Macron Fails to Look in the
Mirror
“I do not want to belong
to a generation of sleepwalkers. I do not want to belong to a generation that
will have forgotten its own past or that will refuse to see the torments of its
own present,” he said. “I want to belong to a generation that has decided
firmly to defend its democracy.”
-Leaders worldwide are falling for a ‘deadly illusion’ – Washington Post
By J.M. Hamilton
(4-28-2018)
French President
Emmanuel Macron – former investment banker - visited the United States this
week, and gave a speech before Congress (the speech was both elegant & entertaining). He recently gave a very similar
speech before the European Parliament, in which he railed against the decline
of democracy, free trade, and multilateralism (And perhaps a little more
circumspect or less overt, many European leaders have lamented the decline of the
US empire and rising talk of US disengagement w/ the world).
As reported in the
Washington Post:
And he’s right. To some degree centrist parties have
had it handed to them in Germany, Italy, and yes, even France
(where Macron road an angry wave that eviscerated France’s two centrist
parties). In the US voters in 2016 turned to POTUS Trump, and Senator
Sanders, and rejected establishment candidates but for one. (That Trump
has reversed himself - on many populist issues - and has adopted the US
Chamber’s, and Biz Roundtable’s, agenda is another story.)
Where Macron, and
centrist parties, fail is in naming the reasons why citizens throughout the
West are rejecting: free trade; establishment political parties; neoliberalism;
and w/in the U.S., our global empire. Nor does Macron offer solutions to
the rise of nationalism, and voters turning to far right political parties, and
in no few instances embracing Green Party and socialist politicians (who
certainly have better ideas & solutions, than the discord, division, &
hatred offered up by the fascists, and the status quo afforded by establishment
political parties).
Mr. Macron is dead
wrong. We are not sleepwalking away from democracy, we know full well why democracy
and neoliberalism are failing. And the answers are simple… indeed, right
before Mr. Macron’s nose, if he only cared enough to look or provide a honest
appraisal. Then again, when Mr. Macron
refers to democracy, perhaps he’s referring to the current rigged system, where
politicians are owned and respond almost exclusively to the billionaire class.
The bottom line is
centrist parties - along w/ democracy, itself - have been captured throughout
the West by an unscrupulous billionaire class, and owned politicians, in turn,
have failed the people.
Economically,
corporations and multinationals have been allowed to consolidate so that
Western economies are dominated by oligopoly and utilities. These
utilities - w/ the help of “democratic” government - have crushed labor, wages
have stagnated, and far too many people live a precarious day-to-day existence.
Likewise, few
Americans have any vested interest in our global empire, aimless wars w/out
end, and failed nation building. Moreover,
one cannot pick up a paper - or examine the news flow - w/out reading how yet
another defense contractor is shafting the American taxpayer again, w/
cost over runs, fraud, and weapons systems that don’t work.
In the US, the
plutocracy has voted themselves tremendous welfare, in the form of tax relief, while sticking the tab to future generations and an ever-shrinking
middle class.
No wonder voters
throughout the West have had it with neoliberalism, which is shorthand for
socialism for plutocrats: bank bailouts; crony government; free trade
agreements negotiated behind closed doors that lead to the offshoring of labor
and tax avoidance; capture of fiscal, monetary, & trade policies; and the monopoly – rip off - economy.
Guess what Jupiter?
Until Western leaders take that honest self-assessment and act to make our
economies - and governments - work for the people, desperate citizens will
reach further left & right (beyond owned centrist parties), reject multilateralism, and seek to close open borders at a time
jobs have become scarce and the living experience for far too many in the West
has become hopeless. As for Macron’s
dream of greater pan-European control by the EU, the people no longer trust
their own national governments. They
certainly aren’t going to want to report into - or cede greater authority to -
a government in Brussels. An EU
government that is greatly removed from the accountability of the common
citizen.
Western leaders - and governments - aren't falling for a deadly illusion. They're falling over barrels of money and billionaires.
Multinationals are
said to prize stability… great for operating margins and hitting analyst
expectations.
It should come as no
surprise then, that Western citizens also pine for stability; that is to say, a
steady paycheck that pays a living wage, and the absurd notion - particularly
w/in the US - that they not go bankrupt from medical expense. But
democratic governments - coopted and owned by the wealthy, along w/
globalization & technology run amok - are proving anything but stable for
the 99%.
Which means the world
the 1% have created - for themselves - is unstable for the kleptocracy.
In fact, democracy,
free trade/globalization, the foreign policy establishment - that applies the
US military as a one size fits all solution to every global problem – may have
sewn the seeds of their own destruction, because it only works for the few. Crony democracy is no substitute
for democratic institutions and political parties that look out for the
people. Cheap goods dumped on US shores - brought to you by globalization
and monopolies - aren’t worth a nickel to citizens, who don’t possess jobs, or who
possess jobs that fail to pay a living wage.
As for war w/out end,
in case Mr. Macron failed to notice, the US is bankrupt. America can no longer pick up the foreign
policy/national security tab for Europe. It is worth noting, US involvement in the Middle East has created a
refugee crisis that Europe will be dealing w/ for decades to come.
Within the US,
there’s a lesson for the Democratic Party. To wit, keep pandering to banksters, the tech giants in Silicon Valley, and the military industrial complex,
and the blue wave you’re likely to ride in November may break early and
recede. Leaving failed GOP-Lite economic policies exposed, gasping for
oxygen, and stranded on the beach. It’s not enough for Dems to be liberal
on social issues. They are going to need
to find ways to make the economy, & government, work for the people
again, and that likely means upsetting some members of the oligarchy/donor
class.
Quelle horreur!
As for the malaise
Macron correctly identifies but then fails to address, thank you establishment
political parties. Thank you kleptocrats that own and operate decaying
democracies throughout the West.
You broke it… now its
time to own it, and fix it.
If you think
authoritarian or totalitarian regimes are the way to go…look at what they do to
billionaires in Saudi Arabia.
Copyright JM Hamilton
Publishing 2018
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