An American Conundrum 2024
Political Dynamics
With the assumption that in November 2024 the Republican candidate for the presidency will be Donald Trump and the Democratic candidate will be Joe Biden, we need to look at the implications behind each of them and what they offer this nation.
As in the 2016 presidential election, we again, as voters, find ourselves in a quandary about choosing a president. It is not that there is no clarity on some issues such as sustaining democracy, perhaps the most significant part of our national heritage, but how that heritage is being used, as the Biden administration continues in its total and unquestioning support of the bloody reprisals by Israel on the Palestinians in Gaza, leaves many deep and troubling questions for voters. And this support of Israeli actions is being done in our name, financed by our taxes and leading to increased profits for large corporations and a growing number of billionaires.
This leaves an overarching question of how power in this nation will be used by either of the candidates. There is little question about how Donald Trump will use the power of the presidency to push extremism and move toward a much more authoritarian government. However, the choices become murkier when we consider how the Biden administration has responded to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We seem to have thrown out any residual moral high ground about protecting human rights. We seem to be withdrawing from any hope for international cooperation in resolving knotty issues through the UN, as we now run interference for Israeli actions by blocking any international involvement in the solutions, thereby isolating ourselves from global opinion.
The Biden administration is not just observing what Netanyahu and Israel are doing to the civilian population in Gaza, the Biden administration is actively supporting Netanyahu and even doubling down on our financial and military support of his actions in full view of the global audience. We seem to be more willing to allow the situation to escalate into a new Middle East conflict than to try to reign in Israeli actions.
The Biden administration has been very actively stifling any criticism of these Israeli actions as nearly the entire Congress seems to be too cowed to speak up in opposition. In a kind of reverse antisemitism, students who speak up in support of Gaza are harassed, people are losing positions if they speak out for Gaza; even heads of major universities are forced to resign over this.
This brings us to a major political issue and one that, in the past, has saddled the Trump campaign. There has always been the charge that Donald Trump was too close to Putin and some other autocrats in the world, and, perhaps, even, allowed or encouraged foreign interference in our political processes. Well, with the Biden administration fully backing Israeli actions in Gaza some might argue that we are embracing foreign interference in our political processes. We now experience the incredible political influence of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), which is a lobbying group for Israel and who view the Palestine of the past to be the rightful home of a Jewish state, Israel, with the Palestinians as interlopers. That goal has fostered displacing the Palestinians in 1947 and continuing to squeeze them out of that area, much as we in the US did with our indigenous American Indian population.
Some would see the actions of Israel as the actions of a rogue nation with an agenda of irradicating any Palestinian opposition to Israel’s goal of total dominance.
AIPAC is, in many ways, a lobbyist group representing the goals of a foreign nation, Israel. AIPAC has developed an incredibly powerful and influential role in American politics, and is, at this point, far more effective than the NRA ever was. And, apparently, the entire political community and many institutions are afraid to cross them in fear of political and/or economic retaliation.
To some, it may seem that the Biden administration is operating as an agent for a foreign nation; a foreign nation which has a radical agenda, which agenda seems to disregard many treasured ideas at the heart of a healthy democracy.
On one hand, the election, as always, will be about the horse race; who’s ahead in the polls, who’s most popular, how the media deals with the candidates, what the narratives become, who makes mistakes that can lead to “gotchas”.
I have not mentioned money, but we all know that much of the direction of these elections is dependent on deep pockets and the big money to provide the propaganda and manipulation of elections in this nation. Our elections are, as always, controlled by the forces of free-market capitalism, with its concern for profits and return on investment, regardless of who the president might be. Often, that economic elite do not take a clear side understanding that both sides will accept their influence. Saving democracy is not necessarily their greatest concern.
That is where their vetting has rigged the game. No one is allowed to be a major party candidate without the blessing of those powerful free-market capitalists. Bernie Sanders was the exception in 2016 and the Democratic Party chose defeat, rather than allowing any questioning of the basic tenets of the radical free-market capitalism that dominates our economics. The basic political system of this nation has been so skewed by that economic elite that many, if not most, of our political functions are no longer functioning for the people, and many of the supporting institutions have also been coopted by that economic elite.
One result of this dominance by an economic elite is a tax system which has shifted from a progressive tax system, in which higher income means higher tax rates, to a regressive system in which the lower incomes pay a higher tax rate than those on the upper reaches of income. That shift has led to a huge income inequality, the largest since the “Gilded Age” in America and has led to a growing number of billionaires with money to burn, and some of that largess can be/and is used to influence our politics through donations and dark money.
So, how does this stack up for voters considering the upcoming presidential election?
Both parties rely on big money and the media to campaign effectively.
Both parties say they represent the heart of what America is.
Both candidates have legal problems in the courts, although Trump’s legal problems are much more extensive.
Biden has been very successful stabilizing the economy with his domestic agenda, although the MAGA propaganda machine denies it.
Biden is the only one who clearly wants to continue our democratic electoral system and to continue on the course of a democratic nation.
The humanitarian suffering in Gaza, and the Biden administration’s wholehearted and growing support of Israel puts many of our treasured democratic principles into question.
· On the question of foreign interference in American elections, the jury is out. Although Trump likes Putin, the Biden administration’s ties to Netanyahu, and Israel become problematic. IAPAC and its political and economic influence seem to have a much more direct involvement in American politics with the Biden administration’s growing financial and military support of Israel. This tied to stifling public support of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, creates a potentially difficult hurtle to overcome for the Biden administration in the upcoming election.
Without Gaza, the political equation would have been much easier to solve in favor of democracy. With Gaza, we are left with fuzzy logic and indefinite numbers.
To some, in simplified terms, it may look like we have no really good options. We have one candidate who seems to be a willing agent of Israeli Zionism at whatever political cost, and we have another candidate who seems to be threatening to be a corrupt oligarch. At this time, it looks like a choice of the lesser of two evils, understanding that both still contain elements of evil. Thence, another American conundrum, not that different than the 2016 presidential election. (See my book: Saving Democracy: The 2016 Presidential Election)
But the election is months away and much can happen in politics in that time. We may even step outside of our broken political party system to find an apolitical candidate. The courts my provide some clarity and conclusions. Or some great transformative event may occur that will provide a solution.
We can only hold our breath and hope.
Well said, Bob!