As we pass through the anniversary of the January 6 Trump-fomented
insurrection, we continue to see warnings that the coup continues. Rep. Jamie
Raskin, D-Md., posts to Facebook daily that the Republicans in the United
States House talk about stealing the 2022 mid-term elections. This is a real
threat given that more than 30 states have passed voter suppression laws
already.
Democracy in Chains proves that economist James McGill
Buchanan’s “public choice theory” was born of the anti-integration racism of
the 1950s and notion that no one should take money from those who have it to
offer public services to those who need it. To do so, the political system and the
United States Constitution must, at all costs, protect property rights. Thus,
Buchanan developed a weapon for the capitalist/billionaire class to destroy the
United States’ middle class. Words like “freedom,” “liberty” and “libertarian”
were redefined and weaponized. They now apply to the capitalists and wealthy
who would eliminate all public services except for law enforcement and the
military. And, how convenient that would be when the population finally
realizes too late that peaceful solutions would no longer work.
While Professor MacLean’s book got a fair bit of publicity in 2017, as my previous posts pointed out, the public knows little about these plans, in large part distracted by the hot-button socials issues like gay rights and abortion. The Buchananites really don’t care about these things, but they are useful wedge issues while the right-wing forces march on to their goals. After years of infiltrating the state legislatures and the judiciary, we are now closer to the denouement. With Texans like Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and others leading the charge, a Convention of the States is poised to convene to radically change the Constitution. Once that’s done, so are we as a true democracy. Look to the Pinochet regime in Chile for where the United States will be.
