Although the jockying for position with women voters utilizing empty rhetoric that both parties engage in, isn't the only kabuki theater in town, it's the most recent. Matt Stoller uses this "battle over women voters" to expose the real deal behind the scenes of electoral politics:
Political scientist Tom Ferguson has noted that there are always two elections at work concurrently in America, a public election that voters see, and a hidden election where funders operate in shifting coalitions to pull the levers of power. In this case, it’s the very triviality that is on display that speaks to what is going. Rosen, a corporate lobbyist who represents or has represented copyright interests, for-profit colleges, and BP, is fighting with David Axelrod, who has made money from the nuclear industry, and Anna Romney, who rides expensive horses bought by her husband’s private equity millions. This is staged kabuki between powerful millionaires, none of whom can credibly speak from recent experience on economic struggles.
The corporate owned media is filled with corporate bought off politicians, essentially, very wealthy people who deign to discuss the issues of the 99%..only, they aren't really that familiar with the day to day lives of most Americans. Hunger on the rise, chronic unemployment, starving public school budgets that are closed because they are failing the students. Meanwhile, our entire political system is failing the public school system, failing our public services that are being slashed everywhere, filling our prisons for profit, fighting extended wars that long ago lost the will of Americans.
When was the last time decent policy passed Congress, backed by the President, that would actually help ordinary, everyday Americans. Certainly you won't refer to the recent JOBS Act cynically passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama, and trashed by every writer with any sense of economic fairness and decency?
Even worse, the JOBS Act, incredibly, will allow executives to give "pre-prospectus" presentations to investors using PowerPoint and other tools in which they will not be held liable for misrepresentations. These firms will still be obligated to submit prospectuses before their IPOs, and they'll still be held liable for what's in those. But it'll be up to the investor to check and make sure that the prospectus matches the "pre-presentation."
The JOBS Act also loosens a whole range of other reporting requirements, and expands stock investment beyond "accredited investors," giving official sanction to the internet-based fundraising activity known as "crowdfunding."
But the big one, to me, is the bit about exempting firms from real independent tests of internal controls for five years.
Back to Stoller. He goes on to say:
The 2012 election, in other words, is at this point a completely empty enterprise, bereft of substance, or integrity. This is new to our era, reminiscent of the late 19th century electoral landscape which was dominated by policy consensus around corruption and plutocracy while electoral contests were organized around “bloody shirt” smear campaigns. Populism intruded briefly, but there’s a reason that time period was known as the time of the robber barons. It’s increasingly analogous to our time.
There is only one solution to all of this, and it is to organize, occupy, organize, occupy, and organize some more. I place a great deal more faith and trust in my concerned and caring brothers and sisters. We will defeat these forces of oligarchical totalitarianism, before the roots grow too deep and we are lost to fear that is the major tool of the two party, corporate system.
11:50 AM PT: A comment worth highlighting:
Repubs: Status quo Ante; Dems: Status quo (3+ / 0-)
So the real question is does the Ship of State continue on automatic pilot to reach the waterfall more quickly, or more slowly?
The status quo ante is horrible; the status quo is less so, but still disastrous for the average person, gives us exactly what we have now (save the Banks, fight the world, austerity...)
To wear blinders to the objective circumstances, to pretend that either party is engaged in rescuing the 99%, and it's better if we don't deal with that and doubly good if we don't make Democratic Party officials aware that we know this... well, Democrats are allowed to do nuance. Even though the result might be complicated and uncomfortable.
Today, if you exist... that's already suspicious.
by Jim P on Fri Apr 13, 2012 at 12:57:28 PM CDT