Why have we been feeding the Dog . . . Chocolate?
Put away the Twix and follow me on this . . .
Folks President Obama may be in trouble with the
Public
They blame him for not getting the economy fixed . .
. and although they should care about what Romney did, in that his type of
capitalism is what has caused the decline of the economy . . . they don't seem to care (Laziness perhaps? Easier to blame One Guy than to parse the records of
more than five hundred (500)?)!
"Just fix it!"
. . . is what the Public is saying.
The Public looks upon the Presidency as they do a
Monarch - a singularly-powerful figure who can 'make things happen' at
his whim.
The Problem is that this belief was NEVER true.
The founding fathers NEVER wanted it to be that way and so it isn't.
The real power is with Congress - Senate and House
As said before the Public doesn't know this
'reflexively', hence they blame the Executive and only him for their state of
grief, or shower him with more time in office if they are happy.
That singular, subconscious, widespread and
much-exploited belief, I think, will be the death of our republic.
Now back to the opening metaphor.
We now know that chocolate Is toxic to Dogs.
However our political ethos and habits in this country are akin to
feeding a dog massive amounts of chocolate regularly, even though you know it
will eventually do the animal in.
The animal still 'functions' for a while . . . but
slowly the 'toxins' build up and cause cascading malfunctions of the various
organ systems . . . until the poor animal slips into a coma and dies.
We've been eating this Utopia of 'convenient'
'chocolate' about 'how this country works' for far too long . . . and
Congress's dismal approval rating, along with the last preventable crash, and
the evident inability to get anything done or moved through the Body for basic
general use or good, plus the ability of complete nutjobs to get elected on
constitutionally antithetical positions and proudly so . . . are symptoms of
the 'animal's systems' starting to fail, shutdown . . .
But like the dog, if it stops ingesting chocolate in
time . . . it has the innate ability to cleanse itself of the toxin and return
to optimal health.
Our mechanism, built into our founding, is the
Fourth Estate or the Press.
This was supposed to be the ultimate in a patriotic
and selfless, objective, national 'immune system'; an incorruptible entity
who's only allegiance is to the Common Good.
Well it seems that all this 'chocolate' has caused
this self-defense system to turn cancerous . . . a leukemia of sorts that
contributes to the demise of the 'organism' it was supposed to protect.
The 'carcinogen(s)' were the permitted consolidation
of media outlets (lax application of anti-trust laws), the allowance of
non-media corps to buy media companies (thereby exhibiting undue influence on
the actions of the Press Core within), and the movement to a for-profit impetus
for all news efforts.
Now I'm going to repeat myself here for the
umpteenth time because folks don't seem to get it:
"News production has never been profitable, at
least real, objective news production. So the insistence on turning a
profit necessitated some very fundamental changes in the modus operandi, namely
Ratings.
Once Ratings determine If, How or even When
something gets covered . . . then News stops being 'News'.
It becomes Entertainment.
It is why News divisions have now been consolidated
into the entertainment divisions at most networks.
But . . . the Public at large doesn't realize or see
this fundamental change; they are still going off of the 'reflexive'
institutional, intellectual 'memory' they have of 'What The Press Is Supposed
To Do.'"
End of Repetition
. . . which brings me back to my opening statement:
President Obama may be in trouble.
The Press, as I've lamented before, is now like a national leukemia.
The Press, to protect its bottom line, refuses to
call out what are LIES clearly and reliably when they arise.
The Press also refuses to let the Public know in
plain terms who is doing what in Congress presently, in any politically-useful
way . . . that would inform them of who they should vote for.
Here are the facts:
Republicans are obstructing, and have been from day
one, stopping or drastically slowing down the recovery, frustrating Joe Public
to the point where the 'pain' and 'anger' clouds the political judgement.
Throw in the overt and deliberate use of xenophobia
and racism and you've got a stew the elephants have long loved.
The problem is that THE notion that the GOP are intentionally
sabotaging the economy and Obama's efforts to recover the same, solely for
political gain . . . is being presented to the public by the Press as a mere
'opinion', a partisan meme from the Left, one that can be lumped together with
the other regular election year fulminations that most folks tend to ignore
when it comes down to it.
"You are supposed to fix it! What's going
on!?? We don't care about this other 'stuff'!"
But they should!
What the Republicans have been doing, which is what the
Democrats have been accusing them of . . . is FACTUAL!
The mere idea those members of government are
deliberately causing, exacerbating and prolonging the suffering of the
citizenry they are supposed protect . . . Is News!
It is not being treated as such. That truth is
being suffocated when it should be out there blaring like a siren!
But the Public will never 'get that' . . . unless
some so-called perceivably-unattached, well-known and expected institution
MAKES THE CASE. Many folks lack the sophistication, time or energy to
find alternative information sources.
So they rely on Good Ol' "CNN" . . .
I hang my head and step back, looking at the now
mangy pelt of our society:
The Dog is almost to the point where the 'chocolate
consumption', even if halted, will not stop the downward spiral.
With the Immune System now almost gone . . . it's a
party for long-time societal 'germ assailants':
Big Business
Special Interests
Oligarchs and Plutocrats
All are rushing in to feed on the last 'healthy
tissues' remaining in the Animal:
The purchasing power and the dwindling, collective,
capability of political awakening and retribution of the middle and lower
classes.
They've put forward their Tuskegee-like agents to
openly and confidently deceive (they fear no 'corrections' now!) and agitate
against phantom dangers, so they may return this country back to a serfdom or
more correctly the Gilded Age . . .
The Body of this Hound is being wracked with all
sorts of fevers caused by all the cherished institutions(systems) being all but
irreversibly infected . . .
Like I said, the Dog needs to stop eating this
'treat' or else we'll see a terminal overdose should Romney and Ryan prevail in
the Fall.
You say you love your country . . . then stop
poisoning it with your proud apathy, proud and fierce ignorance, and let go of
these faux morsels of ideology that release endorphins to create hallucinations
of reality and non-existent comfort . . .
In other words no more 'Chocolate' . . .!
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