Fooled Again
The imminent re-election of Arnold Schwartzenegger as governor of California is a lesson in three Achilles heels in our electoral system: first, the gullibility of the electorate that such a clown could have been elected in the first place; second, the black-hole vacuum of decent candidates in the Democratic Party (witness the Gray eminence he replaced AND the one running against him now); and third, spectacular success of Ahnold in raising money, the mother’s milk of politics. Even in the golden cesspit of the American government, $113 million ain’t exactly chump change. That’s as of November 3, and it goes up by $95,000 a day. This from the guy who said “Here’s how it works: money comes in, favors go out, and the people lose.�
That was then, this is now.
His job is all the easier given the memory-challenged, adoring audience he’s playing to. Even in our little Humboldt county, Ahnold’s failed special election cost us tens of thousands of dollars (but that was MONTHS ago. . .nobody remembers that) Nor do they remember his secret meeting in 2001 with then-high flying Enron CEO Kenny Lay, whose pressurized attempt to decontrol electric rates was turned down by Gray Davis. Lay said publicly “Alright, I’ll get another Governor,� and proceeded to meet with Ahnold, Junk bond king and convicted felon Michael Milken, and Bill Simon.
Not surprisingly, in this world of reality-TV reality, what the people of California elected was the Terminator, not Arnold Schwartzenegger, Conservative. After four years of failed conservatism, he’s finally decided to redo his image (again). Because he really IS the Terminator he’ll get another four years.
And of course it doesn’t hurt that Nobody is running against him. Somehow the Democrats have once again come up with the most boring insider candidate possible, a tacit admission that there ARE no decent Democratic candidates in the state (or at least not any acceptable to the insiders). You’ve got to wonder, are these people really that clueless, or are they reconciled to, and profiting from, being the loyal opposition? Nationally, they’re no better off, apparently: is Hilary REALLY the best they can do?
So ultimately it will come down to the same old dirty business: who has the gold, rules. As we’ve seen before, with enough money, judiciously applied, the people will buy ANYthing.
Even a war against non-terrorists we’re losing.
So yes, Ahnold will be re-elected, he’ll pay back the money people like Rob Arkley gave him by giving Arkley’s paper exclusive interviews, corporate tax breaks, and whatever else they want.
When you consider his salary over the past three years was $525,000, and the fact that his corporate owners give him that much every five days, we know who HE’S working for, don’t we?