Extraordinary Times

There are crowds massing in the streets in places as far-flung as Nashville, TN, Oakland, CA and New York City, protesting inequality, corporate control and an unresponsive political system.

On the other hand, despite clear poll support for government to do something to create jobs, the Republican House and Senate Minority block any part of Obama's proposed jobs bill, persistently and repeatedly. Some Democrats are too scared of them to vote for jobs, either.

A Republican town council votes to raise property taxes by 29%: building revenues are down and the local government has decided to buy, move and renovate "historic" buildings, while also laying off employees. When challenged for the insensitivity of their action, one of the council members stated: "This isn't a democracy; it's a republic," explaining that they were elected to decide our best interests. He also stated that no one in the Town would have difficulty paying the increased taxes! He continued to insist on this, even after several townspeople rose to say, tearfully, that the tax increase would be an incredible burden for them, because they were barely hanging on as it was.

A Republican analyst has noted that Republicans gain their vision of 'reality' from talking to other Republicans, and that Herman Cain's ignorance of the world was simply a reflection of this self-referential loop.

If Herman Cain's insists that a 9% flat tax, corporate tax and national sales tax will be sufficient to pay for everything government does (his 9-9-9 proposal), while benefiting everyone, then Republicans accept Cain's argument, even though none of it is true.

If Rick Perry and the rest claim that cutting taxes will increase government revenue, then Republicans repeat the claim, although it has been proven false on every occasion after JFK's tax cut. It was the reason for the massive deficits under Reagan, and then under Bush W, but still, Republicans repeat it as gospel.

McConnell and Boehner reject all tax increases on the wealthy, because, they claim, they are the "job creators," even though they're not creating jobs and taxes are already at historic lows. Every Republican repeats the tag "job creators," and no tax increases.

A takeover is taking place: Republicans are manipulating redistricting, and voter eligibility, so that millions of voters--mostly poor and Democratic--will be excluded from the polls. At the same time, Fox and radio personalities deliver a skewed worldview: people aren't hurting, they're simply whiners demanding handouts from the "real producers"--welfare cheats threatening virtuous corporate leaders, who are paid hundreds of times their workers pay--more if they fire hundreds or thousands of them.

Are we being taken over by a cult? Republicans remind me of the Roman Church, which took over the fragments of the Roman Empire, after barbarian devastation in the Fifth Century. It ruled with magical thinking, too, all through the medieval period.

Maybe the Occupations are our chance for reclaiming the 21st century.