CROWD MEMBER: I think one of the aspects about the changes that worked well for Obama four years ago was he promised to bring us more honest, transparent government to Washington. I’ve been around politics for this campaign. I worked even with Barry Goldwater in 1964, so I’ve got the oldest Republican [unintelligible] … but from what I see, particularly in the last seven months in my own personal involvement in the issue, is the government in Washington right now is permeated by cronyism, outright corruption. … Our regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect the public are protecting the people that they’re supposed to be regulating. And I think people are fed up with that. It doesn’t matter whether you are in the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street. People see that the government is working for the powerful interests and the people who are well connected politically and not for the common person, which threatens that whole idea that we have this great opportunity, which we should have and have had historically in the West for anybody from whatever background to become successful. One way in which that becomes compromised is when the government is no longer seen as an honest agent and when our tax dollars are not really being put to work for us but for the people who are plugged in politically. You know, you have cases like [unclear], which I talk about and am involved in. You have Eric Holder, who is probably the most corrupt attorney general we’ve had ever in American history. And I think it’s something, that if spun the right way and in simple terms, can actually resonate with the American people. Obama did not keep his promises. Nancy Pelosi, who was supposed to give us an honest Congress, has given us just the opposite as speaker. And I think that’s a campaign issue that can work well. I’m optimistic that you’ll be elected president, and my recommendation would be to clean house immediately …
Holy Cow! That’s exactly what I’ve been saying since it became clear that Washington was not going to do a single darned thing about rampant corruption on Wall Street. And just last week I got castigated by Romney supporters for suggesting that America’s got an epic case of Crony Capitalism on its hands. Yet, this Goldwater supporter used just about exactly the words I used to describe what is going on in Washington and on Wall Street.
The younger readers will not recall Barry Goldwater. At the time, he was far right fringe–much farther from the center of the Republican Party of the time than is–say–Paul Ryan, or even the Fox channel’s talking heads. (Oh, and Goldwater lost in an historic landslide.) Now, Goldwater would be safely esconced in the center-left of the GOP. But what is important is that he was the predecessor for Reaganism and even Reaganomics. He wanted to get government out of the economy. Bash those regulations. Free private enterprise from the shackles of government intrusion. And all that good stuff.
And now? Now, after all the shenanigans on Wall Street, aided and abetted by Cronies in Washington, this Goldwater conservative is having second thoughts. He’s shocked, shocked!, that unregulated capitalism has led to thievery (as I’ve said, following Robert Sherrill’s 1990 piece in The Nation).
And you should be, too.
Now to be clear, in the unlikely event that Romney wins, he’s not going to do a thing about Crony Capitalism. He’s a Wall Street poster child for the beast. You don’t hear him attacking Wall Street’s fraudsters. You don’t see him pushing proposals for regulating and re-supervising our nation’s banksters. No. You see him calling for more downsizing of government and regulation and supervision in order to keep the frauds running.
But here’s the thing. All this stinks so much that even Goldwater would be calling for more government.