It Will Totally Destroy our Democratic Republic
by Thomas Baldwin, Biloxi, MS
October 18, 2012
Definitions:
Corporatism (or Corporate Fascism) --A term often first attributed to Benito Mussolini of Italy in the early 1900's defining the complete merger of the corporations with the nation state. Also, often referred to as just Fascism. Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.
Duopoly --a term which defines complete control of an industry or an activity (i.e. government) by just two entities. In the present case of the two parties involved, Democratic and Republican, the situation represented means that these two parties completely control the entire political system and do everything possible to exclude other parties which may provide competition or alternatives. This is made illegal in the business sector by antitrust law. It should be noted that there is one U.S. Senator out of 100, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has declared himself an "independent"!
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INTRODUCTION:
In this election cycle of 2012, we are being reminded again of how totally dysfunctional our political system has become. In the four years since Barack Obama was elected, he has proven the old adage, "The more things "change' the more they remain the same." And Albert Einstein told us long ago, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting 
different results." One must conclude that the American political system which controls our government is insane and Americans are insane to keep supporting it!
FACTS SUPPORTING MY THESIS:
Why does this situation exist and how does one arrive at this conclusion which any observer paying attention can readily make? Let's begin with a few FACTS:
1. At the time of the last presidential election (2008), income/wealth inequality had reached a level not experienced since 1929, just before the Great Depression.
2. Since the Great Recession and the financial collapse of 2008, huge amounts of money (in the trillions of dollars) were channeled, first by the Bush administration and then continued by Obama, to bail out the money changers, the big banks on Wall Street.
3. The result was huge job losses (perhaps as many as 9 million) at the depths of the decline, with large increases in the poverty rates, much larger numbers of people on food stamps, millions of homes in foreclosure or distress, etc. There was a total neglect and failure to establish a public works program as FDR had done and a complete failure to provide serious support for "Main Street" and the average citizen. The "stimulus" was too small as Nobel economist Paul Krugman had warned given the size of the financial collapse.
4. Obamacare was passed with no support from the Republican Party, but it was also a huge gift to the pharmaceutical and the health insurance industries. With the abandonment of both a single payer system or a public option, there were no effective cost controls and, thus, per capita healthcare costs, which are nearly twice those in other industrialized nations already, are likely to continue to increase much faster than the rate of inflation. Continuation of this path will lead to a collapse in our healthcare system for all but the very rich.
5. The basic social safety net which began during the time of FDR, including Social Security, and later Medicare and Medicaid, are under constant attack in the name of reducing the deficit. Obama's response was to cut the payments into these systems by giving the public a "payroll tax cut" (advertised as a cut for the Middle Class), furthering endangering these 
systems. The corporate fascists want to funnel this money into privatizing everything and funnel the money to Wall Street bankers. Obama set the stage for the latter to occur while the Democratic Party was patting itself on the back and the Republicans were laughing all the way to the bank.
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