THE ROAD TO HELL

If turkeys could vote they wouldn’t vote for Christmas, right?

So why would the mega-corporations who donate to the Democrats and Republicans ever allow progressive policies that end regime change wars, provide single-payer health care or a bring reduction in  the use of oil, forgiveness of student debt, regulation of Wall Street or higher taxes for the super-rich?

They won’t. They never will. And those they pay never will. So where does this leave the average American?

Biden and the Democrats certainly won’t do ANYTHING that would cause their major donors any loss of sleep at night.

Strangely Trump and the Republicans have moved just a little leftward in recent years, mostly regarding the regime change war policy. But you will have noticed that Trump has totally recompensed those elites who may be affected by massively upping the amount allocated to so-called defense spending to keep them sweet. (This is going to look pretty strange after November if he brings the vast majority of U.S. troops home but continues to create an enormous “defense” industry with nowhere to show off their new weaponry.)

More importantly, what the hell can Americans do about this two-party system that is impoverishing them to the benefit of the ultra-elites and mega-corporations? The situation keeps on getting worse for the 99% and there seems no help at hand... not if they won’t help themselves by rejecting both main parties. But they have become a given, somehow or other, even though they both work to the great detriment of Americans whose lives come under greater pressure with every passing year and who will clearly never see a return to the ‘good old days’ when life was affordable and purchases of major items were not disappearing out of reach with every passing year.

What would it take to bring about the kind of major change that is required to get the kleptocrats off their backs and the politicians of the two major parties out of their pockets?

It would probably take mass non-violent civil disobedience as well-respected investigative journalist and committed socialist Chris Hedges has advocated for some time now. And very definitely it would take a mass movement of voters away from the two prominent parties to another or others.

Anything short of these two activities will result in the status quo and that status quo is going to become a meat-grinder for all Americans below a certain status in short order. Already the effect of the coronavirus pandemic has been to send $trillions upward to the some of the wealthiest people on the planet, $trillions that won’t come back, $trillions that could have paid for medicare for all, a universal basic income and all the fundamental changes that are so desperately needed to get America back on track in a modern age where income inequality is set to take one exponential leap after another.

A.I., robotics, all-automated factories and warehouses, online education, medical diagnosis and much else is going to take one skillset after another from people and transfer them to the digital world that doesn’t need payments by corporations for workers’ rights, doesn’t need time off, holiday payments or healthcare insurance.

Most Americans are headed down a cul-de-sac currently. They can’t quite see the end point but if they think a little into the future in reference to their situation today and what’s going on in the political world in reference to big business and technological advances they should be able to get a pretty good idea.

When U.S. infrastructure has collapsed even further, when more are bankrupted by medical costs than ever before, when decent work paying a good salary becomes ever harder to find and many turn to crime, when you see your children destitute and desperate, what then...?

As Chris Rea wrote and sang a number of years ago now.

“This ain’t no upwardly-mobile freeway... oh no, this is the road to hell.”

If so, shouldn’t Americans be looking for the next available exit?