_ Between the elitism of the Republicans and the disguised
status quoism of the Democrats, the United States is in a dangerous position
vis-a-vis its ability to rough it through one of the most difficult phases in
its economic history. For the first time in recent years, things are bad enough
that any perspicacious observer can tell that the economic challenges need to
be dealt with in a more dispassionate manner than is allowed by the political
system, with its rank hypocrisy, its susceptibility to money power and with the
penchant of its politicians for opportunistic optimization. For the first time
in nearly a century, words like " planning " and " socialism
" seem relevant when one thinks seriously about the American economic
problem. Of course, the American public, the American establishment and the
American media have all been conditioned through long years of ideological
propaganda to react negatively to these concepts. Planning ? In the American
context ? Would be the most obvious reaction to greet anyone broaching the idea
even casually. But it is not such a far-fetched notion. After all, the way the
short-term and the long-term challenges mix to create some particularly hard
problems for economic stability, economic justice and growth is worrying and in
many ways, unprecedented. The private sector has not been able to bring the
unemployment situation back to normal. And it shows serious signs of
vulnerability as far as the possibility of a double-dip is concerned. And the
global economic outlook is pessimistic. Business-as-usual politics leads to
business as usual economics in a country like the United States. For the first
time in recent history, the United States is faced with a situation where
leaving economic policy to the wiles of presidents with term-limits and legacy
considerations and to senators and representatives with career goals in mind
amounts not just to naivete, but to utter irresponsibility.
Despite all this, politics as usual is likely to continue. And with it, economics as usual, with its pernicious, and in many ways irreversible, effects for current and future generations of Americans. Tired and misleading cliches about the ability of low taxes to act as economic stimuli or to spur economic growth will be repeated by the Republicans. And Democrats will play defense on this question, with sops to the middle class on taxes, and with promises of increasing taxes on the super-rich while Democratic candidates receive campaign money from the rich in ways explicit and implicit. But this is a script that has been played out time and again. One could write an artificial intelligence program to substitute for the actual politicians, and one wouldn't know the difference. The economic problem, on the other hand, has gone beyond the regime where mere tinkering would do.
So what needs to change if the United States is to stand a chance of having the politics reflect the seriousness of the economic challenges, both in the short term and in the long run ? If the United States Green Party could score some successes in the 2012 elections to the Senate and the House, it can jolt the nation and instill a higher sense of responsibility into the political process. If you are someone who is seriously concerned about the future of the United States, and if you have not fallen prey to the endless elitist propaganda that tries to make automatons out of us through the media and the public discourse, you may want to consider the following daydream. Three Green Party Senators and 20 Green Party Representatives in the next Congress. That will be a first for America. The media channels, irrespective of their funding sources, will have to give extensive coverage to this development in American politics. The questions of taxation, fiscal deficits, debt and the extent to which corporations and rich Americans should shoulder the fiscal burdens of the nation will get more attention. Hopefully, the ideological mix of the opinions that the public hears will then begin to contain less of corporate money-based superficial drivel and more of hard-nosed economic analysis. And hopefully, items of defense spending will receive a more detailed scrutiny than what the military-industrial-political complex-driven politics of today allows. A lot will depend on grass-roots momentum along these lines prior to the 2012 elections and the seriousness with which the Green Party initiates and harnesses it.
by C. Jayant Praharaj ( send comments to [email protected] )
Despite all this, politics as usual is likely to continue. And with it, economics as usual, with its pernicious, and in many ways irreversible, effects for current and future generations of Americans. Tired and misleading cliches about the ability of low taxes to act as economic stimuli or to spur economic growth will be repeated by the Republicans. And Democrats will play defense on this question, with sops to the middle class on taxes, and with promises of increasing taxes on the super-rich while Democratic candidates receive campaign money from the rich in ways explicit and implicit. But this is a script that has been played out time and again. One could write an artificial intelligence program to substitute for the actual politicians, and one wouldn't know the difference. The economic problem, on the other hand, has gone beyond the regime where mere tinkering would do.
So what needs to change if the United States is to stand a chance of having the politics reflect the seriousness of the economic challenges, both in the short term and in the long run ? If the United States Green Party could score some successes in the 2012 elections to the Senate and the House, it can jolt the nation and instill a higher sense of responsibility into the political process. If you are someone who is seriously concerned about the future of the United States, and if you have not fallen prey to the endless elitist propaganda that tries to make automatons out of us through the media and the public discourse, you may want to consider the following daydream. Three Green Party Senators and 20 Green Party Representatives in the next Congress. That will be a first for America. The media channels, irrespective of their funding sources, will have to give extensive coverage to this development in American politics. The questions of taxation, fiscal deficits, debt and the extent to which corporations and rich Americans should shoulder the fiscal burdens of the nation will get more attention. Hopefully, the ideological mix of the opinions that the public hears will then begin to contain less of corporate money-based superficial drivel and more of hard-nosed economic analysis. And hopefully, items of defense spending will receive a more detailed scrutiny than what the military-industrial-political complex-driven politics of today allows. A lot will depend on grass-roots momentum along these lines prior to the 2012 elections and the seriousness with which the Green Party initiates and harnesses it.
by C. Jayant Praharaj ( send comments to [email protected] )