The Progressive Revolution Is Being Led by a Black Woman

[Uncle Joe]

183. Thank you for asking ehrnst

Before describing my perception of what the status quo is today I need to begin with a little history to reflect how I believe we got to this point, so bear with me.

The basic underpinning of today's status quo is corporate and oligarchic supremacy.

We didn't out start that way as a nation when the Founders ratified the U.S. Constitution with the Preamble's first three words "We the People" they were thinking of living breathing individuals at least insofar as the highest ideal of that statement meant and that government was of the people.

Ronald Reagan would eventually flip that idealistic concept to "government is the problem."

Of course in 1788 "We the People's" government didn't live up to the highest ideals of that declaration insofar as true democracy, the plight of the slaves, women, Native Americans and poor white men were concerned but it was an aspiration to aim for even if many of 18th century Americans weren't ready for it in their day.

Love him or hate him Andrew Jackson our Seventh President and first elected by the common man had major influence for decades after his terms ended that being the Jacksonian Era lasting up until the Civil War. He ran his campaigns against D.C. corruption as an outsider, he defied the Supreme Court as President, sent the Cherokee on the tragic Trail of Tears, the only President to pay off the national debt, prevented South Carolina from seceding, fought duels and was looked down on by the elite.

Jackson was a man of extremes did good stuff and evil shit but that's who Trump models himself after in his behavior and statements, there are some cosmic similarities as well being played out but to be sure also some chasmic differences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson

I brought up Andy Jackson because A. Trump is trying to play that role, that's his model and B. the corporate media conglomerates along with many of today's elites and even Trump's opponents are either consciously or subconsciously elevating Trump to that kind of emotional impact among his supporters.

I will explain more about that with my summation.

I believe the birth of of modern day corporate supremacy began in 1886 when the incident below occurred basically taking the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 protecting all individual rights and due process turning on its' head and setting the underpinnings for corporate person hood even though the court never ruled on that Constitutional question.

That which was to protect all Americans no matter their color or gender was subtly but eventually used as a tool to create an ever growing feudal system of government.

(snip)

The headnote, which is "not the work of the Court, but are simply the work of the Reporter, giving his understanding of the decision, prepared for the convenience of the profession",[3] was written by the court reporter, former president of the Newburgh and New York Railway Company J.C. Bancroft Davis. He said the following:

One of the points made and discussed at length in the brief of counsel for defendants in error was that 'corporations are persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.' Before argument, Mr. Chief Justice Waite said: The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these corporations. We are all of the opinion that it does.[4]

So the headnote was a reporting by the Court Reporter of the Chief Justice's interpretation of the Justices' opinions. But the issue of applicability of "Equal Protection to any persons" to the railroads was not addressed in the decision of the Court in the case.

(snip)

Why did the chief justice issue his dictum? Why did he leave it up to Davis to include it in the headnotes? After Waite told him that the Court 'avoided' the issue of corporate personhood, why did Davis include it? Why, indeed, did he begin his headnote with it? The opinion made plain that the Court did not decide the corporate personality issue and the subsidiary equal protection issue.[7]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad_Co.

This led to the Gilded Age and Robber Barons.

Another outcome was establishment of a U.S. empire way beyond our shores with the Spanish American War waged by a Republican President and instigated via the use of "Yellow Journalism" propaganda and our sugar industry's lobbying efforts. We took over Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines; on the other side of the planet. Ironically the land of the free which was against being ruled by kings was okay with owning an empire. We claimed to be fighting for Democracy but Smedley Butler for one would in time come to realize it was all a "racket."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

Of course many of those same dynamics would play out again 105 years later in the war with Iraq but it was about oil not sugar.

In today's status quo Teddy Roosevelt; in trying to bust up the trusts or monopolies would be castigated by the elite as he was in his day, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal is under constant attack by the Reich Wing Republicans, weakly if at all defended by the corporate media conglomerates and FDR's "Second Bill of Rights" would in today's world have him branded as a Communist.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and renumerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights

Joseph McCarthy's true witch hunts during the Red Scare years against Communists, perceived Communists or people he just disagreed with while eventually leading to his ruin did have a lasting impact in regards to the American Peoples' ambivalence about the First Amendment, faith in themselves and overall trust in our form of government. Basically the people didn't believe in checks and balances anymore at least not on a subconscious level, we were too scared and FDR's warning "We have noting to fear but fear itself" withered on the vine.

Of course Trump has connections to Joseph McCarthy as well.

Thirty years later, on the day after Donald J. Trump was elected president, Roger Stone was one of the callers who got through to his old friend at Trump Tower. “Mr. President,” said Stone. “Oh please, call me Donald,” Stone remembered Trump saying.

A few moments later, Trump sounded wistful. “Wouldn’t Roy love to see this moment? Boy, do we miss him.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship

Nixon's began the so called war on drugs in large part for cynical political purposes against blacks and Hippies; groups most opposed to the war in Vietnam. He ignored his own hand picked commission's recommendations in regards to decriminalizing Marijuana and treating drug addiction medical issue versus a criminal one. Reagan of course would take this to a whole new level along with doing his best at weakening unions.

As the prison population began to explode from the "war on drugs" most of them non-violent offenders creating millions of disenfranchised Americans labeled as felons that could no longer vote and finding it much more difficult to obtain meaningful employment combined with the peaking Baby Boomer generation (most crimes are committed by younger people) crime of all kinds escalated.

As progressive social economic policies were all but ignored at least since the days of Nixon and the safety net was slowly chipped away along with the illusory bubble of credit card usage and dual income earners becoming an increased necessity the middle class started falling behind, becoming under increased stress which of course was magnified by hate radio and FOX "News"

After the drubbings of McGovern and Carter the Democratic Party; took a step away from actual democracy and would again forget FDR's warning "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." They would establish the Hunt Commission and the creation of Super-delegates; with the equivalent of over 10,000 votes each removing power from the grass roots and transferring it to the elite of the party. The super-delegates could vote however they wished regardless of how their state voted. Mondale still loses in a landslide and H.W. Bush wins in 88. The Democratic Party moves further to the right, they were going to be tough on crime and the era of big government was over just when it was needed most.

With the advent of television in the 40s and 50s we only had 3 major commercial networks but radio and print journalism were more diversified, and much less conglomerated in their ownership.

We had rules against too much conglomeration of the "fourth estate" so as to give increased competition of opinion and information, to actually maintain a more free press.

As cable T.V. came about, the Fairness Doctrine being repealed under Reagan giving rise to hate radio and FOX "News" propaganda inflaming the people using fault line identity politics with the ever more conglomerating corporate media; via the Telecommunications Act of 1996 while meekly accepting the mythic label of being the "liberal media" as if in mega-corporate board rooms (authoritarian by their very nature) and having inherent economic conflicts of interests which are never mentioned on T.V. could/would ever actually champion or even just consistently keep progressive policies and critical issues affecting the vast majority of the American People at the forefront for debate is a stretch beyond imagination.

The corporate media conglomerates particularly T.V. have no issues with calling Russian billionaires oligarchs but have two blind eyes when it comes to labeling great American economic disparity and the 1% controlling over 40% of the nation's wealth.

By turning Presidential elections into personality contests or reality T.V. versus having sustained in-depth coverage of the critical issues affecting hundreds of millions of Americans, not to mention the world at large as global warming climate change, it's no wonder we got Trump occupying the White House.

But more than that as the corporate media conglomerates subjugate presenting quality information on a consistent basis to the people as a whole in deference to what makes them, their major commercial purchasers and shareholders the most bucks have eroded much their own credibility making it far easier for the likes of Trump to come in power and stay in power.

(snip)

Importance of News Media in Accomplishing Democratic Goals
How important is the role of the news media in accomplishing each of the following goals?
Critical Very important Somewhat important Not that important
%
%
%
%
Making sure Americans have the knowledge they need to be informed about public affairs 54 34 7 2
Holding leaders in politics, business and other institutions accountable for their actions 50 33 11 3
Providing objective news reports 47 38 10 2
Making residents feel connected to the U.S. as a whole 38 41 15 3
Making residents feel connected to their community 30 45 19 4
Aug. 4-Oct. 2, 2017
KNIGHT-GALLUP SURVEY ON TRUST, MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY

At the same time, U.S. adults do not believe the media are playing any of these roles particularly well, with little distinction in the ratings of the various tasks. Roughly three in 10 say the media are performing each task well, while about four in 10 say poorly. Americans are somewhat less critical in their evaluations of the job the media is doing in making residents feel connected to their community, for which 28% say the media are doing well and 29% poorly.

Ratings of How News Media Performs in Accomplishing Key Democratic Goals
Very well/Well Acceptably Very poorly/Poorly Net ("well" minus "poorly" )
%
%
%
pct. pts.
Making sure Americans have the knowledge they need to be informed about public affairs 30 29 38 -8
Holding leaders in politics, business and other institutions accountable for their actions 30 26 42 -12
Providing objective news reports 30 26 40 -10
Making residents feel connected to their community 28 40 29 -1
Making residents feel connected to the U.S. as a whole 27 32 38 -11
Aug. 4-Oct. 2, 2017
KNIGHT-GALLUP SURVEY ON TRUST, MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY

(snip)


http://news.gallup.com/poll/225470/media-seen-key-democracy-not-supporting.aspx

So all the hyping by the media about Trump's tweets only endears him to his base; which view the corporate media conglomerates as either liberal or elite, so that's the Andy Jackson effect and why I believe his poll numbers have been edging up from abysmal to just piss poor.

Running for elections, particularly major races is expensive so

Today's status quo is this, big money owns the Republican Party, dominates the Democratic Party and has greatly warped the corporate media conglomerates ability to lift and enlighten the American People, as a result we're the only advanced nation in the world that doesn't treat healthcare as a right, we have the largest prison population in the world with a 21st century version of slavery in the immoral for profit prison industry, our infrastructure is crumbling, we spend more on the military than the next seven nations combined to maintain our empire, our young people; face the very real prospects of having a lower standard of living than their parents from being saddled with oppressive education debt and that doesn't take into account the growing catastrophe of global warming climate change which they will mostly have to live with.

The media and political parties are most adept at playing identity or fault line politics, Democrat, Republican, men, women, black, white, Latino, old, young, gay, straight, religious, non-religious, North, South, etc. etc. etc. all that being division of course, they have it down to a science.

What they're not good at is consistently addressing and debating the critical substantive issues affecting all of the American People as a whole, what's best for the nation.

The status quo in short is the elevation of predatory capitalism over democracy in our national psyche.