Yeah, Yeah, Nobody Knows Anything

Well, heck. Everyone else is guessing what's going to happen tomorrow, so why shouldn't I? But I freely acknowledge what most prognosticators say before they do their prognosticating: Nobody knows anything. Check.

Actually, I know a few things. I know that, in terms of basics, it doesn't matter a damn whether Obama or Romney wins. They are both perfect embodiments of the corporatist-authoritarian-militarist system that's wrecking ever-increasing areas of the world, as it lays waste to America at home. That's why one of them will win, and you won't. I won't, either. Too bad for you. If I did, my one and only act would be to make this come true. Then I'd retire, live with my cats and close to some good friends, listen to opera and read good books. You can do whatever you want, as long as you let everyone else do the same. That would be sweet. It's not going to happen. God damn.

But one of those two bastards is notably more useful to the ruling class than the other. That would be ... that's right: Obama. If you thought it was Romney, you've absorbed the propaganda, baby. Gotta watch that. The ruling class is vicious, deadly, eternally greedy for power and wealth -- and they are not remotely stupid, not when it comes to getting what they want. They're the ruling class, right? Not stupid. From their perspective, the very best thing about Obama is that so many people who are not members of the ruling class think that Obama is on their side. Even after Obama has systematically betrayed all those "ordinary" people for the last four years, they still think he's really on their side. He just couldn't do what he wanted to do -- which happens to be exactly what all those good liberals and progressives wanted him to do -- because: a) evil Republicans; b) evil Republicans left a really, really, huge mess; c) evil Republicans kept messing with him; d) evil Republicans kept stealing his toys; and e) evil Republicans.

The beauty part about this is that I'm totally not exaggerating. This is, like, straight reportage.

The great thing about this confabulation is that, if Obama is reelected, lots and lots of people will continue to believe this even when he leaves office in 2016. And by then ... well, it's not going to be pretty. But Obama meant well! He's still their guy. I wrote all about this more than four years ago. Check it out. "The Fatal Illusion of Opposition." "Illusion." See? Yeah, nobody cared when I explained it four years ago, either.

So the point is that with Obama as president, the ruling class can screw you over about 20 gabillion times more than if Romney were president. Because lots of people will believe that Obama isn't trying to screw them. That opens up tons of possibilities. And the liberals and progressives help a whole huge bunch -- c'mon, give credit where it's due -- because when Obama wrecks whatever is left of the safety net, gives trillions of dollars and other goodies to all his best friends and, let us not forget, murders more and more people with those keen drones (and probably some bombs and missiles in a few select lucky countries before he's done), all the lefties (I use the term, uh, flexibly) will sigh once or twice, look kinda sad, and then after a while, they might murmur ... "evil Republicans!"

If Romney tried that same shit, the lefties would at least yell and stamp their feet a little bit. They wouldn't actually fight all that much, and they still wouldn't stop him in the end, but if you like a little yelling and foot stamping, Romney's your guy. But with Obama, everything is nice and quiet. Easy peasy. Just a few sighs of regret every now and then. The ruling class likes that better. You know those exclusive men's clubs that you see in movies, the ones where the carpet is a foot thick and everyone talks in whispers? And if you raise your voice even a tiny bit, a butler comes over to remind you to keep it down and, if you don't, he'll firmly escort you out? That's what the ruling class wants their entire world to be like. With Obama, everyone shuts the fuck up. Nice. Oh, they still like their murders, and slaughter, and torture, and all those things that make them feel all manly and strong -- but they want it kept offstage where nobody sees it, when you can't hear the screams. There's never any screaming in ObamaWorld, not that the ruling class can hear, anyway. And when the ruling class suffers -- and they suffer exquisitely, and their suffering matters while yours doesn't matter a damn -- they suffer very, very quietly. They are dignified fuckers.

So, I wouldn't have mentioned any of this, except that I had this strange little thought a while ago. I was strolling around the internet, reading what various conservatives and liberals think will happen tomorrow, and I realized it reminded me of something. It's a lot like the days just before the Obamacare decision came down. (I call it The Fuck You Act, if anyone remembers.) There was a strong feeling that the health "care" "reform" bill would be struck down in significant part, perhaps even completely. Even a lot of liberals seemed sort of worried that might happen. But of course, that didn't happen: "The State of Things." And it didn't happen -- because upholding Obamacare was a huge honking gift to the ruling class in general, and to the insurance industry in particular.

And today feels exactly like that. A lot of people seem elated (conservatives) or worried (liberals) that Romney might win. But what's the best outcome for the ruling class? Obama! Aw, you remembered. So if I had to bet, I'd bet Obama. The ruling class knows how to get what it wants. He may win in a squeaker, but he'll win. And if he doesn't, eh, no biggie. Just a little more yelling. The dignified fuckers won't be crazy about that, but they can live with it. A lot of "ordinary" people won't be able to live with it, no matter who wins. So they'll die. Just do it offstage, and don't be too damned noisy about it.

Speaking of The Fuck You Act, I saw this article today, which completely demolishes one of the liberals' favorite arguments about why all decent people have to, ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO vote for Obama. The argument, in its totality, goes like this: OMFG, THE SUPREME COURT!!!! Yeah, it's kinda sparing with the details. So this is what the article says about that:

Last June, when the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare by a 5–4 margin, the MSM punditry was stunned that Chief Justice Roberts had crossed party lines to join with his more “liberal” colleagues to hand Obama a major political victory. What the mass-media courtiers discreetly failed to note, for the most part, is that Roberts was answering to “a higher authority” than mere partisan loyalty. The spurious reform known as Obamacare was a lavish gift from the piratical insurance industry to itself in the form of the individual mandate that requires Americans to buy the extortionate, woefully inadequate “coverage” offered by the private insurers. That measure, so widely celebrated by putatively liberal Democrats, is actually a corporate scam initially hatched at the arch-conservative Heritage Foundation. Roberts was nominated to the high court and confirmed largely because of his unblemished judicial record of obeisance to business interests; hence it should have come as a surprise to no one that he bent his spine firmly in the direction of Big Insurance, declaring in his majority opinion, “The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax. Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness.” [8] What should have shocked the commentators was that not merely Roberts, but also all of the court’s so-called “liberals” signed on to this brazen and unprecedented forcing of tens of millions of Americans into financial peonage to giant corporations.

By now, however, the Democrats’ long record of prostration before the 1 percent scarcely raises an eyebrow—which renders absurd the chicken-little campaign alarums that the barbarians are at the gate of the Supreme Court and that only the Democrats can bar the way. The story is the same for all of the most repugnant, Republican-appointed far rightists now sitting on the court: the Democrats, instead of blocking their path to the bench, have strewn it with roses by helping to confirm every last one of them—even though in every instance they had enough votes to mount a blocking filibuster had they really wanted to do so.

All of that is, like, true.

Well, whatever happens tomorrow, you are totally fucked. I mean, totally. But it'll be worse with Obama.

So that's probably what will happen.

Now go get drunk.