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| Mike Crapo: Deregulate banks so they can help our communities. |
By Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired
“In
every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has
wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and
overawe the people.” Eugene Debs
It is somewhat hypocritical to say the least when US
capitalism’s mass media rants on about corruption and graft in the political
bodies of the former colonial and now thoroughly imperialized nation
states. Sometimes their governance is
referred to as “crony capitalism as opposed
to good American as apple pie Little House on the Prairie capitalism here at
home.
But there is no body politic in any bourgeois democracy that
is as thoroughly rotten as the US Congress. The politicians are all
millionaires or billionaires and their votes are bought and sold like shares on
the stock exchange. The disgust among the populace is so prevalent that the “no vote” party is the big winner in
most elections. In 2016, 55.7%
of the US voting age population actually cast ballots according to the US
Census Bureau. This puts the US way behind other advanced capitalist economies
of the OECD.
Looking
at the most recent nationwide election in each of the 35 OECD member nations,
the U.S. placed 28th according to the Pew
Research Center.
Another
influential group in the US Congress is the Evangelicals and other religious
elements, Trump’s VP is Mike Pence, a right wing born again Cristian. US foreign policy in
the Middle East is hugely driven by Christian mythology as the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict is seen to be the playing out prophecy in the book
of Revelation that reads like a Grimm’s fairly tale. Much of Trump’s base is
the Evangelical movement and nothing fazes them when it comes to Trump, they’re
like a US Taliban.
They’re
not alone mind you. I read today that the Republican Chairman of the Senate
Banking Committee, the aptly named Mike Crapo, a Mormon from Idaho, wrote to
the heads of Citibank and Bank of America expressing his “concern” when large national banks, “cut off financial services for lawful business they may disfavor”. Both
banks stated they would reduce business with the gun industry in the wake of
the Parkland school shooting in February this year. Mormonism is a religion
founded in 1830 by a middle class American from a mercantile/farming family
named Joseph Smith. According to Smith, he had a number of dreams (visions they
like to call them). In one of them he saw Jesus and his dad, (god). He was also
visited by an angel who led him to a buried book and some “golden plates”. In my limited knowledge of Mormon history these
plates contained Judeo-Christian history of an ancient American civilization.
Sound familiar? This club has some 16 million members and lots of money.
Anyway,
I’m sure Senator Crapo’s concern about lawful businesses probably doesn’t apply
when religious conservatives object to funds for Planned Parenthood or gay
marriage or other such demonic practices.
Crapo might be guided by his faith but his faith is buried deep in his
bank account.
Crapo
opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and is ardently
anti-abortion supporting a 1998 bill that made it illegal for minors to cross
state lines to get one avoiding parental consent laws. He also supported a
bill, bizarrely named the Hearing Protection Act, that would make access to
silencers easier.
Last
month the Senate passed a “milestone
bank deregulation bill that would mark the biggest rollback of financial
rules since the 2008 market meltdown.”
"This bill shows that we
can work together and do big things that make a difference in the lives of
people across this country" Crapo said of it. How short sighted one is when one thinks only
of one’s profits. This comes not too long after the crash and the bailout of
the banks by the US working class. The rotten system that people like Crapo
defends was dragged from the edge of the abyss by taxpayer money and socialist
type legislation.
Like
all of them Crapo is an opportunist. After seeing the infamous video showing
Trump talking about grabbing women’s genitals and the like he withdrew his
endorsement of the serial sexual predator and called instead for support for
another anti-worker anti-woman born again Evangelical candidate Mike Pence.
Pence was raised Catholic but saw the light. Pence is also from a small
capitalist background. The source of so many cults, crackpot religions and
other frenzied attempts at discovering the real meaning of life arises from the
petit bourgeois as does fascism and individual terrorism. Lawyers, millionaires, religious fanatics all
capitalists and worshipers of the market dominate the US Congress.
The
NRA has many of them in its pockets as do all the major corporations. Industry
lobbyists, more often than not, former Congressmen infest the place. In the
2016 election alone, the NRA spent $11,438,118 to support Donald Trump and
another $19,756,346 to oppose Hillary Clinton. In total,
the NRA spent $51,854,687 during the 2016 federal election cycle.
Crapo
received $81,000 from the National Rifle Association. I’m sure that it wouldn’t
affect his political decisions though, that would be a sin. He got busted for
drunk driving in 2012 pleading guilty in Jan 2013. Consuming alcohol is
forbidden for Mormons too, but he apologized and god is very forgiving. Trump
is forgiven, he’s been born again and humans aren’t perfect.
They
have born again, Catholics have confession. The religion business is very
adaptable.
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