The Politics of Divide and Conquer

What America now faces, if we do not want to change the fundamental structures of the relationship of money to legislative power, is neither mob rule nor democracy, but oligarchy.

Zephyr Teachout, Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United

I smell a rat.

Don’t you?

Well, if you can’t smell it, there are over the counter remedies.

I often get embroiled in Facebook debates on political issues. These are generally friendly, or at least they tend to end friendly…

but they can get downright ugly at times.

Often, it seems, that the participants are occupying diverse planets…at least in terms of their political viewpoints.

I can almost certainly guess that those of us participating in these discussions are components of that vast swath of Americana known as the middle class.

The one that politicians always claim, come election time, to be concerned about.

Now, it’s funny that the middle class consists primarily of folks who blame everyone, but themselves, for the problems that are befalling our nation.

We love to point fingers…usually at each other, or at those on that dreaded level below us…

the “dependency class”, as some derogatorily refer to them.

And even though we might have distinctly different reasons for doing so, there does exist that strong common ground amongst us.

Government is failing us.

Now let’s explore the real reason behind that mutually agreeable fact…

I’m currently reading a book by Zephyr Teachout, professor of law at Fordham University, on political corruption.

Teachout’s underlying premise is that the driving force behind rising inequality is corruption in politics. Not quid pro quo type corruption, also known as bribery…

but structural corruption.

Corruption that is “built-in” to the system itself.

Teachout claims that such corruption has always been around, but it accelerated in the 70’s and reached its zenith with the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 decision in the Citizens United case.

That’s the case in which the court held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofit corporations. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have now been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.

Basically, it paves the road for the uninhibited flow of “dark money” into campaign coffers.

Now, Teachout’s point, and one that I agree with, is that it’s utterly nuts to think that all this money doesn’t buy influence.

And influence is the sine qua non of corruption.

So, what we end up with is a system that’s money-driven, rather than people and planet driven.

And that’s perpetuating this growing inequality, as more and more wealth is being “driven” into the hands of fewer and fewer folks.

A phenomenon that is accelerating to alarming levels, as shown to us by Thomas Piketty, the celebrated French economist, in his now famous economic treatise, Capitalism in the 21st Century.

As long as the ones on the receiving end of this great wealth concentration are pulling the strings, nothing will be done about it…

Well, except for events that none of us really want to bear witness to. Events like wars, bloody revolutions, or severe economic depressions.

Yes, it has all happened before.

Therefore, I believe that we, the 99%, should stop pointing fingers anywhere but up.

The problem is not government spending on poverty and other social causes society actually benefits from…

And for middle class folks to argue and fight over spending that actually does “us” good is a red herring that won’t do anything, but make matters worse…

That’s exactly what “they” want us to do, point the fingers at each other, point them anywhere, except at them!

And as long as we’re fighting amongst each other…

they’re laughing all the way to the bank!

That really is the politics of divide and conquer and, at the moment, we’re letting them get away with it!

image credit: We the People – Needham via Compfight cc