JBird4049 on Trying to Understand the World

[JBird4049]

The modern Democratic Party, really the entire political establishment in Washington, follow what is called the “Washington Consensus,” which is an economic policy of austerity with lower taxes, reduction of regulations, and cutbacks in the social safety net along with efforts to privatize government services. Neoliberalism.

The Republicans do have more extreme positions, but the Democrats have tried to privatize Social Security and Medicare with Republican cooperation. It just has been blocked by popular rage and Medicare is still being slowly privatized like the British National Health Service is. Google the term “Grand Bargain” with the two American parties with regards to tax and welfare benefit cuts along with Wall Street lobbying for the privatization of Social Security into a gigantic 401K plan for Americans. To be run by Wall Street firms for a service fee.

More generally, it is the elimination of most of the New Deal and is what is generally imposed on countries seeking loans from the World Bank. It is essentially what was called Reaganonics or what President George H. W. Bush called Voodoo Economics.

Remember that the only real differences between the two major parties are their putative differences in social issues and those issues are often more of a façade than actual beliefs or policies. I mean, if the Democratic Party had really believed that the right to choose to have an abortion was really important, they could have codified it into federal law much of the time between 1973’s Roe v. Wade and now. However, just like with gun control, it is a useful tool for getting the base energized, get the donations, and more votes.

But even the economic ideologies of both parties, which have some differences, are both still essentially the same and both are forgotten anyways as soon as there is another war to fund without raising any taxes.