Hope

I wrote this today in response to a friend who asked what does Democracy look like? I am posting it here because it contains my feelings about where we are today in America. Democracy is possible in America, but there is much we all need to learn before it can happen here.

Democracy looks like a place where people vote for somebody or some party that will make their lives better. If everybody voted for the party that would make their lives better than the lives of the majority would get better. This of course assumes that the powerful minority allows such a party to exist and participate in the elections and the majority are allowed to vote. We do not have that in this country. The powerful minority completely controls both parties and does all that is necessary to ensure that no other party can truly exist.

We technically allow all to vote, although voter suppression efforts have reach new heights both in quantity and in sophistication in the last several elections, but don't allow people to vote on the issues that are most important to the people. Neither candidate, Obama nor Hillary, was for peace, for reduction in Military spending, for renegotiating the so called "free trade" agreements, or for rewriting campaign finance rules. Of course, when the collapse of our financial system happened in the fall of 2008, nobody spoke louder about the need to support the existing corrupt financial institutions than Obama. He was rewarded handsomely for his brave stance in defense of the status quo, and received more campaign contributions from Wall Street in the final weeks of his campaign than any candidate in the History of the US.

The final part of our dilemma is the complete ignorance and misunderstanding of the problems we face, and the actions that our government takes both inside our country and outside our borders, by the vast majority of our population. When we started organizing against the war in Iraq, I thought that once people learned the true nature of our actions in Iraq and other places around the world, the majority of American's would demand that our policies change. But as I watched events unfold in the spring/summer of 2003 and watched my fellow citizens reactions to those events I came to realize that a more fundamental change was needed and that fundamental change would most likely not come about.

People did not want to believe what was plain for all to see because their own self worth was tied into the justness of the American cause and the success of the American Military. Even if the media had been more forthright and honest in it's reporting, which it was not, many people in this country would have rejected all evidence of wrong doing on our part. There was plenty in the news about our misdeeds if you choose to look, but there was also plenty of "news" available to support our cause and our Military, and it was the later "news" that the majority of American's choose to watch and believe.

But, it is not only in foreign policy matters that ignorance prevails in our society. Fifty to Sixty years of lies and misinformation passed off as news has left us totally unprepared to face today's challenges. Those who are permitted to rise to any position of power have first been required to swear allegiance to those lies and have come to truly believe them. This is true of both Parties. So that even the honest ones, who may truly want to solve the various crises we currently face, are incapable of conceiving solutions because the solutions are in direct conflict with the lies that they hold so dear. Of course the corrupt ones in power, just milk the system for their own personal gain, but that is another whole issue which might be correctable, if not for the other problems mentioned above.

I share your disgust with our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia, Somalia, Haiti and wherever else we may be engaged in warfare that we don't even know about. But, I am equally disgusted by the disintegration of our inner cities and rural countryside. The sorrid conditions which we allow people to live in, right here in the "richest" country the world has ever known, is a disgrace. The fact that people take to the streets protesting the thought that they might be provided with health care. Their demand that their freedom to die young because they lack health care must not be infringed upon must seem incomprehensible to people all over the world.

I would like to stop all of our wars, including the war on drugs, but we must face the facts that unless our media delivery systems are reformed and democratized and the huge need for money is removed from our political campaigns, change will not come. Some gains have been made in these areas, but we continue to loose more than we gain.

I am not sure how to end this rant. So, I will close by paraphrasing Desmond Tutu's vision of hope. Hope is a choice, we choose to hope for a better tomorrow, because to do otherwise would only lead us to despair. But as long as we can continue to hope for a better tomorrow than a better tomorrow is possible.

Why Hugo Chavez Hates America

Everyday there is more poverty in the United States, everyday there is more uncared for people who don't have medicine, doctors, or even education. This country is eating itself from the inside. What's happening to the American, how do you say it, Dream [in English]. I believe in the American Dream, but the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., not the dream of consumerism, unbridled capitalism or individualism, that craziness, that's not a dream it's a nightmare. Now, the recalcitrant right attacks Obama hard, calling him a socialist... -- Hugo Chavez

i sure love me some barney...

thanks to steve benen -- hardest working blogger in the 8-5 edt slot...

John Cole Should Just Shoot Me

I still contend health care reform is over. The GOP and the fringe right will just move on to something else they find “objectionable” like this absurd accusation that voluntary counselling amounted to a panel of experts determining who should and should not live, the senior citizens seem overwhelmingly content to suckle at the public teat in regards to medicare while giving everyone else the bird, the insurance industry is playing both sides, half the Democrats are spooked by their own shadows, and the other half are in bed with the FIRE sector.

It is just over. And the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves. If the Republicans had majorities like the Democrats have right now, they would have abolished the IRS and the Department of Education, Bernie Madoff would be running social security, there would be an oil well in every backyard and off every inch of coast, we’d have mandatory prayer in schools, and the defense department budget would be doubled so we could have excellent adventures in Iran while we liberate Georgia from oppressive Russian rule. And we’d be doing it all with a top marginal rate of 3%.

Get ready for three more years of debating school uniforms.

Also, they killed off the climate bill was no one was looking. Thank the usual suspects- Nelson, Dorgan, Baucus, and Lincoln. Any of you think the Democrats have the nerve to deal with immigration in an election year. HAHAHAHAHA! And forget about regulating Wall Street. -- John Cole

The Distinguished Washington Post (Sucks)

The sheer brilliance of depressing insight of atrios

No, Democrats aren't going for a government takeover of health care and I'm cautiously optimistic that whatever finally gets passed will be a nontrivial improvement over the status quo. Still, I don't think it's crazy for people to be concerned that whatever comes out of the sausage factory might be worse. Whatever it is will be a rube goldberg plan which preserves health insurance profits, keeps hypocritical fiscal scolds happy, has the goal of controlling costs, and can pass the Senate and keep enough blue dog wankers happy. It certainly isn't crazy to be worried that such a plan might, in fact, suck. -- Eschaton

the sheer brilliance of genius in cornflake tonality

thx again john cole

Quote O' the Weekend

I’ve always thought that if Palin were just a touch less ignorant and frightening, the national media might have loved her. -- Doug J

Healthcare for Americans is just a game (of profit)

"Approximately 114 million Americans are expected to leave private health insurance. Why? Their employers will drop the insurance because the taxpayer-subsidized plan will be 30 to 40 percent cheaper. This action will collapse the private health insurance market, and then the Federal Government will own the health provider game."

-- Michelle (Mary Tyler Moore on the brown acid) Bachman




thx -- slinkerwink/fdl

"Gatesville" -- I like the ring of that for the city in Massachusetts formerly known as Cambridge

Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates’ luggage into his home.

Professor Gates immediately called the Harvard Real Estate office to report the damage to his door and requested that it be repaired immediately. As he was talking to the Harvard Real Estate office on his portable phone in his house, he observed a uniformed officer on his front porch. When Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to step outside. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the officer why he was there. The officer indicated that he was responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this address. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him. Professor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer. Both include Professor Gates’ photograph, and the license includes his address.

Professor Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’ request for this information. After an additional request by Professor Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’ home without ever acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor Gates. As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door, he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification, said to him, ‘Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,’ and then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch.


(thx to Oliver)

Goldman Sachs Are Scum

thx/K of Minta

The Quote of the First Half of Obama's First Year

Obama really needs to start listening to people who have a clue. -Atrios (20 July)

the most trusted man in america is dead

K*U*C*I*N*I*C*H BABY!!!

Watch our man Dennis turn a young arrogant rightwing prick into a nice lookin' heap a'stinkin' garbage...

so let me get this straight, mister anon bush dude...

it is classified, held secret from Congress, and no big deal...


"This characterization of something that began in 2001 and continued uninterrupted for eight years is just wrong. Honest men would question that characterization. It was more off and on," said a former top Bush administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the issue.

The official said he was certain that, if the nature of the program could be revealed, it would be seen as "no big deal."

The Kid's All Right

My strong sense is that contrarianness reached its apogee in the 1990s when a general sense took over that politics was basically silly and that punditry should be seen as basically akin to the college debate circuit wherein the idea is to construct the most clever possible argument rather than to actually hit on the truth. When this general spirit of the times merged with the elite press’ inexplicable loathing of Al Gore you started getting really bizarre arguments being made with a straight face. People would say that one good thing about George W. Bush was that he was dimwitted, which made him understand leadership. Or that a big problem with Gore was that he was interested in public policy.

This attitude brought us thousands of Americans killed in a terrorist attack, thousands more killed in a senseless war, and eventually the collapse of the world economy. But that in turn has at least to a small extent reminded people that it actually does matter what happens and who’s right.

-- Matt Yglesias





tx/DougJ

EVERYBODY MISREAD YER ASS, JOE...

i'm with atrios -- this shit about "everybody" misreading the economy back when he and obama gave the repugnants every opportunity to ruin the stimulus -- while progressives-with-voice -- krugman, stiglitz et al. -- were "uh-oh-ing" all over the friggin' place that this stimulus was too small even before "obama and them" cut its heart out for the republicans... who then didn't cast one vote fer it.

biden oughta be ashamed of himself -- but moreover, git back to work and get stimulus #2 in the pipeline.

the other disingenuous comments came from the Prez himself, telling us DFHs we should play nice as the healthcare bill becomes smoke and mirrors like they have for 2 generations.

Caution will be the policy that destroys this presidency -- ie (and this is painful to say) being the NOT-BUSH/CHENEY wont work.

I has spoken. (as Mammy was wont to say...)

Leave Dana Milbank -- the prick -- aaallllooooooonnnneeeeeeeeee

tx/atrios

White House Watched

Just go read...

and god damn the shit-filled entity that is WaPo...

but thanks, Dan, for trying.

why caint we all just get along... indeed

tx/juan