{"id":3284,"date":"2010-12-09T17:57:14","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T23:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=3284"},"modified":"2014-04-15T11:57:18","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T17:57:18","slug":"obama-and-the-corporate-two-party-dictatorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/obama-and-the-corporate-two-party-dictatorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama and the Corporate Two-Party Dictatorship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 405 of The Black Commentator on\u00a0Dec 9, 2010<\/a>
\nQuoted in the January-February 2011<\/a>\u00a0(PDF) Issue of BCA Dispatch (Boston-Cambridge Alliance for Democracy Newsletter) (Image of the front page below)<\/p>\n

By Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if the idea of achieving a true political equality eludes us in reality – as it continues to do – there is still available that fictional\u00a0vision<\/em>\u00a0of an ideal democracy in which\u00a0the actual combines with the ideal<\/em>\u00a0and gives us representations of a state of things in which the highly placed and the lowly, the black and the white, the northerner and the southerner, the native born and the immigrant are combined to tell us of transcendent truths and possibilities such as those discovered when Mark Twain set Huck and Jim afloat on the raft.\u201d<\/strong>
\n -Ralph Ellison<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hope must never be confused with\u00a0vision<\/em>. And it is an\u00a0actualized, collective vision<\/span><\/em> – for real\u00a0systemic<\/em>\u00a0change – that everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people must employ if this nation is to pull back from the precipice of economic, social, and political disaster and chaos.\u00a0Nothing<\/em>\u00a0short of this will suffice in these perilous times.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0United States of\u00a0America,\u00a0has within the relatively short span of two years, sunk – and continues to sink – to its lowest idealistic, social, political, and economic level thus far in the 21st century. Some attach the blame for this solely to George W. Bush, some attach blame solely to Barack Obama, some to both, referring to Obama\u2019s administration as the \u201cthird term of\u00a0Wubbya.\u201d); and while it is certainly accurate that they\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0(as this nation\u2019s former and current chief executive)\u00a0in very large measure responsible<\/em>\u00a0for this ongoing catastrophe and quagmire – they are not alone in this responsibility. Their accomplices include the avaricious corporate Wall Street and military elite of this nation, politicos of\u00a0both<\/em>\u00a0political parties, so-called \u2018educational\u2019 institutions, and the ever-willing corporate-stream media. Moreover, it was (and to some extent still is) many of\u00a0we the people<\/em>\u00a0who like sheep being herded to slaughter, allow[ed] ourselves to be mesmerized and duped by a cynically clever and articulate politician whose skin tone happens to be a shade or two darker than the other politicians to whom we had grown accustomed to and fed up with. So many – so fervently –\u00a0wanted<\/em>\u00a0to believe in this Obama politician who (rhetorically at least) seemed<\/em>\u00a0to represent a fresh\u00a0idealism<\/em>, but who was and is utterly devoid of an actualized vision<\/em>\u00a0that\u00a0uncompromisingly serves everyday people. So many<\/em>\u00a0wanted to believe, while\u00a0so few<\/em>\u00a0were willing to critically think and question. Thus, today this nation has moved\u00a0backwards to a future<\/em>\u00a0that is increasingly worse than its past.<\/p>\n

While an estimated 450,000 home foreclosures occur nationally every month, joblessness continues to rise, U.S. foreign wars and\/or occupations\u00a0drag on and intensify<\/em>, corporate hegemony, glut and greed have replaced even the semblance of an egalitarian \u2018American\u2019 democracy, political prisoners continue to languish in local, state and federal gulags while prison populations in general bulge at the seams, and the supposed Constitutional rights of the people of this nation have been shredded and made essentially null and void, all in the name of combating the very \u201cterrorism\u201d that the\u00a0policies<\/em>\u00a0of this nation\u2019s misleaders are\u00a0constantly fanning, globally<\/em>. Akin to Ralph Ellison\u2019s \u2018Invisible Man,\u2019<\/em> the horrible pain, suffering, and legitimate needs & aspirations of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red and Yellow people collectively, are in fact\u00a0invisible<\/em>\u00a0to the cynical and shrewd politicians of this land. Yes, as this nation draws close to the year 2011, it bears reiterating<\/em>\u00a0that \u2018America\u2019 has indeed moved backwards to a future that is increasingly worse<\/em>\u00a0than its past. However, it does not have to remain this way.<\/p>\n

It is incumbent upon everyday people to remember that hope and idealism that is devoid of a clear\u00a0actualized vision<\/em>\u00a0is mere\u00a0fantasy<\/em>.\u00a0Nothing else.\u00a0Moreover, it is also mere fantasy to succumb to the notion that fundamental change, that serves the interests of everyday people, can be brought about\u00a0without<\/em> over-all\u00a0systemic<\/em>\u00a0change.<\/p>\n

It is time to dispense with –\u00a0and quickly<\/em>\u00a0– self defeating liberal notions. For example, the election of Barack Obama as president is no more the culmination<\/em> or fulfillment of the ongoing<\/span><\/em>\u00a0civil\/human rights struggle in this country than was the installment of Clarence Thomas as a Justice in the U.S. Supreme Court.\u00a0We must dispense with these ridiculously dangerous and absurd liberal notions<\/em>. Those so-called \u201cchanges\u201d were merely cosmetic<\/em>\u00a0and represent\u00a0no<\/span><\/em>\u00a0real or fundamental systemic change. Indeed, if anything, those said changes represent a psychological strengthening<\/em>\u00a0of the (Democratic and Republican) two-party dictatorship<\/em>\u00a0– which is precisely\u00a0the opposite<\/em>\u00a0of much-needed, fundamental systemic change. We must dispense with liberal notions, engage in critical thinking, and act accordingly. Otherwise, we will forever be at the mercy of these corporate, bloodsucking political parties and their slimy political puppets; finding ourselves as perpetual<\/em> political ping-pong balls, supporting perpetual<\/em> foreign wars at the behest of a greedy and amoral corporate \/ military elite, even as the quality of life for everyday people is steadily emaciated in this nation.<\/p>\n

The constant fake<\/em> battles between the Democratic and Republican parties [i.e. the Republicrats] are meant to distract,\u00a0dis-empower, and manipulate<\/em> everyday people, keeping us in a\u00a0perpetual state of dependence and servitude<\/em>\u00a0to these corporate political parties. For example, when one considers the legitimate need to protect social security benefits and unemployment insurance for everyday people in this nation – there is absolutely nothing about which to debate<\/em>. Yet, the Obama regime and the wily Democrats and Republicans engage in a pernicious fake debate over social security and unemployment insurance, etc. – while simultaneously supporting the shelling out of trillions of dollars of everyday people\u2019s money for corporate welfare to<\/em> the corporate elite – with no serious or meaningful debate whatsoever. This is but another example of the insidiousness and criminality of the corporate two-party dictatorship in this nation.<\/p>\n

Barack Obama is neither weak nor is he stupid.\u00a0He knows exactly what he is doing<\/em>. He is cynically carrying out\u00a0the precise bidding of his corporate \/ military masters<\/em>, while rhetorically\u00a0faking-out<\/em>\u00a0everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people with his\u00a0endless bait and switch tactics<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Everyday people in this nation must choose social, economic, and political justice over<\/em> the chicanery of the\u00a0Obamaites\u00a0and their corporate Democratic and Republican Party fox and wolf counterparts. The time is here for systemic<\/em> change, and nothing less. This change will only be brought about collectively by everyday people with an actualized vision<\/em> for the present and the future. Notwithstanding the endless subterfuge, arrogance, and chicanery of Obama and his Democratic and Republican Party colleagues, our task remains to change the course of history by unflinchingly struggling for a present and future free of environmental degradation, and military & corporate insanity. We must change the course of history<\/span><\/em> for Mother Earth and for the people who inhabit her!!! We can and we must do this!<\/p>\n

Let us combine \u201cthe actual\u201d with \u201cthe ideal\u201d to\u00a0bring about a different reality<\/em>. Let us, be invisible no more! Let us\u00a0transcend<\/em>\u00a0mediocrity. Organize, educate, and agitate! At stake is the present and future of humankind. Yes, at stake is our humanity and very existence!<\/p>\n

Onward my sisters and brothers! Onward!<\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>

Front page of the January\/February 2011 Issue of BCA Dispatch with a quote by Larry Pinkney taken from his article entitled ‘Obama and the Corporate Two-Party Dictatorship’<\/p><\/div>\n