Ask Auntie Pinko

January 26, 2006
By Auntie Pinko

We have all read about the "shortcomings" of George W. and how he may have been put into office. I would like your opinion on why, what is the real agenda and who are the people behind the effort it took to do this? Without this knowledge we are powerless to stop the ruination of out country. I fear for my sons and their children.

Thanks in advance,

Mike
Slidell (or what's left), LA

Dear Mike,

I'm glad you specified that you want Auntie's "opinion." Since I'm not privy to the backroom conversations of Republican power brokers, an opinion is all I can give.

First, you ask "why?" That's the easiest one to answer: power. The Executive Branch of our Federal Government controls many aspects of our lives through how it implements the laws Congress passes, how it constructs policies that govern our relations with other nations, and how it selects the people who will set policy for the many departments and agencies that affect our domestic economy. The person who controls the Executive Branch has all of that power, to use or abuse as they see fit.

Someone who wants that power badly enough, who has the resources to influence the election by fair and/or unfair means, can change history for good or ill. And if they are willing to ignore, subvert, or circumvent the Constitutional limitations on the Executive Branch, their power is virtually unlimited.

The framers of the Constitution knew what they were doing when they wrote in those limits and carefully dispersed power among three branches of government - they were well aware of the temptations and dangers of concentrated power. Even a very well-intentioned, altruistic individual can easily slip into the error of believing that it's alright to impose their own beliefs about what will benefit others. And no one is exempt from the temptation to act to their own benefit - that temptation is a perennial part of human nature!

"The real agenda" is probably more complex than it appears. Indeed, in this particular area I really hope that I'm wrong, because their agenda appears (at least from the results of their actions) to be unbridled profits and power for those who control large corporations and businesses. They have eliminated many regulations, and refused to enforce others, designed to protect workers, consumers, and the environment, because those regulations limited business' ability to generate profits and/or pay huge salaries, bonuses, and dividends to executives, board members, and major shareholders.

They have awarded hugely valuable and profitable no-bid contracts to companies controlled by their friends and associates, and declined to monitor the contractors for waste and fraud, so that billions of taxpayer dollars have gone missing. They have encouraged the "race to the bottom" for American workers' job security, benefits, and pay, in order to improve corporate profit margins and, if that proves insufficient, they enable Americans who control businesses to move the businesses overseas and eliminate American jobs, while sheltering their profits from American taxes.

They have ignored the needs of America's decaying physical infrastructure, the pain of Americans displaced and marginalized by the globalizing economy, and the damage to the very air, land, and water that support life, in order to cut taxes for Americans who control business and corporate interests, and protect their vast wealth.

To maintain their hold on the power that allows them to do these things, they have also pandered shamelessly to the ideological fantasies of a narrow but influential segment of extreme social conservatives, engaged in brazen and repulsive propaganda initiatives, and used those same powers to block legitimate enquiries into the activities of Executive Branch staff and appointees.

In short, Auntie's opinion about "the real agenda" is that it is comparable to that of the average pickpocket: to distract the victims while relieving them of their valuables, to the profit of the pickpocket.

As for "who," it should be obvious "who" is behind the effort to win (by any means) executive power: those who have benefited in the greatest tangible ways from the control of that power. Those who have increased their own wealth, power, and influence at the expense of the well-being and prosperity of the average American worker. Those who have entrenched themselves behind that power by shamelessly ignoring or subverting Constitutional limitations and requirements for dispersal and separation of power.

That's who.

In Auntie's opinion, of course, Mike, and thanks for asking!

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