From the Willie Horton ads to Proposition 187 in California to the recent attacks on affirmative action, the Republicans show how adept they are at playing on people's fears and prejudices. They are scapegoating criminals, people of color, immigrants, welfare recipients, etc. for the failures of the old capitalist economic system. It is a tactic as old as recorded history and is known as "divide and conquer" or "divide and rule." The amazing thing is that people never catch on. It works every time.
None of the groups the Republicans are scapegoating are responsible for declining wages, lawoffs, transference of jobs to Third World countries, the savings and loans disatster, the Mexican bailout, NAFTA, GATT, militarism, the budget deficit or the serious environmental crisis. The blame should rightly be placed with those institutions with real economic and political power--the large corporations.
The dilemma is that the large corporations control the media, and no institution likes to criticize itself. Consequently, the American people are left alone to figure out for themselves that they are being played for suckers! So far, deception is winning! --Gary Sudborough
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