Clarity About Our Politics
P. Schultz
August 21, 2014
Sometimes
the real character of our political system comes shining through and the link
below illustrates one of those times. The article, from the NY Times, is
entitled “Where Are the National Democrats on Ferguson?” And, yes, that is a
legitimate question. As the article states:
“Yet no national Democratic politician,
nobody of the sort who is likely to mount a presidential run anytime soon, has
risen to give voice to the anger we’re seeing in Ferguson. Nobody seems eager
to make police abuses or racial injustice a key issue in a national campaign,
even though an awful lot of Democratic voters could be activated on those
issues.”
What
does this illustrate? Precisely what I have arguing for some time now: That our
“two party” system is really little more than a false front, one that disguises
that on the most important issues and despite all “the sound and the fury”
displayed, our political class, which of course encompasses “both” parties, is
basically in agreement. Hence, when the Democrats won the Congress in the 2006
elections, running on a platform of getting out of Iraq, nothing much changed.
Hence, when Obama won the presidency in 2008 and again in 2012, nothing much
changed.
But
what of health care, you ask? So, what of it? The plan Obama put forward, after
he jettisoned any public option, was little more than the plan Mitt Romney had
signed into law in Massachusetts. But what of all those votes to repeal “Obama
Care?” Well, yes, what of them? No one, in either party, thought those votes
were at all meaningful; at least, no one of any importance thought they were
important.
And,
moreover, for anyone in the Democratic Party to come out strongly against the
establishment in Ferguson would require a fundamental break with the consensus
on race that has prevailed at least since the Clinton presidency. It need only
be remembered that more blacks were sent to prison or jail during that
presidency than any other to recognize what has been right labeled “the New Jim
Crow,” behind which our political class has rallied. Such a break is far too
dangerous for Democrats to make and, of course, Hillary Clinton is not going to
endanger what she sees as her chance to be president just to serve the cause of
racial or simple justice. After all, it wasn’t what Bill did nor is it what he
would counsel her to do. It is an interesting situation.
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