SOME VOTERS JUST DON'T GET IT ... by The Cosmic Messenger

After the Presidential election returns came in earlier this month, many of you were seeing red and wrote to me despondently speculating about conspiracy theories while lamenting over the future of the Democratic Party. Although the defeat of John Kerry was perplexing on the surface, to fully understand the loss we have to explore deeper the emotions and impulses generally guiding modern politics if this country is to survive as a free nation.

The struggle since the late nineteenth century in American politics has been whether the engines of our national economy can be totally self regulating and free of restraint or should taxes and mandates be imposed on the system to some degree to achieve equality for its citizens. Proponents envisioning a stateless society based on self sufficiency dominated American government with the support of a compliant Supreme Court until the Great Depression and the election of Franklin Roosevelt. They preached a form of economic conservatism vilifying the power of individual states suggesting citizens would have more opportunity to succeed without imposition from government. The Constitution was reinforced to stengthen private rights and property. Its advocates were the robber baron industrialists of the time who felt the changes were essential to making the United States stronger economically while more competitive globally. Their intent was to monopolize raw resources, production and sale of the completed product. Devoid of government checks, it was assumed manufacturing would become more efficient while both industry and individuals prospered.

Opponents of this approach emerged with the economic collapse of the late 1920's claiming the management of wealth in this manner was corporate fascism, heartless in its lust for money and power. As standards of living degenerated into urban squalor, the corporate elite were perceived as being indifferent to the public good, interested only in exhibiting their wealth at the expense of the workers they exploited to achieve it. With the election of FDR, a New Deal was formulated to reverse these trends. A safety net of federal government laws was passed to give the population protection from unaccountable corporate behavior. The most significant of these were labor laws and pension security. As Supreme Court vacancies occurred, judicial representatives were appointed who valued individual rights over corporate privileges.

The United States has operated under this social contract with its citizens for nearly seventy years adding civil rights and medical protection along the way. However, lurking in the background has always been the inauspicious threat posed by the business community resentful of government attempts to order its behavior. As the United States transitioned from World War II to the Cold War, American industrialists who had supported Hitler used his propaganda model to try and regain public loyalty while restoring the economic dominance they enjoyed when the century began. Communism was accurately depicted as state sponsored socialism which threatened private ownership and promoted a classless society. The message was expanded though, to suggest the social agenda Roosevelt had initiated was leading the country away from personal freedom and supporting such policies was unpatriotic.

As significant as this drift was, another development in the 1950's emerged which has dominated American politics since. Congressional members from both major political parties realized they could maintain their offices by keeping before the public fear of an external threat to the United States. This achieved several things. The uncompromising rigidity of the message coalesced with Bible Belt Southerners fundamentalist view of society in general while winning their political support to fight wars to preserve America as a Christian nation. At the same time, politicians gained financial backing from military industrialists who eagerly contributed to their reelection bids. In return for the contributions, Congress was expected to support legislation dismantling the social programs put into place by FDR.

This political philosophy has dominated conservative thought since the Korean war, through the Vietnam conflict to present with Bush's manic obsession for battling terrorists. It utilize's a demagogic message of intolerance toward other races, parties, classes, religions, regions and nations in a unmerciful, viloent quest to exert power over its victims and extort their resources.

While publicly proclaiming devotion to the welfare of the citizens over which they preside, a hidden agenda is harbored meant to evade rules curtailing exclusive control of an object in the crosshairs of their self-indulgence. For the industrialists of the early 20th century, deregulating commerce meant enabling them to dominate the steel market to build railroads while giving little consideration to the laborers they employed. William Vanderbilt, a robber barron during this period was quoted as saying, "the public be damned," when told of the dehumanizing conditions of company towns and slums workers were surviving in.

Today, oil has replaced steel as moguls from this industry pursue a global path toward dominant production of reserves from start to finish casting aside whatever domestic and international laws get in the way. In the case of the present Administration, its policies have systematically shredded the rights of American middle class workers by weakening labor laws and increasing the cost of living. They've succeeded in widening the gap between the two dominant religious factions by attempting to discredit Catholics as liberal while accusing them of being immoral for haboring gay priests. By devising the Patriot Act, America's civil liberties were seriously eroded.

Advice from a majority of other nations was ignored when they advised against invading Iraq. International treaties such as the Geneva Convention rules were discounted which was viewed by Arab Muslims as an attempt to ethnically cleanse middle eastern people and religions from the region. Both U.S. Democrats and members of foreign nations opposing these tactics are belittled as disloyal, godless obstructionists opposed to liberty for everyone on Earth.

With his reaffirmation by American voters on November 2, Bush proclaimed he's earned "political capital" and a Constitutional declaration from the public to continue his oppressive pursuit of the resources lying beneath the sands of the Middle East. Too bad most citizens failed to recognize this hidden agenda, blinded by the fear based proselytizing emanating from the Administration cunningly designed to appeal to their morals and patriotic values. To render the oppositon's message powerless and expose it as disingenuous, Democrats must immediately start to craft a distinct set of beliefs which engages moral conservative thought on its own turf while demonstrating the inconsistent way its applied. Potential faith based electors should be reminded of the Biblical commandments warning them not to trust deceptive gods (BUSH) , killing for any purpose whether through war or other motives is wrong (BUSH) and the sinfulness of coveting your neighbors possessions including their oil (BUSH) . More importantly, Democrats must articulate a clear strategy to the American public defining a role for U.S. corporations in the global economy, outlining ways to compete without infringing on the sovereignty of other countries and a plan for moving the nation away from oil dependence while finding environmentally friendly resources to develop. All this must be done without denying individual rights in the pursuit of corporate privilege. It's the democratic way.

To gain the trust of citizens you hope to represent, a political candidate must win their confidence by presenting a plan they can have faith in. In the people's judgment, Kerry failed this test. In my estimation, Bush did too but ran a better propaganda campaign. By doing so, he's positioned himself to impose his corporate morality on the rest of us. Already, it's begun with the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft last week. Respected by Christian evangelicals, many voted for Bush assuming Ashcroft would be around to enforce their faith based agenda in a second term. However, he was the first casualty as Bush moved rapidly to replace him with White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, a man with proven disregard for international law. Expect him to further advise the President how best American oil interests can evade sanctions for profit.

With Republican's now controlling all branches of government, all that's needed for the robber barons to return to the guilded age of the 1920's is to install acquiescent judges on the Supreme Court willing to protect the corporate interests Bush is pledged to, make tax cuts permanent and dismantle Social Security. Guess it will take another economic crash and the reemergence of Hoovervilles across the nation for Americans to finally understand the Bush agenda is a financial recipe for disaster.