Much Ado About Nothing

The Greatest Bamboozle in human history ended just as poetic justice demanded that it should—nothing changed. Obama is still president. The House of Representatives is still controlled by Republicans. The Senate is still controlled by Democrats. For the American people, the entire exercise was much ado about nothing. Even if political power had shifted a bit, the election would not have mattered much to disenfranchised citizens. For example, there can be little doubt that the 30-year trend toward greater income and wealth inequality will continue. There will be income gains at the top of the pyramid, with further erosion in the middle and bottom.

Yesterday's Dilbert

However, the election did have a point—for this country's powerful, monied elites. All the necessary illusions were maintained—your vote counts, government economic policy reflects your interests, and so on. In this sense and only in this sense, the 2012 election served its purpose.

America's slide into the gutter continues. This country is beyond hope. Nothing good can happen here.

I'll probably post later today. That's all for now.

Comments

[Ian Fraser]

Not that it matters but I agree!

[Ian Fraser]

What is the opiate of the masses? God/Religion by itself worked for a while, quite a while actually. Now it is corporatized continues to work. Should I say God help us?

[Ken Barrows]

At first, I felt a little relief and then "meh" and went to sleep.

[John D]

I am truly amazed at all the people that spent hours in line waiting to vote. 32 ounce big gulp of the koolaid.

[Oliver]

The relief was palpable.

Instead of an insane axeman coming at us (Homo romneyass) we will be poison gassed as we sleep-walk by Homo faux-hopeyus.

Apparently, this is because "the people" have spoken.

[James]

>I am truly amazed at all the people that spent hours in line waiting to vote. 32 ounce big gulp of the koolaid.

I am afraid your requested size violates health ordnances. Please rephrase your beverage order in quantities not to exceed 16 oz. Thank you.

[JohnWDB]

@Ian, stuff. Stuff is the opiate of the masses. The idea that the US remains the greatest country on Earth because you have the best access to affordable stuff. And yes, you should say God help us.

@John D, what facebook taught me is that the country was teetering on the edge and was just barely saved last night. A couple hundred of my "friends" apparently had their tickets bought and bags packed, but they will now not be forced to move abroad. The planet, which would by now be incinerated, was given a 4-year reprieve. OR, the country was hastened toward imminent demise. God's wrath would now be poured out in full force. The deficit would spiral out of control instead of being completely eliminated. In that light, this clearly was the most important election of all time. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which cataclysm/salvation story to believe.

[ralph m]

After talking a bit about with others after work last night at 2:00 a.m. about the election results, my feeling was that it was generally a victory for the lesser of two evils. But I still don't see much reason for the faint glimmer of hope that real progressives like Rob Kall at OpEdNews have today: http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Lesser-Evil-Won-Now-G-by-Rob-Kall-121107-239.html

Even if Obama wanted to do everything right in his 2nd term, he's constrained by the Congress and other machinery of Government, and the problems caused by declining resources and environmental degradation are going to severely limit whatever good intentions a president might have.

[James]

I am sure that a guy who handed taxpayer money, no strings attached, to the mega financial interests who caused the financial crisis in the first case, chooses one of the same group to be head of the US financial system, loves to take out people with drone strikes (and doesn't seem to mind if said drones are used to keep tabs on US citizens), and spent over a billion dollars courtesy of anonymous SuperPACS *totally* has only good intentions at heart.

Lesser of two evils, indeed.