 |
| Misanthropic Boomer |
A great deal of attention is being paid to what media pundits are calling “The Big Lie:” Donald Trump’s baseless assertion that he, not Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential election. First it must be recognized that Donald Trump is little more than a bloviating megalomaniac and is not the problem, merely a symptom: nothing more than an egomaniacal buffoon. He is not that politically astute, and his election was as big a surprise to the power brokers on the Right as it was to the rest of the nation. And while Trump and his “base” may seem to be a threat, they are merely a distraction; window dressing.
Contributing to the distraction that is “The Big Lie,” is the additional denial by the Republicans that the January 6, 2021 attack upon the Capitol was an organized act of sedition. These two issues have become the Stalking Horse for the radical Right’s true agenda which has a far more sinister goal...the subversion of the U.S. Constitution to the point where it will allow for the establishment and permanent support of a Constitutionally supported oligarchy; rule by a select few wealthy, powerful individuals. Recovery from such a reinterpretation of the Constitution once established, will be nearly impossible. This is not a new goal. Its genesis goes all the way back to the nation’s founding.
When the Founders initiated the task of establishing the “rules of governance,” the United States Constitution, those on the political Right from the Southern states had significantly more economic power than the more liberal leaning North. The South had a pre-established institutional advantage: slavery. The representation from the South fought extremely hard to establish a foundation of support for what they knew would be the basis for the continuation of their political and economic power; personal liberty over and above the rights of the collective societal needs and desires.
The establishment of the Senate, the Three Fifths Compromise and the wording of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, delineating States Rights, were the South’s three most important constitutional victories. Having two Senators from each state meant that the less populated states were on equal terms with the more densely populated parts of the nation; especially since the Senate became the final arbiter of the Congress. The Three-fifths compromise gave the slave states greater Congressional representation, meaning a disproportionately larger share of tax revenues. Finally, the Tenth Amendment, delineating what and how the individual states could determine what would be decided locally as opposed to by Washington was purposely vague, providing the states a good deal of leeway. This specifically was used by John C. Calhoun to usurp the power of the Federal government.
Even after the Constitution was ratified, the champions of anti-Madisonian “checks and balances” continued fighting for the rights of the individual over the needs of the collective. Southern plantation owners were extremely resentful that they had to pay taxes for the good of the nation. They groused over their money being spent by the “Northern Elites” to improve the lot of those they saw as their economic, intellectual, and social inferiors. John C. Calhoun was one such Southern champion.
Calhoun, who had been Andrew Jackson’s Vice President, was a wealthy plantation owner and United States Senator from South Carolina who vehemently opposed sharing freedom with his inferiors. He was, in his own words, a political scientist: as such, he used every tool in his political kit-bag to subvert the will of the people. After all, what right did they have to share his good fortune; they had done nothing to earn it. He had, or to be more accurate, his slaves had secured his wealth and so he saw no reason to share.
Fast forward one hundred twenty-four years to 1954. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Brown versus the Board of Education that “separate but equal,” was not good enough to maintain the just delivery of education to all children. Enter today’s villain: the man, who exactly like John C. Calhoun would champion the perceived rights of the few, the “special” and elite over the needs and rights of the collective: the majority. Meet Democracy’s nemesis, the oligarch’s champion. Meet, Professor of Political Economics at the University of Virginia, James McGill Buchanan.
James McGill Buchanan was a student of the Chicago School, who like his mentor Frank Knight, and fellow economist and Chicago School disciple Milton Friedman believed in unrestrained Capitalism. Buchanan however, took his Free Market philosophy one step further: to economic theory he added political theory. Buchanan’s application of Political Economics was an updated version of what John C. Calhoun was preaching on the floor of the United States Senate in 1830. The most significant differences were that communications had vastly improved, and that there were now powerful monied supporters who had the resources to play the”long game.” One such powerful benefactor was billionaire Charles de Ganahl Koch.
When the Brown decision was handed down James McGill Buchanan was outraged. He recognized that the court’s decision in Brown was so much larger than school integration. Brown was a bell weather decision, supported by the underlying philosophy that the court could, and probably would expand the rights of the collective whenever appropriate and supported by the Constitution. The Brown decision. Had immense implications. The realization of the potential impact of Brown greatly upset Buchanan and so he proposed to President Colgate Darden of the University of Virginia that a political action think tank be established with the specific intent of thwarting the Federal government’s intentions. He was clever enough to suggest to Darden that his new organ dedicated to resisting what was anathema to the Pols of Old Dominion be given a neutral name; The Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy and Social Philosophy...its true purpose to be kept covert. Buchanan promised Darden to keep political purveyors of Roosevelt’s New Deal from participating and that its true purpose be kept covert. Moreover Buchanan began what would be his main life’s goal, to wrest control of the Federal government from the hands of the masses, the “great unwashed,” and place it where he believed it belonged; in the hands of the significantly more affluent, propertied individuals whose rights he believed were being violated by a government “...of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Buchanan proposed the same approach that Calhoun had used to fight the Federal government one hundred twenty-six years in the past...the support of States Rights as a method to weaken Washington. The irony in Buchanan’s game was that he decried the power of a central Federal government over the states yet used the power of central state government to achieve his ends. His Political Economic theories attracted many like-minded supporters, who were in agreement with Buchanan, resented the actions of the Federal government in its ever increasing role in promoting the needs of the masses. Collective bargaining by the people, be it through Unions or the natural instinct for people to band together for the common good became anathema. Underneath it all was the desire of Southerners to prevent integration.
One of those attracted to Buchanan’s ideas was, as was previously indicated, Charles de Ganahl Koch, at that time merely a multi-millionaire industrialist. Thus began a covert, long term Right-wing effort to weaken a government seen as redistributing the nation’s wealth and resources to the body collective.
Through the years since he discovered Buchanan’s philosophy, Charles Koch has spent millions of dollars for the creation and in support of like minded Right-wing groups. Koch’s money helped create many so-called Conservative think-tanks such as the CATO Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Citizens for a Sound Economy, The Leadership Institute, and of course the Charles Koch Foundation. The common goal of all of these groups is to use the Constitution against itself. They all seek ways to pervert the U.S. Constitution in support of the individual rights of the prosperous over those of the majority of the nation’s citizenry.
While the media turns its attention to the perceived threat of Trump and his base the real threat to democracy is hiding in plain sight. It is no coincidence that Republicans throughout the nation are, at every opportunity, attempting to legislate voter suppression into effect. In addition, Congress are doing their level best to ensure that nothing gets done to improve the lot of the people: a tactic initiated when Newt Gingrich was House Speaker and delivered his “Contract with America,” which ultimately strengthened Congress’ role in governance while weakening that of the President and did little for the people.
Evidence that this move toward oligarchy is working is made obvious by Senator Mitch McConnell’s actions over the last thirteen years. When President Barack Obama was elected McConnell’s first public act was to proclaim that he would do everything in his power to ensure that Obama was only a one term, lame duck, President. He has acted to obstruct any and all Democratic legislation ever since. Why he has been allowed to get away with his obstructionism is a mystery. What isn’t a mystery is that he has been successful. From preventing Merrick Garland’s ascension to the Supreme Court to his role in support of the 2017 tax restructure which further insulated the wealthy while weakening the middle class and the poor, he has with impunity done more to harm to democracy than all of his predecessors combined.
In addition to the obstruction being directly perpetrated by the Republican members of Congress, there is also the purposeful lies and divisive propaganda being spread. While it is amazing that there are those who believe the followers of Q-Anon and the outrageously unbelievable atrocities they describe it must be understood that they achieve some credibility through their association with the Republicans in Congress: power seeking members like Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan, Josh Hawley. Men who seek the aphrodisiac of power over all else. Men and women who would see the nation destroyed as long as they are able to hold on to power. Power may not necessarily corrupt, but it is a sad fact that it attracts the corrupt.
If our democracy is to survive, action must be taken now. Pressure must be brought to bear on every elected official from the local city council member all the way up to the President of the United States to follow the Constitution and work for the collective good. The idea of personal liberty trumping the good of the people must be recognized and Constitutional protections realized and utilized. Never has there been a more important time for the people to participate in their own governance. The prejudices dividing the people must be recognized as the distractions they are, else the “will of the people,”will become the “will of the few.”
The representatives elected to run the very complex machine that is the United States must once, and for all time be held accountable for their actions or inactions, as the case may be. Since the Founding, accountability has consisted only of the election cycle; there isn’t anything to indicate the veracity of the candidates claims: lying seems to be permissible. In order for accountability to work the citizenry must get more involved: “you get what you inspect, not what you expect.” One such method of participation in the governance of the nation could be the use of petitions in support of referendums of the people. This could be accomplished through petitions to the federal government. The subject of such a redress could be 1) Term Limits, 1) Campaign Finance Reform, 3) Accountability of Congress, 4) National Systemic Racism, 5) Investigation of the Seditious Acts of January 6, 6) Infrastructure subjects, 7) and Health Care. These items merely touch upon a few of the needs of the people. Such petitions to have any impact at all they would need to be simple, straightforward and contain the signatures of enough of the voting population to get the attention of the body politic. It would not be an easy task. It would require organizing a great many people; those to write the petitions, produce them physically, people to acquire signatures, and staff to assemble and get the petitions into the hands of the representatives in Washington.
