Glenn Greenwald offers up a well-linked piece to an action that ought to set all party Democrats back on their heels – the Senate’s passage by voice vote of extension of key provisions of the Patriot Act. There was no debate, no threatened filibuster, no nonsense. They just got it done.
Contrast this with a list put out by Nancy Pelosi’s office” 290 pieces of legislation passed by the House that have stalled in the Senate. The reason? The filibuster rule, intransigence, and, of course, the blah blah blah.
The paralysis is indeed institutional in nature, but the key institution is not the House or Senate. (The House appears to be functioning quite well, but don’t be fooled – they have ease of action knowing that most of what they do does not matter). The key institution is The Party, our lone political party, the essential feature of our “democratic” society, and the fact that it is financed by one source, corporate America. We have two nominal parties, but when called upon to do anything of importance for the general public, such as regulation of Wall Street and banks or repair of our health care system, they are lost in procedural constipation. When called up to re-up one of the most totalitarian laws since Alien and Sedition, a simple voice vote gets it done.
As Casey Stengel would say, “Amazin.'”
When the Republican wing of The Party holds power, there is no talk of bipartisanship, and filibusters rarely happen. Legislation is rammed through – dammit, they just somehow find a way. When Democrats take power, the wheels grind to a halt. Nothing can be done, they tell us. The votes just aren’t there. (They really aren’t – that is, there are not enough progressives or liberals in the Democrat Party to pass an even mildly aggressive agenda.) The leadership of the Democratic Party (starting at the very top), and the punditry, cry out for bipartisanship. As Greenwald notes, some of the worst and most damaging legislation of the past decades was done on a bipartisan basis. When The Party wants to stick it to us, its two wings agree and move forward.
When something of importance is on the agenda, like health care, The Party splits into two factions, and nothing gets done. And we then get frustrated, and to vent our frustration, we replace one branch of The Party with the other branch of The Party. And we get screwed that way too.
As should be a commonplace, there is essentially one political party, the business party, and two factions. Shifting coalitions of investors account for a large part of political history. Unions or other popular organizations that might offer a way for the general public to play some role in developing programs and influencing policy choices scarcely function. The ideological system is bounded by the consensus of the privileged. In congressional elections, virtually all incumbents are returned to office. There is scarcely a pretense that substantive issues arise in presidential campaigns. Articulated programs are hardly more than a device to garner votes, and it is considered quite natural for candidates to adjust messages to audiences as public relations tacticians advise, another reflection of the vacuity of the political system and the cynicism of those who participate in it. Political commentators ponder such questions as whether Obama is too dependent on his teleprompter, or whether McCain looks too angry, or whether Obama can duck the slime flung at him by speech writers and pundits of the right wing. In the 2008 elections, the two factions virtually exchanged traditional stands, the Democrats presenting themselves as the party of Keynesian growth and state intervention in the economy, the Republicans as the advocates of fiscal conservatism; few even noticed. Half the population does not bother to push the levers, and those who take the trouble often consciously vote against their own interest.
Those are actually words taken from a letter by Noam Chomsky to a now-defunct publication, Lies of Our Times. The letter was dated December 30, 1990. These are not unusual times we live in. Here’s what he actually wrote, picking up where the names of the actors are used:
…Political commentators ponder such questions as whether Reagan will remember his lines, or whether Mondale looks too gloomy, or whether Dukakis can duck the slime flung at him by George Bush’s speech writers. In the 1984 elections, the two factions virtually exchanged traditional stands, the Republicans presenting themselves as the party of Keynesian growth and state intervention in the economy, the Democrats as the advocates of fiscal conservatism; few even noticed. Half the population does not bother to push the levers, and those who take the trouble often consciously vote against their own interest.
Our choices? Join The Party, and enjoy the stage presentation, or leave The Party, and be marginalized.
Piece of Mindful 