As the United States grew into the world’s leading industrial power in the late 19th century, those atop the economic ladder during America’s Gilded Age 1.0 accumulated spectacular fortunes. As noted by Christopher Klein, “By 1890, the country’s 4,000 millionaires held 20 percent of the country’s wealth, and with that enormous affluence came immense political power.”
Corporate “robber-barons” could buy anything they wanted – including politicians. Richard White, professor emeritus of history at Stanford, says the Gilded Age was among “the most corrupt eras in American history, primarily because of the rise of corporations and the growth of modern means of communication that intensified the way corruption can work.”
“This is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” former President Rutherford B. Hayes wrote in his diary in 1886. “It is a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.”
[click_to_tweet tweet=”This is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. – President Rutherford B. Hayes, 1886″ quote=”This is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations. – President Rutherford B. Hayes, 1886″]
Politicians took bribes from corporations and demanded “kickbacks”. The helping hand they extended came with an open palm.
Thankfully, the 20th century brought the Progressive Era, that slowed the corruption of the Gilded Age. “Muckraking” reporters who exposed political corruption paved the way for the enactment of reforms by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt that included tax and election reform as well as limitations on corporate power.
Gilded Age 2.0
And yet, here we are again today. Mitch McConnell’s master plan has always been to promise access for the wealthy/connected, enact corporate-written legislation, and appoint corporate Federalist Society judges in return for huge dark money offerings he can spread around for election campaigns. In the last 40 years, this playbook has reached as far as school board elections.
The GOP master plan has ushered in a Gilded Age 2.0. In this second Gilded Age, the top 400 billionaires have more wealth than 64% of the US population, 80 million US households, or 204 million people. In other words: Forty individuals have more wealth than 204,000,000 individuals. (Forbes)
We see this in plain sight with the “House Heroes Act,” that has been bastardized by McConnell’s Senate with:
- “no liability” clauses for corporations,
- forced school openings with full-time in-person schedules,
- no transparency for stimulus monies given to corporations, and
- a moratorium on payroll taxes that will harm Social Security and Medicare.
This bill is now the Gilded Age 2.0 payoff to corporations for their undying support of the Republican party. Including “no liability” language for schools is nothing more than window dressing to extort states to reopen schools “ready or not” to grease the skids for the Trump/McConnell re-election campaigns.
McConnell, the Boss Tweed of this age
Mitch McConnell’s smirk, his self-proclaimed moniker “the Grim Reaper,” and his well-deserved “Moscow Mitch” nickname make him a perfect “Boss Tweed” of Tammany Hall fame for this second Gilded Age.
Over 400 House bills, many of them bi-partisan, are sitting on “Boss” Mitch’s desk collecting dust. As a results, people in Kentucky and all over this country are suffering.
Let’s review some of the bills that “Boss” McConnell is holding hostage:
- Raising minimum wage and equal pay,
- Lowering prescription drug prices,
- Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act,
- Universal gun background checks,
- Net neutrality,
- Protecting our elections from foreign influence, and
- Protecting Social Security and Medicare from being gutted.
Additionally, McConnell is pushing Republican textbook “Cut, Cut, Cut” line items in his 4th stimulus Senate bill: reduced aid to states, reduced unemployment payments, and Trump’s payroll tax “cut” pushed by his flunky economic advisors.
To make matters worse, the dismantling of our federal bureaucracy by Trump/McConnell has neutered our collective ability to battle this pandemic, aide failing state economies, prevent bankruptcies, prevent evictions, and prevent permanent loss of employment for millions of Americans.
If “Boss” Mitch wants to truly represent his Kentucky constituents, the last thing he should do is let Kentucky “go bankrupt” and be forced to institute more painful cuts in education, health care, and infrastructure.
Here’s how to fix this
You see why I’m calling this “déjà vu all over again”? It’s a rerun of the Gilded Age, and the re-appearance of a Boss Tweed – except this time, he’s from Kentucky and he’s doling out the favors from the U.S. Senate.
Do you want to fix this? It’s simple: this fall, vote for Democrats, from the top of the ticket right on down. And that includes Amy McGrath. Let’s retire “Boss Tweed” McConnell and get to work on fixing things for everyday people!
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