Class Warfare – Delivering A Rare
W For The Bush TeamBy Robert S. Becker, Ph.D.
11 August, 2006
Countercurrents.orgIn decrying HR 5970, that mongrel bill to lower the estate tax while marginally raising the minimum wage, editorials remind us GOP leaders will yell "class warfare" when anyone dares condemns its "enrich the rich" policies. That got me thinking about the win-loss standings for the Bush team, in both warfare and wars, declared and otherwise.
The Republican rightwing should think twice before deriding "class warfare" – for redistributing wealth upwards is one of its few unequivocal victories since 2000. Aside from narrow election wins, thanks to weird voting anomalies, the standings across myriad “war fronts” indicate results from dismal failure to utter disaster. Even removing the crushing fiascos of real, live wars – the neo-con “experiment” in Iraq or the disintegrating stability in Afghanistan -- hardly undermines this thesis.
Too much suffering, too little patience
Look at the global issues first, where leaders deficient in leadership declare (then quickly neglect) public relations wars: overpopulation, poverty, famine, catastrophic diseases like AIDS or, the most reliable Bush mantra of all, the war on terrorism. Who wouldn't argue today the world has more people, and more poor, starving, hungry souls than any time in history? Those not killed by ethnic cleansing expire when food, housing, or sanitation are destroyed. Are there not more fully armed terrorists crawling around in more countries than imaginable in 2000? Have not more suicide bombers struck more innocent bystanders? If this is "winning," I don’t want to see losing!
And consider the charmed life of Osama bin Laden, despite countless attacks on planes, buildings, vehicles and civilians. While literally dodging bullets, even bunker-busting bombs, this irrepressible, evil general continues to direct worldwide agents of disorder. What happened to that infamous (then forgotten) call: “bin Laden: dead or alive”? Talk about the reports of a death being premature! If anything, terrorism is booming -- so much so bin Laden's own bloodthirsty team, al Qaeda, must now compete with Hamas and Hezbollah for the hearts and minds of angry Muslims.
Too many storms, too little response
Considering its narcolepsy towards Katrina, the Bush administration did no better battling natural disasters, hardly laying a hand on hurricane winds, storms, or deluges. Climactic disruptions routed the Bush team just as preventable flooding sent New Orleans'’ victims packing – in every way. The score last season: Mother Nature 164, BushCo. 0 -- a new American, if not world record.
Is there much doubt, aside from successfully redistributing wealth upwards, the Bush Era is a parade of disasters, strike outs and missed catches. Internationally, can anyone recall when the U.S. had less prestige or faced more enmity, all the while ineptly squandering political, military, and economic opportunities by the truckloads? Even when balancing the budget, once child's play for conservatives, every GOP quarterback has fumbled the ball, misread the opposition, and traded away top picks while heaping debts on our grandchildren.
Draw on gay marriage, losses on global warming
Other than warring against same-sex marriage, which the right has slowed but hardly defeated, benighted Republicans have lost ground recently in opposing evolution (even in Kansas last week), scientific advances, and especially global warming. Alas, even child pornography, a natural war for crusaders, is soaring, measured by the zillions of porn movies produced in five years – without calls for censorship!
That leaves wins in class warfare as the GOP's single most credible victory. There are related triumphs, of course: exported middle class affluence by encouraging manufacturing jobs overseas, opening capital spigots for developing markets, deregulating mining and energy industry standards, repeating tax incentives to big oil, ignoring the minimum wage, and, best of all, reversing our hallowed graduated income tax system. Now middle-class folks pay equal or higher income tax rates compared to the super-rich -- and that's no easy score in a once middle-class democracy.
Final standing
The bottom line: as we near the end of one more baseball season since 9/11, George Bush can’t find bin Laden, stop terrorism, diminish worldwide hatred of America, or use our armies to restrain sectarian insurgents anywhere. The Taliban is regaining power in Afghanistan, Iran is stronger than ever, and North Korea does whatever it so chooses. What a record not to run on! No wonder Congressional GOP campaigners are running for their lives!
And yet, despite what malcontents claim as these modest shortfalls, there are more millionaires then ever, more rich people, and more resource-busting McMansions. For the affluent, every year since 2000 has been a banner year! Is America a great country or what?
So, respect is due – in whatever skirmishes define class warfare, there’s hardly been a pitched battle – so Republicans (and operators like Karl Rove) should at least take credit for what they worked so hard to achieve: enrich the rich by soaking the middle class. Class warfare at its best!
Robert Becker can be reached at [email protected]
