Ichabod's Kin
A place for politics, pop culture, and social issues

Ah, where do I begin? Having heard so much clap-trap from the right wing, there’s little we can say or do to convince people that “socialism” is not gonna get their mama.

But a picture is worth a thousand–no, make that a million, words: that gang of financial poker players queued, like a police lineup,  before the recent Senate investigating panel, the purpose being not to find which one is guilty but to ascertain just how reprehensible is the whole bunch.

Much of the bluster was gone from these big spenders who had looked on their clients as chumps for easy picking. Dare anyone say that these are “model” Americans to whom we should all look up? Whoever would, give me a buzz–I know a Bridge To Nowhere for sale. But apparently moral bankruptcy still lives: as we speak, my phone is ringing off the hook.

Now how do we get the next point across: that there are capitalists —and then there are capitalists, just as there are socialists. Right-wingers would like us to think that the latter is a stage of, or synonymous with, communism. Some moderate politicians won’t even mouth the word socialism, let alone say it outright, for fear that screaming meamies will go on the attack and FauX News will showcase them that very day. Such is the power of scare tactics on the part of some conservatives, but fortunately it goes only so far–after all, there is a limit even to the number of the clueless and impressionable.

As for historical movements of the “right,” well, there’s classical conservatism–a time-honored view of society and government; but then there are slimy forms ranging all the way to fascism and nazism. Of course, the shrieking you hear in the background is from rightwingers warning me not to dare call them fascists, but they need to simmer down: it’s not typical of liberals to do so, and that’s why you don’t hear us misusing such terms in your daily news roundup. But you will hear right-wingers calling all liberals “socialists,” as on FauX News’ self-proclaimed “fair and balanced” reporting.

What I will dare to do is to revisit the capitalist Poster Boys mentioned earlier. They are an argument against capitalism if ever there was one. Social and political theorists have long acknowledged, while nonetheless debating, the merits of both capitalism and socialism. The U.S. is not thoroughly, let alone correctly, capitalist anyway. We are also a long way from socialism, though your friendly neighborhood Tea Partyer will don a Frankenstein costume and go door to door warning of it.

We’ve had free public education in America for a long time, but you wouldn’t know it when you see who lines up behind Sen. Mitch “Verbal Slurp” McConnell–all of whom should know better. If they understand what someone is saying, they take it to mean that the speaker must be a right smart feller, however disingenuous the case he is making. My homeboy Rush Limbaugh is another whose celebrity is long past its shelf-life but as long as he talks in one or two syllables he will be deemed a genius by those who resist stretching their minds for the sake of enlightenment.

And, hey, I’m not done yet with Goldman Sachs. You will hear people say, “But not all capitalists are like that.” Okay, name one. Oh, there are some and I can name them too, but if someone says Wall Street is full of ethicists, think again. I’ve had my glimpse of the business world, long enough to get the drift and excuse myself before being guilty by association. I know how even those in much less than corporate settings get hungry enough to think of clients just the way Wall Street types do, putting on one face for clients and later refer to them as “pigeons,” and the like. It’s not just an individual thing, it’s a business and corporate culture. And, yes, it hurts those among them who are truly honest and moral, especially when it comes to other people’s money.

I now rest my case with Goldman Sachs’ man of the moment, France’s own Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre, and a real piece of work he is: young, more smart-ass than smart, one who can look U.S. senators in the eye and, like a psychopath, add to the lies already in his repertoire–which is French for his list of skill-sets in fraudulence. Were an honest man to so speak, his tongue would stick to the roof of his mouth.

Hey, Fab, like some “French” fries? Oops, sorry, the slammer doesn’t serve them, but they have huge pots of comeuppance. You may not enjoy it, but we don’t enjoy you, either.

For one thing, you’ve given Capitalism a bad name. Again.