There are two models of the acquisition of political power discussed here:
the Republican model, in which an "aestheticized" politics is promoted (in this case, it's the "aesthetics" of the War on Terror and of insecurity in general) in order to capture power for an elite (the Bush administration and its neoconservative cronies, and its financial backers in the oil and defense industries)
the model proposed by the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci, in which a coalition comes to power in order to support the claims of working people.
Here I will try to suggest that the former is "bad pragmatism" and the latter is real pragmatism, and suggest that the Democratic Party stop imitating 1) and find a way to subscribe wholeheartedly to 2).
I would like to make a sequel to a diary that I wrote not too long ago about beer and brewing by kossacks. Since I don't have enough experience writing about politics, I like to focus on my strengths and writing about beer while mixing in politics seems to work best for me.
Some of you might have seen the interview of Markos Moulitsas with David Gregory on MSNBC's Race for the White House. The interview was approximately eight minutes in length, generally focusing on Barack Obama and the level of support for him among the "liberal left".
From that interview, Byron York of the nationalreviewonline took partial statements made by Markos, and put them beside each other in an attempt to suggest that somehow the statements are contradictory, while questioning the independence of the netroots. York offers this:
Those Really, Really Independent-Minded Netroots Two statements from Markos Moulitsas, made minutes apart on MSNBC:
I'm not going to carry water for Barack Obama...I'm not going to be like the Republicans who excused George Bush time and time again.
He's not tacking to the center...We're squarely behind him...At the end of the day, he's our nominee, and we're behind him 100 percent.
It should be pointed out once again that these are partial and incomplete quotes. But the larger point here is that it's quite telling that Byron York can look at these two statements and believe there is a contradiction.
Beware, the lies and smears are flying right to your in-box. The swiftboaters are having a ball, making all the naive, believe what THEY want them to believe. If you don't belong to the "R" base, (Those guys will go to their graves with the mantra "BUSH WAS THE BEST PRESIDENT EVER" and will not believe anything to the contrary.) don't let them coax you into joining up, by Thinking!
thinkingblue.blogspot Read Article Here
I swore that when I had kids, I would NEVER give as an explanation because. My mother was famous for it. Me: Why??? Mom: Because. If she really wanted to make the point (and a power play), she'd say because I said so. arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Well, I never had kids. But I did end up with a few step kids. At first, any interventions on my part were always accompanied by explanation. I was a quick study though. I realized they didn't care WHY. They'd ask and ask and whine and complain and ask WHY again a thousand times. But they never really wanted to know why. They were only interested in what they wanted and finding a way to actualize it. They used my explanations as an opportunity to stage never-ending debates, refuting all of my very sensible and very adult-correct thinking.
Mothers. They do know what they're doing. It just takes years to figure it out. There's not much after the old because I say so.
It's a lovely day outside. The temperature is 75F and I can hardly see a cloud in the sky. It's 2pm in the afternoon and I'm alive and conscious.
I sit here, with a 7/11 vanilla cappucino at hand (in this heat, I know, hey, it's the first one in weeks) and try to wrap my mind around the fact that this is really happening.
The conventional wisdom is that unrestricted competition is good for the economy. Trouble is, most people who think a) everything is fair in love and War, and b)business is war, are not necessarily looking to win by achievement alone.
Markets have not so far required that companies keep books that balance or relentlessly innovate to keep ahead, and there's a reason for it, and the reason is simple: There is nothing in nature or man that requires that the winner lay claim to the prizes because of their potential, and it is not an uncommon practice for people to kneecap, even gang up to disadvantage, those who can outmatch everybody else.
You have only to look at the kids in a school, who, owing to a certain strange social convention, do less than their best to fit in. The bad news is that this kind of sentiment, which encourages mediocrity and encourages cheating is pervasive in today's society. The good news is, it doesn't have to be.
It's an early morning here at my desk, as I've just finished editing several of my team's articles. They are a team of student journalists, rising high school juniors and seniors, responsible, bright students of color. The children are the future, and many of these students will eventually make their impressions and contributions, with their pens in hand, and their ears tuned in to Hip-Hop music.
Tuesday, the rap legend NaS released his "Nigger" album, I haven't bought it yet, but my (blue, pink, green, red) friends who got it say it rocks, and I will buy it because NaS is my favorite rapper. I ask high schoolers what they think about the title and it doesn't really offend anybody. They don't want a white person calling them by that name, but most of these students call each other that. This is so passe.
It almost seems picture perfect that Reverend Jackson, who has so denounced the use of the so-called "nN" word, would be shown using it himself. And this latest shoe to drop reveals what we young ones have known all along - that objections to the word are more about politics than pain.
We are here to warn you
Innocent shopper buyer
We are here to warn you
They’re gonna say buy or die
Business is on parade
Corporate scam charade
Crumbs for the poor
Rich man’s profits soar
Government by the rich
Poor man’s life is a bitch
Don’t believe what the politicians do
Don’t believe what they say
All they wanna to is fuck you, get fat on their pay
- Lyrics for Business on Parade by MDC.
I am a punk, albeit an old punk that avoids slam dancing anymore (I just don’t heal like I used to:-), but I still maintain an anarchistic/libertine streak in me.
When I heard about the 60 year old librarian in Denver who was arrested and given a citation for trespassing at a John McCain Town Hall meeting for holding up a sign "McCain = Bush", I had longed wish that I had the money to start up a defense fund and put "plants" at various campaign stops.
My thought process was to have two volunteers with signs. One that said McCain = Bush and the other that said I Love McCain. Have them both standing side by side and see which one was told to leave the premises. Of course there would be someone there with a video camera to tape it all.
The pragmatist in me tells me nice fantasy but rather unrealistic. Not only would funding the project be an issue, but realistically, how many people are willing to go to risk going to jail for an experiment?
Rep. Jerrold Nadler,(NY) member of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, the committee whose Constitutional duty it is to bring impeachment charges against criminal presidents, says it as baldly and plainly as it can be said:
The Bush Administration has committed War Crimes.The only thing stopping him from being impeached is politics.
In January of this year, a new book by historian Joseph Wheelan, Mr. Adams's Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams's Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress, was released. As one might surmise from the title, it focusses on the post-presidential life of America's sixth president, which, apart from two years from 1829 to 1931, was spent in the House of Representatives, ending with Adams' death in 1847 (in the Speaker's chambers, even). Adams was, of course, the son of the more famous John Adams, the second president. Both served only one term (and both declined to attend the inaugurations of their successors, the only men to do so). The younger Adams is often skipped over in US history, serving mainly as a footnote to his father's career.
Living as we do under the presidency of George Walker Bush, the son of George Herbert Walker Bush (one imagines that even Pops is reconsidering whether voting for junior was a good idea), this is perhaps an ideal time to look back on the career of America's other son of a president to hold that office (Benjamin Harrison will have to wait for another grandson to show up for his time in the spotlight).
2-1/2 years ago, I wrote a diary about how I grew up in a suburban Long Island, New York Republican family and yet eventually became a Democrat. I followed up with a second one two months later about how I further changed later in life, but want to return to my family upbringing as I think it makes for an important discussion about one’s political leanings over a lifetime.
You would think that, for a political junkie like me, San Francisco would be heaven, and it really is. However, it can also be a curse. When I lived in Michigan, it was very easy to keep up with the political scene. National, state and county races were held during even-numbered years, local elections during odd-numbered years and school board races were decided during the summer. County races, at least in Wayne County, were typically quiet. But now I live in San Francisco.
So what can one learn from a trip like this? What exactly did Global Exchange want me to find out and did I actually do it? Who's fault is the current conflict with Iran anyway?, and will we ever get our embassy back.
some final words below the fold...
It was 11th grade English with Mr. Turner at Mamaroneck High School. He was fond of summarizing great works of literature with a single phrase. And for Macbeth his line was simple: "Anticipation is greater than realization." He argued strongly that we invest so much in our goals and dreams that even when we completely achieve them we are inevitably disappointed because "anticipation is greater than realization." Mr. Turner did not view this as a bad thing, for if we did not look for the big things ahead we would not be motivated sufficiently to take the actions to move us forward even to the lesser achievements we eventually do accomplish. But he also warned us that if we allowed ourselves to be disappointed by what we actually achieved, then we would find nothing satisfactory enough, that our accomplishments would sour on us, and eventually we would stop trying, because since we never fully realized the fullness of our wildest dreams, the perpetual disappointment could sour us on life.
I have recently been very much reminded of that teaching as I observe the political processes, especially as we explore them here. And I have finally come to the conclusion that Mr. Turner was at best partly right.
As the Democratic Party, apparently in a fit of nostalgia, lurches into it’s (rumored to be traditional) election cycle ritual of the circular firing squad, I thought perhaps a little "Political Player 101" might be in order for some of my friends at this site (of course present company excepted!). I write this mostly for those of you who are newly active and motivated to make change happen this election. As well as for those of you who may have a lot of experience in being a voter and/or a supporter, but little inside experience in how campaigns and votes are won in the day-to-day infighting of politics and political organizing. I also write this from the perspective of a trained and experienced union organizer who has done the work and fought in the trenches for the votes to pass this or that piece of legislation, or elect a candidate.
In fact he has rather explicitly asks that YOU save HIM.
When he asks for citizens to become involved in the political process, in his campaign, that is what he is asking you for.
Here is how our government works, and ....surprise!.... Obama knows this. Politicians are individual human beings, (surprise again!) individual human beings, even Obama, are not gods. We, each and every one of us, including Obama, are subject to temptation, failure of will in the face of adversity, and yes, corruption. Not dirty back room money under the table corruption, but corruption as a process, over time, that saps integrity and will.
Washington DC and the strange dances of culture, pressure, and politics there are literally MADE to corrupt. To put it cutely, they have a whole street there (named K) that exists for one reason, to corrupt public servants. There is the culture of the Senate, (need I say more Harry Reid?) there is the culture of The Villagers, the cocktail party culture.....and then there are the real bad guys!
