California Uber Alles
By Duane Roberts In his pivotal work, The State and Revolution, V. I. Lenin epitomized the essence of capitalist democracy when, quoting Karl Marx, pointed out elections are mechanisms in which "the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them.” For proof of this undeniable truism, we need not look any further than last year’s gubernatorial election where then-California Attorney General Jerry Brown defeated billionaire former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, the latter who spent a record-breaking $178.5 million of her own fortune in an furtive attempt to buy the seat outright. Despite the usual round of delusional claims made by Democratic party liberals the newly-crowned Governor would offer a bold and refreshing alternative to the cronyism and gimmickry of his action-figure hero predecessor, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, political reality being as it is, of course, is much more sordid. Almost from the moment Brown was sworn into that office, he has veered the ship of state government to the hard right, cutting and slashing the budget wherever he can, mostly eliminating $11.2 billion from programs and services that benefit millions of working and indigent Californians: everybody from single moms to senior citizens. In his first 100 days, Brown, the so-called “lesser of two evils,” has been far more successful at dismantling California’s meager social welfare state than every Republican party politician who has occupied the Governor’s mansion since a mediocre B-grade movie actor by the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan was elected in 1966. Click on the following link for the rest of the article: http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2011/06/california-uber-alles-2/ ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/