Yes, I know that you and other European friends are, as you put it, "totally confused" by what's happening here in the U.S. right now. Welcome to the club. I wish I could answer all your questions about America's current political/economic crisis with definitive certainty. But the situation is moving real fast, with one disaster after another, and with politicians flip-flopping all over the place.
As a result, it's difficult to know precisely what's going on, but I'll do the best I can. Here are my responses to your italicized questions about McCain, Obama, the financial crisis and bailout, and electoral corruption:
1. BEYOND THE "CRAZY" FACTOR
"Bush, with his policies and wars, has nearly wrecked the U.S. Constitution and economy and America's moral standing abroad. We don't understand why your John McCain, so closely associated with the Bush policies that brought these disasters upon your country and the world, should be nearly even in the polls with Obama. Have you guys gone crazy?"
Short answer: Everyone goes "crazy" for awhile now and again. European history is also replete with such examples. In the American TV age, celebrity trumps experience: We feel we "know" these candidates, since we've seen them on the big screen or had them in our living-rooms nearly every night. In recent years, don't forget, we elected a Grade-B movie actor as president (Ronald Reagan). We elected a professional wrestler and a professional bodybuilder as governors (Jesse Ventura, Arnold Schwarzenegger). We elected a song-and-dance man a U.S. Senator (George Murphy). By and large, those experiements didn't turn out well and did great damage to the body politic, but the fascination with celebrity is still there.
As to why McCain is nearly even with Obama in the polls, part of the explanation is that racism is alive and well in the U.S. A healthy chunk of the electorate, maybe 10% (and much higher in some states, especially in the South), simply will not vote for a black man. Sometimes, they're quite open about their reason for not supporting Obama; mostly they hide their racism by citing other supposed rationales: "elitist," "not one of us," "doesn't share our values," etc.
Then there's the mask element. McCain, for purposes of gaining the presidency, saw that Obama's change&hope mantra had captured the mood of the public. So, since his own issues weren't catching on, McCain is now Mr. Change, has re-donned the mask of "maverick reformer," and is running against the disreputable Republican record of the past eight years.
McCain apparently is hoping that voters will forget he was a major ultra-conservative part of that record -- he voted for Bush policies 90% of the time, for example, including approval of torture as state policy. But that chameleon trick seems to fool a good many voters. Plus, he added the younger, attractive Sarah Palin to the ticket and she joined him in the charade about "reform" and "change," saying she and McCain "will shake things up in Washington." But she's silent about the extreme, rightwing nature of the "change" she has in mind.
As many wise men have said, you can't go wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American voter. On the other hand, the more the public sees and hears the one-note Alaska governor, and learns more about her lack of qualifications and about the abuse-of-power way she governs, the less attractive she looks as a VP and potential president.
2. FREE-MARKET SOCIALISM
"America in general, and your Republican party in particular, is big on free-market capitalism, keeping the government out of the hair of business. Now the Republican government, supported also by Democrats, is making a 180-degree turn and urging regulation of corporations, and using billions in tax dollars to prop up failing big businesses, even going so far as to buy huge shares of these corporations. What the hell is happening? To us in Europe, who have seen similar alliances between government and business turn into authoritarian control, we can't understand why the U.S. citizens are not revolting."
The corporate elites who control the political system here just want to make profits. Most of the time, they do this best when they keep government at arms'-length from them. But in times of crisis, they go eagerly to Washington for help.
In short, in good times they're capitalists, in bad times socialists -- but only for the rich. Middle-class and poor folks recently got the foot of a burdensome new bankruptcy law placed on their necks. But the upper classes are provided privileged ways to avoid going under. It is ever thus, but it's gone to extreme lengths in the organized looting system for the wealthy arranged by the CheneyBush Administration.
What's been almost laughable is watching McCain, who has been a deregulationist all his political life, on Monday talking about the necessity for not letting government get involved in bailing out failing businesses, and on Tuesday he's proposing that the government start regulating these banks and corporations and get into the private business of selling insurance and mortgages. From deregulator to proponent of nationalizing giant corporations -- that's how fast the economic-disaster quicksand sucked McCain into the vortex.
Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org).
For the truth and to get the most comprehensive information on VP candidate Sarah Palin check this site
www.dailysource.org/palin
It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, excerpts, and links to hundreds of articles, including many from newspapers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage you won’t find anywhere else, including her telling the ‘08 convention of the Alaskan Independence Party, whose aim is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S., to “keep up the good work.” The level of research is unparalleled.
The site’s editors and volunteers include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Monitor’s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association -
by
Diana Garibay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 1:30:45 AM
Good for you, Dr. Weiner to share this with us. For me, as a long term resident of central Europe, it's always a treat to be able to listen in on such transatlantic conversations. I'm not certain but I believe you still owe your friend one answer.........
".......we can't understand why the U.S. citizens are not revolting."
Or perhaps I overlooked something. Of course I know the answer....was just wondering how you would go about explaining our loss of freedom to a fellow European who may believe we Americans are still free. Or do we still believe so?
by
Tony Forest (7 articles, 18 quicklinks, 166 diaries, 1429 comments)
on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 6:10:11 AM
Europe is also going fascist. They almost succeeded in ramming that Lisbon Treaty down their throat w/o a vote. If not for Ireland who did allow a vote, it would be a done deal.
The crazy thing is having a guy like Obama as the Democratic nominee. This election should have been a slam dunk for Democrats. But the power of the MSM is an awesome thing, coupled with the inability of most Americans to reason any longer.
They are among the most misinformed people on the planet, a product of the socialized education system and a MSM which feeds them myths instead of truth. They do not know history or science. What are they teaching children besides how to take drugs like Ritalin?. When they become adults, they are seriously handicapped and trained to trust authority because "we have a free press and with all the checks and balances in government, nobody in authority could do anything bad and get away with it, and elections keep them honest"
Conspiracies can not happen in America!. An Americans duty is to shop and be entertained, and pay interest and taxes. Revolution is not in the job description and never entertained, as they are already the most free and prosperous nation, who uses it military to defend democracy and protect human rights thoughout the world without charging for services rendered, since they are a most generous nation and are the first in line to provide aid to nations coping with disastors.
Truly Orwellian.
by
pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 499 comments)
on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 6:25:40 PM
When friends in Europe ask me about the political situation in my country I just tell them that I don't live in a country. I live in the United States which is a large lunatic asylum that thinks it is a country.
If this was actually a country, it wouldn't have exempted itself from all international treaties.
The United States is criminally insane, a danger to itself and others, and is off its meds.
Next question.
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 7:48:43 AM
If I don't believe that Obama shares my values,I'm a racist? Well, at least I'm an equal opportunity racist because I don't think that Kennedy, Kerry, or Schumer share them either.
by
larry booth (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 299 comments)
on Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 10:05:53 AM
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