The Sanity of Hopelessness

Oh say can you see by the fluorescent light
The politicians we’ve bought at our last corporate meeting?
Whose venal hearts and deceit wrought health care’s defeat,
While from boardrooms we laughed and then raised premiums?

And the wars that were fought for the profits we’ve sought
Gave proof to our shareholders that freedom is bought.
Oh say does that banner of corporate fascism now wave,
O’er democracy’s corpse and the working class slaves? 
(Anthem of the Corporate Fascist States of America)

Make no mistake about it: America is hopelessly corrupt.

If there were any doubts about this reality, they were efficiently crushed by the Congressional stalemate over health care reform and by the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Citizens United, under the pretext of expanding the First Amendment’s “freedom of speech” clause, continued the destruction of democracy, first spawned by the court in Bush v. Gore, by granting corporations unlimited ability to influence the outcome of political elections. Thanks to Citizens United, corporations can now buy and own politicians legally and outright, instead of concealing their purchases behind the veil of so-called Political Action Committees (PACs).

Meanwhile the almost unanimous Republican opposition to Health Care Reform has exposed just how pervasive and unifying this corruption truly is, and has made America’s so-called “two party system” unworkable and anachronistic.

Under the rules of the United States Senate, sixty votes are needed to break “filibusters”—tactics used to stall or obstruct proposed legislation. According to a recent article by Steven R. Hurst of the Associated Press, Senate Republicans are currently filibustering at a record pace. This practice has become so egregious that Republican senator Jim Bunning, an embarrassment from the State of Kentucky, recently blocked efforts to extend unemployment benefits and health insurance subsidies to millions of jobless Americans.

Kentucky is also represented by another embarrassment—Republican senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell has openly praised the Citizens United decision, proclaiming it would not increase the potential for foreign influence in American elections, even though he has personally accepted financial contributions from an American subsidiary of a foreign corporation.

The reasoning behind the Republican strategy is simple. In addition to appeasing their corporate masters, Republicans are hoping to neutralize the Obama administration and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Then, during upcoming election campaigns, they can speciously claim that “change” is needed because nothing is being accomplished under the current regime in Washington.

One would think, should the Republicans reclaim majorities in the House and Senate, that the Democrats would retaliate by using filibusters themselves. But, as I pointed out in my Pravda.Ru article REVOLUTION, IF NOT NOW WHEN? (June 8, 2007), retaliation is not that simple because unity is not that simple. The corporate fascists and their Republican allies are already united behind one common goal—profit at any cost. Those who oppose them, however, often have diverse, and sometimes conflicting, reasons for doing so. This enhances the ability of the corporate fascists to “divide and conquer” by creating or exploiting disagreements between and/or within organizations and political movements campaigning for positive social change.

The destruction of the “public option” during the health care reform debate has made it painfully obvious that corporate fascists already control a handful of Democratic Senators, and these would undoubtedly be enough to terminate any filibusters a Democratic minority might attempt.

Thus it was no surprise when Anthem Insurance Company recently announced that it was raising its health insurance premiums by as much as thirty-nine (39%) percent. Although such a move seemed the height of stupidity, given that exorbitant health insurance costs have been a driving force behind the reform movement, it actually reflects the confident arrogance of an industry that knows it carries a plethora of politicians in its pocket.

Sadly the corrupting influence of corporate fascism has so inundated America that it not only infects venerated institutions like academics, law and religion, it is also the primary reason America goes to war.

Ronald Reagan, for example, invaded Grenada to divert attention from the “Iran-Contra” affair; George H.W. Bush invaded Panama to divert attention from the “Savings and Loan” scandal; and George W. Bush invaded Iraq to increase the profits of the oil industry and to award his political cronies lucrative “rebuilding” contracts. But, by wrapping these wars in ideals like “democracy,” “freedom,” “human rights,” “patriotism” and/or “national security,” most Americans remained oblivious to this reality.