In 1773 Boston hosted a tea party that has taken on mythological importance in American history. Boston was not the first American city to refuse delivery of British tea just the most radical. It was over sixty years before American spin-doctors created the Tea Party out of an economic protest, forging a campaign slogan for the history books. The controversy over the so-called Tea Party did contribute to the eventual fall of British governments in America.
Now over 200 years later a Tea Party has been institutionalized as a political movement. The Boston tea party generated the slogan “No taxation without representation.” The new Tea Party slogan may come to be “Radical representation without legislation.”
The Tea Party gained a following on an anarchist agenda of all government is evil. With a little power it becomes a disruptive political force. Tea Party governors attempted to become despots ruling by dictate, destroying democracy within their fiefdoms. In Congress the Tea Party presented no solutions to national challenges but followed their agenda of disruption. With their agenda of ruination more important than solutions the Tea Party has done more to destroy America than al-Qaida.
Al-Qaida's target is perceived corrupted Islam and those that supported that corruption. The Tea Party's target is its perceived corrupted American mythical ideal. The difference is al-Qaida has limited influence even in the Muslim world but America was the lynch pin of World order. The legislative confrontation brought on by Partiers broke the lynch pin of an already fragile system. The eleventh hour deal came too late to save the United States' reputation of economic stability that the world could depend on. Linked markets spiraled down, America lost its solid gold reputation and the international order embraces a multi-polar economic order that may or may not include the United States. It is unlikely the present economic mess will equal the “Crash of 29” because the United States is no longer the sole economic center of the world and other markets mitigate catastrophic collapse.
The measures of international power have shifted; armies and industry no longer insure greatness. Power is now technology and will, a product of brain power which has no borders. Technology is diffused across artificial borders, information flows with little restraint. Political and economic power has many aspirants who have smarts and the will to advance. The question is does America have the necessary will to remain in the front rank of states?
Al-Qaida and Tea Partiers have a common goal, the return to a mythical past. The past was never as good as nostalgia imagines and can't be recaptured. Re-enactors visit moments of the past while ignoring the lessons of the past. The past is for romance and learning. Survival is for visions and drive to the future.
If the United States is to regain world respect it will require hard choices and sound visions for a future world system. Remaining focused of past greatness insures that greatness will never return. To opt-out of international participation in cooperative economic system is equally destructive. To recapture what has been lost through intransigent political posturing may require a generation to over-come. It will require cooperation of politicians a consensus of national will.
The party is over and the Partiers must learn that if they are not part of the solution they are part of the problem.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Mob rule 080211
The links between crime and politics are ancient and well documented. The caveman hunter would bribe his chieftain with a choice cut of mastodon for a choice mate or soft rock for his head. When Nero fiddled, contractors lined up with bribes for large urban renewal contracts. During the age of discovery politicians stole from the natives and lost their piles of loot to pirates who bought their way into the political power elite.
Americans claim exceptionalism from the evils of the Old World, but it was settled by refugees and schemers from that world. The American exception was its fresh opportunities for criminal and political inventiveness. There was money to be made in America. Laws were written for maximum profit. Criminals installed their own politicians creating machine politics, which governed for the benefit of criminal mobs. Mobs came to own many local governments. Old World get rich quick gangs flocked to the New World. Violent turf battles raged across the country. Crime bosses sent their children to the best schools and they return to the family business.
This new generation knew how to leverage their power and laundry their loot. They invested in their criminal enterprise with Wall Street moves, campaign donations along with support for arts and charities. A cloak of legitimacy wrapped the same old violent activities of extortion, drugs, robbery and murder and the profits grew larger.
No longer strong arm “hoods” it is now respected public figures that exerts criminal influence on national and international governments. Dirty money is laundered through municipal and national triple “A” bonds. The mobs' interests are now tied to the safety, surety and profitability of these financial instruments. The mobs maybe fronted by “respectable” bosses but they have a host of “knee breakers” to deploy when their fortunes are threatened.
Congress is playing political “chicken” with the nation. The rhetoric is hot, loud and dis-information. The budget problem is a congressional problem brought on by both parties over a number of years. The Constitution clearly gives that responsibility to Congress but it has failed in its duties. The beginning of the fiscal year was moved from July to October because Congress couldn’t pass a budget by July first. Congress couldn’t even draft a budget so the Executive branch began to submit a draft based on legislative appropriations, which obligated more than expected income. Planning to spend more than comes in is called deficit spending, which becomes national debt when actually spent. National debt grows because Congress repeats it failures year after year, which is compounding not only the problem but also interest on the debt.
The political circus in Washington for the past few weeks threatens the economy, the national standing among states but also the fortunes of linked criminal enterprises. It is probable that mob’s polite influence on Congressmen and Senators will not be enough to prevent an economic slide. If mob “soft power” is not adequate then it maybe time to send in the knee breakers to the halls of power to protect national economic interest.
It’s like leading an American Mule; first you have to get its attention with a sharp crack between the ears.
Americans claim exceptionalism from the evils of the Old World, but it was settled by refugees and schemers from that world. The American exception was its fresh opportunities for criminal and political inventiveness. There was money to be made in America. Laws were written for maximum profit. Criminals installed their own politicians creating machine politics, which governed for the benefit of criminal mobs. Mobs came to own many local governments. Old World get rich quick gangs flocked to the New World. Violent turf battles raged across the country. Crime bosses sent their children to the best schools and they return to the family business.
This new generation knew how to leverage their power and laundry their loot. They invested in their criminal enterprise with Wall Street moves, campaign donations along with support for arts and charities. A cloak of legitimacy wrapped the same old violent activities of extortion, drugs, robbery and murder and the profits grew larger.
No longer strong arm “hoods” it is now respected public figures that exerts criminal influence on national and international governments. Dirty money is laundered through municipal and national triple “A” bonds. The mobs' interests are now tied to the safety, surety and profitability of these financial instruments. The mobs maybe fronted by “respectable” bosses but they have a host of “knee breakers” to deploy when their fortunes are threatened.
Congress is playing political “chicken” with the nation. The rhetoric is hot, loud and dis-information. The budget problem is a congressional problem brought on by both parties over a number of years. The Constitution clearly gives that responsibility to Congress but it has failed in its duties. The beginning of the fiscal year was moved from July to October because Congress couldn’t pass a budget by July first. Congress couldn’t even draft a budget so the Executive branch began to submit a draft based on legislative appropriations, which obligated more than expected income. Planning to spend more than comes in is called deficit spending, which becomes national debt when actually spent. National debt grows because Congress repeats it failures year after year, which is compounding not only the problem but also interest on the debt.
The political circus in Washington for the past few weeks threatens the economy, the national standing among states but also the fortunes of linked criminal enterprises. It is probable that mob’s polite influence on Congressmen and Senators will not be enough to prevent an economic slide. If mob “soft power” is not adequate then it maybe time to send in the knee breakers to the halls of power to protect national economic interest.
It’s like leading an American Mule; first you have to get its attention with a sharp crack between the ears.
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