HAIL DUBYUS!

An Illustrated Guide to Mendacity and Folly in the Imperium Americanum

Yes, But Did You Really Want To See Mr. Dymbulb In His BVDs?

2008-05-21-12mo-election.jpg

I know, I just did a sex-aid pill cartoon a week ago, but the words election and erection just managed to make the connection in my brain. Besides, I’m sick of the Democratic nomination process which keeps going and going. One has to ask what they’re trying to accomplish. In regards to that, there’s a interesting new book Democracy Incorporated by Sheldon S. Wolin (Princeton University Press, 2008) reviewed on Alternet, Inverted Totalitarianism: A New Way of Understanding How the U.S. Is Controlled By Chalmers Johnson, Truthdig Posted on May 19, 2008, Printed on May 19, 2008.

The thesis of the book is that we’ve achieved a brave new totalitarianism, one that developed from a strong democracy instead of a failed one, where lip service is paid to democratic ideals, but a “managed democracy” has taken its place in which the elite yield total power, but no one notices because too many distractions have been given to them. I can’t describe it all in a few sentences, but read the review and pick up the book if it looks interesting. Here’s the paragraph that I was thinking of when I was inspired to this cartoon…

“Another elite tactic of managed democracy is to bore the electorate to such an extent that it gradually fails to pay any attention to politics. Wolin perceives, ‘One method of assuring control is to make electioneering continuous, year-round, saturated with party propaganda, punctuated with the wisdom of kept pundits, bringing a result boring rather than energizing, the kind of civic lassitude on which managed democracy thrives.’ The classic example is certainly the nominating contests of the two main American political parties during 2007 and 2008, but the dynastic ‘competition’ between the Bush and Clinton families from 1988 to 2008 is equally relevant. It should be noted that between a half and two-thirds of qualified voters have recently failed to vote, thus making the management of the active electorate far easier. Wolin comments, ‘Every apathetic citizen is a silent enlistee in the cause of inverted totalitarianism.’ It remains to be seen whether an Obama candidacy can reawaken these apathetic voters, but I suspect that Wolin would predict a barrage of corporate media character assassination that would end this possibility.”