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November, 2003

Start Making Sense

by Frank Scott



California replaced a very unpopular political hack who represents the
rich,  with a very popular unpolitical  hack who represents the rich.
So? The recall  sent a  message to the political establishment, but
whether it’s understood is questionable. The same gang that jumps to
attention at any demand from wealthy lobbies is inclined to totally
disregard demands made by ordinary voters.

The recall was an expression of disgust with the status quo, but its
result will hardly bring real change. Without a powerful left, voters
will respond to a powerful  right. That is the result of a  corporate
financed ruling party with one wing that liberally pretends, while the
other  conservatively performs .

The California governor was held in such contempt that he never should
have been protected by the Democrats, whose leadership may be in grief
counseling after its shattering defeat. He was decisively dumped, and
the Hollywood bicep-with-a-bankroll  got far more votes than they
anticipated. Most  analysis of the election only revealed elitist
contempt for the public, and  senseless ignorance of what happened or
why.

The awful neo-cons won  because the awful  neo-libs were seen as even
worse. Given a choice between lesser evils, voters can only choose evil.
The greater good of the majority is meaningless, in a system  based on
the greater gold of a minority .

The recall offered one hopeful voice calling for actual democracy; Peter
Camejo of the Greens. He was able to participate in debates and present
a perspective never before part of a mainstream campaign. That he
received the lowest vote among the debaters is more due to  fear and
disorganization among his supporters, than any  rejection of his
message.

The Democratic campaign of  hysterical  mudslinging  was a dismal
failure, but it scared many progressives  into supporting the wretched
governor.  Why did they panic and vote against their  convictions? In
part, because they have been told, repeatedly, that candidates  they
really like cannot win, and so they support candidates they really don’t
like, because they  fear something even worse. And repeatedly,  they get
something even worse. This form of crackpot “realism” needs to consider
the old adage: it is better to vote for what you want and not get it,
than to vote for what you don’t want, and get it.

A neocon financed exercise in confused democracy was totally bungled  by
the neolibs. Their multimillion dollar campaign, empty of political
content and slimy in political style, had normally thoughtful people
voting based on manufactured fears of an alleged nazi-sex-fiend , while
real problems of the state, the nation and the world  were totally
neglected.

As death tolls rise in Iraq, Israel and Palestine, the flea-brained
fanatics in  D.C. continue their bloody policies, with support from
most  Democrats. Some of the spinally challenged have begun standing,
almost erect, to  criticize  the intellectually challenged leadership.
But not  because of its horrors in the middle east, or the criminal
fabrications that support its policies. A possible felony committed in
leaking  a CIA agent’s identity  has them righteously supporting
investigations.

Anything that puts imperial idiocy on the defensive is welcome, but
expecting a strong performance from the Democrats is a very long shot.
These hypocrites , who are strongly pro-choice for American women but
strongly  anti-choice for Palestinian people,  play a major role in
maintaining the morally  perverse world order.

An administration which should be  impeached for its criminal twisting
of public consciousness, remains powerful because its official
opposition is powerless. If  Democrats in California perform like the
sorry bunch  in Washington, the state is in for trouble, but its
situation will pale in comparison to global conditions under the rule of
chaotic capital .

No market boosting or bible thumping can rationalize the dreadful
misery in the middle east, which may come home to roost in more ways
than one. The threat of terrorism  has clearly increased , to all but
our dismal leaders and confused sectors of the public. USrael is moving
closer to a total mideast war, with the schizoid USA Likudniks playing
Israel’s follower one day, its leader the next.

No  advertising or cosmetics can disguise the fact that American jobs
are vanishing, and reappearing in foreign countries where  capital finds
greater profits . Or that consumers are increasing personal debt in
pursuit of a false security in the present, while the ruling cabal
insures that there will truly be more insecurity in their future.

A privatized economy perverts supposed family values , making child and
senior care facilities produce financial gain from individual stress and
isolation. Markets move to steal more from public protection, to
increase the personal fears that create  still greater private profits.

Millions of jobs lost, millions of people working only part time, and
even more  lacking health insurance, and what do we get? Private tax
cuts for a rich  minority and public program cuts for the working
majority.

Brutal foreign policy is an extension of brutal domestic policy, and as
we show contempt for Americans and disrespect for the world, our
reliance  on foreigners  to sustain our massive debt  by investing a
billion dollars a day on our financial paper  becomes ever  more
dangerous.

Wall Street consults financial astrology charts and forecasts a boom,
but will it be an explosion of investment dollars, or terrorist bombs?
That question needs more of our conscious concern  than does the
personal, gutter  politics  practiced by our rulers and their
professional help.

Until we  rid ourselves of their presence in Washington, the California
recall will mean little as a lesson for the status quo gang. Their days
may be numbered, but so are ours, unless we create an alternative to
them.

Society and Nature both face ruin until the way of unregulated capital
becomes controlled by the will of democracy. Time  may be eternal , in a
universal sense, but  we  don’t have that much of it to develop peace
and justice, in a global sense . Hurry.

Copyright (c) 2003 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

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frank scott
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