Blamestorming 101

& America's Dearth of Problem Solvers

Sometime on the day I am writing this the House of Representatives will likely vote on the second impeachment of Donald Trump. While Trump’s presidency will certainly go down as one of the most polarizing in US History the fact his last full year in office was overshadowed by the deaths of nearly 400,000 Americans from a Pandemic seems to be lost on well over half the populace. Despite this ugly reality the entire focus of our elected “Representatives” today is NOT on finding a meaningful solution to the Pandemic or on overhauling our death-dealing health insurance industry. Instead they are focused on assessing and assigning blame for the events of January 6, 2021 at the US Capitol. Few things could be more American.

The events of January 6 and, in fact, the preceding events of the prior 12 years (and beyond), are the result of America’s true National Pastime - Blaming. While many have convinced themselves the growing chasm between American citizens is the result of political views the reality is they are the result of fixing blame. On the one hand we have “Red” Americans who blame “Blue” Americans for whatever problems are plaguing the country and, on the other hand, we have the exact reverse. What unites Americans today is not a common enemy in the form of a dark actor in the World but rather their obsession with fixing blame instead of fixing problems. Indeed, the American Oligarchs LOVE this National Pastime because, if nothing else, it stops us from seeing the division of America is their handiwork.

America’s problems are legion and, in large part, because of the laborious process we have embraced in the formation and maintenance of the Nation. Our elected officials are voted into office via a form of competition. America loves competition. More to the point, America loves FAIR competition. Unfortunately we haven’t had that in a very long time. Like it or not the United States of America has been an actual Oligarchy for decades. Most of the “political” differences between Americans today aren’t political at all, they are actually economic. What is troubling however is that the groups fighting the hardest are the large majority that ultimately are in the lower half of the Nation economically. From the 1940s to 1980 Americans did something staggering - they actually “United.” During World War II American technology had many failures but they were overlooked in favor of what really mattered - solutions. The net effect of that, for better or worse, was a United States that became the greatest military power in human history. The innovation that allowed the United States to successfully participate in a literal World War was not the result of blaming, it was the result of an entire Nation working together.

There were plenty of problems during our participation in World War II. Some of our solutions were actually complete failures such as the placement of American citizens into concentration camps. Even so we had clear, identifiable opponents that made collaboration the way forward. In the end we should have learned that working together towards a common goal is far more valuable than looking for scapegoats. Unfortunately despite our success we have now returned to the pastime that brought about the Great Depression and had previously divided the Nation. This much has been true since at least 1980. Today divisiveness is at a height we haven’t seen since the Civil War. Now, as then, the division actually boils down to economics. Indeed, in most Articles of Secession adopted by the Confederate states it is economics that triggered their adoption and our subsequent Civil War. One good example is that adopted by the state of Texas in 1861 - https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html

In our “Dual Sovereignty” there is necessarily tension between the Federal Government and the States as, per the Constitution (and particularly the 10th Amendment) there is a division of authority and responsibility. Congress has plenary authority to regulate interstate Commerce as set forth in the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. Congress has NO direct authority when it comes to matters of Health & Safety and has, historically, relied on the Commerce Clause to coerce states into accepting its intrusions into this area. Put otherwise, Congress has used economics to force various states to comply with its laws. While the existence of a bicameral legislature is found to be curious by some, in fact it was designed to help balance the tensions between the federal and state governments. A House in which representation is based on population and a Senate in which equal representation is based on statehood itself. While both chambers SHOULD be focused on using the authority bestowed on them by the Constitution to help average Americans they have instead devolved into mouthpieces for Oligarchs who have manufactured crises to keep average Americans focused on theoretical but non-existent sources of economic inequity. Individuals who have done far less for the Nation and its people than most of our historical leaders have usurped the authority of the federal government (and, increasingly, state governments) using their ill gotten gains to control our representatives with money. While the average American now struggles to have enough money to live in relative comfort, our elected representatives focus on how best to serve their masters. One of the ways in which they do this is to keep average Americans at odds. Most would agree that life in the US is far less than it could (and probably should) be while their masters dictate that the misery continue in order to ensure their own financial comfort remains at an all time high. Enter Blamestorming which is, in fact, THE genesis of today’s Impeachment proceedings.

Today most Americans are not merely troubled by the realities of the World in which we live they are horribly and negatively impacted by them. Over 20 million Americans who had been working prior to the onset of the Pandemic do not presently have jobs. Despite this reality both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have seen their net worth skyrocket. Most people with any sort of serious commitment to objective truth would have to wonder about the connection between the economic suffering of the masses and the enormous economic windfall of the ultra-wealthy UNLESS they are distracted. What the Oligarchs have managed to do is convince the average American that the unpleasantness the Nation is enduring is NOT due to greed but rather to the “other side.” So long as they can keep us focused on fighting one another they can continue in their quest to build people proof bunkers whether here on Earth or on Elon Musk’s Martian Fantasy Island. It’s time for US to realize there is someone to actually blame for our woes and, surprise surprise, it is NOT your neighbor who voted for someone that you didn’t. The Truth is that the problem is THE people who have profited the most during the Pandemic. Let’s FIX the problem and figure out who we can “blame” after the American people regain control of this Nation.