Never mind the specifics of what Marianne Gingrich, second Newt wife said. The mere fact that she spoke out brings into clear view the incredible difficulty that Newt has in making the case for himself in so many aspects of what some Republicans desire in a candidate and what the nation needs. The problem is not just to determine if, indeed, Newt did ask Marriane for an "open marraige." If the request was made, it was, at least, a stab at some kind of transparency in the relationship. The problem is that there are three of them - wives, I mean. That means that at least twice, Gingrich made a major decision in life that, by his own reckoning, was fatally flawed. If he cannot decide, by his own admission, what is good for himself, how is he going to decide what is good for the nation. Forgiveness, if he ever really asked for it, does not, by the way, make the forgiven one more holy, more mature or more intelligent.
It might be interesting, however, to have Newt explain which mistakes he confessed when asking God for forgiveness. There are so many possibilities and one wonders if he really could remember them all. The two affairs while married, for instance, would have definitely required a good amount of not telling the truth and to more than just one person. Which staffers were asked to be complicit by keeping quiet (you know that sin about causing others to sin - it's considered worse than just sinning yourself)? The follow-up question could be what he learned from each sin that was forgiven...the first time it was forgiven and then the second time it was forgiven. Then I wonder what dispensation he received from the Catholic Church to take communion as the church does not recognize divorce. Can polygamists still participate in the Eucharist?
It just is too unseamly for the candidate of the "family values" party to have so many divorces trailing behind him and to complicate the matter, the potential first lady was eight years an adulterer with Newt. Imagine the possible questions to Newt and Callista on the campaign trail about those eight years.
Personally, I don't care about Newt's sex life or his infidelity. The problem with Newt is the problem with his party - they have bad ideas for governing the nation.
Gingrich should have known that his history would be his undoing and it will be, because, when push comes to shove, even if he did receive a small uptick in support from the usual backlash to bad news, the Republicans will not tolerate a candidate who, on their own sacred social issues, is, according to their own standards, one of the most prolific sinners. He can be forgiven. But no one will forget and especially not the true Evangelicals in the heartland. Goodbye Newt.
The lingering question is how a person like Newt Gingrich with so much baggage both personally and politically (from his days in the Congress) can go so far down the road without either the electorate giving him a clear indication or realizing himself that he never really had a chance. The same could be said about the big money that supported him. If you are looking for someone who knows how to invest their own money in a winning cause to take charge of your money for investment, then get the list of Gingrich donors and do not ever contact them.
To add to this puzzling reality is the fact that Gingrich is not the only one who, for reasons that should have been obvious to the candidate themselves as well as the electorate, should never have gotten as far as they did in the primary process. We still remember Herman Cain. It could be that the lesson here for the rest of us is that the air in the high altitudes of arrogance that are bred by the system of power brokering as it it exists in a corporate run state such ours is mighty thin and causes the death of those brain cells that ordinary would prevent such delusions.
In this sense, the Cain exit, the Perry exit and the soon to be Gingrich exit are more reflective of the public's need for Sarah Palin to reappear now and then to serve as comic relief.
The real worry comes when you consider that the remaining candidates for the Republican party are quite aware of who pulls the strings and are ready and able to lead the next coupe on the hopes of ordinary people for some form of economic, social and political justice to prevail within our boundaries.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Getting on the Record
Just for the record I want to make my US presidential election in 2012. Romney will win the Republican nomination. Obama will win the general election. There still are not enough stupid people in the United States to hand the reins of the government back to the Republicans. And, in fact, it is the economy, stupid. The last time the economy was in the hands of a Republican president it went south, big time (not to mention the debt piled up by two wars we did not need to fight). Obama has overseen the process of addressing the problems created by his predecessors and the initial stages of the economy coming back; plus, he managed to get health care passed which no other president has been able to do. Did he perform the way I wanted him too. No! I wanted singl-payer health care and immigration reform that allowd for amnesty, both of which would make this country healthier.
By the way, speaking of stupidity, our local U.S. Congressman was recently quoted as saying that we cannot remove the tax cuts from the rich because it is their money that drives the economy. Really, And, where did they drive it? Right, you got it - exactly in their direction. If they are the drivers then they should be arrested on several violatons of the law and common sense. So, a few days later, this same Congressman was on the floor of the house denouncing how Obama had mismanged the economy. So, which is it...is Obama driving or the rich? You have to wonder sometimes if the politicians think we don't listen or it doesn't matter that what they say has some level of consistency (or lack of demagogery).
But, given the conditions of the economy and the wars when he inherited the office and the Republican House, I would say that he has performed admirably. If he can manage to get the absolutely logical and advisable agreement to remove Bush tax cuts for the rich, we will do even better in this year and the years to come.
By the way, speaking of stupidity, our local U.S. Congressman was recently quoted as saying that we cannot remove the tax cuts from the rich because it is their money that drives the economy. Really, And, where did they drive it? Right, you got it - exactly in their direction. If they are the drivers then they should be arrested on several violatons of the law and common sense. So, a few days later, this same Congressman was on the floor of the house denouncing how Obama had mismanged the economy. So, which is it...is Obama driving or the rich? You have to wonder sometimes if the politicians think we don't listen or it doesn't matter that what they say has some level of consistency (or lack of demagogery).
But, given the conditions of the economy and the wars when he inherited the office and the Republican House, I would say that he has performed admirably. If he can manage to get the absolutely logical and advisable agreement to remove Bush tax cuts for the rich, we will do even better in this year and the years to come.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Surviving the Republican Primaries
it seems that the incredibly thin slate of candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. President has been reduced to a competition in which the winner is the one who can survive the cut throat politics within its own party. The larger question is whether the nation can survive the Republican primaries.
To the extent that rhetoric and ideas influence how we feel and how we act, the current primary promises to be a tsunami for the American people, as candidates curry the favor of the tea party enthusiasts and the evangelical right in an attempt to wipe out all remnants of a progressive American committed to the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. These are mean people who dislike government, people who are poor and not their color and who have a vision of America which is not only outdated, but dangerous for the national security. In addition to being mean, they are hypocritical; professing to love small government but not at all adverse (as the Bush years demonstrated) to handing out billions to those who already have millions and spending trillions on wars that either have no meaning or no end.
The rthetoric then is about "American" or "Christian" values which most of the candidates have violated with frequency but that lacks any breadth or depth; completely sidestepping most of the founding principles of the country, even those embedded in the constitution, for a reduced set of rules which only constrict the creative powers of the nationaand its people to confront the challenges of the real world. The rhetoric of American "exceptionalism" is among the most dangerous as it is the standard way that politicians of the right set the foundation for fighting wars which keep the military/industrial complex firmly on their side of the political equation, i.e. we are exceptional and that is why we have to send our sons and daughters to die, even when the end results only impoverish the country and give us a new generation of traumatized young adults.
So, for months now, as the Democrats wait in the wings, we are treated, each evening, to summaries of the latest ideas of how to make sure the rich get richer, the immigrants get deported, the unemployed get dropped from receiving unemployment benefits; the old get reduced medical care and how to turn back every progressive and intelligent reform that has been made by the government in the last 50 years.
Can we survive this onslaught of negativism and jingoism? Probably so, as the spirit of the major of Americans still seems to be resistant to the illnesses visited upon us by the "core" Republican constituents. And, there is reality also: immigrants make economies vibrant; investment in proper care of the old and the poor stimulates the economy; and most folks are tired of losing the husband, wives, sons and daughters to wars that have no meaning and no end. There still are intelligent, compassionate, justice loving and peace seeking people in our nation.
But, I would not discount the effect that this period of uninterrupted barrage of bad ideas and cultural primitivity can have on the American psyche. It would be best for all of us if one or another of the candidates wins Iowa big and then blasts everybody else out of the water by end of January and we can get on to a new level of debate in which the mean ones do not control the content or the tone.
It doesn't really matter which one it is as whichever one survives will come out of it so tainted by his or her own statements trying to suck up to the "true believers" that they will be unable to reposition themselves inside the mainstream of what most healthy people can accept. If I am wrong about this and the "tea party" and the "evangelical right" do represent the mainstream of American political opinion, then, my friends, I repent of believing that the American spirit is still capable of casting out the demons.
To the extent that rhetoric and ideas influence how we feel and how we act, the current primary promises to be a tsunami for the American people, as candidates curry the favor of the tea party enthusiasts and the evangelical right in an attempt to wipe out all remnants of a progressive American committed to the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. These are mean people who dislike government, people who are poor and not their color and who have a vision of America which is not only outdated, but dangerous for the national security. In addition to being mean, they are hypocritical; professing to love small government but not at all adverse (as the Bush years demonstrated) to handing out billions to those who already have millions and spending trillions on wars that either have no meaning or no end.
The rthetoric then is about "American" or "Christian" values which most of the candidates have violated with frequency but that lacks any breadth or depth; completely sidestepping most of the founding principles of the country, even those embedded in the constitution, for a reduced set of rules which only constrict the creative powers of the nationaand its people to confront the challenges of the real world. The rhetoric of American "exceptionalism" is among the most dangerous as it is the standard way that politicians of the right set the foundation for fighting wars which keep the military/industrial complex firmly on their side of the political equation, i.e. we are exceptional and that is why we have to send our sons and daughters to die, even when the end results only impoverish the country and give us a new generation of traumatized young adults.
So, for months now, as the Democrats wait in the wings, we are treated, each evening, to summaries of the latest ideas of how to make sure the rich get richer, the immigrants get deported, the unemployed get dropped from receiving unemployment benefits; the old get reduced medical care and how to turn back every progressive and intelligent reform that has been made by the government in the last 50 years.
Can we survive this onslaught of negativism and jingoism? Probably so, as the spirit of the major of Americans still seems to be resistant to the illnesses visited upon us by the "core" Republican constituents. And, there is reality also: immigrants make economies vibrant; investment in proper care of the old and the poor stimulates the economy; and most folks are tired of losing the husband, wives, sons and daughters to wars that have no meaning and no end. There still are intelligent, compassionate, justice loving and peace seeking people in our nation.
But, I would not discount the effect that this period of uninterrupted barrage of bad ideas and cultural primitivity can have on the American psyche. It would be best for all of us if one or another of the candidates wins Iowa big and then blasts everybody else out of the water by end of January and we can get on to a new level of debate in which the mean ones do not control the content or the tone.
It doesn't really matter which one it is as whichever one survives will come out of it so tainted by his or her own statements trying to suck up to the "true believers" that they will be unable to reposition themselves inside the mainstream of what most healthy people can accept. If I am wrong about this and the "tea party" and the "evangelical right" do represent the mainstream of American political opinion, then, my friends, I repent of believing that the American spirit is still capable of casting out the demons.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
G.O.P. - Dream Killers
The newly empowered congressional GOP delgation has wasted no time in establishing its reputation.....as DREAM KILLERS. First there was the defeat, in the Senate of the DREAM BILL that would have granted a path to citizenship for about 2 million immigrant youth who came with their parents to this country without papers and who have demonstrated both educational acumen as well as loyalty to the nation by either entering college or volunterring for military service. So, to tell us who they really are, the GOP, killed their dremas and the American Dream.
I just wonder exactly what all the comments I have heard over the years from Republican-types about Latinos not being interested in education really mean. Here are 2 million who value education and have progressed well and the Republicans step on their dreams. I wonder exactly what all the comments I have heard from Republican-types about the lack of qualified and educated job force are really about when they step on the dreams of about 2 million who are getting qualified and educated. Well, I don't really wonder, because it has been a long standing tradition in the Republican Party to criticize the poor, the downtrodden and the marginated as responsible for all the nation's problems and then, if they show any initiative, to step on their dreams to make sure that, in fact, they do not escape poverty and they always will know their place. It is a very acceptable form of racism within the right-wing world of enthusiasm for legal ethnic cleansing.
To make sure that no one is in doubt about the mark that the GOP wants to make on our national life, the new congress with a GOP majority in the House moves quickly, while the nation burns, not to increase job opportunity or address the deficit, but to kill another dream of the poor: to have health care. So, next week, the House vote to repeal the recent health care reform even though they know it has no chance of prevailing in the Senate and no chance to overcome an Obama veto. I suppose this is what they call the effective use of legislative time that they criticized previous legislature for not having.
Okay, you say, hypocrisy has always been the hallmark of the Republicans - promise whatever you need to in the elections and then just get to work to protect the interest of rich white men. True. You've got me on that one. I guess I just have not harden my heart enough to overcome a kind of innate hope that I think lies within most of us that people can change and that we Americans deserve a Congress that actually serves the national interest and not the narrow interest of the rich white class of people who pay the bill for their election campaigns.
I an going to have to up my daily dose of cynicism in order to keep up with the times.
I just wonder exactly what all the comments I have heard over the years from Republican-types about Latinos not being interested in education really mean. Here are 2 million who value education and have progressed well and the Republicans step on their dreams. I wonder exactly what all the comments I have heard from Republican-types about the lack of qualified and educated job force are really about when they step on the dreams of about 2 million who are getting qualified and educated. Well, I don't really wonder, because it has been a long standing tradition in the Republican Party to criticize the poor, the downtrodden and the marginated as responsible for all the nation's problems and then, if they show any initiative, to step on their dreams to make sure that, in fact, they do not escape poverty and they always will know their place. It is a very acceptable form of racism within the right-wing world of enthusiasm for legal ethnic cleansing.
To make sure that no one is in doubt about the mark that the GOP wants to make on our national life, the new congress with a GOP majority in the House moves quickly, while the nation burns, not to increase job opportunity or address the deficit, but to kill another dream of the poor: to have health care. So, next week, the House vote to repeal the recent health care reform even though they know it has no chance of prevailing in the Senate and no chance to overcome an Obama veto. I suppose this is what they call the effective use of legislative time that they criticized previous legislature for not having.
Okay, you say, hypocrisy has always been the hallmark of the Republicans - promise whatever you need to in the elections and then just get to work to protect the interest of rich white men. True. You've got me on that one. I guess I just have not harden my heart enough to overcome a kind of innate hope that I think lies within most of us that people can change and that we Americans deserve a Congress that actually serves the national interest and not the narrow interest of the rich white class of people who pay the bill for their election campaigns.
I an going to have to up my daily dose of cynicism in order to keep up with the times.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A Wave or a Knee Jerk
It evidently is kosher in the political commentary world to describe recent US elections as Wave Elections, in which the wave goes the left and then to the right and then back to the left and on and on, citing the independent voters as a growing phenomena that now controls the political destinies of both the parties and the nation. Whichever way the independents think the wave should go; that is where it goes.
So a part-time cynic might respond: "So, national politics and policies are now controlled by a minority of people who either never took the time to form a real opinion or make a deep analysis of reality and, thus, vote how their gut, instead of their commitments/principles/conscience/convictions tells them to vote. But, hey, let's get rid of the part-time guys and go to the full-time cynics. What would they say? Well it might start out the same: "Our country has a significant minority of people who have no political/economic/social analysis or point of view that would guide their political leanings, i.e. a whole bunch of stupid people. But then, the analysis would change: This makes is easy for the corporate and financial sectors to control government to their liking and for their profit. And, it gets even better....for the corporate/financial sectors. These independents are actually getting the big head with many of them beginning to think that they have power when, in fact, they are dupes of larger interests who are pushed and pulled the way these larger interests want them to be pushed and pulled.
The thing about stupid people is that they don't ride waves as this would require some critical judgment about waves, when to get on, the dangers, the cost/benefit ratio, etc. What stupid people do is respond with a knee jerk to the latest stimulus and then try to explain the knee jerk with logic which is supplied by one or the other party or the folks who finance them.
So, for instance, the independents (those are the stupid people), they respond to the fact that we have a huge debt with the knee jerk reaction of opposing the current administration and giving power back to the folks responsible for approving the spending that brought us the majority of the current debt we have. The independents (since they don't bother with facts, because to have them would imply you have to organize, prioritize and then make sense of them) respond to high unemployment (which many of them only see as a fear, and do not experience as a reality) by giving power to the folks who did not want to save the auto industry and its jobs, or the financial sectors and its jobs, or the banks and its jobs. The cost, by the way, of saving these jobs and institutions which make a considerable contribution to the well being of our society is that the government made a profit while saving tens of thousands of jobs. When was the last time a Republican made a profit on legislation they passed. Okay, you are right, the Republicans have passed legislation that has enabled corporations to make huge profits, more than they deserve..but, I was referring to a profit for the government that, theoretically would benefit all of us not just a handful of us.
I will stop here, because, in fact, the independents are too easy of a target and they will always exist and we just have to learn to live with a lot of stupid people around. The downside is that there remains little chance that we escape the chains placed on our system and our lives by the corporate/financial sectors which can buy and sell both governments and independent voters by the dozens whenever they so desire. And, if the corporations find that they are feeling constrained they just get their lackeys in government, as recently happened, to pass legislation giving them free reign to buy as many independents as they please without any oversight. Carl Rove now is back in business.
The other side of the knee jerk is that sometimes it can become a tsunami, a wave really cannot, without an explosion beneath it. Take the second Bush term. That should have been a wave, but, instead it was knee jerk caused by, let me see, could it have been veterans who initiated a huge media campaign financed by corporations? Could have been. Well, after the tsunami, the corporations got disappointed with their lackeys on the right, so they brought in the left to save capitalism (that is essentially what Obama has done with the saving of the financial institutions that finance the corporations and, at no cost to the taxpayer. What costs the taxpayer, it can be remembered, are wars, military spending which is the other way that the government serves the corporate interests. But the left are lackeys that the corporations don't really trust - they just come in to clean up the mess the Republicans make of the economy now and then (balance the budget under Clinton and stabilize the financial institutions under Obama) and the left always goes too far with their salvation, such as regulations which would prevent the unconscionable profits of the Bush era in the future in favor stability.
Now, here's the funny part about the knew jerk. The media actually thinks it is a serious reflection of the will of the American public, parroting the winning political party's own self-delusion about their importance. It is not. It is laughable what the pundits are saying about the meaning of this most recent election. The only thing is means is that the corporate interests which control our state are worried that Obama will go too far in regulating their interests and maybe even forcing them to pay both for their mistakes and even make a hefty contribution to the common good. So, they finance the Tea Party which, ironically, rails against the influence of large, wealthy interests on our government (well, they did until they realized that they needed the money of these guys in order to mount a campaign).
So, let's see who the corporate folks want in 2012. If you are a democrat or a republican or a green or anybody which an organized mind capable of critical thought and can form commitments to principles/values, you are free to vote as your conscience/principles/convictions tell you to vote with the absolute assurance that however you vote it will contribute to the victory of the folks who control the knee jerk voters.
So a part-time cynic might respond: "So, national politics and policies are now controlled by a minority of people who either never took the time to form a real opinion or make a deep analysis of reality and, thus, vote how their gut, instead of their commitments/principles/conscience/convictions tells them to vote. But, hey, let's get rid of the part-time guys and go to the full-time cynics. What would they say? Well it might start out the same: "Our country has a significant minority of people who have no political/economic/social analysis or point of view that would guide their political leanings, i.e. a whole bunch of stupid people. But then, the analysis would change: This makes is easy for the corporate and financial sectors to control government to their liking and for their profit. And, it gets even better....for the corporate/financial sectors. These independents are actually getting the big head with many of them beginning to think that they have power when, in fact, they are dupes of larger interests who are pushed and pulled the way these larger interests want them to be pushed and pulled.
The thing about stupid people is that they don't ride waves as this would require some critical judgment about waves, when to get on, the dangers, the cost/benefit ratio, etc. What stupid people do is respond with a knee jerk to the latest stimulus and then try to explain the knee jerk with logic which is supplied by one or the other party or the folks who finance them.
So, for instance, the independents (those are the stupid people), they respond to the fact that we have a huge debt with the knee jerk reaction of opposing the current administration and giving power back to the folks responsible for approving the spending that brought us the majority of the current debt we have. The independents (since they don't bother with facts, because to have them would imply you have to organize, prioritize and then make sense of them) respond to high unemployment (which many of them only see as a fear, and do not experience as a reality) by giving power to the folks who did not want to save the auto industry and its jobs, or the financial sectors and its jobs, or the banks and its jobs. The cost, by the way, of saving these jobs and institutions which make a considerable contribution to the well being of our society is that the government made a profit while saving tens of thousands of jobs. When was the last time a Republican made a profit on legislation they passed. Okay, you are right, the Republicans have passed legislation that has enabled corporations to make huge profits, more than they deserve..but, I was referring to a profit for the government that, theoretically would benefit all of us not just a handful of us.
I will stop here, because, in fact, the independents are too easy of a target and they will always exist and we just have to learn to live with a lot of stupid people around. The downside is that there remains little chance that we escape the chains placed on our system and our lives by the corporate/financial sectors which can buy and sell both governments and independent voters by the dozens whenever they so desire. And, if the corporations find that they are feeling constrained they just get their lackeys in government, as recently happened, to pass legislation giving them free reign to buy as many independents as they please without any oversight. Carl Rove now is back in business.
The other side of the knee jerk is that sometimes it can become a tsunami, a wave really cannot, without an explosion beneath it. Take the second Bush term. That should have been a wave, but, instead it was knee jerk caused by, let me see, could it have been veterans who initiated a huge media campaign financed by corporations? Could have been. Well, after the tsunami, the corporations got disappointed with their lackeys on the right, so they brought in the left to save capitalism (that is essentially what Obama has done with the saving of the financial institutions that finance the corporations and, at no cost to the taxpayer. What costs the taxpayer, it can be remembered, are wars, military spending which is the other way that the government serves the corporate interests. But the left are lackeys that the corporations don't really trust - they just come in to clean up the mess the Republicans make of the economy now and then (balance the budget under Clinton and stabilize the financial institutions under Obama) and the left always goes too far with their salvation, such as regulations which would prevent the unconscionable profits of the Bush era in the future in favor stability.
Now, here's the funny part about the knew jerk. The media actually thinks it is a serious reflection of the will of the American public, parroting the winning political party's own self-delusion about their importance. It is not. It is laughable what the pundits are saying about the meaning of this most recent election. The only thing is means is that the corporate interests which control our state are worried that Obama will go too far in regulating their interests and maybe even forcing them to pay both for their mistakes and even make a hefty contribution to the common good. So, they finance the Tea Party which, ironically, rails against the influence of large, wealthy interests on our government (well, they did until they realized that they needed the money of these guys in order to mount a campaign).
So, let's see who the corporate folks want in 2012. If you are a democrat or a republican or a green or anybody which an organized mind capable of critical thought and can form commitments to principles/values, you are free to vote as your conscience/principles/convictions tell you to vote with the absolute assurance that however you vote it will contribute to the victory of the folks who control the knee jerk voters.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Giving the Match to the Arsonist
Seeing the results of tonights elections brings back the feelings that haunted me the night I watched the nationa re-elect George Bush six years ago. Why would you give the arsonist a match? but we did and the burning down of America continued. Now, just two years after the fire was put out, we do it again; we give the match back to the arsonists.
Thankfully, we have a president, and, evidently, a Senate that still believes in building not burning.
You should look at the exit polls: who voted for whom. Rich old white men carried the day. People who have lost jobs actually voted democratic in the majority. People who think they can make a lot more money voted Republican...they thought the same when they voted Bush back in and look what happened to their investments.
It is a night that proves what James Carville once observed when asked what he could make of the fact that there was an uproar from sectors of the nation in response to the news that President Obama would address children in an elementary school. Carver said, well we just have to get used the fact that we have a lot of stupid people in the nation. Indeed.
The question for the nation, by the way, is not the one that the news media seems to concentrate on tomight - what the election means for President Obama - but rather, what does the election mean for the American people, and, beyond that for the world in which we live because, despite Tea Party objections, we actually do need the rest of the world and they us for us all to prosper.
Well, I predict good things in the next two years, but not as good as they could be. While the Tea Party Republicans will treat the nation to a ton of Patriotic moralism, all of which amounts to nothing, the economy will grow and begin to prosper and we will end the war in Afghanistan, or at least take it down a notch or two in cost and we will make great strides in developing alternative energy like solar and wind and all our pension plans will get back more or less to where they were before Bush cut them in half with his half baked ideas of world dominance, unleashing the robber barons and tax cuts that bankrupted the nation.
This time, the firefighters will contain the arsonists so that they cannot burn the nation down again, so soon. Then we will see, in 2012 if the nation got any smarter.
For the moment it does not bode well on that front. To our credit, the voters didn't go for most of the really brainless canidates that the Tea Party servedu up to the nation, but they did go for the most dangerous ones like new Senators Rand Paul from Kentucky and Marco Rubio from Florida, both of whom gave special attention in their victory speeches to the fact that they believe that the United States is the greatest nation, not just now, but the greatest nation ever!!!! We could mention that that they provided no evidence and we know that they have extremely limited contact with the world outside of this hemisphere and that we lack clear criteria for what would qualify us for this accolade and that history demonstrates that most demagogues and dictators resort to this kind of jingoism to blind their followers as to what they really intend to do to the nation; but it would suffice to say that this statement is absolutely irrelevant to the the question of how to improve the current state of affairs in the nation in the world (they both agreed that there is something wrong in this greatest of all nations - this is called: having it both ways). I am quite sure that no one in the audience bought this attempt to manipulate minds and hearts and blind us to more pressing truths; becuase if they did, in any numbers, then we can see the real problem that we face: we have met the enemy and it us.
Thankfully, we have a president, and, evidently, a Senate that still believes in building not burning.
You should look at the exit polls: who voted for whom. Rich old white men carried the day. People who have lost jobs actually voted democratic in the majority. People who think they can make a lot more money voted Republican...they thought the same when they voted Bush back in and look what happened to their investments.
It is a night that proves what James Carville once observed when asked what he could make of the fact that there was an uproar from sectors of the nation in response to the news that President Obama would address children in an elementary school. Carver said, well we just have to get used the fact that we have a lot of stupid people in the nation. Indeed.
The question for the nation, by the way, is not the one that the news media seems to concentrate on tomight - what the election means for President Obama - but rather, what does the election mean for the American people, and, beyond that for the world in which we live because, despite Tea Party objections, we actually do need the rest of the world and they us for us all to prosper.
Well, I predict good things in the next two years, but not as good as they could be. While the Tea Party Republicans will treat the nation to a ton of Patriotic moralism, all of which amounts to nothing, the economy will grow and begin to prosper and we will end the war in Afghanistan, or at least take it down a notch or two in cost and we will make great strides in developing alternative energy like solar and wind and all our pension plans will get back more or less to where they were before Bush cut them in half with his half baked ideas of world dominance, unleashing the robber barons and tax cuts that bankrupted the nation.
This time, the firefighters will contain the arsonists so that they cannot burn the nation down again, so soon. Then we will see, in 2012 if the nation got any smarter.
For the moment it does not bode well on that front. To our credit, the voters didn't go for most of the really brainless canidates that the Tea Party servedu up to the nation, but they did go for the most dangerous ones like new Senators Rand Paul from Kentucky and Marco Rubio from Florida, both of whom gave special attention in their victory speeches to the fact that they believe that the United States is the greatest nation, not just now, but the greatest nation ever!!!! We could mention that that they provided no evidence and we know that they have extremely limited contact with the world outside of this hemisphere and that we lack clear criteria for what would qualify us for this accolade and that history demonstrates that most demagogues and dictators resort to this kind of jingoism to blind their followers as to what they really intend to do to the nation; but it would suffice to say that this statement is absolutely irrelevant to the the question of how to improve the current state of affairs in the nation in the world (they both agreed that there is something wrong in this greatest of all nations - this is called: having it both ways). I am quite sure that no one in the audience bought this attempt to manipulate minds and hearts and blind us to more pressing truths; becuase if they did, in any numbers, then we can see the real problem that we face: we have met the enemy and it us.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Boston Should Sue
Boston should sue the Tea Party for giving New England patriots a bad name. If it were not clear a year ago when the Tea Party was making its way onto the political scene, it should be now that the Tea Party not only has brought together folks with extreme tendencies toward meaness and stupidity, but it has also served to demonstrate exactly how politically and constitutionally illiterate the American public has become (or maybe it was always that way). Tea Party candidates have, so far, demonstrated lack of knowledge of the Constitution they say they are defending, most recently the first amendment; demonstrated that they never took one course in political science, confusing center-right policies of the Obama administration with Socialism; and, shown that they don't undestand the most basic principles of math; not being able to count up the debt and spending of the 8 years of the Bush administration as they criticize the Obama administration for government spending and increasing the debt. In fact, the American people should sue the Tea Party for casting doubt on the basic capacity of our people to be able to manage simple concept and to use the powers of reason to confront national problems.
The patriots who tossed the tea of English ships into the Boston Harbor would turn over in their graves to see the spectacle of uninhibited ignorance and and unintelligible political analysis that comes out of the mouths of the Tea Party candidates. And, we will soon be trying to save the country from its own grave if the Tea Party gains any significant toe hold in the legistlative branches of our national and state governments.
In fact, rather that sue, we should just throw the Tea Party overboard...but we won't, because, in fact, it may be that the Tea Party really does represent a significant portion of our population which would be proof that we have regressed in all senses since December 17, 1773 when' after the events of the day before, the Boston Harbor tasted like "earl gray."
What can I say. In a democracy you get what you vote for. Woe is Us!!!
The patriots who tossed the tea of English ships into the Boston Harbor would turn over in their graves to see the spectacle of uninhibited ignorance and and unintelligible political analysis that comes out of the mouths of the Tea Party candidates. And, we will soon be trying to save the country from its own grave if the Tea Party gains any significant toe hold in the legistlative branches of our national and state governments.
In fact, rather that sue, we should just throw the Tea Party overboard...but we won't, because, in fact, it may be that the Tea Party really does represent a significant portion of our population which would be proof that we have regressed in all senses since December 17, 1773 when' after the events of the day before, the Boston Harbor tasted like "earl gray."
What can I say. In a democracy you get what you vote for. Woe is Us!!!
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