"That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free
We got to install microwave ovens custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators we gotta move these color TV's
Now that ain't workin' that's the way to do it
Play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and chicks for free."
Dire Straits, Money For Nothing
Here is
a link to Reality Asserts Itself Part 9, the interviews between Paul Jay and historian Thomas Frank.
America has institutionalized, has created economic and legal barriers to entry, in its current 'two party system.'
And now that both parties have given themselves over to Big money, albeit in various ways and slightly different forms, any dissent to the mandated narrative are finding difficult footing and expression. We saw that clearly in the 2016 election, but the US is hardly alone in this.
Thomas Frank says, 'They can't see it, Paul.' Indeed. There seems to be a lot of that going around, on both sides of the aisle and in the audience and professional galleries, Thomas.
That is the nature of the credibility trap. It is a well spring of self-interested hypocrisy and the misuse of words.
Frank's comments about the bible-believing pious Hillary are naively presented to the point of being almost sad, or else they would just be knee slapping hilarious. How about giving us the chapter and verse for the bible passage concerning 'whited sepulchers.' Granted, Bill and Hill could be thought of at the Jim and Tammy Faye of American televangelist politics. Paul Jay does well to maintain his composure.
That is how it is, these days however. As Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead put it so well, 'the lesser of two evils is still evil.' Hypocrisy and lies notwithstanding.
Don't get me wrong in this. The GOP is the worst, almost beyond all redemption. I think what is so cloying about the Democrats is that they are scripted to be the good guys in this melodrama, and willingly act the part. And yet their venality is showing.
Americans may loathe a conman or a villain, but they really despise a hypocrite. And that is 'what happened.'
I think we are seeing a global phenomenon, a kind of a mass revulsion against that well polished hypocrisy. And like most revolutions, in its anger it tends to make some very bad choices.
When one has picked a side, committed themselves as it were, and is rooting for either 'Red vs. Blue' in the games, it is all too easy to get caught up in the hypocrisy and selective morality of partisanship.
Even when it is clear that the guys running those games could care less about their loyal fans, in their quest for power and big money. Like modern day professional football.
