Sunday, February 08, 2004
For those who can't buy American Dynasty...
... Phillips summarizes it in the LA Times here (subscription):
Phillips suggests these four areas for examination:
We've all taken shots at Bush in one of these areas. But Phillips ties it all together—especially the top 1% (dynastic) part. America really is developing a set of ruling families (turns out that's what "family values" means) and, in classic fashion, they're pulling the ladded up after them. Needless to say, a social structure like that doesn't co-exist very well with democracy, since the 1% thinks they can buy just about anything, including elections. And say, the way that Scaife and his ilk funded the winger coup against Clinton that brought aWol to the White House, they're not too far wrong, are they?
This four-generation evolution of the Bushes involves multiple links that could become Bush's election-year Achilles' heel — if a clever and tough 2004 Democratic opponent can punch and slice at them. Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the clear Democratic front-runner, could be best positioned to do so. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he investigated the Iran-Contra and Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandals, both of which touched George H.W. Bush's Saudi, Iraqi and Middle Eastern arms-deal entanglements.
Washington lawyer Jack Blum, the ace investigator for Kerry's subcommittee back then, is said to be advising him now, which could be meaningful. Ironically, the Bush family's century of involvement in oil, armaments and global intrigue has never been at the center of the national debate since the Bushes starting running for president in 1980.
The reason? Insufficient public knowledge.
Phillips suggests these four areas for examination:
- The Bushes and the military-industrial complex
- Oil
- The intelligence community
- Top 1% economics
We've all taken shots at Bush in one of these areas. But Phillips ties it all together—especially the top 1% (dynastic) part. America really is developing a set of ruling families (turns out that's what "family values" means) and, in classic fashion, they're pulling the ladded up after them. Needless to say, a social structure like that doesn't co-exist very well with democracy, since the 1% thinks they can buy just about anything, including elections. And say, the way that Scaife and his ilk funded the winger coup against Clinton that brought aWol to the White House, they're not too far wrong, are they?
