{"id":170972,"date":"2020-10-26T12:00:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=170972"},"modified":"2020-10-21T07:36:01","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T06:36:01","slug":"us-presidential-campaign-spectacle-distracts-from-essential-issues-while-playing-the-race-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/10\/us-presidential-campaign-spectacle-distracts-from-essential-issues-while-playing-the-race-card\/","title":{"rendered":"US Presidential Campaign Spectacle: Distracts from Essential Issues while Playing the Race Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 Oct 2020 – <\/em>With the seemingly interminable US presidential campaign season mercifully drawing to a close, the buzz is about a possible coup. That would make the US one of the few countries in recent history to experience regime change<\/a> not masterminded by a US embassy, because there is no US embassy in Washington.<\/p>\n

There are other reasons why a coup is unlikely. Namely, most of the politically active public believes<\/a> that they live in an exceptional democracy. This conviction is held despite the abysmal candidate choices they are given and the obscene mountains of money<\/a> backing them. Surely, the ruling elites would not want to disabuse a quiescent citizenry of this delusion<\/a> by allowing the naked coercive state to be exposed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vox.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Symmetry of the Two-Party Duopoly<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, we have a marvelous symmetry of contention. Republicans accuse Democrats of collusion with Antifa to establish a socialist tyranny. Democrats accuse Republicans of marching to a fascist dictatorship with the Proud Boys.<\/p>\n

On the right, former Reagan sub-cabinet official Paul Craig Roberts<\/a> has gone off the rails in an anti-Semitic and white supremist article: \u201cDemocrats Have Planned a Coup If Trump Wins Reelection.\u201d John Daniel Davidson, political editor at The Federalist<\/em>, sees<\/a>: \u201cUnder the guise of planning for right-wing violence if Trump loses, Democrats are gaming out how to steal the election if Trump wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the left, the person that the inimitable Caitlin Johnstone<\/a> calls \u201cthe closest liberals can get to speaking to the left’s manager,\u201d Noam Chomsky<\/a>, claims Trump is \u201cworse than Hitler.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most compelling reason emerging to vote for Biden is that, if he loses, we will have to endure four more years of the increasingly unhinged rants by Democrats about Trump.<\/p>\n

Partisans on either side of the narrow Washington consensus admonish that the other will mount a coup. This is a distraction. As long as the covert dictatorship of capital is accepted so readily, the ruling elites have no incentive to opt for an overt dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Recall the angst of the Trump impeachment. Nothing came of it and not a word was uttered about it at the Democratic National Convention that followed. Impeachment was also a distraction. Hidden behind the spectacle of petty partisan rancor was underlying class unity on matters of import.<\/p>\n

At about the same time the Democrats accused Trump of being the greatest threat imaginable to humanity, the same Democrats by super-majorities renewed the Patriot Act giving this president wartime powers in a time of peace, gifted the commander and chief with a record military budget, and passed the historic massive upward redistribution of wealth<\/a> known as the CARES Act.<\/p>\n

Presidential Campaign Spectacle Distracts from Issues with Majority Support<\/strong><\/p>\n

The presidential race, by mutual consent of the major contestants, is reduced to a single issue \u2013 Trump \u2013 at a time of unprecedented crises that call for solutions. Matt Taibbi comments<\/a> in reference to the obsession with Trump: \u201cThough most of our problems are systemic, most of our public debates are referendums on personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both parties of capital are united in opposing popular demands. Polls show 60% or greater approval ratings for these important issues (modified from Greg Godels<\/a>) that the duopoly conspires to squelch by making this an election over a single personality:<\/p>\n