USA: The Democratic Party Meltdown—What Are We Going to Do? D. Hazen, K. Holloway, S. Rosenfeld

If you pay any attention to media and politics, you know that this is the season for hand wringing about the future Democratic Party.

Pundits and pollsters by the dozens have weighed in on the failures of the party, which resulted in devastating losses to Republicans, affirmed the successes of their rampant gerrymandering, and continued the legislative and executive dominance across the country by conservatives in many states, some formally blue ones.

Then there was the election. There are many theories about why Hillary Clinton suffered what for many was an incomprehensible loss. (We offered a list last year.) But the super shock of the Democratic debacle at virtually every level of government (not to mention the Supreme Court) has sent everyone desperately seeking answers and solutions to dig out of the immense hole.

This, of course, is a serious situation. But we need some perspective. The issues roiling the debate among Democrats aren’t exactly new—how progressive and populist versus how mainstream do nominees have to be to be elected president? How much should the party invest in the base of communities of color, single women, and millennials versus how, and how much, should it try to engage white working- and middle-class voters? These are questions and challenges that stretch back decades to the McGovern debacle in 1972, to Jimmy Carter vs. Ted Kennedy in 1980, to Jesse Jackson’s stirring 1980s campaigns for president, to the 1990s and Bill Clinton’s centrist politics and the famous Sister Souljah moment—a pre-Trump telegraphing of support to whites.

The 2016 election reminded us that racism, sexism and creeping authoritarianism are very much with us as a society. How do we grapple in opposition, with a most despised man sitting in the White House?

Interestingly, international politics provides an exciting context for what might happen next in the U.S. Right-wing populism was gaining ground and adherents across Europe, but was successfully beaten back in France, where Emmanuel Macron started a party from scratch and established a newly branded version of center-left French politics with a corporate tint. In contrast, Jeremy Corbyn ran as an unabashed progressive socialist in Britain and pushed back very successfully against the pro-Brexit, conservative Theresa May. Echoes of Bernie vs. Hillary? Not a perfect analogy, but some resonance.

Read more: OMG! The Democratic Party Is Such a Mess—What Are We Going to Do? | Alternet

A Deep State of Mind: America’s Shadow Government and Its Silent Coup-by John W. Whitehead

Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system … a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state…. The important point to remember about this group is not its ideology but its organization… It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government…. This group … is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable.”

    — Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech

Unaffected by elections. Unaltered by populist movements. Beyond the reach of the law.

Say hello to America’s shadow government.

A corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country, this shadow government represents the hidden face of a government that has no respect for the freedom of its citizenry.

No matter which candidate wins the presidential election, this shadow government is here to stay. Indeed, as recent documents by the FBI reveal, this shadow government—also referred to as “The 7th Floor Group”—may well have played a part in who will win the White House this year.

To be precise, however, the future president will actually inherit not one but two shadow governments.

The first shadow government, referred to as COG or Continuity of Government, is made up of unelected individuals who have been appointed to run the government in the event of a “catastrophe.” COG is a phantom menace waiting for the right circumstances—a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, an economic meltdown—to bring it out of the shadows, where it operates even now. When and if COG takes over, the police state will transition to martial law.

Yet it is the second shadow government—also referred to as the Deep State—that poses the greater threat to freedom right now. Comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who are actually calling the shots behind the scenes, this government within a government is the real reason “we the people” have no real control over our government.

The Deep State, which “operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power,” makes a mockery of elections and the entire concept of a representative government.

So who or what is the Deep State?  Click on the link below and find out.

Read more: A Deep State of Mind: America’s Shadow Government and Its Silent Coup

US Political Environment: Will the Republican Party Survive the 2016 Election? - by David Frum

The angriest and most pessimistic people in America aren’t the hipster protesters who flitted in and out of Occupy Wall Street.

They aren’t the hashtavists of #BlackLivesMatter. They aren’t the remnants of the American labor movement or the savvy young dreamers who confront politicians with their American accents and un-American legal status.

The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans. Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English, and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description.

You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a

Read more: Will the Republican Party Survive the 2016 Election? - The Atlantic

US Politics: Compromise a dirty word in polarized U.S. House - by Rebekah L. Sanders

U.S. Reps. David Schweikert and Ann Kirkpatrick, among other members of Arizona’s congressional delegation, last month opposed a multibillion-dollar federal lifeline to farmers at risk of crop failure and to families in need of help putting food on the table.

Without the support of those members and many others, the farm bill, normally renewed every five years with little fanfare, was defeated. Though leaders of both parties wanted to reach a deal, Republicans like Schweikert and Democrats like Kirkpatrick voted “no” to hold out for concessions.

The opposition to what was considered for years a non-controversial bill demonstrated just how little middle ground remains in the U.S. House of Representatives.

House members are less willing to compromise, experts say, as districts across the country have become more polarized and partisan primaries more important for most members’ re-elections.

Read more: Compromise a dirty word in polarized U.S. House

US Political Structure Changing: Why the future looks so bleak for the Republicans - by Jay Bookman

As of mid-December some 53 percent of Americans perceived the Republican Party as too extremist, a record-high number that had jumped 17 percentage points in the two years since the GOP took control of the House in the 2010 mid-terms.

Given what has happened in the three weeks since that CNN poll was released — the GOP House rejected John Boehner’s fiscal-cliff plan as too moderate, and it refused to even vote on an emergency aid package for New York and New Jersey — that number has only risen.

In fact, the party is caught in a long-term downward spiral that will prove difficult if not impossible to escape.

Look at the top issues likely to dominate the 113th Congress: immigration reform, gun control, and the debt ceiling. On each of those high-profile issues, the Republican Party finds itself trapped defending a strongly held but distinctly minority point of view.

In November exit polls, for example, 65 percent of American voters said that illegal immigrants ought to be offered an avenue to legal status. To put it mildly, that is not a position that Republicans can easily reconcile with their base. And in a recent Gallup poll, 58 percent of Americans said they backed stronger gun-control laws; just 6 percent wanted less stringent gun laws, which is the default position of many in the GOP.

The debt-ceiling optics are even worse. The GOP plan is to confront President Obama with two brutal choices: Make serious cuts in Medicare and other entitlements, or Republicans will force the country to default on its debt. Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re trying to shuck a reputation as extremist, that’s not exactly the course I would recommend.

 As I’ve noted before, even Republican voters oppose Medicare cuts by an overwhelming margin. Yet somehow Republican politicians have convinced themselves that this is a battle that they must fight and can win.

Read more: hy the future looks so bleak for the GOP | Jay Bookman

The US Banking Industry: Which Bank Is the Worst for America? 5 Behemoths That Hold The US Political System Hostage

Big Finance has a long history of working hard to deregulate the American economic system on behalf of global capitalism run amok. One of its biggest coups was the overturning of the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that created a firewall between investment banking and the commercial banks that hold deposits and make loans.

The first victory in the quest to overturn this major protection came in 1986. Under intense pressure from Wall Street, the Federal Reserve reinterpreted a key section of Glass-Steagall, deciding that commercial banks could make up to 5 percent of their gross revenues from investment banking. After the board heard arguments from Citicorp, J.P. Morgan and Bankers Trust, it loosened the restrictions further: in 1989, the limit was raised to 10 percent of revenues, and in 1996, they hiked it up to 25 percent.

Then, according to a report by PBS' Frontline, “In the 1997-'98 election cycle, the finance, insurance, and real estate industries (known as the FIRE sector), spen[t] more than $200 million on lobbying and [made] more than $150 million in political donations” – most of which were “targeted to members of Congressional banking committees and other committees with direct jurisdiction over financial services legislation.”

For more: Which Bank Is the Worst for America? 5 Behemoths That Hold the US Political System Hostage | | AlterNet

US debt crisis: talks to avoid default make 'significant progress'

The White House and Republican leaders in Congress have made significant progress towards a deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avert a potentially catastrophic default, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Under a plan negotiated late on Saturday night, the ceiling would be raised in two steps by about $2.4tn (£1.5tn) and spending would be cut by a slightly larger amount, the officials said. The first stage – to raise the ceiling by about $1tn – would take place immediately and the second later in the year.
Congress would be required to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, but none of the debt limit rise would be contingent on its approval.

For more: US debt crisis: talks to avoid default make 'significant progress' | World news | guardian.co.uk