Hat Tip SingleMalt
That the
snarkier circles of political commentary thrill to the elephantine
bellowings of Donald J. Trump only shows the pathetic limitations of the
snarkists. They enjoy Trump’s filterless mouth, his harsh goadings of
the other presidential wannabes, and his supposed telepathic empathy for
the suffering public outside the magic kingdom of DC.
Trump has one legitimate issue,
immigration, plus a brief against the general incompetence of
professional politicians, and a pocketful of grandiose claims about his
majestic skills in business and deal-making.
As business goes in this
huckster’s paradise, being a real estate developer is perhaps one click
above being a car-dealer, and the fact that some of Trump’s artful deals
end up in bankruptcy court might argue against his self-proclaimed
mastery.
Hence, his relegation to the clown category.
What Trump represents most
vividly in this moment of history is the astounding lack of seriousness
among people who pretend to be political heavyweights. No one so far,
including the lovable Bernie Sanders, has nailed a proper bill of
grievances to the White House gate. A broad roster of dire issues facing
this society ought to be self-evident. But since they are absent so far
in the public discussion, here is my list of matters that serious
candidates should dare to talk about (all things that a sitting
president could take action on):
The security state.
America has
developed the most horrifying state security apparatus that the world
has ever seen in its NSA and associated agencies. It has become the
sugar tit for some of the most malevolent enterprises of the
corporatocracy — the black ops companies and the weapons dealers. The
growth of this monster was not mandated by heaven. A president could
lead the move to deconstruct it. A candidate with a decent respect for
our heritage would make this a major campaign issue.
Related to this is the
disgusting militarization of the police.
Police forces in small towns
have no business owning MRAP vehicles, tanks, and heavy weaponry. The
federal government gave a lot of this stuff to them. Guess what? It can
take the stuff back. Serious candidates should propose this.
There is a more general
militarization of national life that ought to be disturbing to
thoughtful citizens.
I live near a US Naval base. I see enlisted men in
town wearing desert camo uniforms on their time off. I resent this
hugely. Military personnel at home have no business wearing war theater
garb in a place where they are not at war. Historically, it was never
before the case that US soldiers went about in battle dress at home.
This disgusting trend has even been adopted in major league baseball.
The New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates have gone on TV wearing
camo baseball uniforms. What are they trying to prove? That we are all
at war all the time?
The pervasive racketeering in
American life is destroying the country.
Medical racketeering leads the
way.
Be very clear: it is a hostage racket. You are the hostage when you
are sick or in need of treatment. You will probably agree to anything
that will save your life. The medical racketeers know this. Hence, we
live under the tyranny of the “Charge-master” pricing system that
assigns ludicrous costs to everything doled out as “medicine,” with the
pharmaceutical industry creaming off whatever remains. A trip to the ER
with a broken arm can easily propel a household into financial ruin.
A
president could apply the antitrust laws to many of these rackets and
practices. There is no excuse for failing to take a stand.
The most dangerous rackets of
our time are those running through banking and finance.
The
superficially genial President Obama has done absolutely nothing to
defend the public against gross financial misconduct and pervasive
accounting fraud. His justice department has failed to prosecute
widespread criminality in banking and his regulators at the Securities
and Exchange Commission and other agencies have sat on their hands for
six years while markets are hijacked and manipulated.
This behavior
gives credence to a greater conspiracy between the governments, the
“systemically important” banks, and the Federal Reserve to prop up a
Potemkin financialized economy for political cover and favor
at the expense of crumbling real economy.
A potential president has got
to swear to defend the public against these institutional turpitudes.
A
president can lead the way by proposing to reinstate the Glass-Steagall
act and by directing the justice department to break up the
“systemically important” banks before they implode the entire operating
system of the global economy.
President Obama didn’t do a damn
thing in the wake of the 2010 Citizens United decision issued by the
Supreme Court.
This decision endowed the alleged “personhood” of
corporations with a “right” to express their political opinions by
giving money in unlimited amounts to candidates.
The decision has been a
disaster, since it amounted to a “right” to buy elections and government.
The
“personhood” of corporations has evolved during the industrial age from a
very circumscribed set of chartered practices to the very dubious realm
of “personhood” privileges.
The basic truth is that corporations do not
have duties, obligations, or responsibilities to the public interest;
only to their shareholders and boards of directors; and this condition
should be self-evident to jurists.
Hence, it is necessary to directly
address by statute or constitutional amendment the limitations on the
personhood of corporations. A president can lead the effort to do this
via his allies in congress.
Why has the foreign policy
apparatus of the USA gone into the business of antagonizing China and Russia?
How
does it benefit the American people for its government to finance and
direct a coup d’é·tat in Ukraine or fight over islands in the China Sea?
Why did the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee cease to function?
Some of the GOP candidates for president
are sitting senators.
Why doesn’t press inquire of their failure?
Why is
there no public discussion of this very disturbing lack of actionable policy?
President Obama promised in 2009
to put an end to the revolving door between government regulators and
the entities they were regulating, banks in particular.
He did
absolutely nothing about it.
In fact, he installed a revolving door at
the White House, allowing the free movement of such rogues as Robert
Rubin, Gary Gensler, Mary Jo White, and Larry Summers in and out of
government. Such villains are destroying the nation. Any president with a
shred of common decency could put an end to this practice.
There you have a few choice
things to chew on.
They go beyond mere inchoate rage and revulsion
against politicians. They represent a very rich agenda of matters the
country must attend to if it is going to survive. I wonder if the major
media grandees who make up the debate questions will even think of these
things.
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