Most Americans have always understood that their politicians are not really in charge of the government or even their own offices. The secret hand of “special interests” guide the daily functioning of the state. In the old days this meant rich guys from the world of business, local interest in the home state of the representative and powerful people with connections inside government. These days it is those things plus government unions and foreign powers like Israel and China.

Despite the role of special interests, people still participated in the democratic process on the assumption that everything has a limit. Those special interests manipulating the system would have to yield to popular will eventually. After all, those politicians have interests too. If they keep finking on their voters, they will find themselves on the losing end of the next election. Even the most craven politician would eventually have to draw the line with the money men telling him how to vote.

A regular plot in movies and television is the politician who has a crisis of conscience over some issue and he turns on the money men in support of the people. Alternatively, and now quite amusingly, a heroic member of the press exposes the shady backroom deals to the public. The public, having been informed of the shady dealings, turns on the participants. Sometimes it is a combination of these plots, but in the end the public will triumphs over the shady backroom dealers.

When you stop and think about it, the way in which politics and the media are presented in movies and television is a masterful bit of propaganda. On the one hand, it fully acknowledges the corruption of all democratic politics. The people in the system are always bad people. On the other hand, the bad guys always lose to the good guys, the voters, so it is proof that the system works. In other words, political corruption is turned into proof that the system works. That is some real 4-D chess.

If you want to take the 4-D chess idea further, you can add in the occasional arrest of a shady politician for political corruption. These scandals are always turned into morality tales by the authorities and the media. The FBI starts dishing dirt about the target to stenographers in the media. Then they coordinate with the media for the big day when the scoundrel is hauled away in chains. Often, the story is then forgotten, as it has served its purpose in reinforcing the narrative of democracy.

Of late, something seems to be broken with the system. It started with the governor of South Dakota, who vetoed a bill banning men from playing girls sports. Krisiti Noem, despite spelling her name like a stripper and looking like the antihero of a country music video, was being prepped for a national role. Then all of a sudden, for no clear reason, she decided to support men playing girls’ sports. She was forced to go on Tucker Carlson to humiliate herself in service to the “trans” agenda.

Just this week, this same bizarre pattern repeated itself. Asa Hutchinson, the neocon governor of Arkansas, vetoed a bill that would have banned the mutilation of children, whose hysterical mothers believed were another sex. Even if you think men should be allowed to mutilate themselves with sex change operations, subjecting children to things like chemical castration is monstrous. Yet, Hutchinson vetoed the bill and then went on Tucker to humiliate himself in service to the “trans” agenda.

It is not unreasonable to ask what in the hell is going on here? Normally this is the sort of issue that politicians love. They get to pretend to heroically oppose something without risking any political capital. After all, only deviants and sadists support the mutilation of children, so opposing it is risk-free. It is not as if there is a lot of votes in the transvestite community or some philosophical point here, like with drug legalization. Transvestites are few and most are poor due to their mental illness.

In the case of Noem, she was responding to demands from the NCAA, who threatened to pull their events from the state. One of Noem’s donors owns facilities that would profit from these events. That just leads to a further question. Why does the NCAA, which promotes the hell out of women’s sports, want to support the destruction of women’s sports by transvestites? What is their interest here? In a way, they are being put in the same humiliating position as the politicians.

The answer seems to be corporate America. In the interview with Asa Hutchinson, Tucker asked him repeatedly if the mega-corps in his state like Walmart had pressured him to support the mutilation of children. Hutchinson got very uncomfortable, as if he suspected Tucker knew the answer before he asked. The governor denied he talked to any of those companies, but the viewer was left with the impression that he was being forced to do what he was doing by those companies.

The trouble with blaming corporate America is they have less of a reason to support these monstrous policies than the politicians. The political class is largely insulated from the voters these days. Over 95% of incumbents win reelection. The number of contested seats in the House, for example, is 25-50, depending upon the election and who is in the White House. In other words, the pols can afford to embrace boutique ideas, like allowing men in drag to play girl’s field hockey.

Corporations, in theory at least, are not insulated from the public. A boycott of Walmart is not going to bankrupt them, but it can impact the business. Even if they are not worried about that, what is the point of embracing this madness? It is not going to increase business. Surely, they have to know it. The fact is though, it appears that the engine of revolutionary social change, like the ritual mutilation of children, is being driven by global corporations.

The motivations at work here are important, but the issue at the moment is that this naked display of power is breaking the old myth of democracy. Suddenly, those “special interests” are not a force to be checked by popular will. They are not operating in the shadows, fearing exposure. They are right out in front. Using these cases to tell the people their opinions do not matter. It does not matter what they think. The people in charge are the mega-corps and they will do as they please.

A new year brings new changes. The same is true for this site as we adjust to the reality of managerial authoritarianism. That means embracing crypto for when the inevitable happens and the traditional outlets are closed. Now more than ever it is important to support the voices that support you. Five bucks a month is not a lot to ask. If you prefer other ways of donating, look at the donate page. Thank you.

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