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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 12/8/09

Wanted: An American People's Party

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Message William deB. Mills
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Can national government that puts the long-term interests of the American people ahead of short-term elite interests be achieved within the contemporary party structure?

The steady decline in U.S. national health care management, financial system regulation, environmental oversight, and national security in recent years "trends not reversed by the election of Obama "all point to one conclusion: it is time for the American people to start defending their interests against the elite. The elite levels of the Democratic and Republican wings of the "national conservative party have merged to such a degree that a complete reorganization of political parties seems the only way for the people to obtain reliable representation. Today, the U.S. has a one-party system, with that party representing the elite. What must now emerge is a people's party.

In each of the above-cited arenas, the perspective of the elite is exactly the opposite of the perspective of the average citizen.

Health care. U.S. health care for the rich is superb; it is "only the workers, not to mention the unemployed, and our elderly parents on pensions, and the children of young parents just beginning their careers who risk being denied affordable health care. Not only does the elite have no health care problem; the elite also benefits from the current lucrative health care industry by being able to invest with the certainty of a profitable return: there will always be plenty of sick people, and as long as the health care system is designed to make a profit, a profit is exactly what it will make.

Finance. As for the financial system, the glaring contradiction between surging Goldman Sachs profits alongside surging unemployment says it all. The U.S. national financial system still contains a good bit of money (at least so long as the Chinese don't call in their loans); the allocation of that cash is the issue, and since the beginning of the new and now evidently endless Federal bailout of bankers and Wall St. gamblers, the elite has had little reason to complain about the allocation of the cash.

Before you protest that Washington is trying to help and that boom times on Wall Street during a depression on Main Street signifies nothing more than a temporary glitch, consider the highly successful efforts still being made by Wall Street to prevent the Government from reasserting its traditional post-Great Depression regulatory rights. Consider also the number of topic policy-makers still in office, such as Treasury Secretary Geithner, who helped pave the way for the current recession.

Environment. The environment is not even perceived by the elite as a "separate system; rather, it is, for them, part of the financial system"just like health care. The environment, for the elite, consists of such goodies as national forests that their corporations clear-cut, leaving behind a desert that cannot return to normal forest growth. Surely, the government (i.e., the taxpayer) at least gets a reasonable return for selling the national wealth to corporations? Well, no, actually the ruling elite essentially gives the trees away, in a classic "socialism for the rich escapade that voters are too lazy to protest.

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William DeB. Mills Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

I am an American political scientist specializing in the future of the global political system. I recently published "Mideast Peace or Fascism," "Palestine and Global Security," "Hammering Islamic Radicals," "Smarter Iran Policy Begins With a New (more...)
 
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