even though Ayn Rand was surely well-meaning and had some good insights, she was sadly mistaken about some very crucial issues.
Rand was an author born in 1905 in Russia, and her family was financially ruined after the Russian Revolution of 1917. She grew up hating Russian Communism, and she moved to America. Then, when the wealthiest few and the capitalist economic system became so corrupt in America that it caused an economic collapse in 1929 followed by the Great Depression, she simply misunderstood, and therefore feared, the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ayn Rand did not recognize how needed and necessary Roosevelt’s reforms, regulations, safeguards and protections were, and she feared his regulations would be like those of Soviet Communism in Russia. And, since she hated government control because she had seen what it had done in Russia, especially under Stalin, she supported laissez-faire government that left capitalism unregulated. She believed it was the only social political economic system that "protected individual rights" and ensured “free enterprise.”
In the 1980s Ronald Reagan and the Neo-Conservatives revived that Randian ideology, touting “free enterprise and free markets” and claiming that “big government” was antithetical to freedom. But, unfortunately, all that was propaganda and rhetoric designed to make the American people forget or ignore the lessons of history, and forget or ignore how and why laissez-faire government had almost brought about the ruination of America before Roosevelt saved it in the 1930s and ‘40s.
That is why real Democrats and real Christians believe in Jeffersonian Democracy, and inRoosevelt's New Deal. They believe that government must promote the general welfare, ensure justice for all, and properly and sufficiently regulate and oversee big businesses, corporations and banks; that we must provide an adequate safety net to provide for those who need financial assistance and other care; and that we must legislate to make the vast majority prosperous, because widespread prosperity will benefit the whole country in many ways.
Roosevelt's New Deal and Democratic success in the 1930s and ‘40s enabled the Middle Class to grow very large and great by the late 1940s and ‘50s, making it very clear that widespread prosperity produces widespread well being. Moreover, it produced more prosperous taxpayers who contributed more to make the whole country better.
Unfortunately, during the last 30 years both Democrats and Republicans have been responsible for enabling the rich and looking the other way as the middle class steadily shrunk and more and more people falling into the working poor population. And that is because Reaganism led to the American partisan political system being far more corrupted by greed and self-interest than it has been since the 1920s.
But that’s just one symptom of the partisan political system. It is corrupted by the self-importance and self-righteousness of partisan politicians, and it is especially corrupted by the bribery of corporate lobbyists and corporate influences.
It has enabled the greedy to gain and abuse power to the detriment of the majority of the people, and to the detriment of the environment, the infrastructure, and humanity as a whole, while enabling the wealthiest few Americans to increase their wealth exponentially.
We need to advance beyond partisan politics, because as it is, most people think there is no better way to determine who shall have the power and authority of leadership. Each party chooses a competitor-candidate and hopes theirs will win the "throne," and even the losing party hopes they will win "next time," so the divisive, polarizing, counterproductive, winner-take-all contest for monarchial presidential power continues.
One of the things that most Americans don’t realize, however, is that it continues even though very few people actually determine who the winner is.
In the 2000 presidential election, only 60 percent of eligible voters in the U.S. voted, and far less than half of them voted for George W. Bush. In fact, Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote by at least 400,000 votes in 2000, and he would have won more electoral votes (and even more of the popular votes) if all the ballots in Florida had been hand-counted as the law called for. But, Bush got five right-wing partisans on the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the democratic Florida Supreme Court in order to halt the vote count and put him in the White House.
That was a crucial turn of events and it inevitably proved disastrous, so we should realize how and why it happened. After the 2000 election the Gore-Leiberman team was working with the Florida Supreme Court to ensure that state law was followed to resolve the disputed election in that state. The problem was a faulty machine count that rejected 179,914 Florida ballots, most of which were undoubtedly in Gore's favor because they were in heavily Democratic regions. But, the Bush-Cheney team got the hand-vote count stopped by resorting to "legal" partisan maneuvers, and to misleading street theater with goons in the streets with signs, chanting "Sore Loserman."
This is important because George W. Bush actually lost the election in 2000 but managed to gain the presidency by hook and by crook. And yet Al Gore graciously accepted the Supreme Court’s decision that enabled Bush to do it.
This point is important also because when Barack Obama won the presidency fair and square in 2008, Republicans quickly started demonstrating what sore losers they actually are. They have been the opposite of gracious, and as has been mentioned they have resorted to slander and character assassination, trying to label Obama as a "socialists," and even a "Nazi."
Of course, as Republicans point out, in 2004 Bush won the election with a little less controversy about the election process. However, even then only 64 percent of eligible voters voted and only32 percent of them re-elected Bush for his second term.
Furthermore, even though Barack Obama was the best choice for president in 2008, he was elected by only 52 percent of the popular vote. And 43 percent of eligible voters did not bother to vote — probably because they are totally disgusted with partisan politics. And, by the way, in the 2010 election that situation was worse. Only 11 percent of eligible voters under 30 years old voted, which means that 89 percent of them did not even bother to vote. And in 2012 nearly half the people eligible to vote did not bother to vote either, no doubt because many of them realize that regardless of which party wins the wealthiest few still rule, and they are sick and tired of the conflict caused by polarizing, counterproductive partisan politics.
That reveals how damaging to democracy the partisan political attack ads on television were (and those attack ads were made possible by the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court's decision in favor of corporate rule at the expense of the majority of the people). That's why the vast majority of young people are even more sick of it than the rest of us are, and they don’t trust any politicians.
This is not the way to run a country.
Partisan Politics, Part 2(Continued From Partisan Politics:
The Best Way to Determine Leadership? Or a Corrupt, Failed System?)
How Did It Get This Way?
Unfortunately, during the last three decades most Americans bought into Reaganism and the corporate culture because it was made to sound patriotic and even religious. That enabled the corrupt attitudes, traits and culture to spread like an epidemic virus that has increasingly infected most Americans.
That culture of greed has made most Americans think that greed and self-interest is alright, and it’s made them not think about the state of our neighborhoods, communities, environment, society, or the working poor or the poor. Instead, it has made people buy into the mind set, policies and actions of huge corporations, banks, lending institutions, manufacturing industries and the U.S. Religious Military Industrial Complex.
The fact, however, is that it was and is a sham created and perpetrated by and benefiting the wealthiest few Americans who now hold 90 percent of the wealth of the nation, who have been able to rule so completely by simply claiming that what they do is in the name of God and Country.
"Religious" Republicans repeat the deceptive and hypocritical Reaganite-Bushite mantra against "big government" and taxes. But the fact is that they like big government when it suits their purposes, and they simply don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. And, even though they now wail against deficit spending, they were the ones who put the U.S. government deep in debt because of their tax cuts for the wealthy, their obscene no-bid contracts that enormously benefited and enabled corporate war profiteers, and their policies and laws that benefited corporate exploiters and polluters, predatory lenders, industrial giants, etc.
We can and will fix this, as soon as enough people get the message, and be strong and courageous enough to stand up for the truth. For only we, the people, can ensure that truth and justice prevails. Only we, together, can work toward reforming this political-economic system, its inequitable economic policies, its favoritism to the wealthiest few, its corporate globalism, and its global U.S. militarism, all of which have increasingly widened the already huge income gap between rich and poor, shrunk the middle class, increased the working poor population, exploited people in this and other countries, and wreaked terrible conflict, division, havoc, violence, death and destruction in the world.
Having said that, it is not to say anything against political, social and fiscal conservatives who are reasonable, caring, and honest, and who are willing to sit down with liberal progressives and work together, find common ground, and come up with needed solutions for the common good. Reasonable and honest conservatives should have a place at the table, to provide their perspective.
The trouble is, the American Republican Party was co-opted in the 1980s by right-wing extremists and wealthy imperialists. The late William F. Buckley Jr. and Irving Kristol, the fathers of the Neo-Conservative Movement, enabled them. However, while Buckley and Kristol provided an intellectual rationale for their right-wing ideology, the ones who gained political and military power as a consequence were Ronald Reagan and his administration, and Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who led the "religious right."
In the 1990s Democratic President Bill Clinton managed, in spite of a Republican controlled Congress, to fend of Reaganism for awhile, and Clinton produced a booming economy and balanced budget. But, in 2000, the Republicans came back with a vengeance, and their goal was to further an agenda set forth in a document titled document entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, written in September 2000 by a right-wing conservative think-tank called Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The PNAC document calls for global dominance of the U.S. Religious Military Industrial Complex, and it has been enormously successful. Building on and expanding on Reaganism, it made the wealthiest few Americans very much more wealthy than they were 30 years ago, and that’s why they fight tooth and nail against Barack Obama, resorting to deception and slander to try to stop any initiatives to establish significant reform and regulation. They wanted and still want free rein to continue the inequity and unfairness that has been so devastating to the vast majority of us.
Granted, the political climate has been gradually moving a bit from the right, which allowed the rhetoric of Democrats to begin to address some progressive issues and speak up for the majority and the working poor. Their rhetoric included at least a little bit of awareness of all the poverty, hunger and homelessness which has devastated so many American families.
The problem is that most politicians in Washington D.C. simply ignore the huge problems that impact most Americans, such as food insecurity, job insecurity, housing insecurity, along with the problems of inequity and insecurity around health care, prescription drugs, education, inflated and rising costs, price gouging, a degrading economy, a weakened dollar, global warming, a degrading environment, depleted fisheries, political corruption, corporate corruption, economic corruption, unregulated and unchecked greed, fraud, war, and all the other problems that have been exacerbated by right-wing Republicans in Congress and in the Bush Regime, and by many Democrats who have been almost equally culpable.
Why aren’t Democrats doing what they should? In the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, about 80 percent of the funding for the political campaigns of both Democrats and Republicans was provided by the wealthiest one percent of the population. The wealthiest few learned some time ago to invest in both sides, so no matter which side wins they will get what they pay for.
Democratic presidential candidate Obama did not really change that, even though many Democrats have been led to believe that his campaign funds came from average people who could only afford small donations. But, even though Barack Obama is beholden to Wall Street, he has been courageous enough to nibble just a bit at that bribing hand that feeds him.
However, we think Obama is the most fair politician around. He generally does not demonize or lie about the opposition, but reaches out to find common ground, and he is certainly the best man to be president at this time. But, it could be said that he, like most other politicians, did what was politically expedient in order to get elected, and as president he has said and done things to appease the wealthiest few and their huge corporations. And that concerns me.
For example, Barack Obama has said that the country’s current challenges "are simply too big for government to solve alone." Of course, there is some truth to that. We all have to help in whatever way we can. However, it is a statement usually made by Republicans who merely want to continue Reaganism. And Obama has gone so far as to say he would enhance Bush’s "faith-based" initiatives by steering federal taxpayer funds that were formerly used on social service agencies, to religious groups. But he does so to pander and cater to the religious right, and that would be a tragic mistake.
Unfortunately, all politicians have pandered to the Christian Right, to the point where in 2008 being a Christian became a litmus test for being the American president, in spite of the Constitution and the intent of the founding fathers. After all, we cannot have real religious freedom without religious pluralism and equality of religions.
Of course, Obama feels that talking about his faith was necessary, and it’s no wonder, since right-wing neo-conservatives have been claiming God for themselves during the last 30 years. But it is wrong and unconstitutional to bring a specific religion into politics.
Remember, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
Most of the founding fathers felt the same way and agreed with Jefferson, who also wrote: "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man."
That is still true, and just as relevant today as it was in the 1700s. And while Obama is doing what he thinks is politically expedient, it perpetuates the mistakes of Reagan and Bush.
Furthermore, speaking of mistakes, under Obama’s command the U.S. military continues to use depleted uranium munitions, cluster bombs and white phosphorous in densely populated areas in violation of U.S. and international laws and treaties. It ignores the Geneva Conventions that specifically prohibit the use of weapons and materials that cause unnecessary harm by remaining active and deadly after a battle. Consequently, many innocent civilians are killed or maimed, and many babies born in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from illnesses and deformities and brain damage that were caused by the U.S. military's massive and widespread use of toxic and radioactive materials.
Furthermore, justice is obstructed by Obama as long as he refuses to order investigations into numerous and blatant U.S. war crimes committed by the Bush administration, which should be held accountable under the rule of law, since they were in violation of the U.S. laws, the U.N. Charter and Conventions, the Hague Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuremberg Tribunal Charter. Similarly, Obama has also endorsed the latest FISA legislation giving retroactive immunity for telecoms that engaged in illegal electronic surveillance. But no country or president or company should be allowed to act as if they were above the law, especially international law.
But, even though Barack Obama is really not the agent for the real and lasting change that we need, he is the best that this system could produce, considering its nature. And it's not just politics. During the last elections we saw how the commercial news media focuses on dirty sensationalism and jumps all over stories about conflict and "punching and counter-punching." The commercial media tends not to serve as ethical journalists to help the public be fully informed on the issues. Instead, they stoop to the level of tabloid journalism and cover the mud-slinging, because they think that’s what sells. And sadly, it does, so that what they cover. We didn’t hear much about important issues. We heard about what each side said that was offensive to the other side. And, sadly, the media does not keep politicians honest, they merely encourage them to be offensive.
There certainly was a whole lot of mud slinging from malicious right-wing Neo-Conservatives. They resorted to slanderous, deceptive half-truths and outright lies against Obama, because they typically believe the best defense is a strong offense.
For example, they accused Obama of wanting to "redistribute the wealth by taking money out of your pocket and giving it to someone else." But the fact is that Reaganites and Bushites have been redistributing the wealth of the nation to the wealthiest few for the last 30 years, and especially during the eight years of the Bush presidency. Obama merely seeks fair, equitable economic policies that are in the interests of all the people.
Republican attack ads on television against Democrats in the 2010 election campaigns claimed Democrats would "raise taxes and take away jobs," and even used the term "job killing taxes" to mislead and deceive voters. But the truth is that fair-minded people merely want the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, and lower taxes for the middle class and the working poor.
Republicans even stooped to even worse tactics in the "battleground" or "swing" states to prevent Democrats from being able to vote, claiming that the 2002 voting act (HAVA) legalized their dirty tricks.
Now Americans should realize that Neo-Conservative right-wing Republicans have done all that to serve, enable and benefit the wealthiest few and the huge American corporations, especially those in the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex that Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us against back in 1961. And America’s status in the world has been damaged by the foreign policies and actions of Reagan and Bush, which have been mostly about obtaining or controlling natural resources and/or maintaining or gaining strategic military footholds in other countries.
Americans need to realize that divisive, harmful, bad and even evil leadership can be very cunning and loves to masquerade as good. It often even thinks it is good, which is why it often succeeds when the political climate is ripe. Many people are easily fooled by demagogues who appeal to the human ego and its tendency toward feeling superior, whether it’s because of wealth or religious beliefs or nationalism or race or political ideology. After all, the murderous tyrant Adolf Hitler easily rose to power in the 1930s by making the German people feel superior and powerful, and he was the epitome of the worst kind of demagogue.
Granted, Ronald Reagan was nowhere near as bad as Adolph Hitler, because Hitler was so blatantly evil that the vast majority of people in the world and even most Germans eventually recognized it. However, the script Reagan followed as a corporate television pitch man made him even more successful, because most people did not recognize him for what he was. He was able to open the doors wide for the forces of self-interest, greed, inequity, racism, nationalism, militarism, and political and corporate greed and corruption.
The attitude and policies Reagan brought to the presidency in 1981, many of which were copied between 2000 and 2008 by George W. Bush, are some of the biggest reasons why we have had such bitter partisan conflict and gridlock; political corruption; corporate corruption; bad relations between labor and management; and huge and unfair income disparity.
To make matters worse, along with horribly unfair and inequitable income disparity came diminishing protection of the environment; increasing racism; growing poverty, hunger and homelessness; a shrinking middle class; and diminishing financial status for the vast majority while the rich have been getting a whole lot richer - incredibly richer. And that's just the domestic problems.
Furthermore, if a good Democrat actually advocated the kinds of changes that are needed to establish real fairness, equality, equity and justice, he would be in grave danger. For corrupt people do not stop at deception, fraud and malfeasance. Consider why John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were killed. It’s the same elsewhere, because moderate Israeli President Rabin, and moderate candidate Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan were killed for the same reasons. They and many other good, conscientious, progressive leaders, who served in the best interests of humanity and the people as a whole, and especially of the poor and disadvantaged, have been assassinated by those who love and lust for worldly wealth, power and domain and will stop at nothing to acquire and/or maintain it. And they are very cunning and adept at covering their tracks and getting unstable, zealous scapegoats to do their dirty work.
That’s why Obama has not appeared "too liberal" or punitive against the greedy, corrupt, self-righteous people who have gotten us into this mess. He sometimes can’t resist rubbing the Republican’s noses in the messes they’ve made, but he’s the least partisan politician in America, even so. He truly seeks Republican cooperation, even though so far they’ve denied it and are in denial about who is really most at fault for our problems.
Of course, Democrats are also culpable. And, no matter what President Obama does, he cannot solve our most serious problems. Remember, the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1992 did very little to stop Reaganism and prevent or deal with its rampant political and corporate corruption. In fact, it continued and increased in the 1990s during the eight years Clinton held office, as was made obvious by the shameful and counterproductive "welfare reform" law, and all the corporate scandals and ripoffs exposed during that decade. Then Reaganism was continued and further enabled and exacerbated by George W. Bush, and it continues under Obama.
Granted, there were some token legal actions against the most blatant and exposed political and corporate corruption, but those actions have dealt only with what is like the tip of a huge iceberg, and only the tip shows above the surface while the rest is hidden. The basic problem is still there. Corporate and political corruption and abuse of power is immense and pervasive, and the army of highly paid corporate lobbyists who bribe and influence politicians in Washington D.C. is only part of the problem.
The basic problem is that partisan politics is hopelessly flawed, inherently divisive, and inevitably corrupt. It does not and cannot serve the interests of all the people. And the biggest part of the problem is that it’s based on the idea that we should choose sides, fight for power over each other, and be forced to accept the results of a winner-take-all partisan contest for presidential monarchial power.
Furthermore, another big part of the problem is that it is fueled by money, which has invariably led to corruption. And that becomes even worse when you consider that 80 percent of the funding for the political campaigns of both major parties is invested by the wealthiest one percent of the population, who also pay for all the lobbyists who continually influence and bribe members of Congress.
Unfortunately, die-hard Republicans are in denial and cannot see that things are now as they were in 1929 after three successive Republican presidents in a row favored and gave license and free rein to the wealthiest few, at the expense of everyone else, and brought the Great Depression down upon America.
America was divided long before that, of course, because in certain ways, the American Civil War that flared up in 1861 existed long before that, and has never stopped completely.
There was a brief respite from 1941 to 1945 when Americans came together to defeat two very strong common enemies during World War II, but Americans went right back to it, and it started to get really bad again in the 1960s. The battle lines may change location, and the issues may change slightly, but Americans are still fighting each other. In fact, the American people are more sharply divided across ideological partisan political lines than they have been since 1861. We are dangerously divided and in conflict, and even if Barack Obama is able to establish a bit more unity during his term, it would not last if we continue and perpetuate the political-economic system that brought us to this point.
It should be obvious that we need to thoroughly reform and improve the whole political-economic system. And we also need a truly free press with unbiased, ethical investigative journalists who are willing to keep politicians honest — because the news media has failed miserably in that regard.
Actually, we need a thorough reformation of government, along with a reformation of religion, to put an end to theocratic imposition, an end to partisan party politics, an end to division and polarization, an end to bribery and corruption, an end to congressional oligarchy, an end to the juvenile competition for the "throne" of sovereign power, and an end to the presidential form of monarchy.
We need to face the fact that the present American political-economic system is not merely wasteful, divisive and damaging. It does not produce government of, by and for the people. Not really. What it often does produce is government of, by, and for the rich, regardless of which party wins control of Congress and the White House.
Because partisan politics breeds and fosters dishonesty, greed and corruption, it can turn otherwise good people into disingenuous and dishonest demagogues who launch misleading, slanderous attacks against each other. After each election we become either winners or losers, and usually far more than half of the population is not represented by our government. In fact, only the wealthiest few are truly represented.
We would know that if the commercial news media did their job. In fact, if they had done their job, President George W.Bush would not have gotten away with denying habeas corpus and due legal process to any human being or his own fellow citizens. He would not have gotten away with violating the Constitution; starting illegal wars on false premises; committing war crimes; allowing torture of prisoners; violating national and international laws and the Geneva Conventions; assuming dictatorial powers with impunity, and avoiding deserved impeachment. If they media had done their job, things would be very different today.
We are in deep trouble now because the reality has been that the most money talks, and the most money rules. And great wealth can not only richly reward those who can very cleverly pull the wool over your eyes. It has even bought elections, as we saw particularly during the 2000, 2004 and 2010 elections.
If we do not reform the system, another right wing demagogue will rise up, who has learned that he or she must not merely wave the flag, thump their bible and rattle their sword. They would know they must not so blatantly favor and enable the wealthiest few, and they would probably promise to provide more help to the middle class, the working poor and the poor. But, he or she would thus be even more deceptive.
After all, consider the political rhetoric of extreme right-wing ideologues. Their rhetoric has been very divisive and deceptive, and some of it has even created a hostile and dangerous political climate in America. Their misleading rhetoric has falsely tried to deny that global warming and climate change is caused by careless human industrial activities and products. They falsely tried to connect President Barack Obama to socialism and "Big Brother" government; to equate clinical abortion to murder; to equate international diplomacy with "placating the enemy and putting America at risk," and to equate universal health care as "government takeover."
All those claims were deceptive lies, serving the interests of the wealthiest few and their corporations and insurance companies, at the expense of all the rest of us. Health insurance premiums keep going up higher and higher, with higher copays and higher costs for procedures and medications.
The irony and hypocrisy of it is that most of those who are enabling the greedy claim to be freedom-loving, bible-believing Christians, and they repeat the decades-old "Moral Majority" mantra that they want to "restore God to America." They hold rallies and swear "obedience to God," masquerading as Christians.
They march to the same drummer, whether they are politicians or talk show hosts or authors or televangelists or "journalists," and they are divisive hatemongers and character assassins. Most of them try to slander and falsely depict Barack Obama as a Hitler-like Nazi and/or a Stalin-like Socialist. And many gullible and desperate people swallow the propaganda of these deceptive, right-wing demagogues who appeal to hegemonic nationalism, emotions and prejudices, and falsely feign religiosity to further their bigoted, extreme right-wing political agenda.
Their arrogance and self-importance were demonstrated by Tea Party members who were elected to Congress in 2010 when they got angry that Congress dared to pass legislation during the lame-duck session. Tea Party politicians want a permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, and they want a full repeal of the estate tax, which would give another huge windfall to the wealthy. And, to top it off, they are angry that Congress did not give Tea Party politicians more leadership positions in Congress.
Of course, there are left-wing extremists too, but outspoken leftists are usually not deceptive or slanderous, even though they sometimes exaggerate, often indulge in mockery, and are sometimes nearly as offensive, divisive and polarizing are the right-wing extremists are. And that, frankly, is because right-wing extremists are the worst offenders because they cannot be honest. If they were honest, only the greediest of the wealthiest few would support and vote for them.
Therefore, we need to face facts. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution established "freedom of speech, and of the press." However, that does not mean one can lie, slander, or deceive. It means we can be free to tell the verifiable truth even if it criticizes those in power. We all have the right to tell the truth, and even voice our opinion. However, when claims and opinions are voiced in public or broadcasted or published, they should not include lies, slander, or deception. If they do, the guilty should be held accountable.
See, there is a very big difference between legitimate political dissent and "whistle blowing," as opposed to the divisive, misleading, deceptive, slanderous hatemongering. That is unethical and undemocratic. That kind of deceptive and inflammatory rhetoric has fomented political paranoia and anger among right-wing conservatives, some of whom who are very gullible, easily roused, and easily incited to anger.
It could even be said that their kind of rhetoric even incited gullible, malicious people to violence and even murder. There have been several recent examples of that, the most recent being in Tucson, Arizona. It is divisive, malicious hate speech that stokes the paranoia and inflamed the misguided passions of malicious people who claim to be patriotic and religious. And, in that sense, these misguided, self-important, self-righteous hatemongers can be equated with the leaders of any other terrorist group that claims to be religious in an attempt to gain power. They masquerade as good, and even think they’re good, when they are far from it.
Their hatemongering and fearmongering is also designed to fight needed reforms and regulations, and thus it is very deceptive. Even though they are responsible for the inequitable political-economic system and want to perpetuate it, they push the buttons of hate, fear and prejudice, to fool gullible people who have been victimized by the system.
Some leaders of the Tea Party movement have gained followers by exploiting and misleading people who are frustrated with government’s inability to deal with injustice, inequity, and unfairness. But they are hypocritical, because Tea Party leaders are among those who have supported and enabled those that created the mess we’re in. A Gallup poll in 2010 revealed that 80 percent of Tea Party members are Republicans. They are simply right-wing extremists, and the ire they raise creates gridlock and prevents progress.
Granted, even though those who revived the John Birch Society's ideology and originated the Tea Party Movement during Bush’s reign were essentially Reaganite Libertarians who were "against big government," some of them were actually against political and corporate corruption. But, while most Libertarians believe that "big government interference" is at fault, they do not recognize that the corruption was caused by government’s failure to sufficiently regulate business and industry to protect the public welfare.
Besides that, the Tea Party Movement is now merely one of many misleading right-wing extremist elements that are part of the underlying infection that we must be aware of and guard against, because they all divide us and pit us against each other.
However, even more dangerous is the newly formed right-wing American Action Network (ANN), which paid for slanderous, misleading and often false attack ads on television against Democrats in the 2010 mid-term election season. The organization was created by right-wing politicians and their funders as soon as the Supreme Court enabled the ultra wealthy and their corporations to spend more money than ever influencing elections. Its board is filled with right-wing Republican politicians and millionaire and billionaire businessmen, industrialists and financiers. They falsely claim that the Democrats are responsible for ruining the economy and creating the deficit, and that the Democrats will raise your taxes. But these wealthy hypocrites are responsible for the crisis and are simply afraid that the Democrats might succeed in forcing them to start paying at least a little more fair share of taxes. That’s why they indulge in such dirty politics.
However, today some Republicans fully realize the unpopularity of the Bush era Republicans, the Libertarians and the “Tea Party” Republicans, so they are now trying to re-frame their message and narrative. However, their new message is merely the same old Reaganite message, put in different words in an obvious attempt to seem progressive. They unwittingly expose the phoniness of their partisan politics, and especially the phoniness and delusion of Republicans who think Reaganism should be maintained and perpetuated.
In the final analysis, even though there have been times when partisan politics created choice between valid conservative and progressive ideas, it usually does not. Partisan politics is a winner-take-all competition for political and military power, and often that power has been won by pretenders and deceivers who masquerade as good.
That’s why the term "Imperial Presidency" was coined in a book written in the 1970s, critical of the Nixon Presidency. It was used again in criticism of Ronald Reagan, and more recently of George W. Bush, such as in the book titled The Limits of Power: the End of American Exceptionalism, by Andrew J. Bacevich, Professor of International Relations at Boston University, West Point graduate, and retired Army officer who submits that the Bush Administration negated genuine democracy, ignored the Constitution, and declared that the Executive Branch is not accountable to Congress. And, rather than establish proper Constitutional policies and reforms, the Obama Administration conveniently takes advantage of the precedents established by Republicans regarding executive privilege.
Americans should learn and recognize how the imperial Bush Regime’s secrecy, power grabs, abuses of power and violations of national and international laws and the Geneva Conventions set dangerous and perilous precedents that we must abolish and not follow, as the Obama administration has done. Even more important, we should not expect President Obama (or anyone else) to play king of the world (imperial president), because the extent to which that occurs is the extent to which a president represents the Beast-King of Babylon, playing god.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration's arguments of legality are similar to Bush’s regarding policies about presidential power and prerogatives, and the use of covert operatives in other countries. That is reflected in everything from institutional momentum to the continuity of the power of career employees in federal departments and agencies in which the same cultures and mind sets endure. And it is even reflected in the Obama administration’s refusal to prosecute the people who perpetrated many of the illegal and wrong acts authorized by the Bush Regime.
Ultimately, the fact is that no president can lead us to unity and harmony, or to government that is truly democratic. We simply cannot have government of, by and for all the people as long as we have a sovereign head of state, especially a partisan one who won power over others through the divisive process of partisan politics.
However, we can and will have government of, by and for the people as soon as enough people get the message. Then we will never again be divided, and Obama will not be replaced by a partisan "pretender to the throne." We will share the "throne" as equal joint heirs, and, at long last we will have government that is truly of, by and for the people. We will be able to govern ourselves, determine our own destiny, and use the common wealth for the common good.
Democracy can exist only if government operates with the consent and the direction of the people as a whole body politic, when they have equal voice and equal opportunity to name who they want to represent them in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. Unfortunately, as it is now, we do not have truly representational government, and thus we do not have true Democracy.
That's why the message from the Spirit of truth is so very important. It shows how we can end the abuse of power and the divisive competition for power, and instead share it as we should.
On the pages titled 21st Century Declaration of Independence and How the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, it is explained how, if we the people choose wisely, we can actually be represented by a government that is truly of, by the for the people. We can put an end to political partisanship and religious bigotry. We can establish true political democracy, equality and equity, and we can establish true religious freedom and equality.
America can become a good example to the world, when we treat all religions, races, nationalities and cultures equally, and when we establish real democracy. We can lead the way in liberating humanity, if we have the courage and the faith to do so.
The Initiative for Universal Peace, Freedom and Justice (To build a Coalition for Universal Peace, Freedom and Justice) (Last revision made on these sites: 12-21-2014) SITE MAP
This message was originally published in 4 books and summarized at realprophecyunveiled.netfirms.com and then at reformationcomingsoon.bravehost.com, sites which no longer exist. The author's initial pen name was Joseph J. Adamson or Joseph James Adamson, but he is know by many names and titles by different religions as is explained in Prophecies Re: He Who Fulfills Them. However, he knows he is but a servant-messenger of God and like a blade of grass that withers and dies, while the message is an important and lasting testament and interceding judgment.
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