Political Satire: The Last Bastion of Unfiltered News

(Commentary: I recently reread this article that I wrote prior to the 2008 elections. Sadly, I'm not surprised that the worse of my predictions not only materialized but created an environment ripe for our latest political folly: The Tea Party!
Bush's oil drilling bill directly lead to the BP-Gulf coast disaster, his financial policies largely contributed to a global economic meltdown and the U.S. deficit now teeters on the edge of a severe depression. Bush's war in Iraq ensured that our military was stretched too thin to adequately fight the resurgence of terrorism over the past 8 years in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in the Sudan, among other countries. And the health care fiasco? Our current President, Barak Obama, was handed a government that was so broken that I no longer believe it can resuscitated to its former glory...How sad and frightening!

Political Satire: The Last Bastion of Unfiltered News?

Watching the news lately has become such a surreal experience, I've decided to come out of the closet and openly admit to preferring the brilliant political satire played out on programs such as "The Daily Show" rather than listening to the dreary scripted sound bites that pass as unbiased reporting nowadays!
And, who can blame me? Over these past years, the Bush administration's cowboy politics have resulted in such frightening economic and social realities that it seems only the witty humour of comics like John Stewart and Lewis Black can make the "news" palatable. Like a recurring Kafkaesque nightmare, I have witnessed with growing incredulity as the Bush-Cheney-Rove troika has succeeded in not only dismantling our most basic individual rights, but has also somehow managed to convince voters that violating international laws,(such as the Geneva convention), would have negligible global consequences. To add insult to injury, this republican administration promoted a political climate based upon fear mongering and righteous indignation painting anyone opposed to its narrow minded, imperialist agenda as unpatriotic and amoral.
The Bush administration has spent the past seven years underfunding government programs aimed at benefiting health, education, job training and the environment. These policies have resulted in the evisceration of a national safety net for the middle class, and the millions of other Americans affected by fluctuating credit rates, natural disasters, shrinking job opportunities and the ruinous cost of health care. Obviously, our founding father's notion of separating church and state seems to have lost its appeal and I, for one, find this most alarming. The United States appears to be the only "first world" democracy where religion and social mores play such a deciding factor in the election of our representatives. I mean doesn't anyone else think that there is an insurmountable conflict of interest between religious dogma and the responsible management of government affairs?
To date, President Bush and his poesy have not only succeeded in passing laws which, for all intent and purpose, have served to benefit the uber-wealthy and curtail individual rights, but they have also single handily managed to tarnish America's global image from a once respected international voice of reason into one of the most distrusted countries worldwide. Yet, every time this government does something to diminish our international standing, or fails to provide support for it's ordinary citizens at home, I have to remind myself that our current administration was not only elected, but also re-elected by the people. And therein lays the rub. I will never understand why Americans feel comfortable endorsing a party that openly promotes a social and political agenda based upon out-dated religious convictions, (which are grossly simplified at best), rather than voting for the most qualified candidates.
For example, Ronald Reagan was elected president thanks, in large part, to his strategic pandering of a then growing political force self-described as the "religious majority". After taking office, Reagan's republican administration lost little time in promoting many of the core issues that eventually would become known as the "right wing" agenda. Stripped down to its bare essentials, the ultimate goal of this small but powerful cabal was to impose their Bible inspired mores upon a somewhat unsuspecting public. Adding insult to injury, members of this political right wing declared that their moral crusade was ordained by no less than God himself. Anyone who disagreed with their agenda was deemed corrupt, wicked and a threat to the "american way of life".
Reality dictates that anytime the powers that be impose a narrow definition of morality upon the rest of us "common folk", the inevitable outcome is the elevation of hypocrisy to an art form. Predictably, over the past 25 years, there has been an endless parade of infamous scandals attached to a number of politicians who, as it turns out, are the very same people responsible for trying to defame the reputation of their colleagues who do not tow the party line. The potential for hypocrisy and corruption is so obvious that I have a hard time understanding why the endless lies propagated by our government officials continues to shock and disappoint the American public. Haven't we learned our political lessons by now?
On the up side, the endless scandals stemming from greed, lies and power mongering have provided plenty of fuel for comics, satirists and other observers of the human condition. As intelligent parody often points out, it seems that the people in power are rich and influential enough to succeed time and time again at distracting voters from serious foreign policy and domestic issues by drawing attention to irrelevant "moral" controversies. Some examples that come to mind are the McCarthy trials in the 1950s or President Clinton's sex scandal in the 1990s which basically wasted so much of the voters time and money that those hearings should be considered criminal acts against the American public. Instead of focusing on serious global issues such as nuclear armament, climate change, species extinctions, famine, disease, war and human slavery to name a few, it would seem that our politicians prefer wasting time squabbling over gay rights, the ERA amendment for women, developing stem cell research and new anti-abortion laws, as well as other scientific and social mores that have much more to do with individual rights rather than government policy.
Additionally, the basic premise that democracy should be promoted world wide through a series of well thought out diplomatic strategies by the U.S. and her allies seems to have disappeared under Bush's reign. In its place, our international policies have taken on a myopic and bullying tone dripping with disdain for any factions refusing to comply with the dictates laid out by our governing majority of republicans in government.
Nowhere is the Bush administration's autocratic legacy more evident however, than in the post 9/11 dismantling of our constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of speech. By declaring war on terrorism, this administration has given itself "carte blanche" to silence any vocal dissenters of current white house policies if it so chooses.
Let us not forget to give credit where credit is due which, in this case, goes to Vice-President Cheney for embodying the actual power behind the throne. Indeed, we have Dick Cheney and Karl Rove to thank for their thorough job in alienating our foreign allies, as well as ignoring the need for the Federal government to put into effect economic policies that would curb irresponsible banking and corporate business practices. Our burgeoning deficit has immeasurably weakened our economy and Bush's minions have made sure that government oversight of Wall Street's financial shell games has been gutted from the inside out.
The most alarming recent event however, which indeed shed some light on republican insights happened while I was watching an interview on T.V. during which Cheney was asked what he thought of the growing problems from environmental disasters (remember Katrina?). To this day, I'll never forget his answer which was, .."So what?." For my money, that statement should go down in history, along side Marie Antoinette's alleged callous quip,"Let them eat cake"..., when she was informed that her French subjects were dying of starvation.
In all fairness, the Democratic party's inability to reach a cohesive consensus aggravated by their own pursuit of "pork barrel"interests has provided little relief from President Bush's veto power, that he has used time and time again, to kill any bills intended on taxing the rich which could provide some relief for the average, middle class American tax payers.
Sadly, we are now reaping the deadly repercussions from past and present republican administrations hell bent on promoting intransigent unilateral foreign policies. Rather than helping resolve the Palestinian and Israeli conflict like the Clinton administration, or focusing on superior counter intelligence to enable the deployment of multiple covert strikes against specific targets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and now, Iraq, the U.S. is hopelessly entangled in a civil war of its own making which has no end in sight. On the domestic front, the current government's lack of funding for health care and it's complete disregard for environmental disasters, as well as its continued disinterest in supporting educational opportunities for a shrinking unionized labor force has directly contributed to renewed discrimination against the poor. Never mind the immigration fiasco!
The Republicans, then and now, have consistently failed to address an aging American infra structure and have severely added to the health care crisis (remember Walter Reed hospital?) by muddying the waters with irrelevant arguments over sexual issues and "death panels" instead of approving funding for life altering scientific breakthroughs for stem cell and cancer research. As a matter of fact, I predict that the deplorable policies of this decade will corrupt health care and pre-college education beyond repair!
We do have one thing we can be proud of though which is that we have now surpassed the Soviet Union in the number of citizens we incarcerate yearly! All this does not make a very auspicious beginning for America's role as the only super power at the dawn of this 21st century. I can't help but notice that the hawkish foreign policy directives established during Reagan's presidency, and reprised by the Bush administration, seem to eerily mimic the paranoid, anti-communist mindset that dominated politics during the McCarthy years. And let us not forget the futility of the Vietnam war and its irreparable damage to a whole generation we call the "Boomers" just before my coming of age.
Ever since America's heroic role in World War II, our politicians have parroted the same mantra. Time and time again, we have been told that the world needs protection from evil regimes threatening our democratic way of life. And yes, there is valid ground for alarm when confronted with the current regimes in North Korea, Iran and the Sudan (to name a few), but it seems America will continue to use terrorism and drugs as an excuse to champion its own economic and military interests.
Alone, this makes us no different than most global communities except for one very significant detail. It seems that every time the U.S. rides into complex foreign situations stampeding like a herd of cows and trampling over diplomacy, we are perceived as capable of causing more chaos than any other single nation. Only the Palestinians have managed to do more damage to its people and territories by their dubious yet democratic election to power of Hamas, a zealous political party that has been linked to terrorism throughout the middle east!
Faced with these somber realities, isn't it infinitely more amusing to listen to the satirical ramblings of political pundits on Comedy Central?
I must confess, I can barely stand to watch the news anymore. I'd rather watch the Daily Show instead!