(ThyBlackMan.com) The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission U.S. Supreme Court cases effectively allowed unlimited campaign contributions and support through supposedly non-affiliated political action committees (PACs). Without boring you with the gory details, these cases essentially allowed money to come from every corner of Earth to be used to elect American politicians. Billionaires in Russia and China literally have no problem pouring money and therefore influence into American elections. The end result of these decisions is the formalization and institution of fascism as the American political and economic system. The United States has always had a fascist streak, but it was typically constrained by election law. Sure, big business was going to have its say, but it didn’t have the ability to literally dominate the public airwaves by virtue of media ownership and pure spending power.
Bill Clinton and his Democratic Leadership Council formed a new form of corporate friendly liberalism also known as neo-liberalism. This movement was a lurch away from the Jimmy Carters of the world. The Reagan Revolution shook America’s left to its core and the response from the neo-liberals was to follow their lead. In addition to the aforementioned legalization of bribery in American politics, so-called liberal Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This law essentially allowed American media ownership to be consolidated into the hands of a few.
This was one of many corporate friendly laws and policies that Clinton instituted in order to persuade Middle America (White America) that the New Deal liberalism of the past was over. His administration further escalated the War on Drugs which resulted in the mass incarceration of my generation of young black men and the generations who would come after us. Bill Clinton benefitted from being President at a time when the internet explosion happened. He was able to fly under the radar in his fascism because of a booming economy. The words, “It’s the economy stupid.” have never read more true in retrospect.
The result of the Reagan Revolution and Bill Clinton’s DLC/Third-Way Democratic agenda was the formal institution of fascism. Bill Clinton drove the first nails into the Democratic Party’s coffin. Al Gore’s failure to fight for his to-be proven Presidential victory proved to have devastating consequences in the form of the Bush Administration’s folly. The Democrats showed the same inability to fight for the country’s soul as it did in its inability to defend Jimmy Carter’s presidency. They simply brushed Jimmy under the rug and they simply allowed the GOP to steal the 2000 election. They were the epitome of feckless after witnessing Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
And then came Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is FDR. His presence on the party’s national stage helped to make the contrast of the old left and the neo-liberals plain for all to see. Democrats who forgot that they were leftists suddenly were presented with a clean glass of water and many chose to drink it. Unfortunately, the dirty glass of water in the form of Hillary Rodham Clinton adopted the tactics of fascism and the right-wing to strong arm the Democratic nomination away from the clean glass. In the wake of that fight, those who drank the clean water can never go back to drinking dirty water. They have tasted clean water once more and are thirsty to cure the disease of fascism in America. They now see the fascist influence on the Democratic Party for what it is.
The Democratic Party in its current form is just as corrupted by corporate money as the GOP is. It can only pretend to represent the people and not their donors and they can only act where there is no corporate costs. The GOP will continue to win this battle because they are holding a clean glass of water. Their base embraces fascism. They embrace corporate control of America and all of the loss of liberty that comes with it. They feel very much in control because they are the ones who control corporate America. Trickledown economics may not work, but trickledown racism does. The GOP’s base understands that corporate control is the maintenance of white racial control by virtue of who owns and runs the corporations. If 95% of the corporations are headed by white male CEOs, then they get to decide who lives and dies thus, the burning desire to repeal and replace Obamacare. They understand that they will suffer, but to paraphrase Lee Atwater, they also understand that they will suffer less relatively. So they’re fine with trimming what they see is the fat of America.
The Democratic Party has been forced by Citizens United, McCutcheon, and the Telecom Act to play the corporate game and therefore, they cannot place the interests of the citizens over the corporations. Hearts be damned, they are reliant upon their financial backers and cannot afford to buck them. Major economic programs and social programs which could benefit everyday Americans are contradictory to corporate profits. The conflict between the people and those profits are what have destroyed the Democratic Party.
When challenged about her leadership, Nancy Pelosi cited her ability as a fund raiser as the reason that she should remain in Democratic leadership. Nancy made it plain that she was a full blown fascist in that moment. Instead of bucking the donors in this desperate hour, she insists that fund-raising is a virtue. Fund raising is the problem. A real progressive wouldn’t dare say that to a Democratic base who now understands the problem. Her inability to read the mood of her electorate and their desire to change will prove to be fatal to her party. Pelosi should be fighting for publicly funded elections.
If the Democratic Party is to remain viable, then it will announce tomorrow that it is eschewing all corporate/PAC funding and that they are completely reliant upon small citizen donations. It must crowd source if it wants to be anything but Republican-light. It will not. The entrenched interests of the 70 and 80 year olds in the Democratic Party is too attractive and personally enriching to let go. The mere fact that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were placed back into leadership after losing seat after seat for the past 10 years demonstrates their inability to change.
They are recalcitrant puppets and they breed more in the form of the Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s of the world. The progressive left is fed up with voting to stave off suffering at the hands of Republicans. That’s exactly why Donald Trump was selected to be the President. This Democratic Party can’t inspire voters with corporatism and has played its best race-card in the form of Barack Obama. It is already trying to set up another usage in the form of Kamala Harris, but the left is not having it after being so disappointed by Obama’s neo-liberal ways. They want an FDR. They want a Sanders. They do not want another Obama no matter how good it looked or felt.
I personally left the Democratic Party after voting for Sanders in the 2016 primary election. I decided that the Democratic primary was a useless exercise after witnessing Hillary Clinton’s failed coronation. I am certain that others are acting in the same way. I will always vote in my best interest in the end and that may result in a Democratic vote, but they can no longer count on my allegiance and I long for a viable Independent or Third-Party candidates who are real progressives. This is the mood of the left and it will not settle for this Democratic Party for much longer. Donald Trump is already POTUS. The worse has already happened. The Democratic Party can no longer rely on holding a red gun to our black & blue heads. The left is ready to spin the revolver and pull the trigger with one bullet in the chamber. Russian Roulette anyone? If they do not change, they will become irrelevant after 2020. The party will die.
Staff Writer; Asani Akida