If the American people vote against a set of policies clearly - twice - and they are implemented anyway because one part of government, backed by big business, threatens to bring the country and the world to its knees over not agreeing a budget, that is a effectively coup isn't it?
This is what is happening now in the United States government, where completely without precedent a minority are shutting down the government unless policies which have been voted down twice are put into effect.
As I voiced in an earlier post these shutdowns are not lack of agreement. They are actual policy, based on Randian fantasies of 'elites' shutting down the government. US Government shutdown is Atlas Shrugged made real, the world of the Producers shutting down the world of the Moochers coming to pass. The Producers in this case is not the musical, and Rand, in case you didn't know, died after living off government welfare under an assumed name.
If this seems a little sinister and unlikely consider a right wing talking point you increasingly see across the net
"America is Not a Democracy — It's Something Even Better"
and
We are not a Democracy; We are a "Republic"
Apparently, for those who haven't had the benefit of an education system that often features highlights like Creationism, a 'Jeffersonian' system of government, includes "putting checks on the power of the majority", and the power of the individual at the expense of actual "Democracy"
"And the values of republicanism, such as individual rights, civic virtue, and putting checks on the power of the majority, are ones that we desperately need to rediscover."
http://www.policymic.com/articles/52373/july-4-2013-america-is-not-a-democracy-it-s-something-even-better
just one of many examples out there
Here we have the semantic problem with the heart of modern right wing politics.Supporting a system which increasingly benefits only the top 1%, 'Democracy' is obviously not going to work. Instead we have a new improved concept which trumps Democracy - "Republicanism"
Republicanism now is really about "putting checks on the power of the majority"? Anyone who has studied European history from the 20th Century will recognise that kind of language immediately.
Need some elites to point the ignorant peasants in the right direction?
We used to call it Fascism, Communism and Nazism.
The shut down is a minor issue, at least for the rest of the world. It's happened before. What is new the possibility of a default on the extension of US budget ceiling on the 17th October. That is the World Reserve Currency suddenly deciding that it can't pay its bills. An really that is is deciding, not it actually happening. The current US government has haved the deficit already.
Just to indicate where the American media sits on this issue - this deficit, the centre of the debate, was left by the last Republican president. The last Republican President to balance the US budget was Eisenhower in the 1950s.
And yet the US media lets the Republicans of today call into the question the faith and credit of the US economy under Democractic leadership (there were no similar budget deficit issues when Bush Jnr was entering two wars and cutting taxes at the same time). Republicans have already engineered a loss of credit rating in the US Economy, during Obama's government, based on a deficit they supported and voted for themselves when in power.
If the US media seems quite complicit in this, how are are the other side? We have reached this insane negotiating point because the Democrats have already caved in on negotiations against similar tactics, most recently on the Sequester.
Yeah. The Sequester was a Democratic negotiating tactic intended to keep government going last time, which ironically had the effect of gutting US government funding in exactly the way the Republicans ultimately intended. Strange how Democratic negotiation tactics nearly always result in huge cuts to US government whatever the result.
We could ask where would we be if the Republicans had blocked funding for FDR's New Deal during the great Depression but going partisan undermines the seriousness of this issue. We have gone beyond into an actual challenge to a running government which has been democratically elected twice.
On the surface this an attempt to stop Obama taking credit for Republican heal care program. (Needless to say the Democrats couldn't implement the Single Payer health care reform their supporters wanted so they went with a Republican program first introduced by Mitt Romney in New Hampshire)
But in reality, quite aside from political considerations of right and left, the functioning of the world largest democracy is in real danger of buckling under pressure from a corporate interest group. We might actually be looking at the corporate take-over in action.
The world won't end by the time this budget crisis is over - but it will be a different one. There are three outcomes:
- The Republicans cave in - all out war breaks out on the US right, Tea Party is formed as an actual political party (some networks have been treating it as such for some time). Frustrated by the inability to keep "the majority in check" in their "Republican" not "Democratic" system, a lot of very powerful entities (the Koch brothers among others) start looking for other remedies. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.".. is another Jeffersonian favourite.
- If Obama caves in - again - the power of the US President is fatally undermined going forward, and this tactic of using deadline budget negotiations is used from now on to make the United States ungovernable. Successful Military coup within the decade? (see below*)
- Neither gives in, the US defaults on its debt we have (at least) a different world reserve currency and (at the very least) some high interest rates.
Consider Walter White sitting in the frozen car contemplating his end in the finale of Breaking Bad. The end may be coming - perhaps it is here - and the US electorate and media need to stop dreaming and be aware of what is really happening.
*Rick Joyner, Televangelist And Pastor, Wants A Military Takeover Of The U.S. Government
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