SCREW BALANCE

The McCain campaign has got the zeitgeist of the various big media conglomerates down pat. In the effort to be "balanced" and not be "liberal", the various cable nets and the big papers all report whatever the McCain camp says. Also, because the various cable nets are ratings obsessed (even though we're talking about a different of a million homes in a nation with more than 100-million homes) they seek out the drama and the conflict in politics.

So the McCain camp says stuff like, Barack Obama called Sarah Palin a pig when it's an absolute lie. And the cable nets report it for a couple of days...distract, distract, distract.

But really, what other choice does McCain/Palin have? I think you can take their campaign down to a couple of sentences;

1) Distract from an actual discussion of the issues.
2) Slime Obama, even if it means telling out and out lies.
3) Say the word "change" to co-opt Obama but never answer the question, "Change what?"

That's it. If we talk about the issues, then we talk about the McCain habit of voting in lock step with President Bush. If we talk about issues, then we talk about McCain's complete lack of interest in the economy. If we talk about issues, we then talk about McCain's belief that it was just that the GOP "lost its way", not the fundamental fact that today's conservatives cannot run a government, unless giving tax breaks to those who don't need it is the way of government.

When I was in college, I learned the following: there are three divisions in this country:

Capital, Labor and Government. For the past 25 years, Capital and Government have been working in lock step, and whaddya know, in that same time frame, the rich have hoarded a greater share of the nation's wealth than practically any time in U-S history while the vast majority of Americans inexorably have fallen into lower rungs of prosperity. Not a quick and immediate fall like the 1930's, but a slow strangling of their buying power and their ability to live a middle class existence.

And if McCain gets into office, we'll see what amounts to phase three of the strangulation: first they came for the jobs (you see Capital sees Labor as just another resource to be used unless there's a cheaper resource out there, and in the 80's the quality high paying unionized jobs disappeared when the cheaper resources in other countries became apparent). Then they came for the benefits (that safety net that offends the ideology of the rich and the conservative).

What's phase three? The privatization of every single government agency, from the local police to the national military. And when privatization hits, then the provision of these services starts to resemble the difference between shopping at Nieman Marcus versus Kohls...Whole Foods versus Aldi. Those who can afford quality police service will be able to buy it. Those who can't? Well good luck. But don't worry; the GOP will make sure that you can buy a gun to protect your family.

That's what McCain means when he talks about change. Small government? Nope...we're talking "no government." Oh! I take that back, because the GOP believes that it's OK if taxes are returned to the rich (the Capital). That's the beauty of privatization. All that tax money that comes in? Well the rich will get it back.

That was the thing about Halliburton; it was a craptastic investment when Cheney ran it. But it was a great investment when it was getting your tax money no questions asked during the Iraq War. And who benefits from that? Why, Cheney and his buds that's who. Hell, Halliburton doesn't even offer very good jobs.

This is why Barack Obama has to win; it's probably our last chance to stop the partnership between Capital and Government before it's unstoppable. I believe it's THAT IMPORTANT to vote in November.

Or really, isn't it more important that Barack Obama used a folksy old pig comparison? Isn't that what this election is really all about?