There is no question that the Congressional Dems have been technically corrupted, absolute power and all that. Not in the traditional way of JUST taking money for votes….but corrupted by the current process of government. And corrupted in such an insidious way that they have no idea who they are, what to do, and most importantly, who they represent. Corrupted to the point where they are adrift with no moral compass…valuing the politics itself over the results of the politics.
There is only one thing that can set them back on course…us. We The People speaking up, yelling loudly at them to get their shit together, pressuring them to do the right thing and holding them to account when they don’t.
As I have said repeatedly, politicians are weather vanes. They blow whichever way the strongest wind is blowing at the moment. This is a weakness of character, but it is the same weakness of character that they need to get elected in the current polarized environment…or at least they THINK they need it, They think they need to please everyone, instead of standing up for what is right. And after years of trying to please everyone it becomes a bad habit, and within that habit they lose their ability to stand firm when the ill winds of compromise and capitulation blow. No doubt rationalizing this or that expediency to justify it….thus losing their way even more. Until, essentially, they have given up even trying…much…to do the right thing, they just do the thing in front of them. In the face of massive pressure and complexity they surrender to the system and start playing the game of governance instead of truly governing….they finally calculate themselves into just ….giving up.
But the REAL problem is….this makes US give up. This make The People give up on their government, makes them lose interest, feel helpless and throw up their hands and say there is nothing we can do in the face of this corruption and compromise.
THAT is where the system has failed.
Half the eligible people in the country don’t vote, don’t participate at all. They have given up. Even the folks who are involved are incredibly disillusioned right now. We feel powerless and helpless.
But we are not!
And we must never forget that.
And that is what renders my title moot. It DOESN’T MATTER why they are such boobs.
What matters is us, what matters is not giving up however long it takes. What matters is using every power and tool at our disposal to pressure the current occupants of our government. What matters is continuing to fight, continuing to encourage others to join the fight and continuing to realize that WE are the only chance to create a better world.
It doesn’t matter who is elected if once they get to DC they are allowed to fall into the swamp and start playing the game. Evidently the swamp is incredibly seductive. Surrendering to the swamp is a character issue…politicians are notoriously short on character, it is a requirement for getting elected. WE need to be the strength of character, for our political class. The system that our Founders designed ONLY works if The People are the driving force…and the watch dogs.
So in this dark time, under a dark rule, when corruption and stupidity hold sway, it is more important than ever to keep fighting, to not give up…as our politicians appear to have done.
This is not a guilt trip…this is a pep talk. I know that most people reading this are doing a LOT to fight the current regime, the current paradigm. I am just reminding us all that WE are the solution. That we need to dig deep and not give up in the face of the current darkness. Do what you can, try your best to get others involved and contributing, but whatever you do don’t give up the fight! The People have never had such a loud voice before, thanks to the internet…and that voice will only get louder.
To answer the title question anyway…..yes! They are both stupid and corrupt, but it is up to US to change that!
So…maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but soon…and for the rest of our lives, we WILL change this paradigm. This reality. Resist!
And Fight On!
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owe many things to many people and many groups.
I needed the boost. News of the latest D capitulation to come has me fucking down.
It’s easy to get dispirited, after almost five years of banging our heads against the wall on Iraq, for example. But ultimately politicians are responsive if the heat and pressure become too great for them to ignore. We’re a long way from there at the moment, on Iraq and a lot of other vital issues, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get there again.
We saw a spark ignited when Cindy Sheehan was in Crawford, but Katrina and other events drowned that movement before it really caught fire. Something else will set it off. Our role — duty, I would say — is to keep the flame alive and lay and maintain the groundwork so that we can light things up when the next flareup comes.
Stretching the metaphor, but making the point.
That’s precisely why I’m putting my energy into the Iraq Moratorium; so we’ve built a movement that’s ready to respond when the opportunity arises.
and the ponies too
anyway, here it is:
it DOESN’T MATTER why they are such boobs.
eXactly. we need to get over that and bemoaning each new assault. it’s clear. they are boobs. it’s been clear for months. now. what do we do about it.
that’s what we need to be writing about. and the ideas that keep coming back and the ones we are drawn to and expand on are those we should seriously consider.
i keep thinking: what do we have to lose that isn’t already on the table to be lost if we DON’T act.
Right — in fact, it takes money to get votes.
But, as Ralph Nader pointed out repeatedly in ’04, the progressives fail to demand anything of their candidates in the run-up to elections.
And then, of course, there’s the problem of election outcomes, in which, having won the elections, the “progressive” candidates fail to contest the election fraud that awards power to the other side.
So there is this great “gentleman’s agreement” out there which keeps the candidates rotating from election to election, this time a Democrat, the next time a Republican, all of it without public permission, not even needing public approval.
The core problem, as I see it, is that there is a single trough (corporate money) at which both parties feed.
From the standpoint of those who replenish the trough, the feeders are all alike.
IMO, unless and until all this changes (e.g., through financial power wielded by the netroots), America is screwed.
Ah, that they would blow in the wind. In point of fact, and most galling, is they think they are better than the people they represent and know what’s best. They do the dance, but they represent themselves and their kind alone. Buffoons.
individuals going against the grain in Washington. I bet this happens. I’m sure they get their hands slapped right away. We need people who can withstand the consequences of not “playing the game”.
Feingold stood alone.
is to MOVE the government out of Washington into regional centres. Maybe points of the compass, or even revolving rotations. This is not nearly as unmanageable as it might seem on the surface in terms of the electronic age we live in. If Mastercard can manage my credit card from the Punjab surely the feds can manage their clerical work from electronic centres. Of course the temptation would soon arise to outsource the entire thing, actually for all i know that is already being done?
Anyway by moving the White House away to a Fema trailer parked in a field somewhere would save all of us a whole heap of money. Then we could rent it out to Donald Trump. It would also have the effect of getting those fat, lazy pundits of the MS off their arses and get them actually talking to We The People where we live. In addition the Congresscritterst would have a better idea of what their consituents really think instead of filtering our views through their staffs, or depositing our emails into electronic limboland.
Just an idea. Although maybe disbanding the entire institution is a better one. Term limits for starters, 2 terms for senators and 10 years maximum for representatives. The whole language and minutae of government has become so arcane and incomprehensible it is as thick as a swamp overrun with kudzu.