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The US political system is a bad joke, and nobody is laughing

Thursday, 12 November 2020 12:28 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 12 November 2020 1:53 PM ]

Rubber masks of Joe Biden (L) and Donald Trump are seen at the Ogawa Studios mask factory in Saitama, north of Tokyo on November 12, 2020. (AFP photo)

By Professor Dennis Etler

As an American I can comment on the current socioeconomic and political debacle in the US with a certain level of understanding others may lack.

1. The structure of the US political system was established 240 years ago for a paternalistic genocidal slave-holding preindustrial agrarian society. The right to participate in the political process was restricted to white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, property owning males. The Senate, the Electoral College and Supreme Court were set up to insure that the oligarchic ruling elite's hold on power could not be challenged by the more "popular" House of Representatives which included small property owners such as farmers, merchants, craftsmen and other lower class WASPs.

2. The current political system has inherited all of the above. It's in the USA's political DNA, even though some cosmetic changes have been made to placate and deflect the mass struggle for social, economic and racial justice. To call it "democratic" is a complete misnomer, it is anything but.

3. Trump, to his credit, or discredit depending on your perspective, has pulled the mask off this antiquated and decrepit inherently genocidal, racist and misogynistic system, for all to see. He is the epitome of what America has been and still is. Biden is meant to be a palliative to restore health to an intrinsically sick system. But all he is an aspirin, when the patient has a metastasizing systemic cancer eating away at the body politic.

In sum, the US political system is a bad joke, and nobody is laughing.

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Dennis Etler is an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs. He’s a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California. He recorded this article for Press TV website.

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