Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Long Live Gridlock and Paralysis of Both Big Business Parties
06 Aug 2014
🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

With Wall Street in firm control of both major political parties, why would anyone on the Left want the Republicans and Democrats to make nice with each other and collaborate more closely to pass legislation? We should thank our lucky stars for gridlock, which has prevented President Obama from consummating a Grand Bargain with the GOP.

Long Live Gridlock and Paralysis of Both Big Business Parties

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“Since the Left is non-existent on Capitol Hill, and barely evident in the society at large, nothing good can possibly emanate from the executive and legislative branches of government.”

The corporate media, whose job is to create impressions of reality while revealing nothing of actual substance, is full of scorn for the now adjourned 113th Congress, which, according to the New York Times, is “in a race to the bottom” with the previous Congress as the most “do nothing” ever. Media associated with the Democratic wing of the ruling duopoly are especially upset that the Republican faction has not cooperated with President Obama to get something – anything! – done, as if the nation and the world would be a better place if the two big business parties would only collaborate more closely with one another. The current state of congressional gridlock is, according to the pundits, the worst of all worlds.

The truth is, were it not for gridlock, President Obama would have engineered the utter annihilation of what’s left of the social safety net in a Grand Bargain with the Republicans during his first term office. That was his plan from the very beginning, when the new president announced that all entitlements, including Social Security, were on the chopping block. Before his first year was out, Obama had crushed the jellyfish that call themselves progressive Democrats in the health care debate. With his arms spread wide to embrace the Republicans as partners in the Age of Austerity, Obama offered to lead the wrecking crew that would finally demolish Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. But, the Republicans were so consumed with racially fueled fervor to destroy the First Black President, they rejected the Grand Bargain and chose gridlock, instead. Lucky for us! Given the circumstances, it was the best thing that could happen.

“We need more ill feeling and deeper paralysis.”

Gridlock has been the order of the day for the past four years, dramatically inhibiting the flow of legislation. Since the Left is non-existent on Capitol Hill, and barely evident in the society at large – and with Black America, historically the most progressive constituency in the nation, now in its seventh year of self-imposed political irrelevance – nothing good can possibly emanate from the executive and legislative branches of government. The only kinds of measures that can sail through the gridlocked Congress are those designed to start a war with Russia or increase the killing power of the Israeli apartheid regime.

Given that we have, mainly, the Republicans to thank for the blessedly constipated condition of Congress, it follows that it is the Democrats, who keep harping on the need to “do something” to get the infernal legislative machinery rolling, who represent the greatest threat to the people’s interests.

In any event, it is definitely NOT in the interest of ordinary Americans for Democrats and Republicans to become more collaborative on the legislative agenda. On the contrary, we need more ill feeling and deeper paralysis in the ranks of the two big business parties. Until a movement can be created that will fight for the overthrow of Wall Street and its duopoly – Long Live Gridlock!

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com to sign up for email notification of new issues of our magazine, each Wednesday.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20140806_gf_Gridlock.mp3

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Jason Borge’s “Tropical Riffs“ and John Gennari’s “Flavor and Soul”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jason Borge’s “Tropical Riffs“ and John Gennari’s “Flavor and Soul”
    05 Dec 2018
    Our authors explore how jazz once proved the “border-hopping mobility” of African American culture, and arenas of conflict and collaboration between Blacks and Italian-Americans.
  • Cuba's First Military Doctors (Part 2)
    Don Fitz
    Cuba's First Military Doctors (Part 2)
    05 Dec 2018
    Cuban doctors and soldiers served secretly in revolutionary Africa in the 1960s, pursuing Che’s strategy of â€śTwo, Three, Many Vietnams.”
  • Black Agenda Radio, Week of December 2, 2018
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio, Week of December 2, 2018
    04 Dec 2018
    Activists Demand Sanders Take Stand Against Militarism, Judge to S
  • Judge to Soon Rule on Mumia’s Appeal Bid
    Kyle Fraser , Black Agenda Radio producer
    Judge to Soon Rule on Mumia’s Appeal Bid
    04 Dec 2018
    Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker promised a decision on whether a former prosecutor unlawfully took part as a judge in rejecting Mumia Abu Jamal’s appeal of his 1981 conviction in the ki
  • Chicago Movement to Target Pro-Cop City Council Members
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Chicago Movement to Target Pro-Cop City Council Members
    03 Dec 2018
    “There are 34 alderpeople who were all part of the conspiracy to hide the video” that was key to proving a Chicago cop murdered Laquan McDonald, said Black Lives Matter activist Aislinn Pul
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us