A placebo is a fake drug. Interestingly, many people benefit from taking placebos, because it gives them hope. Today's funding of the Iraq war by the Democratic politicians who were elected to end the war shows that the Democratic Party is a placebo party. This diary details the analogy and provides some direction for finding more effective political medication.
We can test for a placebo by comparing the expected relief with the results of taking the drug. Here are some expectations and results of the Democratic party in recent years.
- Securing peace. The Democratic Party promises peace, yet has presided over massive increases in defense spending and significant foreign military interventions. The incubator for the mischievous Neo Cons was the office of "Scoop Jackson," the Democratic "Senator from Boeing." Democrats have just agreed to fully fund the criminal occupation of Iraq, thus assuring another 1,000 US KIA in the next year.
- Protecting the environment. While making noises about environmental protection, the Democratic Party has rarely challenged powerful corporate interests. It has not attempted to shift the automobile-dependent character of US economic development toward more sustainable alternatives.
- Achieving domestic prosperity. The Democratic Party promises prosperity for all but favors the unchecked expansion of world commerce called "globalization," with all the attendant damage to American job security and living standards.
- Public safety. Despite depicting itself as consumer-friendly, the Democratic Party has run away from controversial public safety issues, such as gun control and access to condoms.
- Medical care. The Democratic Party claims to support universal health care, but has no credible plans to achieve this reform.
- Education. The Democratic Party supports a more egalitarian society, but has no plans to change the basis of economic support for public education away from the current system that guarantees that educational quality mirrors the wealth or poverty of the communities in which schools are located.
- Honest Government. The Democratic Party promises open and accountable government proceedings, but continues to hide its activities behind disreputable procedural dodges and other concealment measures.
In short, expecting meaningful reform from the Democratic Party is like expecting a cancer cure from a blue sugar pill. Republicans swallow the poison of a plutocratic, authoritarian political party, knowing what it will do to our society, and they welcome it. But Democratic Party supporters continue to believe that the placebo they are swallowing will bring beneficial changes to America.
America's two party system is really a single party government in which an illusory "choice" is offered to voters every few years, but there is no choice. The priorities of corporations and wealthy individuals (those who pay to have politicians elected) are addressed first, and the remaining crumbs of "reform" are spead among the general population.
Only when we have the courage to stop swallowing placebos will we be able to cure the fundamental ills of our nation. The Democratic party will never be reformed from within, because it is funded by sources of concentrated wealth. Only a new party fundamentally devoted to the interests of individual citizens can deliver the remedies for which the majority of Americans thirst. It will be argued that this is impossible, but dozens of countries have vibrant multi-party democracies. The Greens are a steadily growing force in Europe, and it is quite possible to repeat their success in America.
The time for placebo Democrats is over. We need to find effective medicine to cure our political ills.