I keep getting sucked into stuff at home and at work that's monopolizing my time but don't want to shut this blog down. I'm just going to post less frequently for a while. I assume at some point I'll get back to daily posting or something thereabouts.In the post before last I mentioned that I thought the ignoring politics approach many of my blogger friends were taking was the sane approach to things. I just can't bring myself to do so. I've been a political junkie since I was was fifteen-years old and started reading the paper. It's as coded into my system as drinking coffee.
So I'm a hamster on the wheel.
It really is frustrating. The democrats, including Obama, suck. Sure- they don't suck anywhere near as bad as the GOP. Obama is a light years better president than the chimp who last sat in the Oval Office. But it's not nearly good enough.
Thirty years of conservative rule including a slavish devotion to the Free Market Fairies have taken their toll on this country. Now is not the time for baby steps walking that crap back. Yet baby steps are all Obama is giving us.
Take the health care debate as an example. I think we need a single payer solution. I would go so far as to say we will have a single payer solution at some point and the only question is how much pain we're going to have to work through between then and now to get to that point as the regressive forces in our society including big insurance companies fight such changes tooth and nail.
Yet single payer isn't on the table in Washington as health care reform is discussed. Instead Obama and the democrats punked themselves once again by making concessions before the debate even began in earnest and beginning with the centrist public option solution.
Because the rules that our elites work under insist we always consider the views of the whargarrbbbll right, regardless of what the voters say about those views we're going to get some sort of health care "reform" that's somewhere between the centrist public option and a regressive plan that actually forces the uninsured to by insurance from the crappy private insurers that are slowly choking the country to death. In short: no reform at all.
How are voters going to treat democrats if they not only fail to actually reform health care but make it worse with a market based approach? My guess is that it will be something along the lines of an electoral roundhouse kick to the nuts. A well deserved one at that.
Incidentally; this is why I don't care much about the Franken fight other than the fact he seems to send the Michelle Malkins of the world into a frothing fury. Even with a supermajority in the senate the democrats will be losers.
Steve Benen sums it up well...
After all, American voters gave Democrats a big majority in the House, a big majority in the Senate, and 365 electoral votes to the Democratic president. Obama has a 60% approval rating, and support for Republicans has plummeted.
It's tempting, then, to remind Democratic policymakers, as they negotiate with the shrinking minority party and back down on key priorities, "You won."
All true, but truth be told what really keeps me banging my head on my desk isn't the idea that we have to consider the ideas of republicans in legislation. Just belonging to a political party doesn't automatically make one wrong on the issues. No, what really sets me off is the the GOP as it's currently constituted is functionally batshiat insane. They bring nothing to the table these days besides their raving lunacy.
Why should the country be forced to entertain their angry, incoherent babbling?
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10 comments:
O, little do ye know, representative of the unwashed masses, of the awesome auditory powers of the likes of the Pill-Popping Pederast and Michael the Savage Weiner. That'll scare even the hardiest brute into maintaining the status quo. Shudder!
Bingo. This is what I've been fearful of for a while, and it's all happening. Whenever you try to find the middle ground between psychosis and a mere semblance of sanity, the result is going to be much too close to psychosis for comfort. And while the example of health care is a good illustration, many other examples come to mind... reform and oversight of the financial industry, climate change and related issues such as alternative energy and carbon addiction, infrastructure, and on and on, ad nauseum.
Even if we're making incremental progress (and I'm not convinced we are), baby steps are not enough... when your house is on fire, waking up is a really good first step. The next steps should not be congratulating yourself for getting that done, then rolling over and going back to sleep.
We really do have to act as though we are all interconnected and that our collective health as a people depends upon each of us demanding more from our elective representatives and from our government.
It's not about Democrats v. Republicans, it's about rich people v. not-rich people.
Guess who has the power?
Democrats don't support the 99.95 percent OVER the .05 percent, they just allow a little more to trickle down to us.
Just a little.
Hang in there, Dean!
I'm happy to believe in baby steps, myself. Sure, I'd like Obama to everything we want him to do, but I want a lot of things, like fusion power and more compassion/less greed around the world.
While I consider myself an altruist, I don't believe in all or nothing. Let's take the electric car. Good idea if they can do it. Some complain it will be utterly useless if the electricity is still made with fossil fuels. Me, I'll take a reduction in gasoline usage and a big reduction in non-point-source pollution.
Sure, Obama has been wishy washy on the torture issue and won't prosecute the perpetrators and architects. However, he has been making great strides in diplomacy around the world, repairing our image and, in the long run, making us more safe;
If you look for perfection, you will never be content.
To put it more simply: If you're dying of thirst and someone hands you a jug of water, don't complain that it's not the right temperature.
and UM is right, though there are some benevolent rich people. Shame they are outnumbered by the greedy asses.
Obama never promised single payer. I still think that they can come up with a good solution.
//stuff at home and at work that's monopolizing my time but don't want to shut this blog down//
I can certainly appreciate that!
.... but the best part of blogging is that there are no rules.
rhetorically... there is always a beer in my fridge for you.
randal-
It terrifies me just thinking about their awesome power to persuade. And by "terrify" I mean "makes me giggle at my desk like a schoolgirl."
Comrade Kevin-
So true. It just seems like so many haven't gotten the memo.
Lockwood-
Whenever you try to find the middle ground between psychosis and a mere semblance of sanity, the result is going to be much too close to psychosis for comfort.
As usual you say things better than I can. :)
In your house is on fire example it's not just that we're waking up. If we are we're telling the arsonist "good job" then going back to sleep.
Ubermilf-
It's true about democrats but I'm old enough to remember when they cared a little more about the middle class. 'Course that was back when Tip O'Neil was alive. Sigh.
Arkonbey-
Some complain it will be utterly useless if the electricity is still made with fossil fuels. Me, I'll take a reduction in gasoline usage and a big reduction in non-point-source pollution.
How do you feel about nuclear power? I read some stuff recently that had me reconsidering the waste issue.
To put it more simply: If you're dying of thirst and someone hands you a jug of water, don't complain that it's not the right temperature.
Fair enough. I'm willing to compromise. I brought up health care though because it's just the latest example of what the problem is. When we start with a compromise position we just wind up having to compromise more because the other side refuses to bend. That's insane in this political climate IMO.
zaius-
I'm talking about the Overton Window with single payer. It's not that we're going to get single payer. It's that it's off the table so we have no leverage and nowhere to compromise.
Okjimm-
Sounds good but digital beer makes me pee something fierce.
I am still waiting to see what happens.
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