30 January 2006
9. The March of the Plutocrats
In Democracy Matters, Cornel West writes that our government has devolved into a plutocracy that is eating away at our democratic principles and ideals. Left in its wake is a creeping nihilism that renders us uncaring or hopeless about America and our lives.
We agree with West, and would also argue that the Plutocrats depend for much of their influence on a powerful message of mass conformity, ignorance, and unexamined same-ness. This message goes right to the heart of American identity and broadly manifests itself, from the attempt to re-establish school prayer (and a quasi-Christian ethos in general), to suburban sprawl, and the Wal-Martization of our communities.
We are duped by our Democrat and Republican leaders, who have become self-parodies or automatons just acting out great business transactions. The two parties, with their parasitic focus groups, lobbyists, and pollsters, have corporatized the political process so that ordinary Americans are systematically excluded. We are represented by uninspired sycophants who spout bland, non-committal party platforms, totally beholden to their millionaire campaign contributors. The only way for us to influence these Plutocrats is to give them money.
Even the news is commodified and branded. The "War on Terror"* is just a brand name. So is "9/11." Both have become conceptual products, marketed and sold by the President and his administration. They use them to promote fear and hatred among us, and then tout themselves and their deeds as our salvation. And the media, who crave entertainment relevance, would rather sensationalize or titillate us than provide reasoned, un-biased news coverage.
The President, the "Leader of the Free World," along with Vice President Dick Cheney are the most ardent of the Plutocrats. They are both so inextricably linked to oil and defense contracting businesses that they might as well have been chosen to lead by board-room fiat. Their policies have consistently benefited both of these gigantic industries, who, for their part, donated huge sums of money to the Bush presidential campaign.
The President himself is a rube of the first magnitude, with his anti-intellectual habit of mind, his hypocritical moral authority, and his sneering, snickering, and smirking. The recent revelations of criminal and Un-American activities in his administration are merely icing on the cake.
When they falsified the intelligence that led to war in Iraq; when they re-classified people as "Unlawful Enemy Combatants" so they could imprison them forever without legal recourse; and then when they countenanced the abuse and dehumanization of these "detainees" in U.S.-run prisons; when they set up a world-wide secret "rendition" (kidnapping) program that also has torture at its heart; and when they set up an unconstitutional surveillance program right here in America, they put their radical right-wing political theories before the liberty of the citizens.
And every time they say they are doing it all in the name of fighting terror and spreading democracy, they employ an unapologetic Orwellian artistry that makes our head spin. We should all do what we can in our own lives to oppose their ideas.
______________
*Terror is a feeling. Waging war on feelings makes Don Quixote's attack against the windmills seem perfectly sane. Then again, feelings are what "play" best with focus groups. What is next, The War on Embarrassment?
We agree with West, and would also argue that the Plutocrats depend for much of their influence on a powerful message of mass conformity, ignorance, and unexamined same-ness. This message goes right to the heart of American identity and broadly manifests itself, from the attempt to re-establish school prayer (and a quasi-Christian ethos in general), to suburban sprawl, and the Wal-Martization of our communities.
We are duped by our Democrat and Republican leaders, who have become self-parodies or automatons just acting out great business transactions. The two parties, with their parasitic focus groups, lobbyists, and pollsters, have corporatized the political process so that ordinary Americans are systematically excluded. We are represented by uninspired sycophants who spout bland, non-committal party platforms, totally beholden to their millionaire campaign contributors. The only way for us to influence these Plutocrats is to give them money.
Even the news is commodified and branded. The "War on Terror"* is just a brand name. So is "9/11." Both have become conceptual products, marketed and sold by the President and his administration. They use them to promote fear and hatred among us, and then tout themselves and their deeds as our salvation. And the media, who crave entertainment relevance, would rather sensationalize or titillate us than provide reasoned, un-biased news coverage.
The President, the "Leader of the Free World," along with Vice President Dick Cheney are the most ardent of the Plutocrats. They are both so inextricably linked to oil and defense contracting businesses that they might as well have been chosen to lead by board-room fiat. Their policies have consistently benefited both of these gigantic industries, who, for their part, donated huge sums of money to the Bush presidential campaign.
The President himself is a rube of the first magnitude, with his anti-intellectual habit of mind, his hypocritical moral authority, and his sneering, snickering, and smirking. The recent revelations of criminal and Un-American activities in his administration are merely icing on the cake.
When they falsified the intelligence that led to war in Iraq; when they re-classified people as "Unlawful Enemy Combatants" so they could imprison them forever without legal recourse; and then when they countenanced the abuse and dehumanization of these "detainees" in U.S.-run prisons; when they set up a world-wide secret "rendition" (kidnapping) program that also has torture at its heart; and when they set up an unconstitutional surveillance program right here in America, they put their radical right-wing political theories before the liberty of the citizens.
And every time they say they are doing it all in the name of fighting terror and spreading democracy, they employ an unapologetic Orwellian artistry that makes our head spin. We should all do what we can in our own lives to oppose their ideas.
______________
*Terror is a feeling. Waging war on feelings makes Don Quixote's attack against the windmills seem perfectly sane. Then again, feelings are what "play" best with focus groups. What is next, The War on Embarrassment?
Counter
