AP reports: “The House narrowly rejected a challenge to the National Security Agency’s secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records Wednesday night after a fierce debate … The vote was 217-205 on an issue that created unusual political coalitions in Washington, with libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats pressing for the change against the Obama administration [and] the Republican establishment…” The New York Times writes “disagreements over the program led to some unusual coalitions.” Similarly, NBC opined the “amendment earned fierce opposition from an unusual set of allies, ranging from the Obama administration to the conservative Heritage Foundation.” [Emphasis added throughout.]
And, when the NSA story broke, the Washington Post Express headline [June 11, 2013] read: “Recent revelations have given even the most ardent political foes a common target: government overreach.” AP wrote of the “odd-couple political alliance of the far left and right” [June 12, 2013] with the Edward Snowden revelations making “strange bedfellows.” [New York Daily News, June 11, 2013]
The establishment keeps the left and right populist factions at bay by demonizing them to each other — “let’s you and him fight” is the mindset — which is why MSNBC so often feeds hate of conservatives and Fox feeds hate of progressives. If they were to pay more attention to issues, they might break them down and it might become clear that there’s quite a bit the principled left and right agree on. Meanwhile, establishment Democrats and Republicans collude on war, Wall Street and much else, effectively reducing principled progressives and conscientious conservatives into pawns of the Democratic and Republican party establishments.
A major way the establishment keeps principled progressives and conscientious conservatives hating instead of dialoguing is by not acknowledging all they have in common — and when it is acknowledged, treat is as a freak instance.
The major media tends to stress the differences between the establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans, sometimes this results in inflating minor issues or marginalizing major issues, or taking serious schisms and tossing them down the memory hole.
“The House had been scheduled to vote on a resolution by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) requiring President Barack Obama to withdraw from Libya within 15 days. The measure cites the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which says the president must get approval from Congress if a military operation lasts 60 days or more.
“But at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Wednesday, GOP leaders were surprised by members’ strong concerns about the Libya operation. Some conservatives were prepared to support Mr. Kucinich’s resolution, Republican aides said.” [Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2011]
“Bombing makes strange bedfellows in U.S. politics Question of deploying ground troops crosses Republican, Democratic party lines” “As the bombing of Yugoslavia enters its third week with no sign of subsiding, the politics of war is dividing both major American parties, forging unlikely alliances between traditional liberals and conservatives.” [Globe and Mail, April 12, 1999]
Civil Liberties:
The Atlantic [June 18, 2013] ran the headline: “The Odd Bipartisan Coalition That Could Sink Obama’s Free Trade Legacy: Executive-power-wary Tea Partiers and labor-aligned Democrats could block ‘fast-track’ authority for two huge agreements.” But this is a pattern on trade issues, just as it is on civil liberties.
“Federal Reserve Opposed as Big Bank Savior by Odd Allies” [Washington Times, November 9, 2009]: “An unusual alliance of conservatives and liberals is pushing to break up or downsize banks deemed ‘too big to fail,’ rather than create a new regulatory regime led by the Federal Reserve to try to keep them from getting into trouble again.” A month later, “Strange Coalition Targets Bernanke,” read the Politico [December 7, 2009] headline: “There’s a strange political cocktail brewing in Washington, one that mixes top conservative strategist Grover Norquist and tea party organizers at FreedomWorks with democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), progressive activists and public interest advocates. The unlikely coalition’s bid to block Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve until Congress votes on legislation to audit the secretive central bank is tapping into a growing anti-establishment mood — and legislators up for reelection next year are taking notice.”
“An unusual alliance of left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans has joined in sponsoring a bill to allow the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s investigative arm, to “audit” the Fed’s monetary policy decisions — a move that Fed officials fear would reduce their political independence in setting interest rates.” [New York Times, September 18, 2009]
“The struggle has placed House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) in the same camp with President Reagan and the House Republican leadership.” [Washington Post, May 21, 1985]
“President Clinton and Republican congressional leaders have endorsed the idea of a $500 a year tax credit for children as part of the five-year balanced budget deal they worked out earlier this month.
“But Clinton and the GOP’s pro-business wing, in another unusual alliance, are seeking to hold down the cost of the child credit to make room for other tax cuts they regard as more important.” [Washington Post, May 31, 1997]
Environment/Fossil Fuel Subsidies:
“Few could have predicted the trend we’re seeing now: Amid calls for austerity, some green groups are aligning with conservative think tanks to push for cuts to environmentally harmful programs. The odd alliance kicked off last month when Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen teamed up with Taxpayers for Common Sense and the conservative Heartland Institute for their ‘Green Scissors’ report, focusing on cuts to everything from ethanol and oil tax credits to timber subsidies.” [Washington Post, September 14, 2011]
“Senate Democrats announced a breakthrough in a long-stalled farm bill Wednesday that would provide billions of dollars for California fruit and vegetable marketing, farm conservation and food stamps — but would maintain costly, traditional crop subsidies for corn, wheat, cotton, rice and soybeans. … But it was unclear whether the deal would appease the unusual left-right alliance of reformers hoping to change the 70-year-old system of crop subsidies that they contend has speeded farm industrialization, harmed the environment and contributed to the nation’s obesity epidemic.” [San Francisco Chronicle, October 17, 2007]
Big Business Control of Media:
There has been a fairly regular left-right convergence on media issues such as net neutrality and low-power radio. “The Senate approved a resolution today to repeal all of the new regulations that would make it easier for the nation’s largest media companies to grow bigger. By a vote of 55 to 40, the Republican-controlled Senate defied the White House and issued a stinging political rebuke of Michael K. Powell, the Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and architect of the rules. … Both the amendment and the resolution have been strongly supported by an unusual alliance of liberal and conservative organizations, civil rights groups, labor unions and religious organizations.“ [New York Times, September 17, 2003]
Education:
“Democratic legislators in Oklahoma were so unhappy with President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind school improvement law that they drafted a resolution calling on Congress to overhaul it.
“But at the last minute, one of the state’s most conservative Republicans, state Representative Bill Graves, stepped up with his own suggestion: Tell Congress to repeal it entirely.
“The resolution passed, and Graves got a standing ovation.” [International Herald Tribune, March 10, 2004]
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