My Way or Highway

We all sit and watch with disgust as the Congress is hopelessly deadlocked.

The national deficit is at record levels. There is little doubt that over time, this deficit will retard the growth and recovery of our economy. The short term effects however are less than certain.

Meanwhile conservatives try everything they can think of to cut spending, especially in programs that they hate like Social Security and Medicare.

Medicaid has been cut severely in several states. Welfare has been cut. Schools, public services are being cut everywhere.

So, even though there is gridlock in Congress, conservatives have been successful on several levels in cutting and ripping the economic safety net throughout the country.

Many Americans think there is some kind of strange balance between the two philosophies, that there is some kind of tie in the struggle to change American society. This is simply not true.

Conservatives are winning all over the country. In California, the "free" public university system has long ago been destroyed. Tuition and fees have gone up dramatically, making the system both not free, nor inexpensive. Thousands of middle class college students are finding themselves priced out of a college education.

This led to the famous pepper spraying of students at U.C. Davis (not exactly a hotbed of radicalism), who were protesting the endless tuition hikes.

So, there is NO balance between conservative political philosophy and progressives. Conservatives are winning.

The reason for these victories is conservatives have a 24/7 propaganda machine in Fox News and talk A.M. radio. These propaganda outlets are literally selling the public on several myths, and are dramatically shaping public opinion. Meanwhile, progressives have MNBC and that is about it, to counter this avalanch of propaganda.

So, middle class, ordinary Americans, who used to side with the New Deal philosophy because of the huge gap between the rich and poor, now support positions that only encourage that gap to grow.

Today America has a dramatic imbalance between the very few fabulously rich, and the rest of us. The 99% movement really is not accurate in its depiction of economic reality; it should be more like a 99.998% movement. Wealth is accumulating more in a few thousand mega-rich citizens, many of whom are conservative fascists. The Koch brothers for example are not putting millions into conservative propaganda but billions!

And the damage to democracy is palatable.

We are sliding into a fascist state, run by plutocrats, with myths holding the entire structure in place.

If history is an indication, this will ultimately implode, resulting in widespread protest, repression, and the evolution of a fascist dictatorship.

It is coming folks, unless you decide to turn off Fox and Limbaugh!!