In the last decade, the Democratic party has become increasingly
indistinct from the Republican, both parties in virtually impervious thrall to
the siren of money. As exacerbated by the Citizens United and McCutcheon
Supreme Court decisions, the--for all intents and purposes--wholesale
prostitution of both parties to special interests has forced the true agenda of
today’s elected officials into the light: the sacred civic duty supposedly
embodied in a position called, after all, “public service,” has been exposed to be less motivational than the perks
and influence inherent in a position of power. While we watch, haplessly
marginalized on the sidelines of integrity, these unworthies blithely ply their
incompetence--via obstructionism (McConnell), corruption (Rangel), or any
number of ignominious affronts to decency, or democracy. This laser-focused
drive to maintain a privileged position, moreover, comes with the most
flagrant, arrogant dismissal of accountability. We came very close, after all,
to electing a president with the hubris to trumpet the slogan “Country First”
while simultaneously exposing us to the possibility of governance by Sarah
Palin--and Rod Serling wasn’t even in the room when that decision was made!
Indeed, her very choice as a running mate was a perfectly indicting metaphor
for a system whose morality has gone AWOL, in a scenario increasingly where an
elected official is not a bonafide public servant but simply playing one on
tv. As such, our national script has
abandoned the dignified legacy of John
Adams, alas, in favor of The Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas.
The convergence of the two political parties in a shared embrace
to protect the power status quo--enabled by money overriding principle--has
been nowhere more evident than in the attack on public education. No Child Left
Behind, despite its feel-good soundbite of education as a civil right, has been
revealed to be a privatizing agenda from
conservatives not compassionate but impassioned, in fact, by the prospect of
public dollars pouring into private coffers. Indeed, the tools for this, among
them a pervasive culture of high-stakes testing, have had the added bonus of
busting teacher unions, the last inhibition to fully exploiting the education
cash cow, a trillion dollar business opportunity here and abroad. Yet far from
coming to the rescue of public education, Obama and likeminded Democrats such
as New York’s Governor Cuomo have taken up their own torch and pitchfork with
alarming alacrity: Race to the Top, and its proponents, have seized on the
malevolent premise--and promise--of NCLB, simply ramping it up with steroids.
Between the Common Core and other elements designed to privatize a public good,
our education system is on the verge of devastation; incredibly, both parties have
proven to be equal opportunity plunderers not just of any resource but that
most precious of all, our children, the very future of our nation. We could use
a Patriot Act, alright, one expressly for education.
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