Right-wing thugs and corporate "reforms"

[Hannah Bell]

...even Obama's business-approved proposed changes to the health care system go way too far for the Republican right...In sync and on cue, right-wing radio host and prescription drug addict Rush Limbaugh... and his cohorts in right-wing cable news...are whipping up a frenzied atmosphere in which the potential for racism and violence grows each day...

The Republicans have been employing some aspects of this strategy for months now... Most were staged events with backing from former Republican members of Congress and right-wing millionaires and billionaires... their impact and effect has been magnified by the overwhelming media coverage, which has the effect of making these fringe organizations and individuals look like they are substantive part of the debate...Also to blame are cynical politicians from Washington who brazenly seek to use racism and scapegoating to cover their general hostility to the notion of health care for all...

A comeback for the right wasn't inevitable. The election of Obama and the rejection of the right on a whole number of social questions showed concretely how mass consciousness has moved to the left. The new administration had an opportunity to crush the right by aggressively pursuing an agenda that captured the mood of most Americans...

Instead, the Democrats, led by Obama, have gone in the other direction...All this is creating an enormous political vacuum in American politics today. If the left can't fill the vacuum, the right will try to do so--and this is what we're witnessing now in the town hall meeting "uprisings."
...despite the fringe nature of these protests and groups, even they can begin to attract a legitimate audience if there's no hope for the future...

We must declare that if the federal government can flood the banks with money so that Goldman Sachs executives can once again collect multimillion-dollar bonuses, then surely that same government can pay for genuine universal health care--and tax the rich to pay for it.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/08/17/right-wing-thugs-and-corporate-reforms