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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
This is not the first time I've used a copy of the letter to follow in responding to a GG piece. As the letter relates, my concerns preceded the recent electoral turn of events but, with a little jiggering, could just as easily be sent now.
I fear that brother Glenn has it right. We are in the thrall of a political class, itself in the thrall of a corporatist/ media class. The self-absorbed venality among these legions is absolutely breathtaking. The idea that those elected to office, gurgling in perks and salaries with no equivalence for most of us, would be able to legitimately empathize with their constituents is laughable.
But, for the moment, we are also elated to have ostensibly repudiated as much, so grotesque was its most recent manifestation. It was such a wonderful set-up for the Change sound bite. There is some giddiness as a result in all this. But it seems like the kind of giddiness embodied in our commodified dissent as typified by Bill Maher's HBO show. I tend to enjoy the show, but it is a shitty substitute for action.
I remember writing another letter a while back, the gist of which was that I hoped Obama had a chance to try a different way. That was my form of wishful-not-pragmatic thinking, I fear. Any way, here's yesterday's letter, could be today's and tomorrow's, I fear.
"Senator/Congressman - I have increasingly heard & seen references to the state of readiness within the military establishment and the intentions of the administration to attack Iran. Is it reasonable to imagine that this possibility concerns you & your office? I certainly hope that such an outrageous but utterly unsurprising act by the claque in and around the upper reaches of the administration is a matter of utmost concern to you. The prospect of such a war is horrifying. What is your stance in the matter?
As for impeachment of the President & Vice-President, all the parsing, nuancing & equivocating in the world serves to confirm the invertebrate nature of the Democratic Congress, as has been suggested. If, for no other reason, impeachment is not taken up with these two who have committed impeachable acts, then you and yours are establishing precedent for even more egregious misdeeds with future incumbents. The aversion to impeachment, when considered in the context of recent history, is ever more inexcusable.
As a registered democrat, I am weary of the onslaught of fund raising surveys sent in my direction. I don't need to be surveyed; I need to be persuaded that the party holds values by which it will act to counteract the relentless lying of the two-term oligarchy. Anything less than this suggests to me that you are members of the loyal opposition more interested in remaining in office and symbolically jousting than representing my concerns."
As each day's travesties unfold, I am convinced that the letter is all the more pointed in defining the reality of our trashed political process. This gives me no particular comfort, though. There seem to be no easy answers to the depth of corruption in Washington D.C., and I still see no organized efforts to undo the entrenchment.
I just can't wait for Obama to give Bush the Medal of Freedom. It will be a sure sign that it is not Dems vs. Repubs but The People vs. The Government. It's also refreshing to see that Obama will cave to the Republicans as Presnit just as he did as a Senator. If he could just manage to start a nuclear war with Russia he would replace Reagan as the patron saint of The Republican Party. Why not? He's above the law.
That Joe would go
To a political purgatorio...
A cat has nine lives
But a Droopy Dog
Has the back again bite
Of ten Old Testaments.
I’ve come to believe that American Exceptionalism is the root of all evils. Once you decide that you’re God’s new Chosen People, self-awareness becomes very difficult.
We need to shed our sense of uniqueness and our sense of entitlement. We need to become a normal nation.
Of course, that’s akin to saying that we should abandon our identity — which isn’t likely to happen.
Hence, my pessimism.
http://firedoglake.com/2008/11/16/fdl-book-salon-welcomes-andrew-j-bacevich-the-limits-of-power/#comment-1727671
I think Andrew will get his wish, but it will take a total collapse of America before the people will even consider such an idea. Perhaps the end is not all that far away and Obama is just trying to hurry it up.
In fact, the nastiness and bickering and backstabbing proceeded apace through the Bush years. The Democrats were simply cowed because they were absolutely terrified of getting blamed for another terrorist attack (or the loss of the Iraq War; ironic, since it was lost before it began).
So, in your opinion, the votes and the end result don't matter. The only thing to be considered when one is discussing the presence or absence of "partisanship" is whether or not they were snotty to each other while voting for the exact same thing???
You've been reading too much Miss Manners.
(I hope these comments meet your exacting standards.)
Well, one of the standards I've observed around here is that of some semblance of substantive discourse. But comments like this, that focus on the petty surface performances while ignoring the product, put a bit of a drag on the average.
Right now bipartisanship a form of captiulation to wrongdoing. Why? Where is bipartisan outrage to the abuse of people and our Constitution? A person of any party who had a conscience should be willing to stop the abuses taking place in this nation. I would hope both Democrats and Republicans WOULD work together on this task.
As Glenn reminded his readers just days ago, The Democrats of 2002 and 2007 haven't gone anywhere.
Yes, that's true. And in 2001, the Republicans of 2000 hadn't gone anywhere, either. In 2000, they passed the Torture Act. In 2001, they passed the PATRIOT Act.
It is reasonable to demand change from people who haven't gone anywhere. There was a clear mandate for it in the election. These people who believe that a mystical center exists where bipartisan polity and comity drops like gentle lotus blossoms and the right and left wing enter Nirvana on shimmering footsteps are in the business of creating a reality to use to explain why the voters should be thwarted. Isn't it telling that when the press does an in depth bio on an ardent "centrist", say, Rahm Emanuel, his foremost quality isn't comity, polity, wonderfulness, or harmony, but rather pit bull skills?
The bipartisan stuff is a sham created to hide the real size of the Democratic Party's new-conservative right wing. The closet Liebermans who were secretly happy when Joe strong-armed the Democratic party into approving of Roberts and Alito, and shiver with joy when he regularly fulfills his dominatrix role over them, always careful to hide the leather skirt and cat o' nine tails, so their secret will stay hidden.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
