The fact that
Barack Obama could be elected following a two-term George Bush demonstrates
exactly how much control the American people have over the political process
while simultaneously demonstrating the volatility of the electorate’s judgment.
"Out, out,
brief candle!
Life's but a
walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and
frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard
no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
Signifying
nothing."
A favorite tactic
of the Tea Party zealots has become the use of historical references as a
justification for the most tenuous connections. Waving the banner of Socialism
as a form of Scarlet Letter while attempting to brand the policies of the
Democratic Party as un-American is yet another example of their intellectually
void approach to winning political arguments. It is not a coincidence that the United States
became a superpower at the same time that the federal government enacted waves
of social programs designed to improve the conditions of the working class.
The tired mantra of
the Republican Party that somehow Democrats long for a Soviet Union style
government is trite and absent any true intellectual foundation. The reality is
that the United States is a unique combination of capitalism and socialism and has
been for nearly a hundred years. No legitimate voice of the Democratic Party
advocates the total control of the private sector by the government yet the
leading voices of the Republican Party proudly champion an unfettered
capitalistic system oblivious of the poverty and corruption which coincides in
such an arrangement.
