Congressman Todd Akins, A Pleasant Distraction while Rome Burns

I'm reading Matt Taibbi's amazing book "Griftopia", which details how the leaders the America's financial institutions create numerous complicated schemes ( often to skirt regulations) to criminally and willfully defraud the American Tax Payer.  Over the last teen years, these criminal acts spawned a series of bubbles in our economy that burst, creating economic havoc through out the world

American International Group (AIG) is a text book case . And while the little people suffer, the corporations responsible get bail-out after bail-out, and no one goes to jail, allowing them to do the same thing over and over. The next result  was the most serious and recent total meltdown of our economy, and of course they got bailed-out, again.

Taibbi states that today's American financial leaders and "their political servants" have created a  merger of crime and policy, of stealing and government." They're no longer operating on our behalf, after they"long [ago] reached the cynical conclusion that our society is not worth saying and have taken on a new mission. To simply abscond with whatever wealth remains in our hollowed- out economy. They don't feed us, we feed them".

The irony that is more absurd than President Obama running as "change agent" and once elected by a tidal wave advocating reform, then immediately doing an "about face"and appointing the very same financial leaders to run both the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and serve as his Chiefs of Staffs, is that the Democratic voters continue to take it while blaming the Republicans, for his betrayal.

But Matt Taibbi makes another revealing point about our "democracy",  that we don't have it any more. "But since Americans require the illusions of self government,  we have elections, that are  effectively meaningless. Taibbi argues and I agree, that voters have been "gradually weaned off actually expecting their politicians to be responsive to them and more significantly ( if such is possible), elections have become  "entirely cultural war entertainment". Think about it, especially with Facebook. Democrats and Republicans are at it right now, posting childish political cartoons and trite slogans, that lambast the other side as evil or stupid.  Both sides, smug with satisfaction that they're "smarter". The thing is, as these tribes don't mix, no one is being educated outside of their own tribe, which make these inner tribal conversations, so much cheer leading as opposed to socratic dialogue. And, the fact that America is a sports addicted and an hyper consumer culture, makes us the perfect marks.

Look no further than Congressman Todd Akin. As egregious as this idiots recent remark about rape were, this story is on its 25th news cycle and still going strong, because liberals are titillated by this man. They are just sitting up in the cheap seats of the modern day Roman political circus, whooping it up, for "Team Blue"  as the Tsunami waves of home foreclosures, unemployment, and crime, burns down America while the investment bankers continue to loot all of what remains.

And of course this self righteous crowd was non too concerned, when Vice President Joe Biden, who has far more in common with Romney than us, joked about Romney wanting to put Black folks back in chains.