Moving to the Center of Elite Consensus
September 1st, 2008Via: Joe Bageant:
Over the last many weeks we have all been subjected to endless news stories about Senator Obama’s campaign “Move to the Center”. Leaving aside the political illiteracy which underlines this phrase, the use of it reveals important clues about the rhetoric of electoral campaigns, whom they target and what they are trying to communicate.
Put simply, what “Moving to the Center,” means is: moving towards power and money.
“Moving to the Center” is not a move to where the center of public opinion is, but it is a move to the center of where elite consensus is. Once the boundaries of that elite consensus are understood, then we can comprehend the limits of our public choices and more importantly what will be allowed within the confines of our electoral system.
It is important to understand that elite consensus itself is not static and can shift in moderate degrees, but it has definitive boundaries of which you can not cross and still be a viable player within the electoral system. These boundaries exist to the left and right within that consensus, but the institutional bias of the system is much harsher towards any moves to the left. This is because in its essence elite opinion is anti-populist and primarily concerned with protecting the fundamentals of the established economic order.
Research Credit: brad-walker
And this goes a long way towards expalaining why the USA remains the only country in the industrialized world to not have a system of national healthcare.
I’m actually glad Senator Barack Obama’s “move to the center” has been as comprehensive and craven as it has been. As a result, it’s been much easier for me to cure myself of any delusions that voting for Democrats will do anything to arrest this country’s tobaggan-sliding straight down into Hell. I may backslide occasionally as a result of a lifetime of mainstream middle-class liberal brainwashing, but I have no doubt that Senator Obama’s policies and political decisions will smack me upside the head back to reality every time without fail. 😀
“Tolerance and liberalism on this front is a very useful tool, since it buys political space to be more conservative on the more important money issues.”
Joe Bageant’s anonymous political consultant make’s a very perceptive point. Our ruling elites love to masquerade as “progressives” by showing off their support for Hollywood – type cause celebre’s that affect only a small cross section of the general public, in order to divert the public’s attention from their policies on the issues that matter the most to the general public – where they are usually somewhere to the right of Mussolini.
I can see it now: in 10 years, when we are living in a thoroughly corrupt and brutal Banana Republic police state, with income inequality and living standards at the level of Bangladesh, the media will be boasting of what great, enlightened times we live in – because they’ve legalized gay marriage.