Viral America: 1776 vs. 2020 — The King/Oligarchy vs. The People
— Whether Republican or a Democrat, whose side are you on?
A friend on Facebook recently wrote a desperate plea that with Bernie Sanders now out of the race, the time has come for everyone to get behind Joe Biden in order to defeat Donald Trump. My friend wrote in fear that Trump will promulgate a dictatorship during his second term; but Biden won’t.
On this, there are two schools of thought:
- If Trump is re-elected, people will take to the streets. The people will overthrow a dictatorship under Trump. To do this, Democratic leadership will finally become forced to play a leading role for progressive change. If it doesn’t, then it too will need become overthrown. [NOTE: It should have been in 2016, but Russiagate took everybody’s eye off the ball!]
- If Biden is elected, nobody will take to the streets. But, sadly, Biden will become nothing but a back-up quarterback for the same Team Oligarchy which Trump supports. America’s foreign policy will continue bullying the world while killing millions of innocents via regime-change proxy wars and by imposing economic sanctions. Meanwhile, while our own citizenship will continue getting nothing but chump change disguised under platitudes of promise: Oh, please, Mr. Biden, won’t you throw me a bone!
The fact of reality is a Trump v. Biden match-up amounts to yet another Oligarch Derby, where nominees of both political parties are controlled by the fat cats at the top: Of the corporations; by the corporations and for the corporations — Let’s call it a Corporate Dictatorship!
America’s Oligarch Enrichment Project (AOEP)
I describe our problem as America’s Oligarch Enrichment Project. It originated by accentuating a policy of corporate privatization, deregulation and control of the media. The AOEP was first propagated by Reagan Republicans and later enjoined by the Democrats under the Clinton Administration. Pedigreed politicians of both political parties came under guidance and leadership (read: money) from high-priced consultants and lobbyists who articulated policies best fitting needs of the corporate oligarchs at the top.
The advent of the Internet coupled to Clinton deregulating the FCC, eventually enabled corporate media to consolidate to a point where five corporations now control 90% of all media. When Reagan assumed power there were 50 major media companies. The resultant spoon fed propaganda — most blatantly gleaned throughout the 2016 presidential race — caused people to question why up was down, down was up and why the right was left when left wasn’t right. The below meme clearly depicts the problem:
In simple terms, today’s America is internationally rated a “flawed democracy” (see The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index 2019; also see 2014 Princeton Study on Oligarchy). Today, the AOEP (oligarchs at the top) maintain power from four primary components:
- Highly-paid consultants/lobbyists
- Republican Party politicians
- Democratic Party politicians
- Monopolized Media
Indeed, the dictatorship — which my friend and all of us fear — essentially has been ruling America since when JFK was shot. Its only threat came from Jimmy Carter, who was the only US president since JFK to have governed with a heart for the people while in the presidency.
But oligarchy assured Carter would serve one term only. Once Carter was cast aside, America then saw ex-CIA chief George H.W. Bush team with Hollywood celebrity Ronald Reagan in order to put the cruelty of the Nixon Administration back on path while building up the Cold War against Russia, conducting a foreign policy prompting third world dictatorships for corporate gain on the foreign policy front; while domestically destroying America’s labor unions — the crux for creation of America’s middle class!
It’s why CEO pay, since Reagan, has risen 940.3% and worker pay only 11.9% this while productivity markedly increased. Under both Obama and Trump, 85–95% of all new wealth created has gone to the fat cats at the top. In America, three people control as much wealth as 150 million Americans. I’ve long contended the best way to enslave people is to make the people you wish to enslave think they are free!
Why Joe Biden Won’t Help
I responded to my friend’s Facebook post by noting Joe Biden can’t save us from a Trump dictatorship. The reason is it’s America’s oligarchs — and pedigreed politicians from both political parties who support them — that must be overthrown! Donald Trump is only a symptom to the larger dictatorial problem. In reality, Joe Biden is like the man and the dog!
You defeat oligarchy, and its adherent dictatorial ways, only by offering a candidate who represents the antidote to oligarchy, the antidote to Trump. This is precisely why Bernie Sanders was so popular and why nearly all polling, dating back to 2016, showed him markedly defeating Trump. But, like in 2016, the fix was still on in 2020! Why? Oligarchy must protect itself!
It’s almost like America’s democracy became a hidden monarchy. Do some power math: Had Hillary Clinton been elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, this would have meant, after the Carter Administration, a Bush or a Clinton would have been at the top of 10 of 11 presidential administrations. Obama, with Clinton as his secretary of state for four years, effectively served only as a placeholder president for Hillary in 2016. Had she won and not Trump, America would have seen a Bush or a Clinton as president in four of five presidencies. No wonder why Trump won!
Now you can better understand why there are so many more Independent voters who, for the past several years, have ranged between 40 to 45%. Republicans and Democrats have each ranged between 25 and 30%. Significantly, Democrats have not led Republicans in voter registration since the first week of November 2019. This is remarkable given Russiagate, the impeachment, two-dozen Democrats wailing against Trump in the primaries and now three months into the deadly Covid-19 virus.
This has voter registration pattern has been seen since 2012, according to Gallup’s tracking. This tells us the electorate prefers outsider politicians to insider politicians. Barack Obama campaigned as an outsider, but he governed as an insider only increasing the frustration among Independents. And this is precisely why and how Trump got elected as he masqueraded as an outsider. But in American politics there is no such thing as an outsider billionaire, as we’ve painfully discovered from Trump’s administration.
2020 Wisdom Spells: R-E-V-O-L-U-T-I-O-N
If you compare the times and reasons why the American Revolution was fought in 1776 — why and the necessity of its spawning — to the times we live in today, reason and just cause present only one rightful conclusion: A new American Revolution is desperately needed!
Electing Biden could delay or continue to obscure the need. You see, both Trump- and Biden-types need become overthrown and fixed elections — i.e., Oligarch Derbies — are increasingly proving an ineffective tool for providing the relief our citizenship needs and deserves.
Unless Trump fails to survive Covid-19 (which is possible), Biden likely won’t win. To win, Democrats need a candidate substantially better than Biden. He’s got too much baggage including a career riddled with lies, insults, rape allegations and bad policy. As already proven after Bush-Cheney, the electorate doesn’t want a penultimate insider. Biden has no appeal to Independent voters who comprise 40% of the electorate. Moreover, after two rigged primaries, the Democratic base is fractured to a point beyond cure; whereas the Republican loyalty base solid. Democrats can only win with an antidote-like candidate!
So, to me, The New Revolution begins in Milwaukee at the Democratic convention. If this virus has taught us anything, it is that Democratic leadership needs to seriously change at the top. This leadership needs to acknowledge it has finally gotten the message. Clearly, soft liberals begging hardcore progressives, similar to my friend’s Facebook post, no longer will work as an acceptable strategy. There’s been too much history of progressives placating to the lesser of two evils! It just won’t happen anymore!
