29 June 2017

Thomas Frank: The Demise of the Democratic Party Establishment: Hubris, Nemesis, and the Credibility Trap


"What kind of nation are we when we give tax breaks to billionaires, but we can't take care of the elderly and the children."

Bernie Sanders


It started by selling their souls to Big Money and class elitism. In this they joined forces with the Republican party which declared its allegiance to Mammon many years ago, and has served it faithfully ever since.

It started when the Democratic party establishment repudiated and then abandoned the New Deal principles and ideals under Bill Clinton because the opportunity for personal income and advancement was so much greater.

And this has become such a problem that unless one understands the credibility trap of the status quo in a state of systemic corruption, the actions of the Democrats seem neurotic and pointlessly self-defeating. They seem unwittingly caught in a death spiral of much of their own doing. And the question one might ask is 'why?'

Because it is better, at least for some, to rule in hell than to serve in heaven, to have a first class ticket on the Titanic and a reserved place in the lifeboats that it would be to travel with everyone else, in abundant comfort and safety, but without special privileges and perks that sets the very best and most deserving, as they define it, apart.