Here we go again--maybe. In fact, if history teaches us anything, very likely. Even after the near-crash of 2008, even after major financial reform legislation was passed back before Congress was partially hijacked by lunatics, even when public opinion is clearly not on the side of another Wall Street bailout, Wall Street appears to be setting itself up for--well, potentially, another bailout.
How is this even possible? How can this country's major financial institutions have learned absolutely nothing from recent history? Or have they?
What they have learned is that socialism works, so long as it's socialism for those who don't need it, and so long as you can convince the people who do need it that they don't, after all. And this is possible because (a) Republicans in government believe nothing about capitalism except the name, and (b) the core of their supporters believe in everything else about it.
During the Bush years, Washington was like Santa Claus to corporate America. Tax cuts, deregulation, military spending--it was a conservative cornucopia that seemed endless. Except for the fact that it wasn't, because of an ancient formula, one that conservatives are fond of citing to liberals: when spending exceeds income, bankruptcy results. It didn't help matters, of course, that the captains of the financial sector, free of any obligations except to greed, decided to "invest" in securities so untethered from reality as to effectively turn stock markets into casinos.
If capitalism has any morality at all, it is the morality of failure. According to classic capitalistic theory, the markets punish those who do not invest and spend their money productively. But classic capitalism exists only in theory. Real capitalism involves investing and spending money to "buy out" anyone and anything that might oppose you--including big government. So it should have surprised no one that, when Wall Street was near collapse, it turned to the government it had helped to buy, and asked for a great big dose of socialism, on the grounds that the entire country would suffer greatly if capitalists were actually punished for their failures. And the Bush Administration, with the shameful cooperation of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, gave it to them. By doing so, they effectively ended the Age of Capitalism, and ushered in the Age of Socialism. Now, the only real debate is about how much socialism, and for whom.
In spite of this bald-faced hypocrisy, Republicans went back to their supporters after the bailouts, and after the Democratic blowout of 2008, and warned of the dangers of big government, ready to pick the people's pockets blind if given half a chance. And their supporters, being more inclined to believe the easy lie rather than think their way to hard truths, bought it. They overlooked the bailouts, focused on the alleged evils of Obamacare, and gave Republicans the opportunity to shut Washington down for going-on four years, lest any of the socialism given to the 1% be shared with the rest of us.
Only now, Obamacare has been shown not to be evil, and even to be practical. As has the stimulus, another alleged big-government boondoggle. People are beginning, slowly but surely, to understand that big government is sometimes necessary, and helps to create a level playing field that gives everyone a chance to build the lives they want to lead. Despite that fact, there is a real danger that the lunatics' control of Congress could become complete in a few months--and the small but real gains of the past six years could be destroyed. The Democrats desperately need an issue that can pull together voters from both sides of our political divide and illustrates the essential need for a strong Federal government on behalf of the people.
What should that issue be? I believe that it should be reinstatement of the Banking Act of 1933, more commonly known by the name of its sponsors, the Glass-Steagall Act. The senseless repeal of the Act in the latter days of the Clinton Administration led to the creation of "too-big-to-fail" banks and their casino practices, by allowing commercial and investment banks to merge and destroying safe havens for investor capital. Public awareness of the destructive nature of Glass-Steagall's repeal has grown over the years and cut across party lines.
The potential to create a huge coalition around this issue is right there, hanging in front of the Democrats. This is not to say that other issues, such as immigration, should not be at the forefront of this fall's campaign. But reinstatement of Glass-Steagall is a cause that could truly become bipartisan, and help set the state for another era of progressive accomplishment.
The only thing that stands in the way of this is the dependence of national Democrats on Wall Street money. Can that be overcome? Maybe. It's up to you to get involved and make them pay attention to the people they should be serving. That is the only way that socialism is going to have a chance to work for 100% of us, instead of 1%.
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