BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

Republicans Use Chaos as a Shock Doctrine to Create Authoritarian Rule

By Mark Karlin

There is a method to this madness of chaos and obstructionism that is the hallmark of modern Republicanism.

It is to do politically what Naomi Klein detailed in her economic analysis in the "Shock Doctrine"; it is to so bollix and confuse and make feel vulnerable the displaced white working and middle class that they will turn to authoritarian leadership out of fear.

Fear is the cudgel of the GOP leadership across the nation, and the "victimization" of white people (particularly the white male) is the emotional drumbeat of the right wing media echo chamber.

Together, they have converged to ignite the Townhall Terrorists and create an incipient threat of violence and revolt against democracy in order to establish a white rightwing tyrannical corporate government with a GOP leadership.

The corporations that now basically run the government need four things to achieve their goals of unregulated global commerce: 1) politicians in their pocket; 2) corporate/GOP media that conveys propaganda instead of truth; 3) anxious white Americans fed fear by winger media; and 4) entrenched wealth willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a shadow propaganda ministry of think tanks, "analysts," government regulators on the take, etc.

Together, this merger of media, corporations (which owns the mainstream media) and government is called fascism.  Fascism uses scapegoats -- "liberals" -- and lies fostered by the likes of an army of high-paid media "Tokyo Roses" to keep the working class and racists pumped up in their "victimhood" and resentment that democracy has evolved into an America that is no longer a nation of "white entitlement."

But all this is accomplished for one reason: to ensure that the U.S. government meets the needs of the multi-national corporations and not the citizens of the state.

The battle we have been facing since the '60s boils down to this: does America exist to fulfill the destiny of the majority of its population or does it exist to enhance the economic wealth of its corporations?

The Townhall Terrorists (who are losing out economically by the very corporations using them as shock troops) are useful tools for the latter, egged on by media shills who are experts in demagoguery.

BuzzFlash has been publishing for almost 10 years, but the pernicious impact of the corporate mainsteam media remains the most threatening gun aimed at the heart of our Constitution.  And it continues to win victory after victory in the propaganda wars, given that Democratic administrations never really have been able to counter the false framing and lies that come out of television news, in particular.  Yes, we have made some inroads on MSNBC, but Rachel and Keith are preaching to the converted -- and GE will jettison them whenever they go too far in threatening the parent company's corporate profits (much of it based on the defense industry and the likes of nuclear power).

After all these years, a large segment of seniors don't even know that Medicare is a government insurance program.  The GOP, with the help of the corporate media, has managed to turn large numbers of seniors against government health insurance while the same seniors threaten elected officials not to touch Medicare.

This is pathetic.  It's a failure of wealthy liberals and progressives to invest in media.  It's a failure of all the money invested in corporate media criticism sites to do anything but give Bill O'Reilly a target, because the corporate media hasn't changed one iota since it skewered the Clintons.  In fact, it's gotten worse, pushing the edge of the envelope so far that we might as well be listening to Goebbels, when you have the likes of Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, etc., promoting violence with such glib ease before a massive television audience.

The purpose of the Townhall Terrorists is to do the work of the corporations in protecting their de facto control over our government by creating chaos, confusion and fear.

And they are succeeding -- in the face of a White House that once again thinks you can buy peace with the enemy.

Big money is winning over the advocates of a nation of the people, by the people and for the people.

Instead, just replace people with corporations in the Gettysburg Address and you have the difference between our nation then and now.