Brexit & the Wall

Brexit & the Wall

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.  We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

-       MLK, I Have a Dream

By:  JM Hamilton  (1-27-2019)

A person can learn a great deal about one's own government by observing other governments around the globe.  The UK Tory government, presently led by PM May, not only provides a basis of comparison, but echoes many of the problems Americans see w/in their own government.  Namely, how the legislative body - in the UK, the Parliament, and the US, the Congress - consistently fails the people.

If we study the Brexit phenomenon - the truest form of a democracy, whereby the British people voted to stay in or out of the EU, via referendum - and Parliament's subsequent reaction, and ongoing behavior - we see similar parallels w/ our own US Congress.

The British government has torn itself inside out over the referendum, where a majority of the UK's citizens voted to leave the EU.  Tories, like Republicans & Establishment Dems, typically align themselves w/ banks, big business, neoliberalism, and globalism.  But Brexit and the ongoing wave of populism - seen throughout the West – have turned that dynamic on its head. To such an extent that when May entered power, shortly after the referendum, we saw the Prime Minister attacking the BOE (the Bank of England, the US equivalent is the Federal Reserve), as aiding the banks and the wealthy, post 2008 banking crash, at the expense of ordinary British citizens. Observers also saw the PM recommend several populist themes, not the least of which was placing labor representation on corporate and multinational boards.  More recently, PM May announced that government austerity - at the expense of the 99% - was dead.  

Amazing what one simple referendum can do to shake up the establishment.  The subsequent gridlock - since the referendum in 2016 - arrives from two corners: The EU elites are hell bent on making the UK's exit, or Brexit, from the European Union as painful as possible (and in the process, the EU aristocracy is confirming the very reason why those British, who voted to leave, did so); and the second source of gridlock is the UK Parliament, itself. Here, the Parliament doesn't quite know what it wants.  The House of Commons can either cave into the demands of the EU & UK elites - big banks, The City, multinationals, etc. - and defy the referendum (that is, do a deal w/ the EU on the EU's terms); or it can quit the EU Customs Union cold turkey, what is often referred to as a hard Brexit (that is to say, honor the referendum, since the EU refuses to negotiate in good faith).

Does the UK Parliament then respect the wishes of the donor class - the elites, or does it honor democracy and the vox populi?  One thing is certain, the House of Commons has no idea of what the solution should be, and probably resents, greatly, being put in this predicament by the proceeding Tory government.  Of course, the UK elites would have never voted to leave the EU, which defines crony-capitalism.

And this is where what is happening in the UK is quite instructive, as to why the US Congress seemingly is found w/in a permanent stasis.

Note, all the happy talk of reining in the Bank of England is gone; note, the populist reforms originally suggested by the May government, like labor representation on corporate boards, gone.   Austerity... still alive and very much well in the UK, except for the welfare handed out to The City, and the banks, and the well-to-do continue unabated.  If you think banking deregulation is a problem in the United States, you should see what goes on in London (but - hand it to the Brits - at least London will place bank CEOs on trial for their crimes).

Where is JMH going with this:  Parliament - intentionally or unintentionally - likely the former - has allowed Brexit to suck all the oxygen out of the House of Commons.  It seems that Brexit, for the House of Commons, has become an excuse to do nothing.  What of the issues that drove British citizens to vote for Brexit in the first place (?): wage & wealth inequality; the complete lack of opportunity or possibility for upward mobility w/in British society; open borders that suppress wages; and the rigged system that favors the elite and the financial aristocracy?  

The Parliament is no where to be found, and of course, we'd expect this from the Conservative Party in power, the Tories. 

See the parallels yet?  We just went through two years of our own ultra-conservative US government, where Republicans dominated all four branches of government, including the Federal Reserve.  And the rich got richer, and the only thing the Republican led Congress did was pass tax cuts for the wealthy, and stack the federal judiciary w/ right-wing politicians wearing black robes.  It's almost as if the legislative branch of both the UK and US governments are no longer coequal but subservient to their respective executive branches, party leaders, and the donor class.  It's almost as if gridlock - or the crisis du jour, be it Brexit or presently in the states, the government shutdown & the wall - is a get out of jail card for the legislative body to do absolutely nothing.  And what role does the MSM play in all this?

Interestingly, per ballotpedia.org, the 116th Congress, headed up by Speaker Pelosi, is expected to be in session less time than the 115th Congress, headed up by Speaker Ryan.  That’s so the Congress can spend more time raising money.  What are we paying these people for?  Oh, that's right, their government salaries are chicken feed compared to the money received by their true paymasters, the oligarchy. 

There are 330 Conservative Party members in the lower house of Parliament; and in the US House of Representatives, there are 235 Democrats. It's almost as if these Parliamentarians and Representatives have never heard of the division of labor, or empowering committees to bring legislation to the floor, post-haste.  These legislative bodies appear too fearful or timid to make laws for the benefit of the people.  Then again, K-Street isn’t likely to support a people’s agenda, and it is K-Street lobbyist who write a great deal of the legislation passed by Congress anyway.

And who benefits most from the status quo, the rigged system, the capture of the UK and US governments, particularly the legislative bodies?

Here's a hint, they were all at Davos last week.

And just like PM May's happy - populist talk, there's been a great deal of happy talk among Dems about catching up w/ their electorate, which has, allegedly, shifted left in short order.

So just as Brexit sucked the energy out of Parliament, the POTUS's and House Speaker's bitter feud - over the government shutdown and the wall – appears to have sucked the life out of the American people's agenda and the US congress.

At this point, if the Dems truly were interested in championing the people - instead of serving the donor class - they'd walk and chew gum at the same time.  They'd fight Trump's wall, but they'd also pass and send a raft of legislation over to the Senate, and humiliate the Senate Republicans for not passing same.  There is so much low hanging political fruit - policy positions the American people support, overwhelmingly -  that, if House Dems acted, it would likely all but certify the 2020 POTUS as a Democrat.

What low hanging fruit are we talking about JM?  

Glad you asked:  For starters, the majority of Americans support a Green New Deal and renewable energy; a majority of US citizens support ending credit card wars in the Middle East (where's the revised AUMF?); a majority support raising taxes on the super-wealthy (but I guess that would mean raising taxes on Speaker Pelosi and many other congresspersons, unless they exempted themselves); where's the federal legislation to protect women's reproductive rights, and gay rights (again, supported by the majority of Americans); and the House bill backing America’s support for a higher minimum wage?  Wasn't Chuck & Nancy, and Dem leadership, highly supportive of reining in cartels and monopolies... or was that all campaign BS?

Crickets.

(That’s because the Dem Establishment does not want to acknowledge the failure of Clintonian economic & foreign policies  --– that is, globalism, neoliberalism, and the embrace of Silicon Valley & Wall Street, as well as, its ongoing & present love affair w/ the Deep State & endless credit card wars --- for what they are, political malpractice.  Instead, Dem eminentos are betting the farm that the Trump campaign’s Russian ties will vindicate - or at least distract from -  years of failing forty percent of Americans, and one in five children.  And given the POTUS’ level of popularity that might be a winning Dem strategy for 2020.  But if the Dems enter power then, w/ the same set of sadistic GOP-Lite policies, including mass incarceration - until relatively recently, a Dem establishment favorite - the new Dem emperor will quickly be found out as wearing, yet again, no clothes.  Calls for “hope” – backed by no political action, from our elected politicians – only work once.)

Americans increasingly believe they have a right to health and affordable healthcare, and the Constitution says as much (something about unalienable rights to: life, liberty, and happiness).  If nothing else, perhaps, the push for Medicare for All will finally encourage private sector healthcare interests to clean up their act.  America has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, and yet, life expectancy is in decline.

If the Speaker wants to engage in a power play w/ the POTUS (aka biz as usual w/in Washington) - a president who will do anything to distract from the Mueller probe, and solidify his base of support - that's fine.... go at it, but at least take care of the American people along the way.  I know, the Speaker has only been in power a matter of weeks; but if past is prologue (this is Nancy’s second go as House leader), don’t expect a burst of energy, or a surge of progressive legislation under Pelosi’s stewardship.  The ACA, premised upon a right-wing think tank's white paper, and bailing out Wall Street banks - Speaker Pelosi's signature achievements, to date - are not exactly what one would call advancing FDR's cause.

Speaker Pelosi is the establishment, as POTUS Trump found out this week.

If the energy level we've seen from the 116th Congress, so far, is what we can expect over the next 23 months, what's going to happen when hearings on the POTUS begin in earnest?  

Answer:  Absolutely nothing.  Progressive initiatives and legislation will stall.  The Dem establishment will, likely, show their true colors once again - at least under present management - and the donor class will be pleased. 

Speaker Pelosi all but guaranteed this, when she doubled down on pay-go as one of her very first official acts; that is to say, another round of austerity for the American people, as well as, continued and record rates of low taxation for the uber wealthy (best illustrated by examining the tax tables from the 1950s forward).  Of course, I really hope the Speaker surprises, and proves me wrong on all this.

In short, the more than likely, lack of House-driven progressive initiatives and legislation maybe by design, w/ gridlock being utilized as an excuse for House Dems to not even try.  If you need another example of a comatose – money sucking - legislative body, too fearful to act, just examine the House of Commons from across the pond.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2019