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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Bacevichian theater and our reality


To listen to Republicans talk about Democrats, to listen to Democrats talk about Republicans, if you take their rhetoric at face value you would reach the conclusion that these two parties are polar opposites, that they believe in fundamentally different things.  But most of that is theater.  The truth is that the similarities between Republicans and Democrats on very important issues are far more important in determining the substance of our politics than the differences.  And in that sense the two-party system really becomes a one-party system. 

                                                                                                     
                                                                                                      - Andrew Bacevich

 

            Re: The theater of elections (see minute 6 of Bacevich talking with Lawrence R. Velvel): perhaps we/politicians spend so much money on elections because, at the national level for sure or for sure in states more populated than Idaho, we/politicians are creating our reality.  How much higher stake in the outcome of some event can one have?  Masters of reality.  Politicians and the media create a dream state that we live in: we are paying well or having money spent on us in order to weave this fantasy.  Even if one says that any reality can find its own justification, you must agree the amount of money spent speaks of the immensity of the task. 

            May I try and convince you to vote in a system that you know has serious flaws? – that is the question that successful election campaigns must answer.  At stake, to state it summarily, is the corporate-backed, consumerist, money-making world.  Actors from this quarter are pumping money in and keeping the system alive because it seems to be a successful way to extend and legitimate our/their reality.

            By competing against, say, an incumbent, the challenger may speak of problems, of areas where he could do better.  But in the realm of Republican versus Democrat the field of combat is narrowly constrained and third party voices are rarely heard.  This is Bacevich’s Incumbent Party, the Republicans and the Democrats different wings of a single party/reality.

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