Thursday, May 24, 2007

Tell it like it is...

I called my rep about this. You should too.

This is also spot on...

"But (someone protests), can't you at least admit that the Democrats are better than the Republicans? And if you love the country, or care about the world, aren't you obligated to support the lesser of two evils, even if it's only slightly less evil?

To which I reply: What's really evil is being forced to choose between people on the one hand who support the war, and accuse anyone who questions it of "helping the terrorists" -- and people on the other who oppose the war, criticize the war, pledge to the end the war, and then vote to keep it going.

Or being asked to choose between the village idiot and someone who's consistently outsmarted by him."

And from Greenwald...

"This has long been the principal flaw of Democrats and it has not changed. They are both fearful and incapable of defending any position unless, from the outset, they are assured, by their conniving and principle-free consultants, that most Americans already agree with it. The idea of forcefully articulating a view in order to change public opinion -- such as explaining why de-funding is a perfectly valid option like all the others for ending the war -- never occurs to them."

9 comments:

Pete said...

A perhaps overly used comparison is that scene in Casablanca when Captain Renault declares, "I am shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in here!"

That is, the Democrats invented pork barrel politics and the committee / corporate patronage system.

Both parties treat the body politic as dim-witted children. The difference is that the Republicans are paternalistic, and the Democrats are maternalistic.

Mr Gore's assessment of the devaluation of original thought is tied to this, I think:
"The 'well-informed citizenry' is in danger of becoming the 'well-amused audience.'"

Mr. Alex said...

The real problem is that they need to fear us (the citizenry or "mob", if you will) , but they don't.

The difference is that the Republicans are paternalistic, and the Democrats are maternalistic.

I think this is wrong. The real difference is that Democrats (the DC leadership, at least) hear that someone doesn't like their positions and reflexively say "We must be doing something wrong" where as the Republican leadership's response to the same situation is "What's your fucking problem? Don't you know that we're right?!"

Pete said...

Mmmm... I was more comparing "tough love" initiatives like the Contract with America to old school Keynesian economics.

Pete said...

In any event, having to choose between right-leaning, corrupt centrists and apocalyptically-minded reactionaries is a false choice.

Mr. Alex said...

Mmmm... I was more comparing "tough love" initiatives like the Contract with America to old school Keynesian economics.

Sorry to be so hair triggered. I jumped on that because Mommy Party/Daddy Party is a right-wing frame...

In any event, having to choose between right-leaning, corrupt centrists and apocalyptically-minded reactionaries is a false choice.

Yes.

Pete said...

It's true! Right wingers who call themselves Libertarian often talk of this, as an over-simplified way to object to social spending of any kind.

Mr. Alex said...

It's true! Right wingers who call themselves Libertarian often talk of this, as an over-simplified way to object to social spending of any kind.

Yeah, it's like they think God himself built the interstate highway system with a wave of the hand and his son Jesus patrols the Asian shipping lanes with a speed-boat and an Uzi to keep them clear of pirates...

Pete said...

The bit on Coulter is really funny.

I've always thought she was faking it; which would make her the nation's most nihilistic person.

Don J. said...

When the Democrats of this cycle came onto the floors of both houses of Congress and started talking about plans, accountability, and effectively saying "hut, hut, hut . . ." I had some notion that there might actually be a correction in the system as the pendulum swung back (swinging hard to the left I was pining for.) Rove under pressure from the Justice Department, Rumsfeld stepped down, Gonzales appearing before Congressional panels, Wolfowitz shooed out of the World Bank, and the small fish in each of these men's offices taking a fall, etc.
Pelosi even defied the White House "containment" plan and went to Syria to open a dialogue.

But this backroom deal making regarding the only things that really matter right now in the American political system: the war in Iraq. Never even mentioning the open sanction of torture, the ongoing spying, or prisons in foreign locals that defy every precept of international law. This makes it clear that it was but a glimmer and we are back to business as usual no matter how far we slip into neo-faschism. A homegrown progressive movement and house cleaning of the incompetence, nepotism, and corruption will not, maybe even cannot, emerge from within.

There are a number of appropriate cynical metaphors. Mr. Bob on this weblog had a good one "We used to drink Coke, now we drink Pepsi." But even better was one that Billmon had shortly before pulling the plug on his column regarding the tenfold increase in wages for political aides to the party that takes control of Congress. It read something to the effect of: "What the election really meant: Supply and demand, supply and demand."

I am going to buckle up, because it is going to get a whole lot worse before we get some sort of perestroika and all that such an association implies.