The ink on the debt ceiling law hasn't even dried and the 2012 Republican presidential candidates are already shilling in unison that the law is bad and that raising the debt ceiling spells disaster for America. I use the word "shilling" [slang term for the act of posing as an innocent bystander at a confidence game but giving aid and assistance to the perpetrators of the scheme as a decoy] because it aptly describes the candidates' collective hoodwinking of American citizens.
The confidence game in question is the Republican policy of fiscal irresponsibility, a flashy carnival game called smaller government that's anything but small and nowhere near as fair as the average layman thinks the game should be. Then again, carnival games never are. The trick to a financially successful carnival game is to offer the contestants the illusion of fairness while rigging the game to maintain an advantage for the house. Republicans have that down to a tee.
In early 2001, President Bush inherited a budget from President Clinton that was producing an income surplus over government expenditures. During Clinton's final years in office, those surpluses were being applied to paying down the national debt. Instead of continuing on the Clinton's path of financial responsibility, Bush and his Congressional backers (which included a majority of the current batch of G.O.P. presidential candidates) switched course and sold Americans on the notion that the budget surplus belonged to hard-working taxpayers and the government should give the money back. Republicans were silent about the national debt, but let's be honest here. It wasn't in their interest to be fiscally responsible when there was more political headway to be gained by giving taxpayers a handout.
Then, September 11th happened…and the G.O.P. war machine kicked into high gear…and American soldiers marched off to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…and anyone who dared to ask, "Who's going to pay for these wars?" was labeled a traitor, unpatriotic, un-American and drowned out by the drum-beats of war. Instead of asking Americans to pay higher taxes to support the war efforts (as was done in every previous war in American history), the G.O.P. urged Americans to borrow more, spend more and demand lower taxes to support the public's endless wave of consumption. Like carnival barkers, G.O.P. politicians told Americans they could have it all, and a gullible public fell for the scam.
For seven full years, the Republican carnival game called smaller government financed our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by placing all war-related expenditures on our nation's credit card – the national debt. Not a single dime was appropriated out of the normal government budget for the war effort, nor was any attempt made to ask Americans to sacrifice for the war.
Meanwhile, business for American banks, investment houses and insurance companies was booming, thanks in large part to the Republican-led dismantling of banking and securities regulations that were previously instituted to prevent a melt-down of our nation's financial sector. Profits were everywhere. Fortunes were made. The public was happy – until the house of cards began to fall, as will happen with any Ponzi scheme. Suddenly, our country's largest banks, investment house and insurance conglomerates began to fail, and the effect of those failures was so strong, that it threatened to bring about the collapse of our entire banking system and plunge America into another Great Depression.
To prevent another calamitous depression, Congressional Democrats and a reluctant President Bush passed a massive financial package (publicly called "the bailout") just weeks before the completion of the Bush Administration. The "bailout" saved what was left of the common man's retirement account and investment savings, but you'd never realize that fact if you listened to what Republicans were saying. They were doing what they do best – shilling!
What the average American hated about the "bailout" was not that critical financial institutions were saved. People were angry because leaders of those saved institutions, whose shady practices and greed caused the failure of their institution, use government funds to give themselves millions of dollars in bonuses and pay raises, instead of using the money to stabilize their institutions. In essence, the public was hurting while the greedy got rich on the public's dime.
I bring up the subject of Republican shilling because, while Republicans were decrying the government bailout of the financial sector in order to win the approval of angry voters, and fanning the flames of what has become known as Tea Party politics, Republicans were also giving aid and assistance to the perpetrators of the financial sector's scheme. Republican politicians were acting as a decoy – the very definition of shilling. You see, while Congressional Republicans were loud-mouthing the bailout package, they were also opposing all provisions in the bailout package that were designed to prevent government funds from being used for bonuses and raises. Those same G.O.P. politicians were also collecting millions in campaign donations from political action committees controlled by leaders of the financial sector.
For Republican politicians, our nation's financial calamity proved to be a win-win situation. They were able to attract huge numbers of voters by publicly declaring opposition to the bailout package while, behind the scenes, they were able to protect financial sector leaders who contributed millions to G.O.P. campaign coffers. The irony of the situation is that millions of taxpayer dollars were funneled into Republican campaign war chests, and Democrats got the blame. Republicans have truly mastered the art of shilling.
Our recent debt ceiling debate provides another good example. Republicans added trillions to the national debt by not paying for the wars they initiated, but painted Democrats as the party responsible for our burgeoning national debt. Republicans lured the public with the profession of a desire for smaller government, but in actuality, and away from the public's eye, advocated for the public's decreased wealth.
Unfortunately, the public is still mesmerized by the glitzy lights of the G.O.P.'s carnival game and cannot see that the game's been rigged. Good shilling will do that.
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