September 27, 2007 archive

Toward a Politics of Dignity

It is very easy, in the day to day, for any kind of hope for a livable world to slip away.  It’s hardly necessary to reiterate the reasons in a progressive forum, but they bear repeating if only as an introduction to my arguments.  At the top is population; in my lifetime the world’s population has doubled, and resources have not kept pace.  Thirty five thousand people or so die every day from starvation and it’s consequences.  While we live in the global west, a step removed from the face of this horror, the results of shrinking resources and ecological catastrophe are not far behind us.  In this context, Americans – and perhaps eventually Europeans, Canadians and Australians as well – are facing a future of desperate and reactionary governments, the diminishment of liberty, and lives increasingly circumscribed by expectations of conformity and loss of privacy.  In America especially, we have seen the rise of a government dedicated to permanent war and the promulgation of fear, hatred and vengeance as guiding values and, indeed, policy.

Stick to Facts: Designating Iran Revolutionary Guard As Terrorists Does Not Authorize Force

A misunderstanding is leading to a good argument, that the Lieberman-Kyl Amendment sucks, being argued with bad facts. In essence, the argument goes that this language:

that the United States should designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists…

triggers the September 18, 2001 AUMF. It does not. Let’s check the text:

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

Nowhere is there a finding that Iran was involved in the 9/11 attacks. No one can credibly argue that they were (after all, Saddam was behind 9/11 . . .)

Nothing in the Iran Amendment passed today authorizes the use of force (nor would it even if it was NOT a nonbinding “sense of the Senate” resolution.)

But what are the effects of having the IRG declared “Specially Designated Global Terrorists?” Let’s consider that question on the flip.

The Impact of Emotion on Politics

In “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation”, Dr. Drew Westen presents a compelling case that Democrats would be far more effective if they were passionate advocates of progressive principles.  Every Democrat would benefit from reading Weston’s book, because most of them are oblivious to the negative impact their rigid and dispassionate over-reliance on tedious fact-based arguments has on millions of Americans.  Instead of engaging them and inspiring them with passionate advocacy, Democrats bore them and render them vulnerable to the emotion-based rhetoric of Republicans. 

Weston’s appeal for passionate political advocacy should be heeded by the Netroots as well, and by all progressives, because the emotional reactions of Americans to candidates and issues influence them far more than they admit.  Average voters are inclined to react on an emotional level to a political message, and consequently tend to “think” about a candidate or issues in emotional terms, not in terms of their actual position on policies and issues.  Republicans have understood this for years and have ruthlessly exploited it.  Most of their messaging reeks of emotion-based manipulation, and Democrats have not had a clue how to respond effectively.  The Netroots hasn’t been much better.

The consequences have been brutal.

Short: what should really get you upset

Answer: not gutted Lieberman-Kyl. It said nothing of importance and authorized nothing at all.

Be upset about war funding and substantive legislation. That stuff matters.

Globalizing Death: Foreign Investment in US War Machine

Now we are learning what really immobilizes Congress – what deafens them to their electorate.  Because finally a recommended diary by a credible source tells the truth:  the US is owned by her creditors.  This is the gory backside of globalization.

Sometime sooner (or probably later) it will also be announced:  there is heavy foreign “investment” in the US wars/occupations by numerous foreign governments.

Pony Party, Spoiler Alert

Oh, so you’ve braved the ‘Spoiler Alert’ and peeked inside to see what I’m spoiling…

Well, according to The New York Post’s page six, an extra has revealed some of the previously top-secret details of the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.

Dare we explore??

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