Here's Why Plutocrats Control Our Politics By David Sirota, Salon 02 November 13 Here's why plutocrats control our

politics: Corporate America knows both parties are up for sale What is most striking about the present is not the virtues of moderation but of the potential po er of !onvi!tion" #ne dete!ts, behind all the an$iety about %e$tremists,% %radi!als,% and %militant minorities,% a degree of envy" #n the &ight there is a group ith enough !ommitment to a shared pro'e!t that is illing and able to disrupt the ordinary fun!tioning of government" (f only the )eft had su!h here ithal" We might, at the very least, get something more than than the e!onomi!ally stagnant, politi!ally oppressive *ug umpery of the Demo!rati! +arty", - .a!obin%s /le$ 0ourevit!h 1his tren!hant passage about liberals% rea!tion to the 1ea +arty summari2es a hugely signifi!ant yet little dis!ussed truism3 /meri!an politi!s has been ine$orably lur!hing to the right not only be!ause of the e$tremism of the 1ea +arty, but also be!ause of a la!k of 1ea +arty-like !ohesion, organi2ation and energy on the left" 1here are, of !ourse, many fa!tors that !ontribute to that sad reality in!luding a su!!essful ar on the labor movement4 a !ampaign finan!e system that makes !onservative oligar!hs even more po erful than they already are4 and a mediasphere that ignores prin!iples and tells liberals everything must be seen e$!lusively in partisan red-versus-blue terms" #ne fa!tor, though, stands out for ho it so destru!tively shapes the assumptions that define our politi!al dis!ourse" 1hat fa!tor !an be !alled ,liberal ashing", Similar to green ashing or so-!alled ,gay ashing,5,rainbo ashing,, liberal ashing is all about rapping !orporate /meri!a%s agenda in the veneer of fightfor-the-little-guy progressivism, thus portraying pluto!rats% radi!al rip-off s!hemes as ideologi!ally moderate efforts to res!ue the proles" )iberal ashing has al ays been around, of !ourse" But it has really risen to prominen!e - and dominan!e - in modern times" (ndeed, one of the most reliable politi!al a$ioms of the last 30 years is this3 (f !orporate /meri!a !ooks up a

s!heme to rip off the middle !lass, &epubli!ans ill provide the bulk of the !ongressional votes for the s!heme - but enough establishment-!redentialed liberals inevitably ill endorse the s!heme to make it at least appear to be mainstream and bipartisan" 6es, it seems no matter ho venal, underhanded or outright !orrupt a heist may be, there al ays ends up being a group of i!ons ith liberal billing ready to drive the geta ay !ar" 1he most reliable ay to liberal- ash something is to get a famous Demo!rat to support it" 1his is be!ause even though many Demo!rati! politi!ians, party offi!ials, operatives and pundits are neither liberal nor progressive, the media nonetheless usually portrays all people affiliated ith the Demo!rati! +arty as uniformly liberal on all issues" 1he famous e$amples of liberal ashing !ome from the White 7ouse" / fe de!ades ago, Demo!rati! +resident Bill 8linton liberal- ashed !orporatist s!hemes like N/91/ and finan!ial deregulation" 1oday, it is Demo!rati! +resident Bara!k #bama liberal- ashing the insuran!e industry%s health!are initiatives and no 'oining ith a handful of Demo!rati! legislators to liberal ash - and legitimi2e - the right- ing !rusade to slash So!ial Se!urity benefits" But, then, as eviden!ed by 'ust the last fe months of ne s, liberal ashing also operates 'ust as po erfully in other politi!al arenas" (n the 8ongress, for e$ample, the NS/ surveillan!e programs that so enri!h private !ontra!tors erefranti!ally liberal- ashed by :among others; 8alifornia Sen" Dianne 9einstein :D"; (n that !ase, the liberal ashing served as a handsome payba!k for the private surveillan!e !ontra!ting industry that bankrolls the 8alifornia la maker%s ele!tion !ampaigns and her family" )ike ise, in the think tank se!tor, the 8enter for /meri!an +rogress : here ( on!e orked many years ago; is ne$t eek liberal- ashing 0oldman Sa!hs 8<# )loyd Blankfein and another 0oldman e$e!utive" 1hat%s right3 /!!ording to the Belt ay%s most prominent liberal think tank, the bailed out bank isn%t the 0reat =ampire S>uid that helped destroy the e!onomy" (t is, instead, a!!ording to 8/+, an i!on of ,shared so!ial goals in areas like housing, !lean energy and - most re!ently preventive so!ial servi!es", Su!h liberal ashing is a !lear +"&" !oup for 0oldman Sa!hs - one it as probably hoping for hen, a!!ording tothe Nation maga2ine,

0oldman Sa!hs be!ame one of 8/+%s many !orporate donors no doubt looking to be liberal- ashed" #ut on the !ampaign trail, it is often the same kind of liberal ashing" /s 'ust the most famous e$ample, then-Ne ark *ayor 8ory Booker used his billing as a liberal hero to famously liberal- ash the private e>uity industry%s predatory business model and its anti-publi! s!hool agenda" (n return for his efforts, he as sho ered ith Wall Street !ash, hi!h helped him then buy his state%s Demo!rati! nomination for ?"S" Senate - and, ultimately, the ?"S" Senate seat itself" /t the muni!ipal level, this kind of thing !an be even more shameless, and it involves not only Demo!rati! politi!ians but also leaders of traditionally liberal organi2ations" / fe years ago, for e$ample, some :but not all; prominent union leaders helped liberal- ash &ahm <manuel" 1hose union leaders endorsed the former investment banker in his run for 8hi!ago mayor, despite <manuel being the ar!hite!t of the union-!rushing N/91/ and !alling liberals ,fu!king retarded", #n!e ele!ted, <manuel used his manufa!tured liberal !redentials to then liberal- ash a full-s!ale ar on organi2ed labor" 1hat ar has in!luded s!hool !losings andefforts to privati2e muni!ipal servi!es - aka poli!ies designed to undermine publi!-se!tor unions" / similar story is no playing out in &hode (sland, here finan!ial e$e!utiveturned-Demo!rati! State 1reasurer 0ina &aimondo is liberal- ashing a Wall Street rip-off plot of truly epi! proportions" 8hampioning a s!heme that enri!hes the same finan!ial industry that bankrolls her !ampaigns, &aimondo has used her publi! offi!e to slash retiree benefits and divert more of the state%s publi! pension funds into risky hedge funds" Not surprisingly, the latter move for!es retirees to pay the e$!essive fees to the same finan!ial industry that laun!hed &aimondo%s !areer" /s if unders!oring the devious liberal- ashing ob'e!tives, &aimondo has made sure to publi!ly bill her pension-slashing re!ord as proof that she is a ,progressive Demo!rat", Su!h language is the epitome of liberal ashing, as it e>uates progressivism ith slashing retiree benefits" 9or her efforts, &aimondo has been supported by <nron billionaire .ohn /rnold - ho re!ently tried to liberal- ash himself ith a high-profile donation to 7ead Start after he as outed as the

sponsor of pension-slashing initiatives all over /meri!a :note3 1he humiliating stories about /rnold haven%t stopped him from orking ith a Demo!rati! mayor toliberal- ash a ne pension-slashing initiative in 8alifornia;" *ean hile, hen the lo!al union representing &hode (sland%s publi! employees raised ob'e!tions to &aimondo%s pension initiatives, out !ame even more liberal ashing, this time from former Servi!e <mployees (nternational ?nion leader /ndy Stern" 7aving re!ently !onverted his national labor prominen!e into a plum position in the empire of private e>uity billionaire &onald +erelman and in the edu!ation ,reform, foundation of anti-tea!hers-union billionaire <li Broad, Stern this eekend published a +roviden!e .ournal editorial that has to be read to be believed" 7e first berates unions for supposedly airing ,ideologi!ally-driven atta!ks, and then liberal- ashes &aimondo as a populist !hampion of the ordinary orker" Someho omitting the embarrassing fa!t that &aimondo%s Wall Streetenri!hing moves are failing to even out-earn the fee-less S@+ A00, Stern insisted that ,&hode (sland should be applauded, for using more !ash from publi! orkers% retirement nest-eggs to pay the e$orbitant fees of billionaire hedge fund managers and private e>uity e$e!utives :and potentially enri!hing &aimondo personally in the pro!ess;" 0enuine liberals and progressives may behold all this and onder3 With friends like these, ho needs 0ordon 0ekkoB (t%s a 'ustifiable harrumph" But as depressing as the situation is, the rise of liberal ashing should be anything but surprising" Sure, it may seem !ounterintuitive that liberal ashing has !ome to prominen!e at the very moment /meri!an politi!s has be!ome more partisan" But it is entirely predi!table" With politi!s more than ever be!oming a mind-deadening video game bet een t o prin!iple-free teams, the oligar!hy is no longer betting on one of those teams" (nstead, it is employing liberal ashing to ha!k the hole red-versusblue operating system" /s a politi!al ta!ti!, it makes perfe!t sense" Whether it is a !ompany, a trade asso!iation, a front group or a lobbying firm that is pushing a parti!ular poli!y, !orporate /meri!a kno s that it has a better !han!e of getting its ay if it !an portray its goals as an apoliti!al agenda ith support from both sides of the ideologi!al spe!trum" )iberal ashing is the key to that formula4 it helps depi!t the

radi!al as mainstream, the ideologi!al as pragmati! and the old-fashioned heist as an a!t of bleeding-heart altruism" ?ntil liberal ashing be!omes anathema to more of the genuine left, there is little !han!e of !ombating today%s pluto!rati! politi!s" (t is a politi!s that manufa!tures the parameters of e!onomi! debates so that only !orporate-friendly out!omes are possible" (t is a politi!s that relies as mu!h on money and votes as on permissive semioti!s - the kind that permits labels like ,liberal,, ,progressive, and ,left, to in!lude those ho shill for the right" #nly hen those labels start meaning something and liberal ashing is defanged !an e hope to get, in the ords of 0ourevit!h, ,something more than the e!onomi!ally stagnant, politi!ally oppressive, !ulture e%re !urrently stu!k ith"