American Republican Suppression Engine

Many ordinary folks consider themselves to be conservative. They generally tend to be regular decent people. They care about others and are capable of great kindness. They may not pay a lot of attention to what goes on in Washington DC, and maybe they think Fox News is actually an unbiased “fair and balanced” news source.

Apart from CNN, it’s possible these good folks are unaware of other televised information sources besides Fox. Pretty much all cable outlets provide Fox in the basic package while anyone who wishes to watch MSNBC would have to pay extra. There truly is an exposure factor in favor of the O’Reilly Factor.

Regular Americans like things to stay pretty much as they are, at least in their personal world. When changes happen beyond their control, they are usually not seen as changes for the better. They may see people with different skin color or apparel moving into town. They may learn that this is not so terrible after all. But, they also may notice many of the familiar old local businesses disappear. In some of the worst cases, folks who see themselves as conservatives may lose their jobs. They may lose their health insurance or even their homes. It is also possible they will be forced into bankruptcy by medical costs, even if they have insurance.

These changes are bad.

All of a sudden Americans watching Fox News find themselves getting angry and frightened. Fox tells them who is to blame for their troubles.

And then the politicians step in. Republicans (and corporatist Democrats) will claim to be conservative so these folks identify with them and vote for them. The conservative politicians join Fox News and tell them these awful changes are the results of liberals imposing their evil liberalism into America.

This is called scapegoating and political propaganda. These are not conservative tools. These are right wing tactics to get people to vote for politicians who have an agenda that is not in the best interests of the vast majority of voters. It is more than clear that modern Republican Conservatism isn’t really traditional conservatism at all. It is difficult for Americans to grasp the idea of just who is blocking any government policy that would be favorable to the working people.

In order to oppose something one must first clearly identify the antagonizing forces suppressing the will and well being of the people. These sinister and dark forces that wield enormous power and embody such greed are a threat to over 99 percent of our nation’s citizens. Let me put a name to this entity.

It is the huge American Republican Suppression Engine, or ARSE.

The Big ARSE will tell you they are conservative and represent the common people. They will tell you they want to preserve the family, traditional values, religion, patriotism, and of course law and order. They will even openly advocate American military and economic supremacy over the world. They rigidly support the economic interests of the wealthiest people in the country, to the measurable detriment of the rest of us.

By the way, Republican suppression is not manifested entirely within the Republican Party. Enough Blue Dog Democrats embrace the Republican American Suppression Engine to make it truly bipartisan. Blue Dog syndrome is apparently due to the lack of oxygen up the corporate ARSE’s where conservative Democrats’ noses are known to frequent.

The Republican American Suppression Engine is the primary political movement of our time. It is also called Corporatism, with a generous portion of Cheney-style authoritarianism stirred into the mix for additional control through fear and anger manipulation.

When we take a closer look, we see these ARSE politicians follow a distinct pattern.

By their traditional definitions, liberalism is supposed to promote change, and conservatism is supposed to be against change. Who have been the primary agents of change in the past 30 years? Republican Conservatism has taken control of our government and has brought about more change than liberalism has accomplished in 60 years.

In response to $3.7 billion in lobbying money between 1998 and 2007 from the financial sector, the Big ARSE has deregulated the financial industry. That worked out fine, didn’t it?

We see the same kind of influence from the insurance/pharma/medical industry that will be dictating (and rationing) our health care. They are pouring ten million bucks every week into bribing politicians and confusing the pubic about health care.

ARSE has worked tirelessly to suppress every legislative attempt to benefit consumers, the public interest, the poor, and middle class.

Progress, growth, shared prosperity, and adaptation have been suppressed by stagnation, greed, militarism and re-distribution of wealth to the top one percent. In fact the wealth redistribution has overwhelmingly benefitted the top tenth of one per cent.

Let’s check the record.

According to the article on the Bush legacy in the September 11th issue of the Atlantic:

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.

And we learn from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households, and that top 1 percent held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928, according to an analysis of newly released IRS data by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez.

During those years, the Piketty-Saez data also show, the inflation-adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households grew more than ten times faster than the income of the bottom 90 percent of households.

The smothering forces of the big ARSE have increased poverty, restricted and eliminated health care for millions, slaughtered countless thousands in war, and brought our economy to the brink of collapse. They have strangled the Constitution by lying to Congress, the American people, and the world, in order to start their war for power and profit. They undermined Habeas Corpus, rationalized and embraced torture, rendition, and warrantless surveillance of citizens.

We’ve seen the crazed and confused conservatives whining at town halls, “We want out country back.” We hear Rush and his ditto head parrots shouting about wanting their country back, too.

Well, fine, I kind of want MY country back, too, but what country is that? Is it the criminal regime of Bush/Cheney they yearn to restore? Perhaps, but I think they want the “good old days” back. Most of the loudest of these whiners grew up in an America that nurtured its working class through the liberal programs of FDR’s New Deal.

Those confused conservatives’ former standard of living and thriving economy was boosted by the very target of their political leaders. The Big ARSE has successfully demolished nearly all vestiges of the New Deal. They’ve had the privatization of Medicare and Social Security in their sights for a long time.

The Big ARSE has done everything possible to subvert the people’s government into a right wing engine of militarism, national security police state, and corporate profiteering.

The New Deal has been replaced by the Big Screw. Americans’ health and future are being poisoned by the toxic crap flowing from Fox News, the primary orifice of the Big ARSE.

So, the question we must ask is one that we can be sure will NOT be asked by corporate media and other establishment voices. Just what does Big ARSE Conservatism want to conserve?

It is the ARSE’s intention to put a cramp on the system, obstruct freedom, and dominate the rest of the entire body politic.

It’s time for some serious ARSE kicking.