All Aboard!!

It's really hard to understate how far off the rails on a crazy train the Republican Party and their conservative allies in the tea-bagger movement have gone. Indeed, the conservative right in general has reached epic levels of nuttery, there really is no other way to honestly describe it. In the wake of the passage of a corporate friendly and centrist--by any reasoned reckoning--health insurance reform bill, the right has gone literally rabid with howls of socialism, government takeovers, and the like. As was pointed out by many outlets, the bill that was passed was essentially a National version of that which former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had signed into law when he was in office. That is, a lot of Republicans were for it before they were against it.

With defeat apparent in the democratic process, tea-baggers sought to drag the proceedings into a realm where they are much more comfortable, that is, the spewing of hate-filled venom, violence, and threats of violence. Civil rights veterans were spat on and defamed with the Big-N; members of Congress were threatened, and their offices vandalized; and elected officials, such as low-wattage leader Representative Steve King of Iowa, egged them on, or worse. Here's a little of what he had to say,

REP. STEVE KING: I’ve got to go back up and vote again against the reconciliation package, but I wanted to come down here in this little window of about twelve minutes so I could say to you, God bless you. You are the awesome American people. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and the power of who you are and what you’re willing to do. And if I could start a country with a bunch of people, they’d be the folks that have been here standing with us the last few days. Let’s hope we don’t have to do that. Let’s beat that other side to a pulp! Let’s chase them out. Let’s chase them down. There’s going to be a reckoning!

Let's examine these statements a little more closely. "YOU are the awesome American people." I guess that would make the rest of America, the vast majority of America, the not-so-awesome group." This is classic right-wing divisiveness. Sounds an awful lot like Sarah Palin's "real" America meme. But then it really gets good, "... if I could start a country... Let's hope we don't have to do that. Let's beat the other side to a pulp!" Statements like this from an elected official of the government are beyond irresponsible. They are despicable, and indeed, it's not a stretch to suggest that Mr. King is inciting secession, and might legitimately be called a traitor. I would not make that charge, but consider for a second the response it would provoke in the right-wing media if someone, say, on the political left were to make similar remarks. There would be howls of treason!

All that was bad enough, but it may seem mild compared with the results of a recent Harris poll that should send a chill down the spine of any rational American. The survey explored the attitudes of Americans with regard to their beliefs about President Obama. Here are some of the more worrying findings of the survey;

1. 67% of Republicans believe that Obama is a socialist.
2. 57% of Republicans believe that Obama is a Muslim.
3. 45% of Republicans believe that Obama was not born in the United States.
4. 38% of Republicans (20 percent of Americans overall) say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did" And, hold onto your hats,
5. 24% of Republicans say that Obama may be the anti-Christ!

Some of these numbers may not be as surprising as others. Consider that the "socialist" label is repeated endlessly on right-wing media outlets, and that, apparently, for many wing-nuts the only evidence required to prove that someone is a socialist is for Glenn Beck to say so. On the other hand, the notions that Obama is a Muslim, and that he is not a US citizen have been so thoroughly debunked that it seems clear that evidence and fact are almost completely irrelevant to the attitudes and beliefs held by Republicans. In other words, these people are delusional! This would also appear consistent with the findings that the poll results were largely dependent on the educational level of the responder. Those without a college degree were much more likely to hold these extreme, irrational beliefs. At least there's a small glimmer of hope there, in that education can perhaps, eventually redress the extremism indicated by these numbers. Nevertheless, the polling suggests that the extent to which Americans cannot, will not, or are simply unwilling to think for themselves is just appalling. I think it also demonstrates the extent to which Americans are propagandized by their supposedly free press.

But clearly the most amazing finding from this poll is the result that just about 1/4 of Republicans think that Obama may be the anti-Christ! Surely this demonstrates the extent to which the conservative right has been taken over by Christian fundamentalist movements, and that there is really no limit to the delusional thinking of many Americans. Scary stuff indeed. Welcome aboard America's crazy train!

Carrying the Insurance Industry's Water

Barack Obama just postponed his Asian swing to Indonesia and Australia in order to hang around Washington for a few more days, ostensibly to try and pass a health care "reform" bill. Let's review. No, there is too much, let's sum-up. The House passed a somewhat decent bill, that included a so-called public option that would represent at least some attempt to keep private health insurance corporations honest. The Senate passed a stinker of a bill which basically reflected the desires of such political miscreants as Joe Lieberman. Yes, the Senate bill is the legislation that was more or less agreeable to Holy Joe, so no wonder it is not very popular as a whole! Importantly, both bills rely on the mandate, that is, citizens will be required to purchase private insurance or ostensibly pay a penalty. Those who can't afford to pay will receive some subsidy so that they will be able to pay. Note, this was the kind of plan that Obama ran AGAINST in his campaign. Moreover, note that these bills essentially guarantee something in the vicinity of 20 -40 million new, captive, customers for private health insurers, particularly the Senate plan, which offers no government insurance alternative. Further, the legislated subsidies for those unable to afford private insurance premiums, already exorbitantly priced, amount to a windfall from the government (from your tax dollars), into the private coffers of for-profit health insurance corporations. Funny, but this doesn't quite sound like the reform that Obama sold many Americans on during his campaign. No, it sounds more like the "reform" that insurance companies might agree to having realized that some changes were unavoidable.

Now, the Democrats, and Mr. Obama in particular, have expended so much political effort and capital on this issue that at this point they feel they must pass a bill. Attention has focused on the Senate bill since it was presumed that 60 votes would be needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Actually, just the "threat" of a filibuster, since the Senate no longer requires anyone to actually do the filibustering. But with the 60 votes looking very unlikely with the arrival of Scott Brown as Massachusetts newest Senator, Democrats have seemingly become resigned to the reality that a bill will have to be passed using the reconciliation procedure, which only requires a simple majority (50 votes, since Vice President Biden would break a tie, presumably in the administration's favor!). It should have been obvious months ago that this was needed, since Republican opposition to ANY bill was a given. Take note that Republican screams of "foul" against reconciliation are pure hypocrisy, since when in power they were more than happy to pass legislation using exactly the same process.

But who is this reform really serving? What about the reform that Obama actually campaigned on? What about the public option, a government sponsored insurance plan that was supposed to provide some competition to private insurance corporation expense and malfeasance? Well, it should be pretty clear by now that the Democratic leadership is more or less content with the Senate bill. While there was no end of Democratic talk about the public option, when push came to shove the leadership clearly sided with the interests of their corporate sponsors in the health insurance industry, the needs, wishes and desires of Democratic voters are clearly much less important. This is the nature of governance today, corporations and other monied interests call all the shots, ultimately it is these institutions for which the government functions, not the people. In a recent article, Glenn Greenwald exposes the game, and really calls out the Democratic leadership for the cowardly, despicable scam they are now playing with the very voters responsible for their being in power.

While the Democratic leadership carries water for the insurance industry, American voters grow more and more angry and cynical. If the Democrats think that this pathetic excuse of a health care reform bill is going to energize their voting base come November, they are sorely mistaken. Obama and the Democrats can expect heavy losses in the mid-term elections. And this is what American voters have to look forward to. Either a vote for the Party of No, that doesn't want to do anything except further lower the already ridiculously low taxes of rich people, or a vote for the Party of Nothing, because that's what the Democratic leadership apparently believes in, Nothing. It is a state of complete and utter dysfunction. Is it any wonder vast numbers of citizens simply check out from the entire process. As Bill Quigley points out, it is long past time for ordinary citizens to make some serious noise.