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:	post by Headbanging Man at 2010-08-26 18:21:17

Read this a few days ago... An interesting piece that continues to strip the feeble "grassroots" veneer off the Tea Party movement and shows quite specifically how big capital has sought to undermine American democracy, in the media, education, and other areas in recent decades. There are a few issues though, not surprisingly, as Jane Meyer generally allows her journalistic skills to serve the dominant liberal narrative: GOP BAD! Democrats GOOOOOD! The Koch's and their ilk will continue to remain content as long as the public treats politics like a spectator sport, and is content to focus on being on the "winning" side, even in the face of horrendous policy results.

- The fact that the Kochs are referred to as "libertarian" is more than a little disingenuous. No-bid contracts and support for foreign military adventurism have nothing to do with libertarianism OR Libertarianism. I don't really identify with the Libertarian Party/paleo-libertarian crowd, but at least there is principle in that movement; clearly the Koch's anti-regulation efforts don't reflect any interest in liberty, except for their own profits and pollution.

- The Democrats are, of course, equally whored-out, and merely represent "Brand Left" of the increasingly corporatist/authoritarian agenda that both parties have shared since the end of the 80's, if not earlier. Faux environmentalism and feeble support for things like abortion rights and gay rights do not make the Democrats a left-leaning party, though their sheeple have convinced themselves otherwise. These two quotes could easily have been dissected to bring balance to the piece:

The White House has expressed frustration that such sponsors have largely eluded public notice. David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, said, “What they don’t say is that, in part, this is a grassroots citizens’ movement brought to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.

This from the Exelon (nuclear) consultant who now advises a president whose "green energy" program is based on... Surprise, surprise... The expansion of the deadly, financially inefficient, non-renewable nuclear power industry!

"Recently, President Obama took aim at the Kochs’ political network. Speaking at a Democratic National Committee fund-raiser, in Austin, he warned supporters that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Citizens United case—which struck down laws prohibiting direct corporate spending on campaigns—had made it even easier for big companies to hide behind “groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity.” Obama said, “They don’t have to say who, exactly, Americans for Prosperity are. You don’t know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation”—or even, he added, “a big oil company.”

So I guess Organizing For America being merely an Obama front is not at all similarly deceptive! Of course, when push came to shove, OFA was behind, well, whatever health insurance bill O was willing to sign, even if it contained nothing progressive and nothing that the Democrat's voting base supported (single-payer, a public option, really anything other than MANDATED PRIVATE INSURANCE and a perpetuation of the fee-for-service structure of the health care industry). Just a veal pen to remind the faithful "left" that whatever right-wing legislation Obama ends up enacting, it's the best we can get, so shut up and get on board, or get smeared as a Republican (see: Dennis Kucinich and the magic plane ride that got him on board the Obamacare bus).

Also, how about AIPAC? Obama seems to have no problem with taking Russian mob money in the name of supporting our great "ally", Israel, from a group that continues to flagrantly practice espionage against the US... Or draping himself in the flag of Verizon/AT&T/Comcast/et. al. at the DNC in 2008, right after voting to protect these telecoms from prosecution for helping the Bush administration spy on everyone in the US's communications.

As long as talented journalists like Jane Meyer remain unwilling to discuss the corporate buyout of the Democratic Party, they will do more harm than good... After all, the corporate-fascist nature of the GOP is plain for all to see, but the Democrats continue to hide THEIR true corporate-fascist nature behind a veneer of liberal populism. Reinforcing this veneer only serves to help the continuous right-wing shift of the American political system. After all, if the Jane Meyers, Paul Krugmans, Rachel Maddows, John Stewarts, etc. of the "mainstream left" were to focus on the corporatist nature of the Democrats, maybe the voter base would demand better representation than shills like Obama, Schumer, Clinton(s), Baucus, Kerry, Dodd, Durbin, Pelosi, etc. (Hell, the Democrat's base made it pretty clear that they were sick and fucking tired of 'Diamond' Joe Lieberman and essentially voted him out of the party, only for the DNC/party elite to line up behind him against the guy who beat him in the Democratic primary!).

The oil mafia to which the Kochs belong is a dangerous and destructive group, but since the Democrats in power are more than willing to work in tandem with them, it's clear that at the end of the day, they're on the same team.

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