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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Caitlin Johnstone <<a href="mailto:donotreply@wordpress.com" class="">donotreply@wordpress.com</a>><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">[New post] America’s Two-Headed One Party System</b><br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">December 13, 2019 at 19:08:16 PST<br class=""></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></span></div><br class=""><div class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#DDDDDD" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; width: 1060px; background-color: rgb(221, 221, 221);" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" class="subscribe-body" style="width: 1040px; padding: 10px;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><div style="direction: ltr; max-width: 600px; margin: 0px auto; overflow: hidden;" class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#ffffff" class="subscribe-wrapper" style="width: 600px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; max-width: 1024px; min-width: 320px; margin: 0px auto;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" height="8" background="https://s0.wp.com/i/emails/stripes.gif" class="subscribe-header-wrap" style="width: 600px; background-image: url(https://s0.wp.com/i/emails/stripes.gif); background-color: rgb(67, 164, 208); height: 8px; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="subscribe-header" style="width: 600px; color: rgb(0, 136, 204); font-size: 1.6em; background-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><h2 class="subscribe-title" style="line-height: 1; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(70, 70, 70); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; font-size: 16px !important; margin: 5px 20px !important;">New post on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong class="">Caitlin Johnstone</strong></h2></td><td style="text-align: right;" class=""><img border="0" class="head-avatar" src="https://i1.wp.com/caitlinjohnstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-caitlinpic1.jpg?resize=32%2C32&ssl=1" alt="" width="32" height="32" style="margin: 5px 20px 5px 0px; vertical-align: middle;"></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20" bgcolor="#ffffff" style="width: 600px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td class=""><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 560px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td valign="top" class="the-post"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width: 560px;" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td style="white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top; width: 60px !important;" class=""><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178); display: block; margin-right: 10px;" class=""><img border="0" alt="" src="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12152988a68a6d4dae7506812444c18f?s=50&d=monsterid&r=G" class="avatar avatar-50" height="50" width="50"></a></td><td class=""><h2 class="post-title" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); margin: 0px; font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/12/14/americas-two-headed-one-party-system/" style="text-decoration: none !important; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">America’s Two-Headed One Party System</a></h2><span style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136);" class="">by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://caitlinjohnstone.com/?author=2" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(136, 136, 136) !important;" class="">Caitlin Johnstone</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="post-content" style="direction: ltr; margin-top: 1em; max-width: 560px;"><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">There's a scene from John Steinbeck's<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class="">The Pearl</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that's been coming back to me over and over again ever since I started writing about US politics. I find it amazing that this scene hasn't become a political meme yet, given Steinbeck's fame and given its perfect illustration of the fake two-party system that we see in western so-called democracies.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><em class="">The Pearl</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is a short novel about a poor fisherman, Kino, who discovers the titular enormous gem in an oyster and goes to sell it to the pearl buyers in town. What he doesn't know is that the buyers, while they have multiple offices and pretend to compete with each other, all actually work for the same owner.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">"Kino has found the Pearl of the World,"</em></strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Steinbeck<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://learn.stleonards.vic.edu.au/yr8literature/files/2016/06/The-Pearl-John-Steinbeck.pdf" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">writes</a>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em class=""><strong class="">"In the town, in little offices, sat the men who bought pearls from the fishers. They waited in their chairs until the pearls came in, and then they cackled and fought and shouted and threatened until they reached the lowest price the fisherman would stand."</strong></em></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><em class=""><strong class="">"And when the buying was over, these buyers sat alone and their fingers played restlessly with the pearls, and they wished they owned the pearls. For there were not many buyers really - there was only one, and he kept these agents in separate offices to give a semblance of competition."</strong></em></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">When Kino brings the priceless pearl to the sellers, they put on a performance, working together to deceive him into thinking it has no value in order to cheat him out of it for a ridiculously low price.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><em class=""><strong class="">The man behind the desk said: "I have put a value on this pearl. The owner here does not think it fair. I will ask you to examine this - this thing and make an offer. Notice," he said to Kino, "I have not mentioned what I have offered."</strong></em></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">The first dealer, dry and stringy, seemed now to see the pearl for the first time. He took it up, rolled it quickly between thumb and forefinger, and then cast it contemptuously back into the tray.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">"Do not include me in the discussion," he said dryly. "I will make no offer at all. I do not want it. This is not a pearl - it is a monstrosity." His thin lips curled.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">Now the second dealer, a little man with a shy soft voice, took up the pearl, and he examined it carefully. He took a glass from his pocket and inspected it under magnification. Then he laughed softly.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">"Better pearls are made of paste," he said. "I know these things. This is soft and chalky, it will lose its color and die in a few months. Look-" He offered the glass to Kino, showed him how to use it, and Kino, who had never seen a pearl's surface magnified, was shocked at the strange-looking surface.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">The third dealer took the pearl from Kino's hands. "One of my clients likes such things," he said. "I will offer five hundred pesos, and perhaps I can sell it to my client for six hundred."<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">Kino reached quickly and snatched the pearl from his hand. He wrapped it in the deerskin and thrust it inside his shirt. The man behind the desk said, "I'm a fool, I know, but my first offer stands. I still offer one thousand. What are you doing?" he asked, as Kino thrust the pearl out of sight.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">"I am cheated," Kino cried fiercely. "My pearl is not for sale here. I will go, perhaps even to the capital."<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><strong class=""><em class="">Now the dealers glanced quickly at one another. They knew they had played too hard; they knew they would be disciplined for their failure, and the man at the desk said quickly, "I might go to fifteen hundred."</em></strong></p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">This is exactly how the two-headed one-party system works, in America and elsewhere. One party owned by one imperialist oligarchic class is placed in two separate offices "to give some semblance of competition," just like Steinbeck's pearl buyers. And just like Steinbeck's pearl buyers they work together to deceive the people into accepting the lowest possible bid, in their case meaning the acceptance of virtually no change at all from the imperialist oligarchic status quo.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">You see this kleptocratic dynamic at play regardless of who is in office. When the two-headed one-party system convinced Americans to sell their pearl to Barack Obama, for example, their payment took the form of a corporatist healthcare scam deceitfully labeled the Affordable Care Act and a pathetic temporary band-aid on the sucking chest wound of environmental peril, along with a continuation and expansion of all of Bush's most depraved foreign and domestic policies.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Then Kino, angry and determined never again to be deceived, sold his pearl to the Republican Party. This time his payment consisted of a tax break for the wealthy and some verbiage about a wall, along with a continuation and expansion of all of Obama's most depraved foreign and domestic policies.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">This pattern repeats over and over and over again, whether it's the presidency or Congress, and the people never learn their lesson. They're trained to think of the two parties as competing, when really they're more like the left fist and the right fist on the same boxer. An orthodox-stance boxer uses the left jab and the right cross in conjunction with each other in one-two punch combinations to accomplish the same goal, namely to leave his opponent staring up at the arena lights and rethinking his life decisions. And in this case, the boxer's opponent is you.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Ralph Nader, who to this day is still<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/dont-fall-for-it-the-nader-myth-and-your-2016-vote/" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">falsely</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>smeared as responsible for George W Bush's pseudo-victory over Al Gore in 2000, occasionally<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.azquotes.com/quote/211052" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">shares an anecdote</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>about the time he told his father that what America needs is a good third party.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">"I'll settle for a second," his father replied.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">This is the kind of clear seeing we all need to have. We need to not fall into the drama of the two-handed puppet show and mistake what we are seeing for two separate and competing entities. We need to see and be aware of the puppeteer at all times.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Look past the "semblance of competition" and watch what the pearl buyers are actually doing.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Ignore their words.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Ignore their fake pro-wrestling kayfabe combat over impeachment agendas they know will never bear fruit and their Russia conspiracies they know are pure nonsense.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Watch their actual behaviors instead.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Don't fall for the illusion.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Don't get sucked into the drama of the two-handed puppet show.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Don't be deceived, Kino.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">Don't sell your pearl.</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class="">__________________________</p><p style="direction: ltr; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 1em;" class=""><em class="">Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my <a title="This link will take you away from steemit.com" href="http://caitlinjohnstone.com/" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(37, 133, 178);" class="">website</a>, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. 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