Hallmark Nation

Hallmark Nation

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.”

            - Matthew 10:16;17

By J.M. Hamilton (9-9-2017)

The best way to start out today's piece is w/ a little parable.

Once upon a time, in the early sixties, a seventeen-year old Wisconsin farm boy - wanting to avoid the draft for a war that was heating up in Indochina - joined the U.S. Air Force.  College education was out of reach, but the farm boy clearly had future aspirations and goals. The young man was initially stationed in Newfoundland, Canada, where he met a local woman.  Her faith, or religion, was Evangelical, while the Airman's faith was based upon Lutheran church teachings.  The Canadian, too, came from exceptionally humble origins, w/ siblings living under the same roof numbering ten or more. Higher education was not an option for the young lady.

As these things go, the Airman was transferred to Tucson, AZ, and the Canadian moved to Florida, joined up with an older sister, and began to work w/in a bank.  After a short period of time, the young man from Wisconsin called up the Newfoundlander and proposed marriage over the phone.  She accepted, and moved to Arizona.  On their honeymoon they conceived a son.  Three years later, the couple now stationed in California, produced a daughter. The mother, initially, attempted to raise both children in the Evangelical faith, but the father forbid daughter and son to continue to attend service.  Instead - from roughly the age of ten forward - the children attended Lutheran church, and received confirmation in the Lutheran church after attending Catechism.  

Under FDR's highly socialist GI Bill, the father attended college, obtained a degree, and became an Air Force officer. He would later also pick up a masters degree; and his career flourished in the Air Force.  His wife, on the other hand, eschewed higher education: she turned to her faith; attended her church several times a week; and would daily, spend an hour or more in the mornings reading the Bible and praying.  By the time the children were about to start high school and junior high, respectively, the family had moved to Texas (in the early eighties, in the buckle of the Bible Belt).  With the father in the military and an Evangelical mother, both children were raised in an exceptionally strict environment.  The mother started a daily ritual w/ the children by reading a chapter of the Bible, along with prayer before school, when the son - in particular - just wanted morning quiet and to be left alone with his Captain Crunch.

The mother kept the home filled with sermons from South Texas Christian radio stations and the television blaring, while the son retreated to his bedroom, put on his headphones, and cranked up the rock & roll to keep the Evangelicals out of his head.  After preaching fire, fear, and brimstone for any and all moral transgressions, many of the televangelists would be caught up in scams or sexual infidelity, such as the Bakkers and Reverend Swaggart.  Eventually the son picked up a college degree and fled Texas.  Despite their humble beginnings, the farm boy from Wisconsin and the girl from Newfoundland achieved a good degree of financial success, and lived unhappily ever after.  Their daughter would eventually pick up a degree in accounting, become a CPA, and stayed local.

Fast forward to the day after Christmas 2011, mother and son are enjoying breakfast together in San Antonio, Texas, and all hell is about to break loose after the mother tells her son - perhaps for the hundredth time - how persecuted the Evangelicals are in the United States.

A spark lights up in her son's eyes and he decides to tell his mother the unvarnished truth.  To wit:

Really.  Evangelicals are the Republican Party's base; Republicans hold the majority of State Houses, and have stacked the Supreme Court with rightwing jurists favorable to their social views; have controlled the White House from Reagan forward, with the exception of the Clintons (who might as well have been Republican when it comes to Economic policy, law & order race baiting, and catering to Wall Street & the wealthy).

So Evangelicals are far from oppressed, when - despite an alleged separation between church & state - Evangelicals and the GOP have been dictating social policy in this country for decades.  In fact, this nation was founded on fundamentalist Christian mores & values.  Bottom line, the Evangelicals are the American Taliban, practicing their own version of Sharia law.  (Yes, the son took time to explain the Taliban analogy to his mother).

If Evangelicals are oppressed, it’s by the GOP, both economically and politically.  That is, the GOP panders to you as a demographic every four years, only to cast you and your church aside, once the election is won.  This allows the Republican Party to spend the next four years sucking up to billionaires and multinationals, who have been exporting jobs offshore; crushing unions and labor organization; and committing the U.S. to endless warfare. In short the GOP is the party of the rich and they could care less about Evangelicals – or any other Americans - except during an election. So if you are oppressed, it’s by your own church and church leadership, which supports the Republican Party and delivers your vote.

Super-Christian those Republicans, eh?

By the way, wasn't Christ's primary commandment to love your neighbor as yourself?  Don't recall any caveats or codicils from Jesus in the Bible, about loving your neighbor, but only if they live in a gated community, are members of the Assembly of God or some Charismatic Holy Roller Faith, attend a Mega-Church in the Deep South, and happen to be lily white.

And why would Evangelicals and Republicans - who fear Big government, and Big business - be so enamored with Big Churches?  There's a reason why these churches are palaces & the ministers are filthy rich: It’s not because they are donating to the economically disenfranchised and the poor, as Christ would want.

Have you ever noticed.... how despite the GOP stacking SCOTUS, dominating the executive, and often, the legislative branches, for the last 30 years... the abortion issue never quite goes away?  Do you think that's by design?  Abortion is a highly convenient social wedge issue that comes up every four years w/out fail to keep the GOP’s Evangelical base’s focus off the thieves that run this country, and off their own economic plight.  Those thieves would be the US Chamber of Commerce and many multinationals that sit on the Business Roundtable.  If abortion is such a key issue, why hasn’t the executive & legislative branches voted to overturn Roe V Wade?  Why hasn’t SCOTUS overturned it? 

Why… because Evangelicals are being manipulated on this issue.

Do you have any idea of how f'ed over the minority communities are in this country, because of the GOP?  Have you ever heard of Mr. Nixon's racist Southern Strategy?  This is the party Evangelicals support: the Republicans are supported by Nazis, and assorted racists.

If you ever read something other than the Bible, or watched something besides the Hallmark channel ... well maybe you might have a better understanding.

The son sees, within his mother's eyes, that she is distraught and upset, and decides to pause.  Clearly, he’s gone too far, and perhaps this is a little too much information.

The mother retorts, what happened to you... you used to be such a good Republican?  She storms off to her bedroom, locks the door, and begins to pray fervently.

Goddess save us.  It is simply amazing that after the Nazis marched on Charlottesville, and Trump waffled on the condemnation the situation clearly required, that Evangelical Church leadership stood by the P*ssy Grabber in chief.

Even Wall Street CEOs and Private Equity Robber Barons - perhaps the Whores of Babylon themselves - fled POTUS Trump. Not Evangelical leadership, which shows you exactly where their hearts are at.  Mr. Trump - after promising the everyman, and everywoman, touch during the campaign - has given the workingmen and women, who make up his Evangelical base, the shaft at every turn. (Read here.)  

As well documented many Evangelicals are the least educated among the Protestant Christian faiths, and they are the most screwed over by our political class, the financial elite, and Evangelical church leadership.

As the Bible says, they are like sheep among wolves.

And is there anything more lupine than Evangelical church leadership?  Houston mega-church operator, and Prosperity Gospel con-artist, Mr. Joel Osteen, got caught in a highly uncharitable moment, when he failed to open church doors, during Hurricane Harvey.  Then there's multimillionaire Minister, Paula White, standing by her man, Trump, despite the fascism, explicit racism, and destruction of the Goddess' creation (i.e. The Earth) contained w/in GOP & Trump policies.  Good luck defending that.

What an abomination, and how entirely antithetical to Christ's simple message.  These men & women prey upon their flocks by the minute.

Prosperity Gospel is big on the Evangelical circuit, but it's actually based upon Christian dogma as old as time:  That is, Christianity taught from the vantage point of the wealthy, not from the vantage point of the poor.  If God loves you, you're a winner and rich, and if you've done something "sinful" you're poor and a loser.  That’s it in a nutshell, and that’s what all too many Evangelical leaders have actually come to believe.

Divine meritocracy.  Right.

The fact that Christ surrounded himself with the poor and was looking out for the exploited & outcasts, and explained on several occasions that it was highly unlikely the wealthy would enter the Kingdom of God.... somehow gets pushed aside by the whole Prosperity Gospel scam.

No wonder they put the man to death.

Where have we seen a version of Prosperity Gospel before?  Oh yes, the Church in Rome was selling indulgences to wealthy patrons, Mid -Renaissance, which kicked off the Protestant Reformation. The "indulgences" were basically get out of hell, or purgatory, free cards for committing sins here on earth.

Somewhere, on some dimension, one has to wonder.... is the Goddess' blood beginning to boil?  One can only speculate.

Of course, if you look at the GOP and Evangelical dogma, they both practice a fear-based ideology, a divide and conquer strategy, an "us against them" mentality.  

And like the Hallmark channel, both the GOP and Prosperity Gospel offer escapism and fairy tales, like trickle down tax policy, and tithing (that is the practice of giving 10% of your earnings and the Lord will compound your offerings many times over).  I seemed to have missed that one in the eighteen years of daily enlightenment and indoctrination.  Invest in God and get a 1000% rate of return. 

Is there a Christian ETF, or hedge fund for this?  Why hasn’t Wall Street been put out of business?  Why… because it’s a con & a hustle.

If the Lord doesn't respond with a palace or at least a McMansion, it’s because you - Dear Evangelical - did something wrong, or didn't pray hard enough.  Nice.  What’s truly frightening is a lot of people believe this.

Prosperity Gospel and much of the Evangelical spin doubles down on Old Testament law & order, brimstone & punishment, fear & retribution shtick (see the mass incarceration state, brought to you by the GOP, yes, the Clintons, and AG Sessions).  When Evangelical leaders should – one would hope - be focused upon Christ's light & salvation; but “light & salvation” doesn’t keep the flock focused and in control, fear & peer pressure does.  Case in point: some Evangelical Leaders, post Hurricane Harvey, were quick to say the hurricane was a sign of God's wrath for electing a lesbian mayor.  The hubris, narcissism, and pretension - surrounding these carnival barkers - pretending they have the ability to read the Goddess' thoughts... sort of reminds us of the hubris, narcissism, and pretension surrounding our current POTUS.  

Zero humility... many Evangelical leaders actually believe they know all.

Really.  Why is the U.S. - the Land of the Free - the biggest police state and operates the largest prison industrial complex in the world?  Answer: Because, increasingly, our government is being subcontracted out to mercenaries and private contractors.

And to stay on top of the social wars and to keep their political party in power, Evangelical Church leadership - either directly or indirectly - support the GOP's highly unchristian, and highly uncharitable, policies.  Be those policies voter suppression, gutting the social safety net (which also supports poor Evangelical whites), crushing DACA and the lives of immigrant children, or explicit and tacit acceptance of Nazis and Fascists w/in the Party.

The GOP, Hallmark channel programming, and Prosperity gospel remind me of some other things the poor and undereducated are often fond of: The Lottery, games of chance, and fantasy.

It's hard to get upset with some members of the Evangelical community; there will always be some among us - who have no or limited interest in education or politics - and that's entirely understandable.  Politics is a blood sport; and politics is brutal, nasty, and short.  Education is challenging, expensive, and taxing; and staying informed of current events – a prerequisite for a Democratic form of government – can consume energy, resources, and time. 

Just thinking about it makes one want to curl up into the fetal position, suck one's thumb, and watch the anodyne & saccharin Hallmark Channel - the Fantasy, Lily White Network.

Therefore, it’s important for all Americans to look out for and educate, where and when possible, family members & friends, so they are not exploited or become fodder for the Party of Fascism.  (Personally, I have nothing against Evangelicals, but what I do take issue with is the Apex Super-predators, who all to often run the Evangelical Churches & Charismatic Faiths, and who often manipulate their flocks daily.  If a person wants to live an ascetic – monk like - existence, being led astray & manipulated by false teachings & fantasy thinking, knock yourself out.  Where I get off the Evangelical freedom train is when the Church leadership seeks to legislate their values and social mores upon the nation, via the GOP.  Don’t want an abortion or to be gay… don’t have an abortion or become LGBTQ; but don’t seek out legislation banning these services and individuals, either.  These are personal decisions, and in the case of LGBTQ community - genetic code, and Evangelical hierarchy should respect, or at least be tolerant of, both.)

You may get a black eye in the process of educating a friend or family member on some of the aforementioned hypocrisy surrounding the Evangelical Church & Charismatic Faiths, but saving a life – perhaps a soul - is worth the effort.

That said, it would be inexcusable for anyone with a conscience, morals or values to give Evangelical Leadership a pass in supporting the Party of fear, loathing, and fascism.

As for mom, we patched things up w/in an hour.  She came through our discussion a little more aware and wiser; and to the best of my knowledge, she has never contributed to, or voted for, the GOP ever since. 

Good for her. 

I owe my mom a lot.  She brought me into this world; she gave me dual Canadian/US citizenship; she taught and encouraged me to read at an early age (setting off an explosion of life time learning); and she instilled in me a faith in the Goddess above.  Like 95% of the moms out there, she’s priceless.

Oh where or where did that good little Texas Republican boy run off to?

Selah.

 Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2017

Neoliberalism Blowback

Neoliberalism Blowback

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.

And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . ." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.  Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

- Letter from a Birmingham Jail, MLK    April 16, 1963

By J.M. Hamilton (8-26-2017)

If Mr. Trump has accomplished nothing else in the first eight months of his presidency, he has removed the "crypto" modifier often utilized when describing the Republican Party as "fascist."

There is nothing crypto about Mr. Trump, or the fascists that support him.  It's all very much out in the open now, and has been since the nation’s founding.

Which is a good thing, because the Party of Lincoln, which has metastasized into the Party of Trump, has laid all its cards on the table.  The Republican Party, since passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, has pandered to bigotry throughout the land, under Mr. Nixon's 1968 Southern strategy... a strategy that has been utilized by every GOP presidential candidate ever since (and more than a few GOP congresspersons).  

The Cheeto Messiah, as w/ all things Trumpian, has taken Mr. Nixon's strategy to a whole new level, that is to say, a whole new low.  Trump is a divider and appeals to the baser demons of our nature.  Leave it to Mr. Trump - a dullard and incompetent on most prerequisites for the presidency - to obtain a self-earned PhD in dictatorships, division, and sophistry.

The racism and racists within the Republican Party can no longer be denied or overlooked.  Mr. Trump - w/ a preternatural ability to lie w/out conscience - has captured the Party, and now, woe unto these United States and the rights of humanity

It is the duty & responsibility of every American to call out the fascists and the haters, frequently and often.  Four hundred thousand American soldiers, who died during WWII fighting fascism, would expect nothing less.  JMH has attempted to avoid this topic for a long time, but apparently, one cannot write about economics & politics in America, w/out writing about the bigotry, homophobia, and misogyny that is endemic from sea to troubled sea.

Some might think JMH has finally jumped the shark.  But given the events of the last two weeks, one would either have to be completely nescient, or in denial, about Mr. Trump, and his base of support, not to understand the obvious.

JMH has written before about willful ignorance, self-deception, and painfully, about Mr. Richard M. Nixon and his racist strategy (otherwise known down through the ages, as divide & conquer).  It's no longer enough for former Republican presidents, like the Bush family, to come out and denounce POTUS Trump's remarks, and assert the moral equivalency - Trump utilized to describe the two sides in the Charlottesville' disaster - does not represent the Party's views.  Nor is it enough for GOP Senators to distance themselves from POTUS Trump.

Particularly, since as noted by myself and others (read here and here), it is not merely Mr. Trump, who is the manifestation of racism within the Party, but the policies of the GOP, themselves, that are fascist.  Racism is so interwoven into the U.S. social fabric that many Americans of “good will” no longer see it, or are blind to it.

Now there are those who are demonstrably racist w/in the GOP, and there are those who willfully - or unwittingly - turn a blind eye to the bigotry and white supremacy built into the Party's policies.  There are also businessmen - CEOs and high net worth individuals - who are so embarrassed by POTUS Trump's actions (or perhaps, more to the point, are worried about the impact that their association w/ Trump might have upon their bottom line), that they are willing to publicly denounce and disassociate themselves from the president.

That is to say, not everybody who is a Republican, or who associates with the Republican Party, is a racist.  However, what can be said is that the Party, and its policies, are now so overtly racist that blissed out ignorance, or the need to further one's business interests, no longer provides an excuse to partner with or support the party of fascism.

Shockingly and sadly, there are two notable groups of citizens that have been more than willing to support the GOP: CEOs and Fundamentalist Christians.  Both groups should know better, and yet both groups have been unequivocal in their support for Mr. Trump and GOP policies.  Today, we address corporate & multinational America's affiliation w/ the POTUS, and next go around, JMH will dive further into the rightwing Fundamentalist Christian agenda.

So let's cut to it.  Specifically, what policies - advocated and promoted by the GOP  - are racist?

For starters, there's law & order politics, which is the manifestation of Jim Crow in the 20th & 21st centuries. America locks up a disproportionate number of minorities for simple drug possession.  Commit multi-million, or billion, dollar fraud on Wall Street and you almost always walk.  But a person of color gets caught with a joint in their pocket and there is a serious probability of jail time.  And even though there have been enlightened moves away from mass incarceration policies, by both political parties, the War on Drugs - and the War on minorities - continues to this very day (thanks in large part to Trump's attorney general – Mr. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III). 

Voter suppression, and POTUS Trump's Voter Fraud commission, has one aim and that is to disenfranchise minority voters.  Couple this with gerrymandering and you have a highly overt attempt to keep minority voters - who typically vote Democratic - from either casting the ballot, or marginalizing their votes and democratic outcomes.

The policies of austerity, and safety net reduction, are directly aimed at the indigent and minorities.  The GOP has proven time and time again, that they have zero reservations about expanding the deficit, or national debt, to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and war w/out end.  Conversely, the GOP will do everything in their power to cut funding & spending programs that aid children, women, and those in need (and in many instances, these programs benefit - not only minorities - but white voters as well).

The aforementioned Southern Strategy, or dog whistle politics, is a strategy designed to play disaffected white voters off of minority voters, when in reality both groups of voters should be aligned in common cause against the Oligarchy.  Every day that racial prejudice, animus, and socio-economic discrimination plays out is another red letter day for the plutocracy that rules over us all.  Social division rewards, almost exclusively, the Oligarchy and the billionaire class.  

Why do you think Trump exploits division and the politics of resentment like a Pro?

The GOP, in particular, has supported the Ayn Rand economy on steroids, deregulation, and free trade uber alles.  These policies allow Wall Street to prey upon the poor and the disenfranchised with predatory loans, and allow multinationals to flee offshore, in order to avoid taxation, exploit foreign labor, and commit regulatory arbitrage.  This has led to a race to the bottom across the globe, w/ nation states played off upon one another, in terms of jobs, tax base, and the gutting of services provided to those in need.  And the West’s politicians either don’t care, or haven’t the courage to call it out.

The Ayn Rand, or neoliberal economy, has directly led to industry consolidation, and the formation of predatory cartels and monopolies. Many economic sectors and industries are consolidated, so as to be dominated by one or a very small number of players.  This degree of industry consolidation is highly disadvantageous and often equates to a form of economic discrimination, particularly weighing against those with limited education and means (call it monopolistic taxation w/out representation).  Most frightening is the degree of consolidation w/in the MSM, internet commerce, internet service & content providers, and telecommunications companies.

The consolidation of the MSM is George Orwell’s nightmare and a dictator’s dream.

Civil asset forfeiture, the war on drugs, war w/out end (under the premise of fighting terror, while being allied to the number one sponsor of terror, Saudi Arabia), the criminal justice industrial complex, the cash bail system, and regressive tax codes, etc., etc., etc...   these are all additional GOP chains that bind & weigh disproportionately upon children, the poor, minorities, and women. 

The GOP’s attacks upon women’s reproductive rights, and medical services, is another patriarchal position designed to keep women in their place.

“In American history, we’ve never had business leaders decline national service when requested by the president,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management. “They’ve now turned their backs on him.”    - NY Times   (Photo:  Mr. Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group, meeting with President Trump in April)

The great irony in all this is not only are the GOP's policies racist, retrograde, and designed enrich an elite few at the expense of many (many of the policies above have a business angle, or are adopted to mitigate taxation upon the connected & the wealthy), but the policies above also harm Trump's base of support.  For not only do these policies discriminate against persons of color, but no few of these policies in number have a socio-economic bent that adversely impacts poor whites as well.  It's also important to note that the Democratic Party has its own history w/ racism, and in more recent times (particularly under POTUS Clinton) had outright co-opted many of the GOP’s policies.  That said, the progressive - Sanders/Warren - wing of the Democratic Party is working to move the Party away from discriminatory and neoliberal policies.

Many CEOs correctly denounced Mr. Trump's comments over Charlottesville, and walked off his advisory boards and committees.  In doing so, the majority of these executives also knew full well that they would continue to work with the Trump administration, behind closed doors, and continue to support the party of fascism through campaign contributions, donations, PACs, 401(c)s, lobbying, etc.

And it is this kind of behavior that should not continue. The GOP, as the party of fascism, must either be abolished or reformed.  Just as Nazis are no longer tolerated in Germany, America must wake up to the fact that we cannot tolerate the Republican Party, in its present incarnation.  CEOs and high net worth individuals need to demonstrate - not only sound business acumen - but a profound understanding of the political environment we all live in. 

Most importantly, the Oligarchy needs to demonstrate that they are keenly aware that one American political party in particular – and its policies - are ripping this nation apart at the seams.  After all, what will it do to their quarterly earnings if this nation is at civil war, or if their products & services are boycotted, because of continued multinational support for oppression & tyranny?

Call it neoliberal blowback… call it what you like, but the sick patient – that is our nation – is growing worse, not better.  Right-wing conspiracy theorists once believed Obama would create a crisis before leaving office, so that he would not have to leave the presidency.  JMH always believed that such speculation was idle and incorrect, but with POTUS Trump on the other hand, apparently, anything is possible.

 Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2017