Anti-Federalism and the 1992 Presidential Election
P. Schultz
Some of the
Anti-Federalists imagined that government could be likened to a mechanical
screw that, set above the people, from the outset starts to turn, moving ever
downward onto the people and becoming, over time, more and more repressive
until it becomes oppressive. Periodically, the people resist and the screw
stops. However, this screw cannot be made to unwind and, so, when the people
eventually become tired and relax, it begins its downward movement once again. Which
is to say, as we know today, government is constantly screwing us, proving that
when JFK asked, “What can you do for your country?”, he asked the wrong
question. The right question was and is: What is your country/government doing
to you? Or, in Anti-Federalist lingo: How is your country/government screwing
you?
A key event
in the current screwing we are getting occurred in and after the 1992
presidential election, and this for two reasons. First, George Bush I lost,
perhaps willingly, which (a) allowed him to pardon Caspar Weinberger and other
Reagan/Bush personnel, some of whom had already been convicted, without
political penalty thereby (b) laying to rest any further investigation, which
was ongoing, of what was billed, inaccurately, as “the Iran-Contra scandal”
just as it was leading toward exposing how those Reagan people, including
George Bush and other former CIA people, had sabotaged the Carter presidency
including his re-election chances by successfully undermining any resolution of
the “hostage crisis” until Reagan was elected. This is what Ollie North was
referring to, among other things, when he said that the Iran-Contra
investigation was so confined that it missed other, far more troubling stuff
than that which it investigated. And the new president, Bill Clinton, said soon
after his election that his administration would not pursue that investigation because,
among other things, Lawrence Walsh had been too “extreme” in his pursuit of the
truth in these matters.
And this
brings me to the second reason that the 1992 presidential election was a
crucial part of our current screwing. Clinton, a “New Democrat,” was elected,
thereby helping to put to rest any chance that a genuinely liberal Democrat
would or could rise to the top of “the New Democratic Party.” It might have
been coincidence that the Republican right went after Clinton with a passion
but even if it was, these attacks helped disguise the fact that Clinton was no
liberal. These attacks culminated in an impeachment trial never meant to be
successful but which made Clinton look like a victim of vindictive right-wingers,
giving the impression that therefore he couldn’t be one too or have anything in
common with them. These attacks allowed Clinton to establish “the New” in the
Democratic Party as not being conservative even though his policies were about
as conservative as the Republican Party’s mainstream members. That the Clintons
are, even today, beloved by so many liberals illustrates the success of this
strategy, as does the almost Bush-like character of Obama’s eight years. Obama
is just another “New Democrat,” which explains why it is so difficult to
distinguish his administration from Shrub’s administration. And, as Bill
Clinton did with respect to Reagan and his administration – and even with
respect to Richard Nixon – not an ill word has been or is to be spoken by Obama
about Bush II. Of course, given the overlap between Obama’s presidency and that
of Bush II, this makes perfect sense.
So, 1992
was a key year in our recent political history and lends credence to the
Anti-Federalist imaginings of government as a mechanical screw that slowly but
surely represses the people. Because it was a year when the corruption of our
then - and current - regime was disguised
and then dismissed, it was a year when our government and its caretakers seemed
to be redeemed even while our screwing was ongoing. The current screw job even has
a name to make it seem legitimate, “neoliberalism,” which has been embraced by
the “New Democratic Party” who, really, are just Republicans pretending to care
about LGBT people, universal health care, and protecting abortion and voting
rights. However, Trump’s and Sanders’ popularity show that under this regime of
collusion between our “two” parties, it is “We the People” who are getting
screwed. And it also explains why both Trump and Sanders have been the targets
of our ruling class.
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