Hypocrisy Not Democracy in AmericaStephen Lendman, Contributor Are you better off than four years ago, asked The New York Times? There is really no reason for any hesitancy. The country is unquestionably better off than it was in 2008. Fact check True to form, The Times offered a litany of lies. Bankers, other corporate favorites, and war profiteers fared handsomely. They still do. Americas 99% got stiff-armed. Most US households were thrown under the bus. Virtually no jobs were created. Full-time/good pay and benefit ones are disappearing. Real unemployment approaches 23%. In the Great Depression, it reached 25%. Serious efforts were made then to reduce it. Virtually nothing is done now. US Census figures confirm half or more of US households living in poverty or bordering on it. Record numbers need food stamps to survive. Congress plans cuts when theyre more than ever needed. Duplicitous political convention rhetoric was enough to make a brash brigand blush. Banality took center stage. Demagogic deception hid reactionary extremism. Convention delegates and ordinary people inhabit worlds apart. Pre-scripted yammering was predictable. Republicans showed contempt for human needs. Phony populism hid a similar Democrat agenda. Privilege alone matters. Ordinary folks increasingly are on their own to sink or swim. Obamas first term reflected it. Betrayal and failure defined it. Another four years assures more of the same and then some. The man promising hope and change broke every major pledge made. Four demagogic years did Lincoln one better. He fooled most people enough to matter. Hes beholden to big money. He never cared about ordinary people and doesnt now. Yes we can conceals his dark side. No pun intended. Hes a consummate con man. Its easy to know when hes lying, just watch his lips move. Throughout his political career, hes been pro-corporate, pro-war, pro-Israel, anti-populist, anti-civil and human rights, and anti all values real democrats support. He put Wall Street crooks in charge of looting the nations wealth. He furthered the greatest wealth transfer in history. Rules, regulations, legal restraints with teeth, and taxes were slashed to help them. Plans are on track to make America resemble Guatemala. Full-time/high pay/good benefit jobs are disappearing. So are social services. Theyre on the chopping block for elimination. The nations middle class is targeted for destruction. A huge underclass is replacing it. Americas more than ever militarized to control it. Police state laws threaten freedom. Big Brother spying is policy. Privacy is a figure of speech. First Amendment rights and dissent are endangered. Tyranny, torture, corporate empowerment, and permanent wars define Obamas agenda. He exceeded the worst of George Bushs harshness, lawlessness, and belligerency. Imagine what he plans if reelected. He waged war on Islam, Latino immigrants, animal and environmental rights activists, whistleblowers, people of color, the poor, anyone challenging state power, and civil rights lawyers who defend them too vigorously. In Obamas America, only the privileged matter. Growing numbers of others are on their own hungry, homeless, and jobless. He looted the nations wealth, wrecked the economy, ravaged one nation after another, and continues waging war on humanity. He executed two Latin American coups. Honduras democratically elected president was ousted. So was Paraguays. He militarized Haiti, opened the country for business, occupied it for plunder, rigged its election, installed a pro-Western stooge, and increased the growing burden of impoverished Haitians who deserve better. He supports the worlds worst despots. He sucks up shamelessly to Israel. He spurns long denied Palestinian rights. He plans war on Syria and Iran. Neither nation threatens anyone. America and Israel menace humanity. He presides over a bogus democracy under a repressive police state apparatus. Habeas rights, due process, judicial fairness, and other civil liberty protections are quaint artifacts increasingly discarded. Torture is official policy. So is Murder, Inc. Death squads operate in over 120 countries. Special forces and CIA operatives are licensed to kill. US citizens may be targeted at home or abroad. No one anywhere is safe. Summary judgment means no arrests. No Miranda rights. No due process. No trial. Just a bullet, bomb or slit throat. Its official Obama policy. Diktat authority affords justice to no one ordered killed. It also lets Obama order US citizens arrested and indefinitely held without charge or trial. No proof is needed, just suspicions that those detained pose threats. Constitutional protections no longer apply. US military personnel may arrest and indefinitely detain anyone globally. No one anywhere is safe. Tyranny is policy. Obama seized virtual dictatorial powers. Anyone designated a potential enemy of the state, true or false, is targeted. Political prisoners fill Americas gulag. Its the worlds largest by far and one of the worst. Muslims and people of color are most at risk. Americas super-rich and corporate crooks are free to do what they please. Bad as things are now, expect worse. War rages against labor. Budget-strapped states get little help. Welfare is being cut. So are Medicare for seniors, Medicaid for the needy, and other New Deal/Great Society programs. Public education is being commodified. Plans call for making it another business profit center and ending governments responsibility. Health care is being rationed. Only those who can afford it will get help when they need it. Food and drug safety dont matter. Nor do clean clean air or water. Small farms and businesses are being destroyed. Large ones are bigger and more dominant than ever. Wall Street ones are up to one-fourth larger today than four years ago. Theyre double their size a decade ago relative to the economy. Ordinary Americans are much poorer and more deprived. Financial reform was fraudulent. Institutionalized grand theft is policy. Business as usual lets Wall Street run the country. Consumer protections dont exist. The worst of bad practices continue. Rules either dont exist or are made to be broken. Bankers get what they want. Ordinary people get scammed. Obama promised change you can believe in. He delivered betrayal instead. Hes anti-progressive, hard-right, reactionary, belligerent, pro-corporate, and anti-populist. Hes heartless, merciless, morally corrupt, and soulless. Austerity is policy when help is needed. Draconian cuts were enacted. Many more are planned. Eliminating trillions of dollars in social service spending is policy. Democrats are in lock step with Republicans. Corporate handouts, tax cuts for the rich, and Pentagon spending remain virtually untouched. Bad as things are now, imagine America in four years under either party. Obama plans more of the same and then some. Romney is a religious extremist/corporate crook/socially destructive/imperial rogue. Theyre frontmen for financialized America, super-rich privilege, and imperial lawlessness. They guarantee worse wide awake nightmares than Obama. Americas choice in November is none. Bad as things are now expect worse. Bipartisan complicity assures it. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War.Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ 