by Joel S. Hirschhorn
(Swans - April 21, 2008) Many sensible people fear John McCain becoming US president, mostly because he would continue Bush administration policies. But my stomach tightens up when I think about the Democrats taking it all in November, the White House and strong majorities in the House and Senate.
A Democratic landslide seems likely, considering anger about the waste of our national wealth on the Iraq war, the national economic meltdown, and the incredible 81 percent of Americans who believe that nation is on the wrong track. Yet if history teaches us anything, it is that giving one of the plutocracy partners so much political power is a recipe for disaster.
With a Democratic tsunami a different set of lobbyists and special interests will feast on federal handouts and favors. Corruption and dishonesty will remain rampant no matter if the president is Obama or Clinton. And in Congress we have already seen the ineptitude and cowardice of Democratic House and Senate leaders. Why in the world would Americans think for a moment that Democrats in power will fix the host of major problems plaguing the nation and truly serve the public interest?
Here is what I foresee in a Democratic dystopia:
We remain stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dollars and lives continue to be sucked down the drain that Bush built. No campaign promises can match the ultimate political and military realities that keep us Super Glued to Bush's debacle.
Globalization and the free trade fiasco continue, maintaining the slide of our middle class as all kinds of well-paying jobs continue to leave the country physically and through the Internet.
Economic conditions continue their negative trajectory and the financial industry remains under-regulated. The grandiose promises of Clinton and Obama that require massive federal spending go nowhere. Raising taxes is deemed infeasible at a time when a huge fraction of Americans suffer economic pain and the consumer economy stays weak. Raising taxes on the rich helps only a little. Forget universal health care.
There are no major cutbacks on defense spending. To the contrary, major increases are justified because of what the Iraq war has done to ruin the capabilities of our armed forces. The nation is told that a costly military revitalization is necessary. Forget a major national effort to renovate physical infrastructure, from roads and bridges to public transit and schools.
Our fiscal and deficit cancers continue to metastasize. Shocked Americans see that other national economies are at the edge of history, ready to displace the dominance of the US. China increasingly is seen as the next global superpower. The Euro replaces the dollar in global commerce. Forget affordable imported products. Even China escalates prices with abandon, knowing that the US has little manufacturing capability and is totally dependent on Chinese imports.
There are no necessary reforms of Social Security. Baby Boomers soak up federal dollars, leaving little for the future of younger Americans who increasingly recognize their bleak future.
Nothing is done to stem the tide of illegal immigrants. Democrats are driven by the goals of unions and various liberal groups to pass comprehensive immigration reform, despite the chief benefits going to the business sector. State and local governments become more aggressive in fighting illegal immigration because of high costs.
Those voting for Democrats will easily convince themselves that replacing Republicans is an absolute necessity. And surely it makes no sense to elect McBush for a continuation of failed policies. "Better than the Bush administration" is easy justification for voting for all Democrats. But why delude yourself that you will be getting superior government and public policy? To make yourself feel good? That is placing a mental band-aid on a political cancer.
Personally, I hope I have the option on my ballot to vote for Ralph Nader and other third-party and independent candidates for the House and Senate. I do not want to contribute to the criminal conspiracy that is America's two-party system. In the long run, both major parties disappoint and keep flushing the nation down the toilet.
I still hope that one day Americans will wake up to their delusional democracy, discover their constitutional courage, do what our history tells them is necessary, and create the Second American Revolution, beginning with the nation's first Article V Convention. Our Founders gave us this constitutional option if and when we concluded that our federal government has failed we the people. It has.
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