The Deal

The Deal, the deal.....Yes, it is a deal but it sure isn't the New Deal. For the people, it isn't even a very good deal. But, in fact, it is a deal that illustrates about as well as any single political event can how our political system works or, rather, how that system is worked by the two parties to maintain their power even at the expense of "the people."

There is a lot of talk and print about how some Democrats are angry with Obama for "the deal," but what is not mentioned is that is the point or one point of "the deal." It is to discipline the Democratic Party, subjugating it to the current "leadership." See, first, in the elections the Blue Dog Democrats go down to defeat in large numbers, to much larger defeats than other Democrats. Why? Because the Blue Dogs were Democrats who wanted to get serious about the deficit, even at the expense of the power of the current "leadership." This is just unacceptable for the current "leadership." So, let the Blue Dog Democrats go down to defeat. Also, Obama is looking toward 2012 and his re-election and pinning his hopes on seeming to be "pragmatic" and an economic recovery more robust than we have now. Throw a few crumbs to the middle class, and the non-sacrifices made by the very wealthy will be forgotten, the plutocracy will prevail. Or so Obama hopes.

Even more interesting though is the Republican angle on "the deal." First, it puts to rest the assertion by Mitch McConnell that his and his party's most important task is denying Obama re-election in 2012. You cannot do that very well or easily when you are compromising with that "socialist" in the White House. By making this "deal," the Republicans have left Obama off the hook, so to speak, because they have let him be what he pretends to be, a "pragmatic" politician who wants what is best for the American people even at the price of significant compromise. Second, "the deal" puts the screws to the Tea Partiers. After all, the Tea Partiers generally speaking are most exercised by the deficit and this "deal" does nothing but increase that, while compromising with "the socialist" in the White House. This is the Republican version of disciplining the Republican Party by letting the Tea Partiers know who is boss. Earlier, this was made clear when that Tea Party person from Minnesota, whose name I have repressed [Michelle something or other], was denied a "leadership" position in the House of Representatives. And my bet is that the committee chairpersons will all be among the party regulars, even if that means voting to suspend some party rules regarding eligibility for these chairs.

So, without ever planning it, the two parties have colluded once again to keep their power in the hands of "party regulars" while putting the screws to the middle and lower classes and doing virtually nothing to deal with some of our problems. And if you wondered why the tax issue was put off until after the last elections, now you know the reason: It was done in the name of party discipline for both parties. A politics of collusion that serves the few at the expense of the many....Such is the state of the "republic" today.