Republicans to Search for New Mythology

[Kudos to Joe Scarborough, of MSNBC's Morning Joe, for pointing out that while Barack Obama and the Democrats are working to save the nation, the Republicans are still focused just on trying to save the Republican Party.]

The Republican Mythology Defined

Over the Past Twenty-Eight Years, since the 1980 Reactionary Revolution, the Republican Party has pinned its star to the Libertarian-like hypothesis of government as problem, such that government must be kept as small as possible....

....and that markets should be kept as unrestrained as possible....

....and that free markets encourage competition and growth....

....and that the efficiency of markets reins in the otherwise-inevitable
bubbles and recessions and depressions
that wreak havoc on the economy of a country.

Oh, yes: and that taxes must be driven lower and lower, to stimulate the economy and produce consistently increasing tax revenues....

All This “Voodoo Economics” Has Formed the Mythology of the Republican Party for longer than many Americans can remember.

Now, the Mythology Has Been Exposed

The American Markets Are in Ruin. None of this is news.

The “Free Market” Turns out to Cost about $12,000,000,000,000 more than the Republicans, including former-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, thought.

The Perennially Lowered Taxes Turned out to Be a Tax Deferral, not a tax decrease.

In the Words of Alan Greenspan, the Republican side of things is discombobulated into “a state of shocked disbelief.”

The Arguments for Lower Taxes and Higher Tax Revenues, and unfettered and efficient markets–these arguments are over.

The Free-Market, Low-Tax Mythology of the Republican Party Is Dead.

As Long as the Underlying Premises Remain Null and Void—and so long as the failure of those premises remains unacknowledged—the Republican Party will remain stymied in its efforts at “trying to save the Republican Party.”

The Republicans Just Need to Go Back to the Drawing Board and figure out something completely different. They need an entirely new way of looking at things.

And While the Republican Party Is Kept Busy saving its own ATM card–

–the Democrats and the rest of “the Real America” will continue paying off all that debt, and otherwise working to save the country.

It Seemed Like Sort of a Good Idea at the Time....

Despite Persistent Evidence to the Contrary throughout the entire history of humanity, Republicans and Libertarians assert the idea that greed somehow controls itself. That people operating always in their own self-interest will generally do the right thing when it comes to dealing with their own resources and with one another.

Separately, Conservative Writer George F. Will as recently as January 4, 2007, wrote that “Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices.” In the sense that one person on an assembly line is about as effective as any other person on an assembly line, Mr. Will is absolutely correct.

But in the Sense That a Society Is about its People, Mr. Will’s assertion is abhorrent. And now we see the practical outcome of such flawed reasoning in the tremendous economic crisis of today. (One wonders what Mr. Will thinks that "government of the people, for the people" actually means?)

We Now Have a Final Assessment: These “self-regulating markets” do not function properly where the "commodity" of actual, real live human beings is concerned.


The Overriding Fact Is that it was the “free market” combination of lessened regulation and diminished oversight and the “deadly sin” of greed that brought us to the edge of this precipice. A deliberate conspiracy of deregulation and incompetence has brought us to the brink.

Now Barack Obama’s Opponent, a self-avowed “Maverick” of deregulation and a twenty-five-year veteran of the the “free-market” crowd, tries desperately to assert his capabilities to serve as President.

But Republican Senator McCain Is the Wrong Person, with the Wrong Philosophy, at the wrong time. It is too late for Senator McCain to fool America into thinking that he is something he is not.

Now Is the Time for a Government for All the People, not just for those who at the top of the heap, drawing seven-figure CEO salaries. The Democratic principles of oversight and fairness and economic equality—for those willing to work for it—now return. The Republican “Free-Market” ideas now follow Elvis out of the building....


Now Is the Time for the Calm, Firm Leadership of Barack Obama. A non-ideological approach that counts all of America, from the "commodity" of labor to the Republican "CEOs" of Wall Street, as one indivisible nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Later, with the Nation Once More Restored to a Solid Footing, the deregulation, small-government Republicans will return to power. They always do.

It Always Seems Like a Good Idea at the Time. The economy will bloat again with the ungoverned greed. Somehow it always does.

But Right Now, It Is Time for the Democrats Once Again to roll up their sleeves and get to work, rescuing the American people, while bailing out the Conservatives and the Republicans and the free-market CEOs of Wall Street, as well.


Barack Obama and Joe Biden Are Asking for Your Vote on November 4, 2008. These men represent the party for all the people of these United States, rather than just the silent CEOs of the Fortune 500® and Wall Street.

It Is Time for a Return to Reason and Good Sense. Regardless of how much, “It seemed like sort of a good idea at the time.”

NEWS FLASH! America’s Financial Crisis: Fortune 500 CEOs Respond

Channeling Barack Obama™ has received the following open letter to the American people:

Dear Fellow Americans:

We, the Undersigned CEOs of Companies on Fortune Magazine’s list of the 500 largest American companies, have stood quietly on the sidelines while Congress and the American people debate the solutions to the overwhelming crisis of our national economy. We understand that many citizens do not fully understand the exact nature the crisis, nor how we—each of whom makes a salary of tens of millions of dollars—screwed it up.

But That’s Just What We’ve Done. We’ve screwed it up.

And Now We Come to the American People with our hats in our hand. We need your help.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, on Our Behalf, has asked Congress to put together a plan to take away the obstacles that are shutting down the credit markets and making it impossible for businesses to continue doing business, and for citizens to buy houses or cars, or to use credit cards.

If Congress Does Not Act—and Quickly—the entire credit system of the United States will stop. What we will have is a major disaster. And so we need Congress’s help, and the resources of the United States Treasury—which money ultimately belongs to you.

To Show Our Understanding of What the American Taxpayer Faces with such a large plan, we would like to make the following accommodation, out of respect for your great sacrifice:

Effective with the Signing of the Economic Rescue Package, we, the undersigned CEOs, will voluntarily reduce our own salaries to a number that is 14 times the average pay of each company’s salaried employees.

Whole Foods, Inc., the Nation’s Largest Organic-Grocery Market, has used this salary cap for years. It has served Whole Foods well. This cap serves as an ideal guideline for how American corporate leaders should be compensated in the future.

In the Meantime, All Salary Above This Cap, until our salaries are renegotiated, we will give to the United States Treasury, to be used as will best serve America’s financial needs right now.

America Is in Crisis. We, the undersigned CEOs, appreciate the willingness of the American people to step up. The extra millions of dollars that we CEOs have at our disposal are the least we can offer, in gratitude for the generosity of the American people.

To Our Fellow American Citizens, we say:

Thank you, and God Bless America.

(Signed)

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