The Great American Disconnect Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:54:24 -0500 (CDT) Published on The Smirking Chimp (http://www.smirkingchimp.com) The Great American Disconnect By Jon Faulkner Created Mar 30 2008 - 11:23am Americans seem to have accepted dysfunctional government as unavoidable. Another president, another congress will soon come to power. Amid the noise, the blaring trumpets, the delirium that ushers another president into office, is the quiet acceptance that whatever the new guy does it wont be done for ordinary Americans. During the Bush Administration, many Americans have been innocently unaware of the quiet, insidious changes that were calculated into their lives. Some like to think the next president will restore the Constitutional Rights that were taken from them. They are fully aware that the Bush Administration has taken an ax to the foundations of democracy. Theyll look hopefully to the new president to restore those rights, and put things back. But there are some things that once they are gone cant be brought back. The failing economy, the decaying infrastructure, the apparent indifference that Americans seem to feel about their kids futures are accepted as a matter of course. The war that consumes their sons and daughters as cannon fodder is just another slap in the face that Americans have resigned themselves to. The once, good paying jobs that included health care and other benefits are gone, replaced with low paying jobs without benefits or security. Americans have had to adjust to a diminished standard of living. Theyve become jaded, cynically indifferent, and many pause to wonder what theyve traded for a 30 year mortgage, an undependable income, and their ever growing debt. Americans have lost their enthusiasm for the chase. Theyre too damn tired, disgusted and disappointed to keep pretending theres a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow when they well know theres only another stack of bills, and never enough money to pay them. For some unfathomable reason, Americans dont think theyre worthy of health care, or higher education for their kids, or jobs that pay a living wage. They wait for their government to order their lives - to tell them what to expect. Theyve been told that government is the enemy - a tool of the liberals. It exists to steal their money and then give it away to some feel good, warm and fuzzy social program. The answer, say the conservatives, is to privatize everything. Hand most government programs over to private interests. The current war is largely privatized. Halliburton, the wars chief beneficiary, has been caught overcharging over and over again. Private security guards make 3 to 5 times what a soldier makes, and they dont have to go without vital equipment. The privatized war is the reason the war will never end. If Halliburton and the other contractors knew theyd sucked all the money up theyd leave Iraq like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Bush wanted to privatize Social Security, but the market kept nose diving every time he tried to sell it. The U.S. government has given untold billions to save badly managed corporations that would sink without government help. Corporations will steal the paint off the walls if given the chance, so handing them chunks of the government to run is inviting them into the cookie jar. Many Americans think privatization is a fine idea until the bills come due. Then they complain. Liberals are socialists and conservatives want to elect Ward Cleaver - return to a past where kids learned values from a good whippin. The voters are spoon fed the same tiresome, redundant line year after year. Conservatives are the good guys who want to get government out of the lives of Americans. Liberals would take every dime Americans earned if given the chance. Conservatives say that government is the enemy and liberals are the architects of governmental bureaucracy. Both parties will say anything to get elected. Americans could demand they tell the truth. After all, these politicians are asking to lead the free world, and certainly honesty is not too much to expect from them. When they lie about each other, or distort the truth in any way, they should be forced to make a public apology and promise to stop lying. Saxby Chambliss ran a campaign ad that showed Max Clelands face fading away and re-emerging as Saddam Hussein. Cleland lost 3 limbs in Vietnam and won the Silver Star for gallantry. Americans watched, and assuming the vote count wasnt altered, elected Saxby. Americans are numb. They no longer expect good people to seek government office. But to elect Saxby over Max Cleland? Thats hard to believe. Each election cycle the candidates promise change. Theyll tell the truth. They wont lie to the American people. The fact they feel compelled to make such promises is revealing. In 2000, Bush promised tax relief. Whos better at determining how to spend the hard earned money the government takes from your check, he asked. A long pause, then . shouting - You or the government! The crowd was on its feet. Thunderous applause. Bush cuts taxes, takes the nation to war, then, having seriously depleted the treasury revenues, must borrow the money to prosecute the war. Conservatives ignore the inconvenient truth that a democracy, unlike an aristocracy and other types of government, looks after its citizens and uses a common pool of money with which to do so. The hallmark of a great nation lies in seeing its future, its destiny, in its children. Another measure of its worth is its treatment of weaker, less fortunate citizens. Why do conservatives feel compelled to promise Compassionate Conservatism, if elected? Theyve coined the phrase to mitigate their well known position of complete disregard for the poor, the disabled, the elderly whose lives could depend on a prescription they cant afford. Conservatives, with their compassion, are like the promise keepers who hug each other and bond - who advertise their intention to stop beating their wives and kids in drunken rage, and to devote themselves to their families as any normal father would. Compassionate conservatism is conservative atonement. Bush belongs to a political party that regards the weak, the helpless, the unfortunate, as pests. The republican mayor of Miami ordered rat poison to be poured into every garbage can in the city. You see, the mayor didnt think some bum should eat for free, and besides, the raccoons were upsetting enough cans as it was. The mayor thought he was performing a public service. Such is the sociopathic mentality of the compassionately conservative republican. An estimated 50 million Americans lack health care insurance, while another 2,000 are becoming uninsured everyday. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a family of four pays $12,100 a year on health insurance, 74% of which is borne by the employer who is typically the owner of a small business. From 2000 to 2006, health insurance premiums rose 87%. Thats more than 4 times the growth in wages. By 2016, expenditures on health care will reach 4.2 trillion dollars. Today, single coverage is about $4,400 a month. If there has ever been a time for government intervention, this is the time. The lack of health insurance for so many Americans should be a source of deep shame in a nation that never lets the world forget, Were number 1! Were number 1! The irrevocable, unshakeable truth, is that a political solution is demanded - is imperative. But republicans will have none of it. Their motto is best described as tax relief for the wealthiest. And for the rest? - Let them eat cake. Economic ruin is a conservative republicans forte. They like to boast of successes in business but without the government they profess to hate, many of their businesss have often been doomed to failure. Follow the trail back from any ill advised, economic travesty, and chances are there will be a republican pulling the levers. The so called president is a case in point. Business doesnt like regulations so Ronald Reagan, 30 years ago, began the deregulation frenzy. The democrats went right along with the ill advised scheme to deregulate the market. Unrestrained capitalism has run amok ever since. Reagans whimsical, Morning in America, has turned into Nightmare on Elm Street. Some people are driven by a terrible need. They must have more, always more. Its a form of mental illness. Theyre like a cancer - an uncontrolled horror that consumes everything. When Reagan rode into town the regulations governing business behavior were relaxed or done away with, and trouble wasnt long in coming. The deregulated S&Ls began to fail, one after another. The lesson that deregulation isnt such a good idea wasnt learned. John Kenneth Galbraith was a Harvard professor. He was one of the foremost, economic thinkers of his time. He said of the S&L collapse - Its the largest and costliest venture in public misfeasance, malfeasance and larceny of all time." The collapse of the nations S&Ls were a direct result of deregulation. Unrestrained capitalism was loosed upon an unsuspecting public and now, almost 30 years later, the overvalued housing market is kicking the props from under Americas economic pinning. Deregulation permitted business to make money anyway it could. Now the bill is due and the cost is going to far exceed the S&L debacle. Americans are still believers in deregulation and still cant recognize the economic ruin it brings. California rate payers, after their bout with the wonders of the deregulated market are still paying. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, reported that deregulation was the sole cause of the California rip-off. Losing almost 100 billion was bad enough, but then Californians elected Arnold Schwarzenegger governor. This is a guy who met with Enrons Ken Lay and the Mayor of Los Angeles. Enron asked for the meeting to call off the Federal and State investigators who had some handcuffs with Kenny Boys name on them. Governor Davis was kicked out of office. He said, I inherited the energy deregulation scheme which put us all at the mercy of the big energy producers. We got no help from the Federal government. In fact, when I was fighting Enron and the other energy companies, these same companies were sitting down with Vice President Cheney to draft a national energy strategy." Cheney was the head of the National Energy Development task force. When Davis asked for help Cheney refused and told him that deregulation must stay in place. Incredibly, Californias Public Utility Commission has voted to reconsider deregulation even though the States Legislature has outlawed it. Governor Schwarzenegger is solidly behind the new scheme. Californians will watch Lucy hold the ball again. Theyll run up to kick it and of course, at the last moment, Lucy will pull the ball back. Charlie Brown will fall flat on his ass, again. Conservatives figure that Californians have the same, short attention span that Americans in general have. Tell them the same old bullshit about healthy competition, the free market being allowed to compete so everyone may enjoy lower prices, and theyll buy it again. Wait and see. An empty treasury, a soul destroying war, the contempt of the international community, Americans as divided as theyve been at anytime since the Civil War. George and Co. will blithely retire to their palatial homes and 7 figure bank accounts. Thanks America. It was a pleasure serving you! "He, he, he. Lemme know if I can be of further assistance. Hah! Ho! Ho! Ho! Those suckers. P.T. sure wasnt kidding! There is one born every minute! On election days, those Americans who still feel compelled, or duty bound to participate in representative democracy, will drag themselves to the polls where theyll vote for a candidate they fully expect to dissemble, cheat, lie and otherwise misrepresent his/her position. Of course, simply stealing an election is faster and cheaper than paying for a legitimate one, and besides, whats the harm, really? Junior explained it this way. "Fool me once, shame ... shame on ... you." A long pause while Juniors eyes dart around. "Fool me can't get fooled again!" He finished triumphantly, hunched forward and looking around for approval, his eyes shifting out of his head. Americans found almost perfect unity when the Saturn 5 rocket lifted off for the moon. That was the last time the U.S, and indeed the world, has come together as a people. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, every American knew they lived in a very special country - a country that had reached out far beyond where it could see. Americans had accomplished something that would shape human history, and they did it together. Every American could celebrate their nations courage, its determination, and above all, its collective will. The entire planet shared in the extraordinary, American accomplishment and humanity was unified for one, incredible moment. The people of earth understood. Theyd been a fundamental part of something that made every person on the planet as close as any brother or sister. The people of earth had watched as humanity defined its destiny - to journey out among the stars. Nothing, remotely like it, has happened since.