What is behind Zionist orientation of United States?

The United States - like other Anglo-settler states, including Israel - was built on a settler ideology which centers around racial and ethnic oppression and outright genocide against the indigenous people, says Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

In an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, suggested that Zionism is the version of this core settler ideology that was used by the Israelis against the Palestinians, which helps to explain the Zionist orientation of the United States.

“As a settler state the US, like other Anglo-settler states, including Israel, has a core ideology of manifest destiny, racial and ethnic oppression, and outright genocide against the indigenous people they encounter and oust during their colonial conquests. This core settler ideology is indistinguishable from Zionism and helps to explain the Zionist orientation of the US and its allies,” he said.

Etler made the remarks while commenting on a new opinion poll which shows that US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has sunk to a historic low just less than a year into his term in office.

“Both Trump’s and [former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary] Clinton’s similarly low approval ratings speak to the bankruptcy of the two-party system in the US. It’s long been recognized that the Democrat and Republican parties are two sides of the same coin. They both represent the interests of US financial capital, the corporate elite, and the Military-Industrial Congressional Complex. In other words, US imperialism,” Professor Etler said.

“While the US under Trump touts its economic prowess and talks of ‘America First’ its policies are meant to enrich Trump’s cronies and deceive the public who suffer as a result. Both parties pander to their electoral bases which represent different cultural orientations within the US body politic,” he added.  

“The Democrats cater to minorities, women, the LGBT community, and youth. This is the coalition that elected Obama. But while rhetorically advocating policies that benefit those groups, the Democrats do not deliver any real change, other than some minor concessions to appease their base,” he said.  

The analyst said, “The Republicans practice a similar sort of identity politics but cater to a different demographic which includes business people, evangelical Christians, and older Americans with more traditional, conservative attitudes around immigration, abortion and sexual preferences.”

Both US parties serve the interests of the 0.01%

“These two constituencies are the basis for the two-party system and are meant to give legitimacy to the US electoral process. But, the real interests that both parties serve are the 0.01% not the broad masses of the American people who must struggle to keep their heads above water on a daily basis,” he noted.

“Thus, both parties have a problem in maintaining their bases of support, with most people being disgusted by their lack of integrity and inability to deliver a better life for the lower and middle classes. First one party and then the other deliver promises, lambaste and discredit their opponents, and hand political power back and forth to each other on an ongoing basis. Other than their core constituents, approximately 35% of the electorate for each party, the American public are disgusted with both parties, but have little or no alternative,” Etler noted.

“The result is that hard-core conservatives back Trump and hard core liberals support Clinton, each garnering only a minority of 35% support. The problem is that electoral politics has become polarized around these two extremes, resulting in gridlock and a pendulum effect in which identity politics rules the roost, keeping the country perpetually divided along cultural lines, while the economic elites maintain their positions of power and influence no matter which swing the electoral pendulum has taken. Any real alternative to the status quo is nipped in the bud,” he observed.

“Only a complete overhaul of the economic and political system which disavows corporate/financial capitalism at home and imperialism abroad will change the stalemate in US politics. Be it liberal/progressive Democrats or conservative/nativistic Republicans the underlying character of the US political and economic system remains unchanged, and the average American throws their arms up in despair,” Professor Etler concluded.

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