Blog Stage Four

The Zombie Presidency
Ian Mastes writes in counterpunch.com that Americans didn't get the government of change they thought they voted for; the government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich lives on. The money continues to flow from taxpayers to Wall Street's big banks, not in the form of deposit accounts, but in the form of bailouts. Mr. Masters is angry, and rightly so, and he blames the beggining of the current economic problem on Ronald Reagan's decision to favor the millionaires at the expense of the working class and on Bush/Cheney regime as the grand finale. But this reverse of the Robin Hood phenomenon, as he calls it, has existed since the invention of Capitalism; in fact, it is Capitalism by definition. I don't think Capitalism in itself is evil; but our government from the very beginning has tilted the rule of law in favor of the businesses, thus allowing the unequal distribution of wealth that has been the core source of the problems we face today, just as it was the mayor cause of the great depression in the 1930s. When a society is governed by an entity that has the absolute power to make, control and distribute money, as ours does, the concept of democracy has no room to survive. The power of the people becomes non-existent against such absolutism; the illusion is perpetuated via democratic elections and such, and the truth as Masters puts it, is that politicians represent money, not people.
Personally, I am starting to think that the Obama machine has been insulting the intellingence of the people who elected him, especially when they continue the propaganda of hope and change at the same time that they are conducting the business of politics as usual. Mr. Maters' statement that America is screwed and we have only ourselves to blame might be right, but he also notes that it will take a movement from the bottom-up to bring us out of the mess. I believe the movement has begun, because daily I come across social movements like Community Earth Councils, and the people and ideas featured on websites such as HaveFunDoGood, and many others out there, as well as people I meet everyday that are aware of the problems we face and the responsibilities we must face ourselves, and eager to do what it takes, because they are finally convinced that the goverment won't do it for us.

On the other hand, maybe Andrew Sullivan in The Promise of Pragmatism has a point and we should give the President some more time and not under-estimate his ability to deliver on his promise. Hard to imagine, but not impossible to conceive.