As Tropical Storm Bonnie lies over the ocean…crosses South Florida and, over the weekend, the Gulf of Mexico, the oil spill site and Looziana, it gives one pause to consider bullies.
Tropical storms and hurricanes are meteorological bullies.
The only difference between hurricanes and human bullies is hurricanes can do real damage.
Human bullies are usually just thugs; insecure brats who act out because of deep, empty holes in their souls. They only time they do any real damage is if they actually gain some sort of power: political or financial.
Think dictators, fascists, greedy money traders, giant corporations, oligarchs, plutarchs.
American political history is rife with bullies. The corporate barons of the gilded age, come to mind; Sen. Joe McCarthy. Father Charles Caughlin was the first political bully of the mass communications age. These were all 20th Century phenomena.
This current crop of bullies in the 21st Century is no different, really. Sure, they have their own network at Fox. But they’re really no different than any others in history.
Limbaugh, Beck, Ingram, Breitbart, Hannity, Savage, O’Reilly…they’re all just bullies. They make a lot of money, of course, because heavy corporate interests use them to advance the agenda of middle-class destruction and wealth distribution – up to the wealthy and corporate interests.
But they’re really just bullies. This Breitbart thug and his cronies at Fox did some real damage this week, bullying the Obama Administration, the NAACP and a fine public servant, Shirley Sherrod. But they’ve done it before. Think Van Jones, ACORN. Think racists bullies…which is, of course, redundant.
It’s a shameful history repeating itself.
FDR has his bully faction to deal with (Not to be confused with TR’s bully pulpit!)
FDR had the American Liberty League. Formed in 1934, the Liberty League was funded by the Dupont Family and their corporate buddies to oppose labor unions and FDR’s New Deal policies.
Supporters included U.S. Steel, General Motors, General Foods, Standard Oil, Colgate, Heinz Foods, Chase National Bank, Goodyear Tire and Rubber and many other corporate giants of the day.
The league rallied support for the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court to overturn FDR’s agenda. (Remember the court-packing episode in FDR’s tenure?) A suggestion exists they even tried to stage a coup.
The only difference between then and now is that many of the prominent leaguers were Democrats. Al Smith, the Democratic nominee for president in 1928 was a leader, as was Dean Acheson, who would become Harry Truman’s Secretary of State, and 1924 Democratic nominee John W. Davis.
The effort died out in 1940. The greater good at the time was served so much better by FDR’s reforms and actions than by continued greed.
But the message was much the same then as now: “defend and uphold the Constitution, lower taxes, more freedom.” Hollow bromides masking the real intent: power to exploit.
They certainly had their way, got much of what they wanted during the Bush years. Now, we’re cleaning up the mess – financial calamity, oil in the Gulf of Mexico, two needless wars, massive federal debt.
The bullies of today would rather we keep the mess. It’s easier to exploit a society in shock and chaos.
