Written by David Desautel   

A portion of the very wealthy in this country (and internationally perhaps?) have quite a racket going. Their goal goes beyond simply using their influence and money to buy Congress (and I am sure, in the future, the White House). They want to control government for a reason, and you can bet that reason is self-serving and short-sighted. The end-game here is having all the wealth and power in the hands of a few billionaires and multi-national corporations, while the vast majority of the population is left to fend for themselves, with the deck stacked against them, and with NO help from any level of government. In other words, this is Class Warfare with the destruction of the Middle Class as the goal.

So, just how does a tiny portion of the population go about seizing control of a country that has three branches of government, two of which (the “Balances”) are controlled by those who have to be elected by the masses (the very people they are at war with), and one of which (the “Checks”) watches the other two to make sure they do not violate the basis for the government, the Constitution?

The short answer is, you deceive the masses into electing your minions to Congress and the White House, and you use that power to pollute the Judiciary. Perhaps you have heard the concept of “The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?” You may think it is a myth or political ploy because the word “Vast” implies that millions are involved as conspirators. But consider the possibility that “Vast” actually refers to the depth and breadth of the deception perpetrated by the few, resulting in the unwitting participation of millions.

So, exactly how is this being done? First of all, it may have been going on since this country was founded. A portion of those with wealth and power have always been afflicted with an insatiable desire for more wealth and power, and have been attempting to buy and bribe their way into Congress and the White House since the beginning. So, if this has always been going on, why am I sounding the alarm now? America has done quite well all these years, and the system has worked to prevent this kind of takeover by the wealthy few, so what is different now?

The answer to that question centers around the technology for the dissemination of information. When Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” he was correct because, at the time, it was impossible to communicate with “all of the people” without making it a full-time job. You would have to repeat your lies many, many times for a majority of the population to hear it. More importantly, the time period between telling the lie and people hearing it could be days, weeks, or even months. Speeches were first heard only by those present, and then through word-of-mouth, local newspapers, and other time-consuming methods of communication heard by everyone else. This extended time period allowed for the exposure of the deceit long before the masses might act upon it.

In this day and age, things are different. Television, Radio, the Internet, and other methods of disseminating information to the masses in a very short period of time are the key to “..fooling all of the people all of the time.” Of course, currently no one owns the Internet, but being totally open for truth as well as lies, the Internet is not really a place to go for political information, except those sites that you trust and know to be valid. In any case, most of the voting American public still get their information from TV, radio, and newspapers, both local and national. As the technology for these sources of information have developed, the abuse has increased. We used to have a free press, but a press with wealthy owners who do not adhere to a “hands-off” policy is not free.

Worse yet, politics in America have become so derisive, and attacks on the media, both valid and invalid, have become so vicious that mainstream media has fallen into a misinterpretation of the concept of being “fair and balanced.” Making both sides of the political battle look equal may be safe, but it is not fair and balanced. Being balanced is providing equal coverage to both sides. Reporting both sides of the issues WITHOUT exposing the lies is NOT being fair. Fairness means calling the truth-teller a truth-teller AND calling the liar a liar. Letting statements from both get reported without evaluating the validity gives equal credence to both sides and thus is UNFAIR to the truth-teller and biased towards the liar. In addition, the “fair” in “fair and balanced” should be fairness to the LISTENER who is attempting to get the facts from the reporting of the media outlet, not to the politicians who are the subject of the reporting.

So, the deceiving of the masses is being accomplished via corporate-owned media, and/or media that no longer cares about validating statements made by politicians (giving a tremendous advantage to politicians who are lying). The purpose of the deception is to get millions of Americans to vote in ways that are against their own best interests, and give the power to the wealthy few who are at war with the middle class. How is the deception accomplishing this? Americans generally are not stupid, and most can think for themselves. It is no coincidence that the corporate-owned Republican Party, and the media outlets owned by the wealthy few, are considered to be on the Conservative side of the political spectrum. It’s not that Conservatives are not as smart as Liberals, because they are. The reasons that Conservatives are more vulnerable to deceit is because they tend to be more restrictive and intolerant in their beliefs. In general, they are more passionate about fewer issues than Liberals. Being anti-abortion, pro-guns, anti-gay, and having strong religious beliefs are some of the issues that Conservatives consider important enough that they may base their vote on them alone. Single-issue and few-issue voters make easy targets for the deception of the wealthy-owned Republicans. Republican politicians deceptively claim to be behind the Conservative side of these issues 100%, but if they have to drop these issues to serve their wealthy masters, they will do so in a nano-second.

But it is more complicated than that. The deceit is more devious than simply pretending to support issues. The real deceit comes in the form of outright lying about more complex issues such as the economy, the deficit, health care, and others. Republican front organizations like Fox News, and radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, along with the Republican and Tea Party politicians, assault Americans with a barrage of complete lies, half-truths, facts taken out of context, and many other tactics designed to have someone end up believing something that is not true. And mainstream media simply repeats what is said without fact-checking or debunking the lies. This first came to my attention during the 2000 election, when the Republicans lied about every major issue raised in Florida. The media simply let them say it without correcting the lies. As we know, that election ended up with the appointment of Bush by the Republican-owned 5 Conservative Justices on the Supreme Court.

But since Obama became President, the war on the middle class by the wealthy & corporate power structure has taken some very serious and dangerous turns. The five Republican-owned Justices on the Supreme Court are not the same five, but they are still in the pockets of the wealthy and big business. Republican corruption of the judiciary by removing Liberals and replacing them with Conservatives has begun to provide some results. Stealing the 2000 election was bad enough, but with the recent Citizens United decision, the Supreme Court has perhaps placed the final straw (more like an iron anvil) that is going to break the back of American freedom, fairness, liberty, and government of the people. The only possibility for combating the takeover of democracy by corporate wealth was found in the issue of campaign funding and disclosure regulations. Citizens United, along with Republicans defeating disclosure legislation in Congress, has blown all of that away. We now have unlimited campaign funding by undisclosed donors being spent on unchecked deception in America.

The tactics of deception have also intensified and moved way into the realm of the extreme. This is most completely demonstrated by the Tea Party (a movement that was grass roots ONLY in it’s infancy, having been taken over by big money early in its development). Republicans have moved beyond deceiving well-meaning, conservative-leaning Americans, and have intensified the use of fear-mongering, race-baiting, hate speech, religious intolerance, and homophobic rhetoric. They now count those on the fringe of American society as loyal followers. They are courting the white supremacists, the racially motivated, the anti-government paramilitary groups, and anyone who has a hateful bone to pick with some segment of society. This can only end in violence, and the blood will be on their hands.

So, make no mistake! Republicans, on behalf of their wealthy and corporate masters, are waging all-out war on the middle class and the poor. Class warfare is raging in America! If you are supporting Republicans, the chances are excellent that you are fighting on the wrong side and destroying your own future, and the future of your children. Wake up dammit!!