Foreign Policy magazine, the Maxim or US Weekly of international affairs writing, offers the following ten things that won’t change no matter who’s President.
- America’s relationship with China
- The partisan divide
- Dependence on foreign oil
- The decline in manufacturing jobs
- The flow of illegal drugs
- Military spending
- The influence of lobbyists
- U.S. support for Israel
- Ethanol subsidies
- The primary system
A pretty reasonable if over-simplified list. Today, all of the above are fundamental qualities of the American corporatist state — whether captained by a neo-con or hope-monger. Any President would find it near impossible to even discuss alerting the status quo on any of these issues.
However, it could be argued that Executive power can be and has been used to dramatically alter the United States. Rarely for the betterment of Americans, however.
Even heavily cited examples, like civil rights changes mid-century, are often misplaced or misunderstood. And when positive changes occur in America and the world, it is usually despite U.S. opposition or veto.
That hope-monger, Obama, has got everybody all riled up about change. And while the President is an important role in the United States and the world, the conversation about change itself makes us forget who’s really in charge. Emerald-City-style, little will change because the Executive is not the boss — it is a client — and its elite patrons are doing quite nicely, thank-you-very-much.
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