Mainstreet is experiencing a reality check. Mainstreet thought the primaries were about Mainstreet choosing the people who get to run for President of the United States in the General Election. But now Mainstreet is waking up to reality, perhaps for the first time in modern electoral history. The primaries aren't intended to be about Mainstreet choosing anyone, but about the Parties choosing their nominee from among a slate of anointed candidates. Some of the Mainstreeters are a little pissed. They feel as though they've been misled. On the other hand, the regular process is coming off without a hitch for the Democrats. But the Republicans have a big problem. None of their Party's anointed candidates is going to make it through the Republican primaries! The Republicans, the ones in charge, don't like any of the choices left to them by their adopted family members. But is it any wonder that the Republicans have ended up in painful tenesmus? Of course not!
Those who work hardest for their Party and raise the most money for the Party's coffer have traditionally controlled the rules and the final slate of candidates -- Oops, something seems to have gone badly wrong! The money raising process of the Republican Party has somehow utterly failed to assure that Party control remains vested in the upper 1% of the socioeconomic spectrum. For lack of a better term, we can call this 1% the "natural Republicans." That is to say those that would logically belong to the Republican Party. But 1% of voters can't elect anyone. Therefore the natural Republicans have raised a big tent. They hoisted a sign that says "Get Government off Your Back -- Join the Republicans, Pay Low Taxes". (This is an astonishingly ironic message, because there is more than a little truth in noting that the natural Republicans, i.e., the 1%, is the government!)
The natural Republicans' open invitation to join them under the Big Tent is nothing remotely resembling an invitation to their usual black tie affairs. In their desperation to keep their bought-and-paid-for government working day and night bolstering their off shore accounts, they have, as it turns out, ineptly invited a rag tag army of voters to come under the big tent. But really! What else should they have expected after shouting out such an appealing message to the YouTube conspiracy crowd? Their collected army of tent-dwelling misanthropes have little in common except for suspicion of liberal, ivory tower fools and the government; the government that's coming to take their guns and bullet proof vests; the government that wants to control their lives; the government that brought down the twin towers and murdered Kennedy; the government that says it's OK to murder fetuses for body parts; the government that lies to them, steals their money and gives it to worthless, lazy, raping immigrants and the "for profit", "privately owned, "secret" Fed that refuses to reveal M3, stole German gold, and is destroying our money by forcing us off the gold standard.
The various sub groups of the rag tag army have been very effectively nurtured and lied to with the purpose of welding them into a voting block, a voting block that will, it is hoped, do the bidding of the natural Republicans. But have the natural Republicans created a demon of their own design?* The components of their rag-tag army of potential voters actually have little in common beyond their general suspicions and a fairly widespread attraction to anarcho-capitalism, without acknowledging laissez faire's disastrous defects. They also appear to be somewhat bound together by a tendency to refer to themselves as libertarians, but without the slightest knowledge of libertarian political philosophy. Needless to say, this rag-tag army is, as a necessary condition, entirely oblivious to having been thoroughly had by the 1%!
And now, in this current, bizarre election cycle, the curses of the 1% placed upon their own rag-tag army of would be voters, are, like chickens, coming home to roost! It is comical to see Mitch McConnell gobbling out his message to the Republican tent dwellers, which can be very loosely translated as, "there may be a surprise in your future". Will our Senate turkey be able to hold out the rain he has helped bring down upon himself and his employers by simply papering over the hole in the roof? I doubt it.
On the other hand it is business as usual in the Democratic party. The anointed candidate is currently in no danger of losing the nomination to a generally more popular challenger. House rules pertain, and the Party faithful are in control of the nominating process. While national polls indicate that the anointed Democrat candidate will not run as strong as her challenger would have, she will still run strong enough to defeat the opposition. What we don't know, and have no way to know, is whether the Senate gobbler had something particular in mind when he said "there may be a surprise in your future". If he did, that could change the election calculus.
Though the control of government by the 1%, the natural Republicans if you will, is to be somewhat loosened by the upcoming general election, the 1% can take heart in the knowledge that someone who plays by rules will still be in charge. Welcome to business as usual. Welcome back to the White House future President Clinton II. It will be July in Monaco once again.
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*borrowed from the title of Richard Bookstaber's brilliant explanation of the October '87 crash and the perils of financial innovation. His title seemed equally apropos here.
Those who work hardest for their Party and raise the most money for the Party's coffer have traditionally controlled the rules and the final slate of candidates -- Oops, something seems to have gone badly wrong! The money raising process of the Republican Party has somehow utterly failed to assure that Party control remains vested in the upper 1% of the socioeconomic spectrum. For lack of a better term, we can call this 1% the "natural Republicans." That is to say those that would logically belong to the Republican Party. But 1% of voters can't elect anyone. Therefore the natural Republicans have raised a big tent. They hoisted a sign that says "Get Government off Your Back -- Join the Republicans, Pay Low Taxes". (This is an astonishingly ironic message, because there is more than a little truth in noting that the natural Republicans, i.e., the 1%, is the government!)
The natural Republicans' open invitation to join them under the Big Tent is nothing remotely resembling an invitation to their usual black tie affairs. In their desperation to keep their bought-and-paid-for government working day and night bolstering their off shore accounts, they have, as it turns out, ineptly invited a rag tag army of voters to come under the big tent. But really! What else should they have expected after shouting out such an appealing message to the YouTube conspiracy crowd? Their collected army of tent-dwelling misanthropes have little in common except for suspicion of liberal, ivory tower fools and the government; the government that's coming to take their guns and bullet proof vests; the government that wants to control their lives; the government that brought down the twin towers and murdered Kennedy; the government that says it's OK to murder fetuses for body parts; the government that lies to them, steals their money and gives it to worthless, lazy, raping immigrants and the "for profit", "privately owned, "secret" Fed that refuses to reveal M3, stole German gold, and is destroying our money by forcing us off the gold standard.
The various sub groups of the rag tag army have been very effectively nurtured and lied to with the purpose of welding them into a voting block, a voting block that will, it is hoped, do the bidding of the natural Republicans. But have the natural Republicans created a demon of their own design?* The components of their rag-tag army of potential voters actually have little in common beyond their general suspicions and a fairly widespread attraction to anarcho-capitalism, without acknowledging laissez faire's disastrous defects. They also appear to be somewhat bound together by a tendency to refer to themselves as libertarians, but without the slightest knowledge of libertarian political philosophy. Needless to say, this rag-tag army is, as a necessary condition, entirely oblivious to having been thoroughly had by the 1%!
And now, in this current, bizarre election cycle, the curses of the 1% placed upon their own rag-tag army of would be voters, are, like chickens, coming home to roost! It is comical to see Mitch McConnell gobbling out his message to the Republican tent dwellers, which can be very loosely translated as, "there may be a surprise in your future". Will our Senate turkey be able to hold out the rain he has helped bring down upon himself and his employers by simply papering over the hole in the roof? I doubt it.
On the other hand it is business as usual in the Democratic party. The anointed candidate is currently in no danger of losing the nomination to a generally more popular challenger. House rules pertain, and the Party faithful are in control of the nominating process. While national polls indicate that the anointed Democrat candidate will not run as strong as her challenger would have, she will still run strong enough to defeat the opposition. What we don't know, and have no way to know, is whether the Senate gobbler had something particular in mind when he said "there may be a surprise in your future". If he did, that could change the election calculus.
Though the control of government by the 1%, the natural Republicans if you will, is to be somewhat loosened by the upcoming general election, the 1% can take heart in the knowledge that someone who plays by rules will still be in charge. Welcome to business as usual. Welcome back to the White House future President Clinton II. It will be July in Monaco once again.
____________________
*borrowed from the title of Richard Bookstaber's brilliant explanation of the October '87 crash and the perils of financial innovation. His title seemed equally apropos here.
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