August 2, 2015, Bread and Circuses: Delaware Edition
The Grey Lady treats us to its own version of NY Post style speculation/encouragement on the issue of whether Vice President Joe Biden will be entering the Presidential race against Eva Peron Eva Braun Hillary Clinton.
Let me say that with Hillary Clinton, all things are possible. She has already been instrumental in giving us our first Black President (no, not her husband). Right now, she is on track to give us, quite possibly, our first Jewish/avowed socialist President, or possibly our first Latino President, or, maybe even our first woman President (Elizabeth Warren or perhaps some Republican... such as Hillary herself). So that said, why not Joe Biden? Sure, he had been a Dan Quayle-style joke for these last six-and-a-half years, but repeat after me: "With Hillary, all things are possible."
With all due respect, Joe Biden is no one's example of a genius. At least he's authentic... but he's prone to "gaffes." Anyway-- until it became clear that Hillary was going to be a more serious enemy of her own candidacy than the entire right-wing press corps and Congressional Republicans combined, The Establishment [tm] was willing to let her have a quiet victory lap before her coronation while we all sat back and watched Bill and Hillary's buddy the Human Bad Hair Day (they attended his [most recent] wedding) savage the Republican side with his own version of a political reality show, slicing and dicing through political sacred cows and tearing off the Emperor's New Clothes faster than his real estate empire went bankrupt without his father to prop it up. But now, as her abysmal campaign "style," her continuous e-mail fiascoes and, well, her just continue to undermine her campaign...
So... here's the thing.
With the clear exception of Bernie Sanders, whose election would signal something rather dramatic (which is why it isn't going to happen), does anyone doubt that the next President, be it Biden or Hillary or Bush or Rubio or Walker or whomever... is going to (1) continue occupying over 150 other countries and active drone wars and shooting wars, (2) reappoint Janet Yellen or some other clone whose mandate is to prop up the asset values of the already rich and super-rich, (3) continue to shove corporate-giveaway abominations like Trans-Pacific Partnership and TTIP and the like down our throats, (4) take no effort to manage the ongoing American and global declines in anything other than the present manner of making sure that the rich and super-rich do not suffer even a little, (5) fill in your own variant of "maintain the status quo" be it "not close Guantanamo," "not rein in deficit spending," "not control health care costs" or whatever you like...?
I didn't think so. Because the President's recent diplomatic breakthrough with Iran should cause us to give a moment's pause, and realize just how similar we are to that nation. Like us, it has a notional democracy for the election of political leaders figures, and like us, it has the actual power-holders not elected by that process. The only difference is that in Iran, this arrangement is "official," whereas here, we delude ourselves into pretending that the few hundred billionaires who control an insanely disproportionate share of financial power do not also control all relevant political power.
What can we do about this? Well, you can consider sending money to Bernie Sanders (I have), and helping his campaign. Obviously, I have no expectations on this one. Otherwise, you can withdraw your unbridled belief in "American democracy." Because it exists only in places like "American Idol," although there, teenage girls will probably outvote you, just as oligarchs will outvote you in "elections." Of course, I'm not averse to absorbing the entertainment value of things. That said, we are being presented with a show... so why not sit back, and enjoy it?
Say what you will about Joe Biden... the man is entertaining.