Posted by Anthony Gregory on 11/20/09 6:32 PM   [Newer: Projected Nat'l Debt Interest: More than War, Education, Energy Combined] [Older: War Is Not Conservative ]

Liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald discusses the meaning of yesterday's victory for Fed transparency:

The bill still faces substantial hurdles in becoming law, of course, but yesterday's vote has made that outcome quite possible, and it's worth noting several important points highlighted by what happened here:

(1) Our leading media outlets are capable of understanding political debates only by stuffing them into melodramatic, trite and often distracting "right v. left" storylines.  While some debates fit comfortably into that framework, many do not.  Anger over the Wall Street bailouts, the control by the banking industry of Congress, and the impenetrable secrecy with which the Fed conducts itself resonates across the political spectrum, as the truly bipartisan and trans-ideological vote yesterday reflects.  Populist anger over elite-favoring economic policies has long been brewing on both the Right and Left (and in between), but neither political party can capitalize on it because they're both dependent upon and subservient to the same elite interests which benefit from those policies.

For that reason, many of the most consequential political conflicts are shaped far more by an "insider v. outsider" dichotomy than by a "GOP v. Democrat" or "Left v. Right" split.  The pillaging of America's economic security by financial elites, with the eager assistance of the government officials who they own and who serve them, is the prime example of such a conflict.   The political system as a whole -- both parties' leadership -- is owned and controlled by a handful of key industry interests, and anger over the fact is found across the political spectrum.  Yesterday's vote is a very rare example where the true nature of political power was expressed and the petty distractions and artificial fault lines overcome.

(2) As Grim expertly describes, the effort to defeat the Paul/Grayson amendment came from all of the typical Washington power centers using all of the establishment's typical manipulative tools.

Read the whole article.

Posted 11/20/09 6:52 PM Heata Jonesborough, TN

Im a completely confused that Campaing for Liberty was not mentioned even *once* in his article....

Posted 11/20/09 7:30 PM Paul S. Brighton, MI

That's our job :-)

Posted 11/20/09 7:36 PM usapatriot Milton, VT

Another outstanding article by Glenn Greenwald. I would highly recommend his blog at "salon.com" and his excellent book "How Would a Patriot Act". I think it is somewhat inaccurate and insulting to describe Greenwald as a "liberal", except in the classical sense. He has written several scathing criticisms of the Obama administration and their decisions to continue Bush administration policies regarding executive privilege, indefinite detention and military commissions. I was very disappointed with his column which described the DOHS report on "Right Wing Extremism" as poetic justice for conservatives who lauded Bush's civil liberties abuses. I think we need to familiarize him with the Campaign for Liberty, and the principled conservatives, which, like he, are opposed to government tyranny regardless of who is imposing it.

Posted 11/20/09 7:44 PM navnek Mauston, WI

Amazing that Greenwald's list did not give much if any credit to the tireless efforts of Ron Paul, the soundness of arguments he and his Austrian School mentors have been making for decades, nor the value of folks in different parties working together for (excuse me for this) the common good. (Usually that phrase is upchucking to me, as it is used most often used to justify the most horrendous assaults on liberty.) But that is about as good as it gets from Mr. Greenwald.

Posted 11/20/09 7:45 PM navnek Mauston, WI

And let me add that given Frank's position on other monetary issues, his phony support did not surprise me. Hopefully he will finally pay at the polls.

Posted 11/21/09 03:02 AM Trent Phoenix, AZ

"And it reveals a winning formula: where there is a strong and principled leader in Congress willing to defy the Party's leadership and the Washington establishment (Grayson)" Seriously? While I most certainly agree that Grayson deserves some credit, Ron Paul is the one who has been doing this for over 30 years!

Posted 11/21/09 11:36 AM AuthenticAuthor Canutillo, TX

navnek, As an off-and-on reader of his articles, it's safe to say that his specialty is not Economics, which explains why he does not mention the Austrian school; his real specialty is fraud, corruption, media silence and government transparency. Other than that, he's pretty solid in my book. As for not mentioning C4L, I'm not too sure if I care about this too much or not (although it would had helped if he did); this was a victory for Ron Paul's bill and so it's a victory for liberty lovers everywhere. Ron Paul's reputation leads to C4L, and C4L's reputation leads to Ron Paul. I can only imagine the look on Barney Frank's face when this came to pass. :)

Posted 11/21/09 11:20 PM drmikevasovski Aiken, SC

I too read Greenwald almost every day but was let down by his insufficient mention/credit of Ron Paul's import in the effort to get an audit of the Fed.

Posted 11/22/09 5:38 PM GratefulTed Hagerstown, MD

I really don't see anything wrong with Mr. Greenwald not mentioning C4L. We are all on the same side here & he is doing good work. Plus I think it is a good thing to keep the movement as a whole as diverse as possible. We don't want it to look like it's only C4L who is in this fight but rather everyone. The broader the coalition, the greater the power.

Posted 11/22/09 7:50 PM Glenn Cumming, GA

Thank you, Anthony Gregory for making us aware of this GG's article. He is interviewed regularly at Antiwar Radio by Scott Horton and is definitely knowledgeable about the law and its abuses at the hands of the Death Dealers in the U.S. Government. I do not read him regularly, only interested if he can add details of abuses by the U.S. Government or explaining legal issues. In this example of his writing he just reinforces that his bias is that more government is the answer to government. The fact that central banking with a monopoly to print money is the antithesis of liberty probably escapes him at the moment. Oh well, bringing Bush and Cheney to trial for war crimes would make me happy.

Posted 11/22/09 11:15 PM ticsani Boca Raton, FL

Well Gee...the wingnuts score one thanks to Paul & Grayson. But the amendment still needs to become law. So big fights ahead. The GAO may yet get a chance to see the financial horror show.