US Midterm Election Postmortems
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
When it comes to getting and staying informed, the only reliable choice for ordinary people is following alternative media.
Dominant print and electronic sources report what they want readers and viewers to know, not what’s vital for everyone to understand.
The official narrative major media report exclusively is all about keeping the electorate ignorant about what they most need to know – manipulating people to control them.
US midterm election postmortems followed the disturbing trend. Claiming the process showed democracy in action was pure deception.
The NYT pretended that undemocratic Dem control of the House can “show that there’s a better model of legislating, that Congress is capable of doing more for Americans than cutting taxes for the wealthy and menacing everyone else’s health care.”
Under Obama and undemocratic Dems for eight painful years, a popular main street slogan was banks got bailed out. We got sold out. Nothing changed for the better throughout his deplorable tenure – exceeding the worst of Bush/Cheney.
His “shared sacrifice” scheme was all about forcing workers to sacrifice so America’s super-rich and corporate predators could share.
During a 2011 town hall address, he offended the intelligence of every thinking person, saying “(i)f everybody took an attitude of shared sacrifice, we could solve our deficit and debt problem next week.”
From 2011 through 2016 on his watch, the national debt exploded from $15 trillion to over $20 trillion. It’s currently over 105% of GDP – more than threefold its 1981 level.
Obama accelerated the great wealth transfer from working families to high-net-worth ones. He slashed Medicare and other vital social programs, at the same time supporting tax cuts for the rich, falsely calling them a jobs creation plan.
Tax cuts don’t create jobs unless they go primarily into workers’ pockets.
When people have money they spend it. Super-rich ones use tax windfalls for investments to become more wealthy.
Corporate predators use theirs for executive bonuses and stock buybacks, along with extra funds for mergers and acquisitions – not pay raises for workers.
The Times lied claiming Dems aim to lower “health care costs, creat(e) jobs by investing in infrastructure, and clean up politics via a comprehensive reform package that would tighten ethics laws and shore up the integrity of our electoral system.”
During 16 years under the Clinton co-presidency and Obama, with Dems controlling one or both houses, none of the above objectives were achieved.
Notably, Obamacare let drugs and other healthcare costs soar, making them unaffordable for millions of US households.
About 28 million Americans were left uninsured, most others way underinsured because coverage the way it should be is unaffordable for most people
Social justice overall sustained heavy body blows on Obama’s watch – for his hugely unprogressive agenda, not the other way around.
So-called “reforms” in America benefit wealth and power interests at the expense of ordinary ones, the nation’s most vulnerable harmed most.
The neocon/CIA-connected Washington Post ludicrously called Tuesday midterms “(a) great day for democracy…a sign of health,” along with “checks and balances” in play, adding:
With Dems gaining control over the House, “the constitutional system has a fresh chance to work as intended,” able to push back against Trump regime “excesses.”
Dems support similar extremist policies when in power – how things were during the neoliberal 90s and under Obama, harming ordinary people to benefit privileged ones, along with waging endless wars of aggression, serving America’s military/industrial/security complex at the expense of world peace and stability.
The deplorable agenda of both parties is polar opposite what democracy is supposed to be all about – reflecting growing tyranny in America, fundamental freedoms eroding, heading for disappearing altogether.
House Dems will support what benefits them politically, no matter the harm to ordinary Americans – the way both extremist wings of US one-party rule operate.
No matter which one controls the Executive branch, House, and/or Senate, continuity of governance is assured, benefitting monied interests exclusively – what’s certain to continue unchanged when the 116th Congress is sworn into office on January 3, 2019.
The Wall Street Journal said “GOP losses will stymie the Trump presidency,” adding:
Midterms were “less that the ‘blue wave’ ” Dems hoped for. “The possibilities for (greater extremist hard right governance is) dead for the next two years.”
What the Journal calls “reforms” betray the rights and welfare of the vast majority of Americans – extremist governance the way both parties operate.
It’s far removed from New Deal, Fair Deal, Great Society programs, ones Republicans and Dems want eroded ahead of eliminating them altogether.
Before the 2016 elections, the Journal said “the Republican gamble with Donald Trump was that he would govern in such a way that would cost the House in 2018 and set Democrats up to create a new progressive government in 2020.”
“After Tuesday, and without a Trump course correction, they are halfway there.” Undemocratic Dems deplore progressive politics.
It’s nonexistent under both parties, reflecting governance of, by, and for privileged Americans at the expense of the vast majority of others.
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
