Why Our Broken Political System Falls Prey to Right-Wing Extremism

[marmar]

from New Deal 2.0, via AlterNet:




Interview with Thomas Ferguson of the Roosevelt Institute:


.....(snip).....


Lynn Parramore: What’s polarization in politics and how did it start?

Thomas Ferguson: Polarization is a sharp intensification of divisions between the major political parties. The tensions between them now run through the entire system, including the Supreme Court and state and local governments. Congressional polarization is the most visible form right now and surely a key link in the whole process. Both national parties have spent enormous amounts of time and money painting each other in the worst possible terms — to the point that some Republicans have repeatedly cast aspersions on the patriotism of the Democrats.

The split between the two major parties first widened out in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. It showed in a sharp increase in the number of votes in Congress along party lines — that is, votes in which a majority of Democrats opposed a majority of Republicans and vice versa. But notice this, because it is extremely important: While the two parties name call and indeed often stalemate, the center of gravity of the whole political system moves steadily to the right. This is every bit as important as all the public discord and angry rhetoric. Just look, for example, at the current debates on entitlements. In 1954, President Eisenhower famously dismissed critics of Social Security and unemployment compensation as “stupid.” Now leaders in both parties are talking about all kinds of big budget cuts, even though many Americans have been out of work for long periods and have watched their savings and the values of their homes sink, while they were forced to bail out the financial sector.

.....(snip).....

TF: In a word: money. Since the mid ’70s, more and more political money has been moving right and center-right. To understand Congressional polarization, though, you have to focus sharply on the crucial moment, which was 1994. That was the second stage of the Reagan Revolution, when Republicans took over both houses of Congress. Notice the key political players then. You have Newt Gingrich, who was organizing the GOP push in the House; Phil Gramm, who headed Senate fund raising for the GOP; and Haley Barbour, who chaired the Republican National Committee. These people weren’t ‘bowling alone’. They were free market fundamentalists. They wanted to cut taxes, on high brackets especially. They wanted to push deregulation of the financial and telecommunications industries. They wanted to abolish things like the EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission and cut back the FDA, the FTC, and just about every other government regulatory agency. The one area where they liked Big Government was defense.

These anti-government, pro-corporate Republicans broke every record for raising political money. Look at Gingrich and his history in particular. When he started attacking the older Republican leaders in the House as timid and too willing to compromise, money came pouring in. Yes, they supported and allied with evangelical religious groups. But those were always secondary to the main objective, which was to deregulate the economy and roll back the New Deal in all its manifestations. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/150589/why_our_broken_political_system_falls_prey_to_right-wing_extremism/

[lib2DaBone]

1. And de-regulate the media to muzzle the press.

Once you have a neutered , muzzled News Media.. you can do anything you like to the American people without worries of laws or repercussions.

[orwell]

2. Great article...

...and spot on.

Thanks.

[Demeter]

3. Because there really are Ugly Americans

A lot of them. They vote, they contribute to political movements, they run for office.

They run multinational corporations, and with their fellow travelers in government, invade other nations for profit.

The Ugly Ones cheat their families, friends and neighbors for gain, or just for the hell of it, but they firmly believe in nepotism and deadwood for themselves and those that back them up.

Our political system has no filter to suppress or defund the Ugly Ones.

Our legal system was the last bastion, and it's now thoroughly corrupted, infiltrated and dominated by the Ugly Ones.

Far too many of our organized religions operate on the Ugly Principles, turning Sin (or crimes against humanity) into Virtue. Calvinism took root in this country like the invasive species it is, and Americans have come up with a few refinements.

I'm not going to name names--you can fill in those blanks. But think about a world without the Ugly Ones. And figure out how to make it happen.

[Demeter]

4. More Ugliness

As the generic description of the origins of the term 'Ugly American' in Wikipedia puts it:

The term originated as the title of a 1958 book by authors William Lederer and Eugene Burdick. In 1963 the book was made into a movie directed by George Englund and starring Marlon Brando. The best-selling, loosely fictional account provided contrasting characters with different approaches to opposing communist influence in Southeast Asia, and the use of foreign aid in particular.

The majority of the Americans exhibit a range of blundering, corrupt and incompetent behaviors, often concentrating on impractical projects that will serve more to benefit American contractors than the local population. A minority are effective because they employ knowledge of the local language and culture, but most of these are marginalized and some even considered suspect. As a result, their influence is more limited than it should be.