Capitulation--by the people, of the people, for the "people" (who never die and never have to obey the law)

Starting to think this week's election was ultimately about capitulation. The people saw how much money the corporate run GOP and its billionaire financed "righter" wing, the tea party, had to throw at a midterm--not a presidential election (only time most people vote) or constitutional amendment ratification ballot, but a midterm during the worst economy of modern times. We gave the Democrats two years to get it done, they failed, economy still sucks, let's switch sides!

So, the Republicans will get two or more years--more if the Perry-Palin ticket (or Beavis and Butthead Do America) unseat an Obama, who after yesterday's speech, seems to have conceded the 2012 election already. Appealing to the lowest common denominator by exploiting irrational fears and mixed with so they'd resemble actual concerns, the corporations have their paid for men in place to enact complete deregulation of every industry; bankers with unfettered sway over and access to all the money in the world (damn near), and a return to simpler times in which the world is 6000 years old; minorities drink from separate drinking fountains and can't enter most establishments--including public restrooms; a time when "duck and cover" protects a child from nuclear annihilation; a time when actions committed by US Armed Forces in another part of the world never makes the news until its urgency has expired; a time when garbage trucks remove all our garbage and take it away, and that's all that mattered, not where they took it away to; a time when you never question product safety--cigarette commercials said cigarettes were healthy, and that's all we needed then; and a time when unfair, inaccurate corporate/pro-war/propaganda was delivered with a straight face by the "unbiased" newscaster trusted by us Americans (though that never changed--neither did the propaganda, no matter which avatar claimed the presidential seal).

The Democrats were no match for the cash the GOP spent, or the extreme discontent with their policies held by a confused electorate, or the fact that Democrats serve the same corporate interests that the Republicans do, but much less convincingly. And the economy still sucks. And the Democrats have the ignorant gall to tell us the economy is improving (but leave out "improving at a barely substantial rate that can recede just as much next quarter as it might have expanded the previous one). The same rah rah bullshit that convinced the electorate that Obama would bring in real change, when what he brought in was the same thing we see every time leadership lists to the right or left, to whichever side is due up next: the same faces that ran things the last time the Dems had power. It's a really predictable ping-pong game with lots of manufactured drama and odds that always remain at 50/50.

When you can base a campaign and legislative agenda on opposing everything presented by the other side, you will always stand a good chance of being elected, even when you are a corrupt and babbling idiot. Moreso, even.

Being entrenched in the two-party system will always mean never being able to progress forward without taking too many corresponding steps backward to even the playing field. It means that corporate influence over lawmaking will continue unabated, protecting and expanding the rights of corporations rather than those of the people. And see, voting out the bums who proved ineffectual to begin with is a valid statement to make at the polls--but not if there is just one other choice. In that case, there isn't really a choice at all. It either/or, and when it comes down to bad or worse, then there can be no improvement in this or any situation we face. When distracted from real issues by intentionally divisive "right/left" moral debates that are never resolved though perpetually debated, we don't tend to use our rational thought processing skills.

We willingly contribute to this downward spiral that to some people might not seem worth getting riled up over now, because they are sufficiently distracted (after all, over 78% of Americans able to work are gainfully employed and work many hours  they inherited due to layoffs in their dept). Why make waves? If corporate ownership is what we get, might as well get used to it. Rights were needed back in the days before they were so plentiful, right? we can abridge them now in the name of an unregulated free market economy, in which environmental preservation is voluntary, and the free market determines whether products sold to the public are safe to use or consume, even when the manufacturer has no competition in the market to help kick in that free market self-regulation to protect consumers from harmful defects, unhealthy additives, or fatal side effects, "overlooked" during trial periods.

We, the people, capitulated. If we were the man in front of the tank in China in 1989, then we just picked up our bags and scuttled across the street, hoping no one saw our momentary fit of courage and principle. We are the lesser of pack dogs, rolling over and exposing our bellies to the m uch more powerful and aggressive corporate alpha dog and his pack of bankers, lawyers, and media PR reps:

 "You got all the money, what could I possibly do to oppose your agenda?" we shrugged. "Eight years under Republican control sucked donkey piss, but after two years under Democratic control, we're ready to try again the failed policies that contributed to the widespread corruption and economic failure we continue to endure. And we'll flip back, or maybe not depending on how well each side sells it message. We could stay pat on the right, or go left again...so many options!" 

I wonder how many voters woke up Wednesday morning to see the hot chick they "picked up" Tuesday at the polling place, was now some fat white dude in his 60s with a wallet so fat, it gives him back problems...

Somehow, we were again sold the same bullshit we supposedly rejected in favor of the same bullshit with a different brand new label two years ago. Lewis Black said it best:

"The democrats and republicans are a bowl of shit looking at itself in the mirror. "

Our intentions were respectable: vote in new blood, reject incumbents. But all we ever do really, is dosi-do with two partners. "Swing yer partner round and round, dance with the other feller's partner, well there's your other partner again--look, there's someone new, oh it's the partner before last..." And it's a pretty messed up square dance.

We buy it. We don't question it. We live with, then endure it. Ultimately, our acceptance means WE are the sellouts. We don't resist corporate control--rather in our moment of glory, we instead crowned corporate control king, we licked it on the cheek, and we rolled over on our backs, exposing our soft under-bellies. Confident we didn't do anything to make things worse, right?

Expecting what? Whether we admit it out loud, or just to ourselves, or if we refuse to admit it at all, we know that we have not improved anything. Our lives, the economy, the wars, the environment, human rights. We have made things worse. No matter which of the two choices was the one to which we capitulated.

Political optimism lasts only as long as it takes to wake up enough to notice the fat white guy in his 60s still in your bed, and you remember the previous night perfectly...no drunken blackout on which to lay blame.--jef