The 21st Century American Revolution
By Timothy V. Gatto
22 October,
2008
Countercurrents.org
If there is one thing I hate, it’s being patronized by educators that believe they have the final word because they work with “political theory” everyday. This time it’s Noam Chomsky that is doing it. He says that of course the American political elite and their manufacturing and the financial establishments run the government. The political and wealthy elite have always run this country, and this according to what he attributes to James Madison, was always the founders intent. The appearance of cronyism and an exclusive club that runs the country, the “political elite” have always maintained power. The only time a true populist movement took hold in Washington is when Andrew Jackson became president and ushered in Jacksonian democracy, threw out the central bank, and fired his cabinet for not addressing the needs of the people by arguing with him about policy.
That was indeed the last time a President as strong as Jackson wielded true power like that until George W. Bush. This time however, it is the power of the corporations and the people entrenched in our financial institutions that are in total control. This is not the beginning of a semi-fascist system, of government; it’s just the latest incantation. The only thing that Bush did wrong was to go after peoples civil liberties by passing anti-terrorist laws that can be used against American citizens simply by identifying them as “terrorists”. We have heard about rendition flights, torture at American prisons overseas, the shelving of habeas corpus in anything related to suspected terrorists, the spying on American citizens, The Homegrown Terrorist and Thought Crimes Act. All of these things have not been lost on American citizens.
Americans have started to become afraid of their government. They now are seeing just how far it will go to keep the financial institutions afloat even after they have committed untold crimes with high risk speculation and they can no longer pay their debts. The financial crisis brings up the question of whether the American people are being used by the wealthy bankers to underwrite their mistakes. It also didn’t go unnoticed when Congress agreed on a massive bail out when the phones to legislators were running 197-1 against the bailout as in the case of Senator Barbara Boxer’s line.
Mr. Chomsky explains that we will be better ultimately (meaning the common man) under a Democratic administration. He suggests we vote for the lesser of two evils by insinuating that to vote for a lesser evil is still a vote against evil. Maybe we could argue that point forever, but with the mood this nation is in, the argument is meaningless because it’s all evil. Things will not change with this election; the awareness of the citizens came too late. That is not to say that things haven’t changed, they have. Four years ago Barack Obama would have been elevated to a demi-god in the eyes of most voters that are tired of the ineptness and brutality of the Bush Administration. Today however they are looking at him as a man with feet of clay.
Most voters are keenly aware of his broken promises, his military plans for a wider war in Afghanistan, and are very dismayed at the way he folded on the FISA Bill. Now, with his fawning over the financial wizards that dug themselves into a hole, we see that the Democrats and Republicans are really exactly what Chomsky says they are: different factions of the same party. This is supposed to be adequate? I don’t believe that the American people think it is anymore. People are very cynical and far more educated about who controls who and what in the nether world of Washington. They are asking questions about the bailout using 700 Billion dollars of the taxpayers’ money to keep the same people that were their predators’ in business, the banks that for foreclosed on their houses, the credit card companies that charged ridiculous interest rates and late fees, the new bankruptcy law that took the option of eliminating credit card debt off the table. These are just a few things people are thinking about.
Who profits from this bailout if it is successful? If the government lets the institutions that escaped collapse make a profit from the bailout that would be fascism, a combination of government and private enterprise colluding together. If they pay back the American people with interest, does this make the bailout a socialists program when the citizens buy into private enterprise underwritten by the government? Of course that is what it would be. To tell you the truth, I would rather see the socialist model be the one that prevails rather than the fascist model whereby we just get robbed.
There are more questions than answers out there. To say that the government is made up of the elite and that’s OK because it has always been that way is tantamount to saying that we really don’t have a democracy, but an oligarchy. I don’t believe that people will stand still much longer and continue to be just pawns used in a game between the power elites. Unless the government starts to do its job and look out for the welfare of all its citizens instead of just its wealthy ones, I think radical changes are coming, changes that the “power elite” won’t like. Once you pull the wool away from the people’s eyes and they see the truth, it’s awful hard to put that genie back in the bottle. Americans are becoming more aware by the minute. As Martha Stewart says, “that’s a good thing”. It may not be a good thing for the corrupt politicians in Washington, but it’s a good thing for the majority of us who are sick to death of being taken for granted.
The last revolution had a statement that they sewed onto their flags. “Don’t Tread on Me” was the mantra. The same can be said for this revolution. Make no mistake, the revolution is coming. Whether it will be a peaceful transition to a populist government or a long violent protracted struggle is in the hands of both sides. Let’s hope that leaders emerge that will help us find our way without any bloodshed.
I know these are hard words, but these are hard times. The insight the American people are displaying is a kind of awakening to a fraud that has been foisted on us for a very long time. This is a new century, and a new way to include all American citizens in the decisions of the government is something whose time has come.
