Battle for Your Soul - Sausage Making in D.C.

SOURCE: Ann Telnaes, The Washington Post

At this moment in the history of our nation, Robert Scheer's recent interview with Dennis Kucinich is enlightening and a break in the Washington doom and gloom.

As the world knows, the Republican Senate is about to acquit Mr. Trump.

And, we all will continue to be ground into sausage for the benefit of the .001%.

Who will say, “Enough!”?

Not the "Trumpers", the zealots supporting Mr. Trump, at their cost of their meager livelihood and “freedoms”. Not the religious right, the people who have somehow created a new Jesus out of Mr. Trump. Not Fox News, the people who have made a fortune out of disinformation. Not the "mainstream press", the people who have "blacked-out" Bernie Sanders' coverage.

For sure, not the Republican Party. And, for certain not the Democratic Party, either.

Who then will step forward and pull your soul out of the D.C. sausage grinder?

Sadly, the job remains open. We seem to have a dearth of candidates at the moment.

However for today, we do have a few excerpts from Scheer’s interview of former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, entitled, “The Democratic Party Has No Soul”, to help us fend off our sausage-making Senate for a couple of moments.

"DK: Let me give you a story that can help put it in perspective. When I first came to Congress, I was escorted around the Capitol grounds by an old friend and somebody who had served the Cleveland seat that I took, ended up taking. And that was former Congressman Jim Stanton. And Jim took me around the campus, and we were between the Longworth and the Rayburn buildings, and he pointed to another member of Congress across the street. And he said, you see that guy there? I said yeah. He said, that guy thinks this place — he extended his hands to the whole of the campus — that guy thinks this place is on the level."

"So you know, Washington has the pretense of serving the masses of American people. But in fact, it’s a machine that works for interest groups. And if the people are able to get some crumbs, well, that’s a surprise. And you know, we have a — I think it was [name unclear] who said that we have a winner-take-all society, with more and more being left behind. So you know, this is not the greatest economy ever; it’s a crumbling society where families sink deeper into debt, where most Americans have no wealth, where they function as indentured servants. Are we going to change that? Well, that ought to be the purpose of our politics."

RS: But that’s what we’ve been saying for all this time. I mean, since Roosevelt was president. And the fact of the matter is, and particularly since the Reagan-Clinton years — that’s where it really started — we’ve had the most extreme redistribution of income back to the rich that we had since the roaring ’20s.

DK: Well, what’s going on is that the political system has been structured to continue that. That’s what Buckley v. Valeo was about; that’s what Citizens United’s about. They legalized the purchase of government. And, you know, he who pays the piper calls the tune.”

DK: "...That’s exactly right. The Democratic Party was responsible for a redistricting that eliminated a congressional district in Cleveland, which I held. Now, think about that. Why? Because I’m not the guy who was here for the plutocrats. I’m, you know, I understand that the shift of wealth that’s been going on — think about this, Bob. The U.S. government admits it’s spent at least $80,000 per average family of four since 2001 on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. That’s, like, over $6.4 trillion. And then the actual figure is much higher; it’s closer, I think, closer to $150,000 per family, for just our regime-change wars in those two countries. And you know Chris Hedges; well, I’ve read some of his stuff. He’s pointed out that our society is going to crumble, lives will be lost, disease and despair will rise to keep the Empire afloat and the world in fear if we keep these wars going on. So we’ve got — what we’re experiencing now is the cost of a plutocratic approach blessed by both political parties, which accelerates wealth to the top, and an economic pyramid, top of the economic pyramid. And it’ll be catastrophic for our economy and our democracy unless we reverse it."

Scheer Intelligence
Dennis Kucinich: The Democratic Party Has No Soul

Dennis Kucinich, The Democratic Party Has No Soul