The question is from Robert Reich, and he's not joking. Reich, who knows from his own childhood experience just how bullies behave, believes that the wealthy bullies of American right-wing politics — the Koch brothers through "Americans for Prosperity" (their own, of course) and others Reich lists in considerable detail — aim not merely at a takeover of the Republican Party (they've already apparently accomplished that) but "to take over America."
(If this is true, it would not be the first time a cabal of wealthy Americans was alleged to intend a coup. See the wiki on Smedley Butler and the Business Plot, about a supposed plot to depose FDR and install a fascist dictator, a tale which you may choose to believe or not. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I see considerable evidence that Butler told the truth.)
Whether or not Reich is right about the Koch brothers' intent to perpetrate a coup, and I think he probably is, he is right about one thing: if bullies are not confronted face-on, they will take over. It is time for President Obama to hold fast... to face down the would-be ruling class of America, and tell them NO, with no ambiguity, hedging, fudging or compromise. A wealth-driven revolution may have worked in the 18th century, but it would be an unacceptable disaster to those who follow the spirit of the American ideal today.
Monday, September 30, 2013
2 comments:
USING THIS PAGE TO LEAVE A COMMENT
• Click here to view existing comments.
• Or enter your new rhyme or reason
in the new comment box here.
• Or click the first Reply link below an existing
comment or reply and type in the
new reply box provided.
• Scrolling manually up and down the page
is also OK.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Sadly I think a lot of this is plain racism.
ReplyDeletec, if the last two presidential elections proved nothing else, they proved beyond a doubt that a portion of the American population is still de facto racist, even if they've learned not to say it in their own voice in public. Think of all those Obama drawings exaggerating his ears or his lips, or that one cover photo (what magazine?) retouched to darken his complexion. Whether or not racism stands alone, I agree with you that it plays a large role in the Tea Party's visceral rejection of Obama, their birtherism. and their numerous attempts to toss out, by unconstitutional means, his signature accomplishment. Most people who reject Obamacare turn out, on inquiry, to be ignorant of what it actually requires. What's left to explain the rejection but racism?
DeleteThat said, I doubt seriously that the Koch brothers' loathing of Obama has anything to do with race: they're simply using America's latent racism as a prop to accomplish, as Reich says outright, a coup. It's going to be difficult to persuade Americans not to participate in that coup with all the ambient racism floating about. The Kochs and their minions are counting on it.