The Long Con

Op ED Commentary  

How foolish Americans are, or rather, until a few years ago, we Americans. This writer himself got caught up in the greatest of all confidence games: The Two Party Monte!  Using an embedded media, the ‘Two Party, One Party ‘political system (created by our Military Industrial Empire) keeps chugging along. Whether it is a Reagan or Clinton, a Bush or a Kerry, a Romney or an Obama, it matters not to the puppeteers who run things. They choose who the so called ‘ field of candidates ‘ will be, and then most of the time let the suckers ( we voters ) make the final decision from Column A or Column B. Of course, sometimes, when the empire’s agenda is too urgent, they go ahead and fix the game a bit. Case in point the elections of 2000 and 2004. The movers and shakers decided that they needed a malleable dope in the White House sign off on what then followed: The illegal and immoral invasions and occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan. As if right out of a scene from Scorsese’s Casino, when the five Mafia leaders were discussing their puppet union leader Andy Stone’s future. Four of the dons stated how Andy was a good guy and could be trusted to not ‘flip ‘and turn against them with the Feds. They then all looked to the head of the commission, the fifth don, and he quietly offered: “Why take a chance? “  Soon after Andy Stone was murdered. 

The Tuesday, September 9th New York Times ran a brief story buried on page A 16, entitled ‘Laughs and Accolades as Clinton and Bush Introduce a Leadership Program’. There was the usual fluff about the two former presidents collaborating with their respective presidential libraries etc. The picture that accompanied the article showed the two of them sitting side by side laughing hysterically. What really got to this writer were the quotes from Clinton about Bush Jr.: “I actually learned a lot watching him over the years…. the way he thought through things and tried to approach them with clarity and decisiveness.” Clinton went on to say that he watched Bush with “great admiration.” Bush would call him throughout his second term and they would talk for 30 to 40 minutes. The phone calls, Mr. Clinton said, “Made me feel good.” He then said that “Both presidents benefitted from being underestimated”, as he placed his hand on Bush’s knee. The article reported that Bush has been living a comparatively quiet life in Texas, with a focus on his paintings. “I’m trying to leave something behind”, he said of his art. If anyone reading this has not stopped to go and vomit in the toilet, what can I say? 

Mad Magazine would have had a field day with that NY Times piece if it occurred back in the 60s or 70s. For all those out there who still hold to the theory that the Two Major political parties are at each other’s throats etc… Wake up! Clinton and Bush together like Mutt and Jeff from the comics? Well, they should be, because the two of them did so well serving the empire and its masters. Clinton made sure NAFTA and GATT and the WTO trade alliances were set and ready to help destroy our labor force. He signed the repeal of Glass Steagall, which opened the door to the Wall Street banksters and their sacking of any financial regulations worth their salt. His Telecommunications Act (or the signing of such) gave us all the obscene cable bills we now have… along with other disgraces the phone and cable industries get away with. His cutting of the safety nets for the underprivileged helped further destroy the family values both parties rail about. As far as his successor, the guy he sat and laughed with, hand on knee, well, it would take a book to capture all of his crimes. It is a war crime to attack another country with no just cause, as Bush did concerning Iraq. His actions, as we all should know, caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians and over 4000 of our own soldiers. The occupation of another nation, against its will, must also be a war crime, yes? Bush, as Commander in Chief, did all that… and more! The Patriot Act, which he signed, is thought to be, by many astute constitutional experts, unconstitutional! His illegal use of the NSA to spy on American citizens is another obvious crime. What about allowing his minions, Rumsfeld, Gonazales and Bibey, to circumvent the Geneva Accords and allow torture? All in all, under  the leadership Clinton said he enjoyed watching, our nation went further into the abyss economically… except of course for the less than 1% that Bush himself once joked as “ My base “.   

One wonders when ‘enough is enough’? When will the great majority of us, the working stiffs who get up each morning and punch out the hours to keep this country operating, see through the ‘Long Con’? Hope springs eternal.

Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Nation of Change Blog, Truthout.org, TheSleuthJournal.com, Worldnewstrust.com, The Intrepid Report , The Peoples Voice, Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at [email protected]