Letters to the Editor
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Time for Third Parties
Here's to hoping that Gore and Bloomberg run as a third-party ticket! They have similar views on social and environmental issues, and more than enough difficulty with current party politics.
This crap has got to stop, and on every issue since the Dems have taken "control" - right up to SCHIP and FISA - they have proven to simply be GOP-lite. With SCHIP, once I learned that tobacco interests were at stake, I fully expected the hot air of bipartisanship to end with a Bush veto. It almost seems like the whole issue was stage-managed to end just as it did. I never though I'd see a "funding for healthy kids and puppies" bill die for such evil profiteering, but well, this is Mr. Bush's America.
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Excellent analogy.
The parable of the Prius is great Tim. The only thing I would add is that after refusing to buy the SUV the guy/gal, knowing that about 70% of the folks in town agree with him, sets out to buy the dealership. Sure enough, the buyer gets overwhelming support from the community and in short order the old dealer is out of business and the buyer is now the owner, selling Priuses.
(OT: I want to weigh in on this new format for War Room: lousy. Way to much space is taken up by the bar on the right. Please, please, please either shrink its width or get rid of it.)
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Stockholm Syndrome
Only plausible explanation.
Add Democrats to the list of victims.
Resurrect the spirit of "Tip" O'Neill...
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::thunk thunk::
This dent in my wall just keeps getting bigger...and my forehead keeps getting flatter.
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And the friends?
"...you grumble for a moment -- you tell all your friends that it's unfair -- and then you give him your money and he hands you the keys to the Gigantaur."
And when you (repeatedly) do it all over again, do those same friends keep supporting you and giving you money? If they do, what's you're incentive to do anything differently? And don't they then become complicit in your activity?
So why should those of us who have been 'friends' of democrats for over thirty years continue to give votes and money to a party that refuses to acknowledge their base or to hold true to the principles they claim to support?
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...this analogy stinks!
So.. the obvious thing is, with your analogy as the background -- there's no other dealer in town. You get to either purchase a car from this dealer, or you get to walk around town and get nothing done.
Unless, of course, there were suddenly two presidents, or some other Executive Branch that our good Democrats in Congress could appeal to.
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I used to vote for the democratic party.
Not anymore. I've done everything I can think of and I've called and written everyone I can think of. No change.
All write ins from now on. Fuck em! If Colbert ran in my state, I'd vote for him. That's how bad it's become.
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Throwing it all away
The analogy is great, but the behavior has become authentically puzzling. Every week, sometimes everyday, a pratfall. If the banana isn't lying there already, they'll gladly supply one. It's gone well beyond anything that can be understood in recognizable terms: spinelessness, ineptness, eagerness-to-please.
I think we need some heavy-duty analysis of what's going on with the Democrats.
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Buyer's Remorse
Do the Democrats come with cup holders?
Yeah, the two-party system charade is showing plenty of rust these days. Big shocker, yeah, but while it's admirably serving Corporate America's interests, it's leaving the interests of the majority of Americans unheeded.
But the Internet is at leas showing that plenty of little wallets can give life to outsider campaigns, and can rely on word-of-mouth information to get publicity for things that the mainstream press arrogantly dismisses.
It's not quite ready, yet, but I think the momentum will be there -- as the GOP goose-steps ever further to the right, and the Democrats navel-gaze themselves into oblivious irrelevance, the pent-up demand for change will be too much to ignore, and we'll finally see more parties out there.
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Following up
To Kenneth Cavness: You're right, that's the hole in the analogy. For now, Bush is the only dealer in town. If you can't deal with him, you can't get him to give you what you want -- but only when it takes both you and him to accomplish something.
There are things that Democrats can do all by themselves. They could flatly refuse to fund the war until Bush agrees to a timeline for ending it. If he goes along, they get a timeline. If he doesn't, he doesn't get the money, and the war ends sooner rather than later. Instead, they've decided to deal with him on the war -- and in doing so, they have, in fact, got "nothing done."
At some point, I've got to figure that that's how they want it.
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@Kenneth Cavness
I considered writing a response similar to yours (with less vitriol), but then realized that Tim did not say that there were any other dealers. Only that the buyer continued to drive his/her beater, which would be analogous to continuing with the political status quo, not going to another dealer. That's why I wrote the additional "ending" for the analogy as I did. Stick with the status quo for the moment since you face an intractable and irrational dealer, but use the fact the community agrees with you to get rid of the dealer.
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Wimps, Iraq and wiretapping
I understand the fustration of this blog post but really we have to put some common sense back into this debate. Just because Bush in insane, Democrats in Congress do not have to be the same way.
I hate the Iraq war, not just because we were lied to, but the damage we all will be paying for the next two or three decades but honestly we cannot leave - the resulting chaos will cause at the very least global economic fall out.
I hate this fact just like most of you but it is reality - this F--- mess will be with us for a while.
I love Obama but he does not have the experience to deal with an instant foreign and domestic economic policy crisis. And while I do not agree that the Presidency should be shared by two families for 16+ years - we need to get real about the dangers of another GOP/neocon presidency.
The issue of domestic spying, if Democrats take on Bush he will dare them to impeach him - this is where this is going. Now I hear the cheers - but honestly can we really survive an impeachment process with someone like Bush? Who clearly does not have Nixon's good sense to leave the presidency rather than take the country down with him? We are dealing with a man who sees himself doing God's work and will not hesitate in my opinion to at least delay the next election if it suits his purpose.
We are 18 months? or so away from an election, that should be our focus. Third party in the long term but this next election we need to put on our blinders and vote for a nominee who can beat the Republicans.
They will eek out another victory if we "whips" stay home and refuse to vote because we did not find our true love.