"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." Orwell
"“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
Plato
"The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant" Robespierre
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Like It Is
In essence, that's what I've been saying here: our political system is broken beyond repair.
We have a president smart enough and willing to take on our very serious problems: health care, climate change, a broken economy. That there is need in all these areas is undeniable (except for people like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck and the rest of the RWS™.) And yet.
John Kyl announces every Republican senator will vote against health care reform. Every one. No matter what. And Mitch McConnell wants another six weeks of debate. Reconcile those two facts, will you?
That's but one example of the dysfunction. On the left we have a party of disorganization and undiscipline. On the right, one of ideological "purity," based on denialism. Of the failures of their central tenets; of the facts; of the damage being done to the country by fomented hatred, based on lies. And, of course, evolution. Sort of the perfect avatar.
So here we are, curarized by a full quiver of poison arrows: an unprecedented propaganda machine in particular (yes, Fox "News" and right-wing talk radio) willing unabashedly to distort and dissemble, and a lazy remaining media, ill-equipped and uninterested in countering it; liberal politicians congenitally unable to focus; conservative ones unable to rise above failed ideology or to assimilate facts; an electorate consisting of too many gullible people unwilling and unable to think for themselves, preferring paranoia over process. And in Congress, not limited to but egregiously exaggerated on the right, the easy forgetting of everything they've ever said when they were in power: the "nuclear option," "up or down vote," "elections have consequences." Today, down is up; if I said the opposite yesterday, well, you're a hater for bringing it up.
So, yeah, Friedman is exactly right. We're on the way to failure as a political entity, and when the dust settles and there's nothing left, the death will have been brought entirely by those who most vigorously (and disingenuously) claim to be fighting to save our country.
I wonder if there's a point at which they'd admit they were wrong: a tax-free country unable to provide any services, polluted skies and soaking seaboards, starving people unable to cross the moats around the castles? What is their ideal, their end-point? How much higher do health insurance premiums have to rise, how many more dying for lack of it? How far do the glaciers need to recede, how much further behind do our students need to fall? How much money do the oligarchs need to accumulate before it's enough, how wide the gap? Really. I'd like to know. What is the tea-party ideal, how do they plan to get there, what would it look like? Does the previous eight years not tell them anything about soil in which they plant their flag?
If they could wave a magic wand, who would be left in this country, what would they be doing, and how would it work? Based on what evidence?
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What the teabaggers are missing out on is that there will always be moneyed masters and people who serve them. But demanding anarchy in favor of freedom, they wouldn't be able to stop the powerful from sweeping into the vacuum. Like the Russians who wore the red in the Revolutionary War, they thought they would have "freedom" as soon as the Czars were gone, only to find that the "transitionary"governments liked power and dacha's in the country.
ReplyDeleteI could never understand what the Yippies expected would use to relace the "Establishment," either. A liberal republic with taxing and regulating authority is the only thing that will protect us from warlords like those who rule Somalia now.
Better I government that I can vote for than one I have to pay tribute to.
How far do the Glaciers have to recede???
ReplyDeleteUmm as far as God wants em too, and whats so great about Glaciers anyway? They make Icebergs, which sink ships, ever see "Titanic"???
Hey Genius, the President(Peace be upon Him) can close Git-Mo with a stroke of his Presidential Pen...no Congressional Vote needed.
"Moats around Castles", jeez I know your old Sid, but I've never seen a Moat, and anyways, alot of the Unterclass are pretty good swimmers if you get my drift, you wanta keep people out, you need barbed wire and death strips like in your good old USSR...
Damn, I'd hate to see what you'd be sayin if your side had lost...
Frank
P.S., I know, "QED", whatever that means, beats having to think,
Frank
P.P.S.Its "Curareized", eventhough noones used Curare since Mary Jo Kopechne had an End Tidal CO2 tracing...
They were using it on their arrows in the Amazon rainforest when we were there a couple of years ago. Which is the metaphor I used.
ReplyDeleteAnd the word is, correctly, curarized.
Q. E. Friggin' D.
And, just to be helpful, the post was about the dysfunction that has overtaken our political system. Guess you missed that.
Oh, you mean the Political System "led" by a Democrat President, 2 Democrat controlled Houses of Congress, and OK, I'm not sure who runs the Supreme Court...
ReplyDeleteDamn, You're right its Dysfunctional, Corrupt, Incompetent, umm
Effed Up
Git-Mos still open...
Well, not really open, I'm pretty sure all the doors are closed, Locked even...
Frank
Just stumbled upon your site and appreciate your insight.
ReplyDelete(Looks like the previous "commenter" is proving many of your points.)
yep, you guys are screwed. as a result, the rest of us are also screwed. . . and to think that it is your country with the greatest founding documents. . .sad.
ReplyDeleteShame about how Drekman's mental acuity seems to be deteriorating - I recall a time when he managed to be sort of funny, in his offensive way - lately though, he seems a few more bricks shy of a load than usual.
ReplyDeleteIs he staying in lock step with the rest of the Teabaggers as they march to a tone deaf drummer.
Or has exposure to Palin, Bachmann and Beck ,et al,finally "curarized" his few remaining brain cells.
EugeneInSanDiego
The fight was interrupted by World War II. Now we're back at it: FOX is the new William Randolph Hearst - an almost exact mimicry; people are screaming socialism - just like they did against FDR.
ReplyDeleteWe had a 70 year sabbatical to try and figure out how to do this without civil conflict, but we ignored it.
The years of Ozzie and Harriet were the exception, not the rule. Our pre-eminence in the post-WWII world was based on winning a war that did not drag on forever, unconditional surrenders, and re-building most of the world.
Now it's over. And we thought it was because God loved us.
Pretty ironic.
Dr Schwab, I've been reading your blog for many mos now; thank you for expressing reason and intelligence in this current reactionary world.
ReplyDelete