It is inexcusable for working-class militants to mindlessly parrot the “conventional wisdom” about the shutdown of many of the federal government agencies.
This “wisdom” is usually just delusional and mystifying capitalist propaganda that becomes “conventional” by virtue of its endless repetition by know-nothing pundits in the corporate media outlets.
The Republicans are cast as the “bad guys” who are acting “insane” and who are “losing the public relations game” to the Democrats and President Obama because of their fanatical hatred of Obamacare or any social program that provides even minimal help to working-class people.
All that may be true, but those are second rate issues.
The most important thing about this struggle is that the stage has been set for a major shift to the right by the Obama-led government which is planning to openly embrace the Republican program (really the program of Wall St. banks) of “reforming entitlement programs” including Social Security and Medicare. That will be the basis for the reopening of the government.
The use of the term “reforms” here should not be misunderstood. It is a euphemistic use of the word. What is meant by “reforms” is that the government and banks are about to launch a new attack on the core entitlement programs that have been achieved for the U.S. working class – benefits and services that assist retired workers and are generally helpful to working and poor families.
This is the big prize that the Wall Street bankers are after. The coming compromise to end the shutdown will be the bipartisan agreement to attack these core programs that are wildly popular with the people. These programs can only be successfully savaged in a bipartisan effort by the two parties of big business.
A tip-off on what is coming
The Republicans will eventually “give in” on the defunding of Obama’s health care program and in return the Obama Administration and the Democratic-led Senate will agree to a “bipartisan” effort to start attacking Social Security, Medicare and other basic social programs. In the name of “saving” these programs they will begin to carry out the assault that has long been a centerpiece of Wall Street’s political agenda.
A tip-off of what is coming is the posture that the Democrats assumed last month prior to the government shutdown. Obama and the Democrats agreed to lock in 100 percent of the $70 billion in cutbacks in the federal budget demanded by the Republicans. Yes, 100 percent of the “sequester cuts” in social spending were made permanent by the Democrats in their counter-offer to the Republicans for the budget resolution that would keep the government running. The semi-fascist wing of the Republicans rejected even this stunning capitulation by the Democrats and the government furloughed 800,000 federal workers and deprived millions of people necessary services.
This is the most likely scenario: Sometime in the coming weeks the government will reopen. The Affordable Health Care Act, which was the brain child of pro-business centrist Republicans, will not be defunded. But the bipartisan assault on Social Security and Medicare and other vital programs will be on a fast track. That is the big picture and the real back-story to the current government shutdown. Mindlessly protesting against the “bad Republicans” does not help labor or the representatives of the poor and elderly prepare for the real showdown that is coming.
All organizations of working and poor people should be preparing right now, working together and planning massive, united actions to defend Social Security, Medicare and other vital programs. Simply playing cheerleader to the White House against the “bad Republicans” is short-sighted in the extreme. It is time to sound the alarm.
