MSNBC which, for
a time, promoted itself as the voice of the 'left'--as
if there were such a thing in the United States as a political
left—has outdone
itself by introducing a new “Litmus Test” in American
presidential politics.
It began with a recent
interview on its “Morning Joe” program
in which Democratic presidential candidate John Hickenlooper, former
governor of Colorado, was asked if he believed in capitalism or
socialism. A simple binary choice. The idiotlogues
have taken over.
First, whatever the
qualifications of this 'centrist' former governor, this country isn't
about to elect a man named Hickenlooper president of the United
States. The name itself evokes consistent smirks, if not outright
laughter. Besides, it rings too closely to that of Alois Hitler,
Adolf's father whose original surname was Schicklgruber. What's in a
name, you ask? Imagine, if you will, Nazis shouting at torchlight
demonstrations or greeting each other with the salute Heil
Schicklgruber! You get the point.
Nevertheless the
hapless Hickenlooper was relentlessly pummeled with questions
demanding to know, here and now, if he was a true believer.
Withering beneath the klieg lights, the diminutive politician
struggled vainly to try to explain that he believed in what works.
It wasn't good enough for the panel who, upon his departure, savaged
the former governor as being too ignorant and idiotlogically too
deficient to be taken seriously.
This was only the
beginning. So successful was this exchange that the question became
the leitmotif of all ensuing interviews with the rest of the field;
the first necessary bar that one must successfully navigate in order
to be taken seriously. Indeed it became a mantra on Faux News as the
political wrong picked up the cudgel to flog not only Hickenlooper
but the rest of the Democratic field.
Poor John, he was only
trying to explain to the ignorant purists that the only standard that
matters is what works, and what works within the context of American
Constitutional Law and tradition.
He could have shot back
that nowhere in the founding documents do the words free
enterprise, free markets, or,
for that matter, capitalism appear;
although the word regulation appears at least twice, once in the
context of granting the people—through their elected congress—all
power necessary and proper, to
regulate commerce.
He could also tried to
explain to the empirically challenged seated before him that the
economy has historically worked the best under what we call a mixed
economy, where markets are
regulated and competition is insured by the rigorous enforcement of
the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts.
He could also have
explained that there is no such thing as a free market.
All markets, in order to function have to have rules. All markets
have to have sanctions for failure to perform in accordance with
contracts—and all sales involve contractual obligation. Even a
vending machine, I learned in my high school class in business law,
involves an implied contract. You put your dollar in and the vending
company is expected—indeed obligated—to provide the product; and,
if the machine doesn't yield it, there is liability.
He could have explained
all this and reminded the assembled ignoramuses that the problem with
this country is that the money writes the rules and has rigged the
'free marketplace' in
such a way as to become exploitative of both man and nature. One has
only to look to the financial industry as a case in point and cite
the usurious interest rates charged on credit cards along with
rapacious fees and penalties.
But the governor is new
to this level discourse. He wasn't prepared for a battering. He
thought he was introducing himself to the country in a friendly venue
not realizing that MSNBC is
a corporation, just like all the rest and his interrogators are
simply corporate whores.
It is noteworthy that
Morning Joe didn't
first try this hatched job on the likes of Bernie Sanders. No, they
introduced the McCarthy-style red herring
by flogging a man expected to wilt in the exchange and in so doing
help the Democrats form their famous circular firing squad as a way
of insuring that the Democracy doesn't drift too far left.
That is, to insure that the
Democrats end up remaining Wall Street's favorite default position
and ensuring that the party gag up nothing but more of the same. In
so doing, ensuring that our Caesar Disgustus continues to stink up
the public forum.
“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”
Impeach and Imprison.
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