AN AMERICAN COUP D'ETAT

OXY-MORON a combination of contradictory or incongruous words or elements

 A BROKEN DEMOCRACY
Johann Wagener 4-16-13

America experienced a coup that was so well-orchestrated and executed no one hardly noticed. Those that did were summarily written off as “conspiracy nuts.”

Unlike what the gun rights fanatics would tell you, there were no shots fired, no riots in the streets, or anything else as overt as we see in other countries that take over governments.

While most Americans were glued to their flat screens raving over a goofy “reality” show or other mindless pastime this is what was going on in the “real” world.

These are the players;

·        The “too big to fire” Supreme Court

·        The “too big to fail” Corporations

·        The “too big to jail” criminals or 1 percenters.

It began with the Supreme Court electing President Bush. Even though Gore had won the national popular vote ( Bush 50,456,002, to Gore’s 50,999,897)  5 of these 9 unelected Justices decreed that the Florida recount which had Bush leading Gore by a mere 539 votes was unconstitutional and effectively shut it down.

Mimicking the behavior of a dictator these 5 unelected right-wing appointees literally stripped Americans of their vote and, in effect,  struck down the 1 person – 1 vote doctrine. They later trampled what was left of those rights in the Citizens United ruling.

Once the coup began it was reinforced with a series of other events;

The “puppeteers” that ran the Bush administration worked in the shadows and were extremely successful in castrating regulatory agencies that Americans believed were representing them. Wall Street was then able to run rampant and create an enormous bubble that, when it popped, sucked all the air out of the American economy which left the Middle Class decimated and held hostage to “big business.”

Bush and the cronies under him were able to convince Americans that the only way they could survive was to pay the ransom in the form of a bail out which they ironically referred to as a “stimulus.” This forced taxpayers to rescue and further enrich the very people that destroyed our economy and deemed themselves to be “too big to fail.”

Bush and his cronies parlayed this with 2 senseless wars  that cost Americans trillions of tax dollars and countless dead and injured.

The Bush legacy is a tragic and dismal one;

1) 9/11 happened on his watch.

2) He waged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, neither of which was directly related to 9/11. The “terrorists” were Saudi Arabian and Bin Laden was camped out mainly in Pakistan.

3) He created and oversaw the “great recession” and left the American taxpayer a huge deficit that devastated the middle class  and condemned future generations to more pain and suffering as a consequence.

Though no one said much about it was not pure coincidence that these series of disasters culminated shortly before the end of the Bush presidency. After dumping the entire mess into the next Presidents lap Bush went into a self-imposed exile, never be seen or referred to in political circles. 

Now that “corporations” that are made up of thousands of individuals; both American and Foreign, were deemed have the same rights as an individual American Citizen there is nothing standing in the way for a small group of wealthy individuals to transform this country into a plutocracy.

One needs to wonder what the outcome would have been had these 5 self-serving individuals not sabotaged the Bush/Gore election and the coup had failed. 

The Supreme Court . The Future of the Court . Landmark Cases . Bush v. Gore (2000) | PBS