The weekend of March 24-26, 2017, was a reminder that the Deep Political Establishment unofficial government in Washington D.C., Beijing and Hong Kong, still rule and dominate political and economic policies — and peoples’ lives — across the Pacific Ocean at the dawn of the 21st-century.
Donald Trump, the anti-establishment candidate and president, experienced his first congressional ambush by the political establishment when he had to withdraw the proposed Repeal and Replace Obamacare legislation on Friday the 24th (25th in HK). It was the center piece of his campaign that propelled him into the White House and the most recent reminder of who runs Washington politics.
The selection of Carrie Lam, the pro-establishment candidate, as the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong by the 1,194 strong Election Committee on March 26, even though she trailed her rival anti-establishment candidate, former financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, by at least 25 percentage points according to all polls and surveys conducted before her selection, was a reminder of who runs Hong Kong politics.
The voting procedure and people casting the votes in Washington and Hong Kong do not represent the will of We the People in America or Hong Kong. The will of the people is ignored and the voting mechanisms and voters in place belong and are run by vested establishment interests determined to undermine anti-establishment candidates and politicians in the interest of preserving their own.
The corporate, business, property developers – moneyed interests — and their undemocratically appointed bureaucratic enforcers in Beijing and Washington still run government and people’s lives as they, and they alone, see fit.
In America, Obamacare was long overdue. Living in Hong Kong where universal health care is available and affordable to all, I have been a strong advocate of universal health coverage in America. I wrote about it in my book Custom Maid Revolution for New World Disorder and talk about it at speaking engagements. Is Obama care perfect? No. Does it need to be amended? Yes. Bottom line, it is a good beginning that can be improved notwithstanding the establishment’s determination to get it repealed.
The failure to bring the Repeal and Replace legislation to a vote was not because the establishment is against universal health coverage. It is about getting higher fees for the coverage, care, prescription drugs, tax breaks and ensuring the defeat and failure of anti-establishment President Trump. As additional bonuses, the political establishment is getting even with President Trump for the insults and shellacking they endured during the presidential campaign and their determination to see Trump fail and be succeeded by Vice President Michael Pence.
In Hong Kong, the so-called election of Carrie Lam is a way for Beijing and Hong Kong political establishments to ensure their self-serving interests are preserved and any anti-establishment candidate is defeated. As additional bonuses, the political establishment – in Beijing there are more than one – are determined to marginalize any pro-democracy movement and use Hong Kong’s resultant unrest as political fodder in the ongoing power struggle in Beijing between President Xi Jinping and former president Jiang Zemin political factions.
Anti-establishment political figures President Trump and former Financial Secretary Tsang, are symbolic figures that represent the anti-establishment sentiments across the Pacific and the world at large. Their defeats are a 21st-century reminder that the Deep Political Establishment still rule notwithstanding the heroic efforts of We the Maids – The People – to sweep them out!