A
lie, repeated enough times, becomes the truth…
Or…
Dismantling
the myth of Republican Fiscal Responsibility
Of a certainty, nothing
rankles me more definitively, than having to be subjected to E-Mails or
otherwise listening to so called Republicans decry the excesses of the so
called liberal Democrats, without one fact beyond their own twisted reasoning,
backed up solely by bias, either racial, or with pseudo religiosity. It is
abhorrent, to me as a reasoning being, that otherwise intelligent, reasoning
beings, can be victimized, to the point of espousing unsupported facts by a
torrent of what is nothing more than pure propaganda. To that end, I offer these tid-bits in context from the master of that
particular communication medium….
*
* *
The Poison Dwarf…Revisited
It cannot be argued, this
late in the game, either that President Obama has decreased our national debt,
nor done anything to even move us in such direction that might accomplish that
event. And yet the question remains, why? What is the real truth? Why is
everyone blaming President Obama for a problem that's incipience was never in his
court?
As an apologist for the
state of affairs that finds us in this predicament, I will begin by noting that
our national debt now stands at 97.6% of our GDP. In monetary terms, that is $14.639 trillion. A staggering amount and yet, only a
part of that, (approximately 10%)
is due to policies either enacted, or proposed during the last three and
a half years of President Obama's tenure.
Quantitatively of that 10% amount,
some dollars are attributable to
'new' policies, proposed by President Obama, (such as 6% due to his
economic stimulus packages ). Additionally, 20%, are attributable to policies
enacted by GW the third, and supported or extended by President Obama,
according to the CBO forecast as reported.
Okay…together that is
around 30% of the total, and as I have indicated, only 10% directly
attributable to President Obama. In correlation, it should also be noted that
an article by David Leonhardt, of the New York Times states that "President
Obama's agenda ... is responsible for only a sliver of the deficits", but also that he "...does not have a realistic
plan for reducing the deficit...."
How
could that be otherwise, since in remembering back to my high school civics
classes, it is Congress that has the constitutional authority to spend money
and to levy taxes, Congress alone. Sure, the President has a veto, but Congress
is wise to that trick and early on learned to wrap key 'pork' spending
proposals with 'other' proposals so that by vetoing the one, the other is also
cut. It should be noted that those public tit sucking leeches in Congress these
days always craft their bills to make the opposing party look bad to the
voters. It is a standard practice. de rigueur, and I am tempted to remark here that when an arrogant
Dick Cheney remarked in 2002, 'Proved deficits don't matter.' I took that to mean as long as a Republican president
was in power and you should as well. But today, one cannot turn on a television
without hearing some inane PAC touting the lie that Barack Obama is
responsible for the debt as it stands. Standard phrasing allows that 'we cannot afford four more years with the man who got us into this mess'.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep
repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be
maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the
political, economic and / or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes
vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent,
for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth
is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph
Goebbels
Yes…a big lie, like the one I reference above, repeated
becomes believable to the point of supplanting the truth. Sure it does…That much from the poison
dwarf, who, if nothing else, showed us just how successful such a tactic
could be. So my mission here is to
expose what is the real truth…and to ram it down anyone's throat who is too
stupid to realize that they have been duped.
Therefore, why is it that
so many Republicans are pissing and moaning and finger-pointing and vilifying
President Obama on the national debt when so much of the blame, from the
record, is so clearly in someone else's court? And exactly whose court are we
discussing anyway? Is it strictly the 235 Republican Congressmen and 40 GOP
senators that voted for the Paul Ryan 2012 budget that requires raising the
debt ceiling repeatedly, or is the festering wound deeper? It this trend due to
the 'tax and spend' liberal Democrats, or is it due to the 'don't tax and
spend' profligate and greedy Republicans? Or…as I have noted above, is there
something deeper? And whatever happened to that legendary 'Republican fiscal
responsibility?
"Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the
consequences of defeat."
"It is not
propaganda’s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success.”
Joseph
Goebbels
So what is that success?
Questions, many questions and yet, it seems that answers to those questions
depend entirely upon who you ask, and how they want to 'spin' their reply. Lie,
and lie convincingly, by telling either all, or a part of the truth. (No, Joe Goebbels didn’t say that. It's one of mine
but I'm seriously thinking of having it appended to our national motto. At the
very least it should be printed on our money, which isn't even worth the cost
of burning. Now, we are selling it to Ford to recycle into dashboards.)
To be frank though, we have
all become accustomed to reasoning of this same sort, used to portend dire
events, throughout the most disastrous, and fiscally irresponsible presidency
of the preceding administration, where we actively watched George the third,
take our economy from a surplus in 2000, to a doubling of the national debt at
$11.3 trillion in 2008. To a large extent, this was fueled by unfunded Medicare
Part 'D', which US Comptroller, General David Walker, called, 'the most
fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the sixties.'
Remember people, Medicare
was 'broke' in 2003, and I promise, I'm not making that up. George the third
knew that, (no one is that stupid), but he was afraid of losing the 2004
election …seriously afraid and so he decided to give seniors 'free drugs', and
thereby, buy their votes. The cost? $1 trillion over ten years, no offsets, no
dedicated financing, and our grandchildren get to pay the bill. It was all just
Bread and Circuses again, and all
deficit spending. Thank you John McCain for having the courage to vote against
this abortion of trust.
Then, of course, on
George's side of the ledger, there were
unfunded wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and the tax cuts of
2001-2003, but at least George was following big shoes. His oft quoted
mentor in things financial, at the insistent prompting of the eminence gris Dick Chaney, was, of course Ronald Reagan, who, while
effectively demonstrating to us all through some rosy scenario rhetoric, that
'trickle down economics' was little more that trickle up poverty, managed to
triple the national debt to $3 trillion during his tenure.
Why? The same reason that mired George the
third, if you are being charitable…or George the idiot, if you are not. Hey
guys… If you cut taxes and continue to spend, your debt will continue to
rise, and rise, and rise. Governments
have literally no other source of income. If I pull that kind of shit, I get
sent to the hall of many doors, perhaps a good repository for our esteemed
legislators as well.
So, at this point you are
saying, that I introduced myself above as an apologist. So, in that capacity I
shall start at the beginning and attempt to define my argument as to why the
Republican Party has consistently moved away from the core values that once set
them apart.
"Propaganda may be
facilitated by leaders with prestige."
Joseph Goebbels
Many years ago, and far
away from here, I hearkened to the siren song of conservatism. After all, a
conservative is someone who conserves, someone who saves and above all, does no
harm. A conservative is a fiscally responsible person who never spends more
than he has and who abhors the idea that a condition of debt can be a desirable
thing. ('deficits don't
matter', my ass…) That was my goal.
That was what I believed a responsible American should do, and so conservatism
became my goal.
Then we flash forward…past
Jimmy Carter…and, in 1979, that meant Ronald Reagan, since at that time he was
certainly sporting all the right credentials and far from the RINO moniker that
would characterize him today. Then
though, I was enthralled. Here was the man who could save AMERICA. Here was a
man who would not back down, a hero, and a true man we could all emulate. I
became a member of the Republican National Committee at a time when
conservatism was less than a joke in official circles and yet; the Gipper had
told us that he had the solution. After all, we certainly could trust 'the
Gipper', couldn't we? He did have prestige….
(Retrospectively, and in
full view of the RINO appellation above, we must remark that Ronald Reagan was
a man that would scarcely ever be invited to a Tea Party in this current era…
For example…. His 1981,
$749 billion 'supply side' tax cuts brutally led the way towards huge annual
deficits. Then, in order to keep
up against a losing financial scheme, Ronald Reagan raised taxes 11 times
before he left office and all of us holding a $3 trillion deficit. He also
granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants in an effort to make them tax
paying American citizens. In addition, Ronald Reagan dramatically increased
federal spending by repeatedly raising the annual military budget. (Star wars
technology is expensive. Just ask George Lucas.) And let's not too quickly
forget those above mentioned 3 million cheap laborers.
Ronald Reagan's brand of 'Reaganomics prosperity' was aimed
strictly at those who were already well off. Home ownership under his
administration, fell and average worker's wages dropped repeatedly. I know,
because I was one of those workers. Then there was the 10% 'luxury tax'. The
only 'urban aid' program to survive slashing public service and job training
cuts was federal aid for highways, which primarily benefited suburbs, not
cities. Ronald Reagan demonstrated to us all that his tax cuts for the rich,
'job creators', benefited no one but the rich, who created damn few jobs. The
'new federalism' shifted responsibility onto states without necessary
provisions for funding. Deregulation and Cost Benefit Analyses, were the
watchwords of the day and 'ideological arithmetic' ignored the costs.
In 1983, Reagan abandoned
the conservative philosophy that had gained him the White House when he openly
asked for bipartisan support to 'save social security' from bankruptcy by
quoting Franklin Roosevelt. In three short years, Ronald Reagan had at last
learned that Government was indeed the problem. At the request of bankers, ( a
true evil empire, if there ever was one), Ronald Reagan initiated the free
fall, free for all slide of American banks when he de-regulated exactly how
banks should behave in their fiscal responsibility to depositors. Multiple home mortgages were traded as
risky securities with very little that could qualify as regulation. Banks
became insurance companies and bond traders, together with all the vice versa
attendant. The end was fast approaching but in retrospective it too another
twenty years to bottom out.
Okay…maybe it still hasn't
bottomed out. The pundits and the hoo-hah crowd still feel 'bullish' but
shoveling shit uphill, as we all are these semi-bright days of twenty twelve,
it sure feels bottomed out to me.
But back then I watched as a younger man, and I noted facts here and there, and I
concluded at that time, that Richard Nixon, for all of his idiosyncrasies and
'southern strategy', and Gerald Ford, serving out his 'reward' job, were the last truly fiscally
responsible Republicans.
No, Ronald Reagan was not a
conservative, small 'c' or big 'C', and yet he was a Federalist, in the truest
sense and a man that I truly admire to this very day. May God bless you, mister
president for having the courage to DO something. Small government, strict adherence to a Constitution that our
forefathers died to have ratified, free trade and the opportunities it
expresses and I thank you Mister President for the 'amnesty' you offered those
former 'illegals'. Today they are
indeed productive American citizens, as you envisioned, and so are their
children, Yet, the problem remains that your economic policies did not work…Still,
the only answer we got was Bush 43….
("We have a responsibility that when
somebody hurts, government has got to move." 2003) Yes, George the
don't tax and spend liberal, in conservative clothing of course, actually said that..
So,
in the intervening years, between then, and now, Why have my icons of the
political right failed me and why have they consistently failed America. I warn
you, the answers are unpleasant. Some of those answers may disgust you. All of
them may lead you to believe that your trust has been misplaced.
“Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer
the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has
its roots in the street.”
Joseph
Goebbels
Back in the day, that was a
mandate to enter the Sturm Abteilung. Their mandate, conquer and control the streets. The Brown Shirts did just that and look
at how things turned out.
To be sure, we don't call
these people by that title anymore. Politically correct is the dogma that rules
our times, and yet they are still out there, and still doing their best to
control the streets. Infiltrating the ranks of legitimate protest groups they
show up at town hall meetings,
shouting down anyone with opposing ideas. They stifle public debate.
They create so much disorder that no free discussion is possible and they do it
with impunity. And yet they are all still only tools, tools of their masters
just as were their predecessors in the SA. The real control of the streets
depends on the sponsor's agenda to steer the masses in the required direction.
Of course the sponsor is
Uncle Sam but today he works behind a screen that Cujo, hyped up on PCP,
couldn't get through on a bet. Toto wouldn't stand a chance and neither do many
of us. The screen is one of obfuscation, of deceit, of misrepresentation of
facts and the half truths of lies. Each of us who takes the 'blue pill' allows
that screen to remain in place.
"To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the
interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications
medium. Think of the press as a
great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph
Goebbels
Ah, the press, the
venerable fourth estate and we,
the television generation of couch potatoes are right where the press wants us. So enter the talk show
phenomenon that guides our choices of candidates these days. More bread and circuses. And not just pundits of TV, we can barely listen to AM radio anymore so redolent with bias are the more vituperative hosts. Half facts, in support of moronic arguments abound to the point of neausea, even in brief snippets as we surf for information. It should be noted that these churlish masters of ceremony are the most popular in their field. What does that say about the listening audience?
It would be comforting to believe that reported occurrences were at least factual, but yellow journalism has a long history here in these United States, where many of us are descendants of the same whiskey drummers and bible salesmen who pioneered concepts from Manifest Destiny to Madison Avenue. We all like a good show and so we watch...and we listen as sound bites for the intellectually uninvolved daily invade our thoughts. The sponsor's agenda every time. And we buy it all. It is designed for us to do so.
"Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive
phrases or slogans, which must evoke desired responses which the audience
previously possesses. These slogans must be capable of being easily learned."
Joseph
Goebbels
'Responses which the audience previously possesses'. Today that extends much farther than 'terrorist ragheads that hate us'. Today that labeling extends to the 47% of our population so recently characterized as 'victims'. And the 'distinctive slogans' pandering to an atmosphere of fear, engendered and perpetuated solely to refine a purpose of hatred for everyone that is different from the targeted listener. And it works. Old Joe told us it would.
So here we are, with two weeks to go to another election where nothing substantive will be decided. Taxes will stay as low as they were in 1953. Republicans will vote against anything the Democrats want. Democrats will vote against anything the Republicans initiate and the number of 'victims' of it all will grow. China bashing will continue as an easy target for all of our ills even though our national debt is mostly owned by us. If you like, I can spell that last word with capital letters but do the research, you'll see what I'm saying.
No, there is no short term solution to this problem, none. In fact the only solution is for people to realize that we are all riding this rock together and it is high time we concentrated our efforts on things that we can agree on instead of the things that divide us.
Never fear though, that accomplishes nothing and remember, there is still time…sure there is. The world doesn't end until late this December…
Quotations taken from Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda to The National Socialist Party of Germany.
