Pages

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Class War in the US Isn’t Over as Republicans Invite the Fiscal Cliff




Republicans are paving the way to their own demise. They had their chance in Obama’s last term. He was willing to compromise to try and find a way to move forward, possibly because he believed at heart everybody wants the same thing for America. He’s learned his lesson. They, however, were lulled into a false sense of security, believing they could bully him forever.

This reminds me of a typical crime scenario in the movies: the detectives are interviewing a witness who is protecting the bad guy. They’re getting nowhere. They say they have evidence that can put the witness away and it’s being processed in the crime lab right now. Witness remains dumb and immovable. The crime lab sends an envelope with a report. The witness is still immovable. The detective starts opening the envelope.

The witness caves. I believe Republicans will cave but only after more blustering and pouting and blaming and finger pointing. In the end they’ll look like even bigger fools than they do at the moment. This is about class war and as always the people with the bullying power seem to have all the real power. At least in their own minds. They don’t believe there will be an end to their rule.
But there always is.

They never even recognize when it’s already happened. It reminds me of the way the British reacted to the rise of the independent spirit in America. They were as sure they could continue to use and abuse the colonists despite vehement and pretty organized protest, in much the same way as Republicans believe today they can continue to mess with the middle class, despite the results of the election.

King George III was ruling Britain at that time and his henchman Prime Minister was Lord North. Their response to the colonists justifiable need to be treated with respect was to impose more control and punishment. Which is what Republicans are trying to do. Make the middle class pay. Things worked out really well for the British, and those two men have gone down in history as fools blinded by their own greed and bloated egos. 

Christiane Amanpour said the other night “people who refuse to learn from history are destined to repeat it”.