Voter Disgust—II

Us and Them

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 ~ Voter disgust is growing with both political parties.

There are several reasons, but the overriding one is that there are few real differences between the parties on issues that matter to most ordinary voters, i.e. those who belong to the 99%.

Ron Paul states this plainly, which is why his popularity has been growing (although he has no chance of winning.)

We don’t have a good democratic process. What happens if you come to the conclusion, as millions of Americans have, these parties aren’t different, they’re all the same. The monetary policy stays the same. The welfare system stays the same. The foreign policy stays the same. They get pretty disgusted. There is but one party.

Don't believe it? Each party has their outliers, but the leadership of each mostly agrees. The media makes the most of small differences, fomenting often phony controversy for their own interest in attracting and retaining market share. The parties are the same (with only small differences of degree) when it comes to:

• Putting their incumbency ahead of any and all policy considerations
• Extorting "contributions" from industries they regulate
• Promulgating regulations primarily to extract "contributions" from affected parties
• Squelching any reform that reduces the influence of money in politics
• Supporting "our" dictators and despots all over the world
• Cutting taxes regardless of national circumstance
• Voting themselves privileges (e.g. free healthcare) they deny the rest of us
• Shredding what's left of the social safety net under an "austerity" program for all but themselves and their contributors
• Not pursuing financial criminality that nearly (and may yet) wreck the economy (for most of us)
• Filling powerful posts with Wall Street financiers, especially from Goldman Sachs
• Not demanding accountability from the Federal Reserve
• Curtailing civil liberties (FISA, SOPA, ECPA, NDAA, Patriot Act, ...)
• Fighting wars (shooting, proxy and cold) of dubious national interest, but which are very beneficial to large corporate and financial interests
• Subsidizing profitable businesses and industries (e.g. oil, gas, defence) ahead of the public interest
• Helping big business while ignoring small business
• Providing taxpayer bailouts of industries irrespective of need, public interest, or market ideology
• Not providing taxpayer help for victims of financial fraud but only for the perpetrators

By the same token, the Tea Party (before it was co-opted by the GOP) and the Occupy Movement (in the target sights of the Democrats) have much in common (despite many outliers) and both pose the same threat to both parties.

A political realignment is desperately needed for the health and future of the country. This can only happen by a vigorous and sustained popular movement that starts by addressing the core problem: the perversion of democracy by moneyed interests and the growing legitimization of creeping fascism.