hell's kitchen

 

The Founders, the Funders, PoHo, and the Miers debacle | CorrenteWire

Lambert at Correntewire has an interesting analysis the politics of how we got where we are today, saying something that is obvious except that we all disregard the truth - the elephant (literally) in the living room that nobody talks about.

There's also a prescient quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower from DC Debate over at DKos.

Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954

Lambert sees a four-tiered power structure where the lowest and most hidden level are a few billionaires who finance everything and call the shots; the next level are the privately funded "think-tanks" which produce targeted research to bolster point of view and support the next level; the level three pundits are the Greek chorus taking the message public and keeping in line the group in level four; level four are the elected officials whose survival depends on the support from level one. All a neat circle. How is it done?

 

See GOP's "Whackos Strategy" in DeLay's hometown paper also at DKos by diarist dengre. This is just by way of showing that it was thought of as long ago as the 1950's; the political process has been developing probably since Barry Goldwater lost the election in 1964; and the downfall of Delay (and Libby) is showing its reality. The question now is what do we do? I heartily agree with Lambert's proposition that we publicly and loudly deny that corporations are persons. But the crucial thing is what we do on a daily basis - and that is "go small." Until the recent fraying at the edes and the beginnings of cracks in the foundation of the current presidency, it seemed as if the Extreme Right were going to pull off the destruction of the country. What I thought, however, is that as people's resources became more limited, they would begin to start businesses and either sell or barter to make their living. We can start the process right now by buying from small local businesses, going into business ourselves.