Today’s topic: the Secession of the 1%, and how Democracies die.
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
We open with a three-part retrospective on a possible future from Mike Lofgren
Part one: how democracies die:
Picture a country at the height of its international power and prestige. It has military forces stationed around the globe. It is an intellectual leader. Its citizens are pleased to insist that the national idea, their country’s way of life, is a beacon of enlightenment and human rights for the rest of the world. Indeed, they are wont to harp on the notion that the country embodies the very concept of Western Civilization.
But beneath the façade of greatness there is creeping rot. The rich (who are accustomed to getting their way in all things) corrupt the system and buy the people’s representatives in this venerable democracy. The country lurches towards political polarization and, predictably, the machinery of orderly governance becomes gridlocked. The politicians of the right, who take every opportunity to bellow for increased spending on the military, refuse to raise the revenues to pay for it.
SPOILER ALERT! He’s talking about the French Third Republic, which ultimately ended with German tanks rolling through Sedan in May 1940.
We continue with Part Two: The Revolt of the Rich:
I do not mean secession by physical withdrawal from the territory of the state, although that happens from time to time—for example, Erik Prince, who was born into a fortune, is related to the even bigger Amway fortune, and made yet another fortune as CEO of the mercenary-for-hire firm Blackwater, moved his company (renamed Xe) to the United Arab Emirates in 2011. What I mean by secession is a withdrawal into enclaves, an internal immigration, whereby the rich disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well being except as a place to extract loot.
Our plutocracy now lives like the British in colonial India: in the place and ruling it, but not of it. If one can afford private security, public safety is of no concern; if one owns a Gulfstream jet, crumbling bridges cause less apprehension—and viable public transportation doesn’t even show up on the radar screen. With private doctors on call and a chartered plane to get to the Mayo Clinic, why worry about Medicare?
And Part Three: The Case for Obama and against Liberal Despair:
The most compelling argument to support Obama has nothing directly to do with him or his performance in office, but goes to the heart of what self-government is supposed to mean. Since Obama’s inauguration, Republicans have engaged in an unprecedented — in my lifetime, anyway — campaign of obstruction, feral negativity, and brinksmanship. On one occasion, they brought the country to the edge of default and a resultant credit downgrade. “The worse the better” has become, in fact, a Republican political strategy whenever they are out of power. To reward a party for such obstructionism would be like rewarding the Southern fire eaters of antebellum congresses for their efforts at shutting down the debate over slavery with the gag rule.
Mike Lofgren, by the way, was a congressional staff member for 28 years, mostly with Republicans.
Ed from Gin and Tacos discusses “THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE”:
The worst thing that can happen Tuesday has nothing to do with either candidate winning. It is the possibility of having no idea who won for several weeks until the Federal courts step in and tell us who will be president. Most of the electorate is old enough to recall experiencing this in 2000, and it’s not unduly alarmist to ask if having two out of four elections resolved outside of the democratic process in a twelve-year span – thanks largely to state-level manipulation of the
pawnspool of eligible voters by Secretaries of State – would have serious consequences for a country in which political trust and efficacy are already at historically low levels.
You think this is crazy? Look at the early voting lines in Florida and Ohio. Look at how Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is trying to subvert the election. All in service to the imaginary specter of voter fraud.
When the Washington Post’s editorial board writes “Mitt Romney’s campaign insults voters”, this is exactly what they’re talking about. The thing is, it’s not just Romney. It’s the GOP as a whole.
Look at the rise in the “Romney Or Else” meme. The Des Moines Register endorsed Romney because he’d have an easier time working with Congressional Democrats than Obama would with Congressional Republicans. ANOTHER CEO has come out and said “Vote for Romney or kiss your jobs goodbye.”
These are the stakes. This is the future.
No fate but what we make.
