Coming soon to your town: “The Fiscal Cliff”

Obama seems to be that type of personality that lights up when adulation comes his way. He naturally gravitates towards the speaker’s podium. We have projected leadership qualities on him based on that carefully crafted image, but what we really have there is a mystery. (The fact that we cannot view his college transcripts is weird.)

The expression “The White House” usually refers to some faceless executive branch operative. “Obama” is, in the public mind, the person exerting control over that vast apparatus. Whatever he may be underneath, Obama is the mask of power. He is probably a ribbon cutting teleprompter reader, but “Obama”and “The White House” are useful shorthand. Do not confuse words with reality.

Obama and the White House are controlled by “Wall Street,” another shorthand term which refers to the financial oligarchy* that operates behind politics. There are many familiar names and faces, and many more we do not know. (I doubt the Koch brothers ever wanted a high profile.) Perhaps the “New York-London financial axis” helps to illuminate the arrangement.

Obama is a “Wall Street Democrat,” that is, his party is a mask of a faction of the oligarchy. Republicans are but another faction. Each of these factions has attached themselves to various elements of the general population. It appears that Democrats have a more successful formula right now, and that Republicans are doomed to be the party of religious zealots, rednecks and the racist south. But they are smart, and will soon rebrand.

The stakes are very high during electoral contests, which is why the oligarchy is willing to invest billions of dollars in office holders. The White House and the Congress offer a pathway to the Treasury, the commons, the law enforcement and securities regulation apparatus, and of course, The Pentagon.

The Pentagon is too big for the human mind to embrace. There are thousands of honest people contained within who have learned to shut up. They cannot speak after retirement either, due to pensions and health care. But they know, as many of us do, that 9/11 was a coup d’état, and a mysterious group of moles and operatives embedded in military agencies, news media, military contractors and The Pentagon seized control of the executive that day.**

The post-9/11 line of authority appears to bypass the executive, and go directly from “Wall Street” to “The Pentagon.” Anyone in the executive branch foolish enough to interfere will soon be on the outside looking in, or underside looking up. (Knowing that these people killed 3,000 of us willy-nilly that day, what would you do in their shoes?)

The foreign policy of the United States is a child of 9/11. After that day aggressive war was launched on every Islamic state not already under thumb. In succession we have seen Afghanistan/Pakistan, Iraq, Libya (and peripherally Sudan and Somalia) fall. (The other “stans” of Central Asia are a source of confusion for me, as Russia’s proximity and restored power should put them in play again, as I see it.) Syria, Lebanon and Iran are currently under attack. The whole thing was to take five years, but here we are eleven years later, and still at it.

Obama is but one silly eloquent narcissist. In campaigning he was on a long leash. He told some lies, and sent some encoded messages. He’s not raising taxes on the people who financed his campaign. Get real. But he also said that he supports Bowles-Simpson. That means we must endure yet another round of Kabuki Theater, and that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Food Stamps, unemployment – whatever is left of the safety net, will again come under attack.

The PR-invented catch phrase for the coming theater production is called “The Fiscal Cliff.” It’s an Obama-Dreamworks production.

Our military is beyond control, but we can exert some power over our social programs. It is time now for activists of all stripes to unify and resist the bipartisan attack soon to emerge. Various groups exist who might join forces in a potential resistance movement: “conservatives” (the real kind); “progressives” (including those few still in the Democratic Party); “Occupy Wall Street;” “anti-austerity;” “Green Party;” “Tea Party;” “Libertarians, environmentalists and Constitutionalists, to name a few.

Ethnic politics have been co-opted, “left” and “right” are empty words. Holding up signs on street corners is merely a way of saying “Look at me! I am powerless!”. We need a new way of thinking, a way to gather our forces for this eschatological conflict.

The first name that popped into my mind was the “FDR Party,” as it is very important to emphasize that the modern Democratic Party has long abandoned the New Deal. However, that name would be internally divisive. While it is true that Tea Party members who want to keep government hands off Medicare have things in common with progressives who support “Obama,” we need a name that neither will object to.

Suggestions?
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*There are many wealthy people in this country who are good people not seeking power. We need not worry about them – maybe just seek contributions from them.
**How it was done is an aside, but it does help to know that most who were involved did not know what they were involved in.