"Let them eat cake" Bushie Style 
Marie Antoinette became infamous by revealing herself as a cold and heartless French aristocrat with one frequently quoted comment that has reverberated through the pages of history. When reminded that there were starving peasants in the streets of Paris she was alleged to have chillingly replied, "Let them eat cake."
While scholars and analysts attribute the cake comment to French philosopher and humanitarian Jean Jacques Rousseau seeking to make a completely different point, it has been regularly repeated to represent the quintessence of callous neglect and to buttress a fundamental reality. There is an underlying reality that people revolt when pushed too far, and starvation falls into this distinct category. Regrettably this same kind of crass materialism was revealed recently in the conduct of FEMA Director Michael Brown when he was informed of the urgency of the situation in Louisiana and Mississippi in the wake of a devastating hurricane.
While many citizens of ravaged New Orleans stood at death's door Brown expressed concern about his sartorial style and how important it was to look good on national television. The unfolding tragedy was a tasteless example of spoon-feeding vanity from a bureaucrat with an ultimate sinecure received from loyally supporting George Bush.
Brown's conduct should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the Bushie mindset. Grover Norquist sounded the appropriate note when he announced that the group that came into office declaring themselves to be "compassionate conservatives" wanted to "drown government in the bathtub." By that he meant traditional New Deal-Fair Deal-New Frontier-Great Society safety net programs designed to prevent Americans from being dragged down to a level commensurate with pre-Revolutionary France and other extreme situations.
Note how stridently the Bushies have attacked unions and supported Wal-Mart style strategies designed to rob workers of any bargaining power. Remember that Dick Cheney while a member of Congress voted against the Meal and Wheels program.
As a resident of South Florida I have had a chance to study the behavior of the radical Cubans who live in the Miami-Dade area and are strong supporters of the Bush Administration. Many provide regular letters to the editor combining appalling ignorance with steroid level cobra bile. In one recent letter one of these concerned citizens expressed outrage over criticism of Brown and FEMA for its recent pathetic performance level. This individual's concern was that the critics were engaging in class warfare and were disappointed that more rich people did not suffer in the two recent hurricane disasters.
If there is one thing the Bush Administration can count on from the radical right Cuban constituency in South Florida it is getting the message and repeating it with parrot-like simplicity. The one thing that terrifies the Bushies is for Americans to wake up to what is happening and realize that the Cheney-Bush Junta is seeking to quickly eradicate the mainspring of American society, the middle class, by converting the nation to a plutocracy reminiscent of, well, Cuba in the pre-Castro period.
The Cuban radicals loudly fulminate against Castro and ardently avoid coming to grips with the reasons why Cubans rebelled against the Mafia-dominated regime of President Fulgencio Batista, which turned the island into a rich man's vacation playground while reducing the masses to serfdom. C. Wright Mills provided an insightful study into the grievances of the Cuban masses in "Listen Yankee" as he presented in first person fashion what he heard from the people on the streets as they explained why they supported Castro's revolution.
When the angry voices of the right bellow "class warfare" they are twisting the facts. In reality they are the proponents of class warfare. When they are identified for waging it all they can do is lamely cry foul and condemn their critics as being less than loyal Americans for criticizing them.
KEYWORDS: Marie Antoinette, French Revolution, Michael Brown, FEMA, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Grover Norquist
Sign up for a Complimentary Member Account... Join the community! It's fast. And it'll allow you to take advantage of all this site's great features!
| < Extraordinary Times: Hidden in Plain Sight | New Orleans Signifies More Callous Neglect from the Neoconservative Plutocracy > |
