How much pain is the "Vote, even though it helps the Republicans" faction willing to put the country through? How much sacrifice? It's the problem of third parties in America that to establish
themselves, they have to allow their opponents to win. By the time a new progressive party established itself in the current electoral regime, the Republicans would have held power for at least a decade--that is, if the NPP's members were allowed the vote by the end of that time. But it is more likely long before that time, the hopeful third party would have fallen apart.
I think we'd do better to work for electoral reform, and hope that the Zombie Party falls over from a deficit of brains. Maybe we can give it a push.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
I Seriously Do Not Get Conservatives
I wrote this on a blog in response to a conservative woman planning to vote for Romney, despite her arguing that the candidates are equally poor. I like it enough to reproduce it here.
You ignore Romney's appalling lack of integrity to set up your equivalence between the two candidates. He is sexist, racist, and homophobic—again, why any woman would support someone so sexist, I do not understand. Romney has a record as a businessman and a politician. He has repudiated all of it to win the Presidency and then repudiated his repudiations. He has changed his positions not just once, but multiple times. The only policy goals he has reliably supported are lower taxes for himself and his class, and less regulation on his business activities, and those of his class.
I see no indication of political courage in the man, and if he has any honor, it is reserved for his small group of peers. As someone from a military family, why would you want to see someone with so little honor and integrity as commander in chief?
Turning to Obama, I am struck by how little he has lied. He has dissembled, he has misdirected, he has stonewalled—he is after all a politician. But he seldom has lied outright. I am not sure he ever has, except in the slanders of conservative commentators. I am surprised how little of their own ideals conservatives see in Obama. Distressingly, it appears to me that his egalitarianism and his skin color trump his conservative virtues in conservative eyes.
Later thought: this is actually very interesting. Obama is honest. How unusual is that?
This is, more than anything else, an election about identity. Romney is the candidate of Wall Street and the rich old white guys; Obama is Wall Street's less favored son and the candidate of everyone else.
Turning to policy issues…
To begin with there is no left of any power in the USA. The Democrats are a conservative party with a weak liberal wing; the Republicans have come to be dominated by the radical right. This is not hard to see. The Tea Party Republicans are routinely on television. Their ideas have been aired repeatedly and some of them have even found their way into the Republican platform. The Democrats treat Occupy, the only publicly visible left, like it has leprosy. Their ideas have seldom if ever, gotten air time on a major network. Grover Norquist controls the votes of most Congressional Republicans on taxes. See any radical leftist policy advocates with similar power? Seen Congresspeople quake in their boots when they speak?
Me neither.
Second, why do you credit conservative economic analysis? It has had a 30 year run that has impoverished much of the country and ended in a depression.The same economists who are predicting the doom you describe are the ones who have been—for four years now!—predicting an explosive rise in interest rates and hyper-inflation. You see those high interest rates and hyper-inflation?
Me neither.
Conservative economists have revealed themselves as unscientific political hacks, and it is time to start treating them like flat-earthers.
A sub-point here: If Obamacare is going to be as destructive as you claim—why do you trust Romney to make health care policy? Romney was for Obamacare—invented it—before he was against it.
Third, why is a World War II level of military readiness necessary to the USA? Is there an enemy comparable to Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan? We are ready to fight World War II again, yet future global conflict will not be World War II again.
Einstein frequently remarked that we do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but that World War IV will be fought with rocks. For some centuries wars have been increasing in intensity. We are now at a level of military technology and organization where a global conflict will destroy civilization, and perhaps even the future chances of a revived civilization. The national security of the United States depends on a reduction in global tensions. You see any conservative advocates of global peace and justice?
Me neither.
Actually, there are a few. The economist Jeffrey Sachs comes to mind. And of course there is (redacted), in this discussion.
I seriously Do Not Get conservatives.
I am writing, I suppose, to underscore some of the contradictions I see. I have little hope of changing anyone's mind at this time, but I hope I will influence thinking in the future. Right now, like the crying girl in the YouTube video, I just want to get through this election.
You ignore Romney's appalling lack of integrity to set up your equivalence between the two candidates. He is sexist, racist, and homophobic—again, why any woman would support someone so sexist, I do not understand. Romney has a record as a businessman and a politician. He has repudiated all of it to win the Presidency and then repudiated his repudiations. He has changed his positions not just once, but multiple times. The only policy goals he has reliably supported are lower taxes for himself and his class, and less regulation on his business activities, and those of his class.
I see no indication of political courage in the man, and if he has any honor, it is reserved for his small group of peers. As someone from a military family, why would you want to see someone with so little honor and integrity as commander in chief?
Turning to Obama, I am struck by how little he has lied. He has dissembled, he has misdirected, he has stonewalled—he is after all a politician. But he seldom has lied outright. I am not sure he ever has, except in the slanders of conservative commentators. I am surprised how little of their own ideals conservatives see in Obama. Distressingly, it appears to me that his egalitarianism and his skin color trump his conservative virtues in conservative eyes.
Later thought: this is actually very interesting. Obama is honest. How unusual is that?
This is, more than anything else, an election about identity. Romney is the candidate of Wall Street and the rich old white guys; Obama is Wall Street's less favored son and the candidate of everyone else.
Turning to policy issues…
To begin with there is no left of any power in the USA. The Democrats are a conservative party with a weak liberal wing; the Republicans have come to be dominated by the radical right. This is not hard to see. The Tea Party Republicans are routinely on television. Their ideas have been aired repeatedly and some of them have even found their way into the Republican platform. The Democrats treat Occupy, the only publicly visible left, like it has leprosy. Their ideas have seldom if ever, gotten air time on a major network. Grover Norquist controls the votes of most Congressional Republicans on taxes. See any radical leftist policy advocates with similar power? Seen Congresspeople quake in their boots when they speak?
Me neither.
Second, why do you credit conservative economic analysis? It has had a 30 year run that has impoverished much of the country and ended in a depression.The same economists who are predicting the doom you describe are the ones who have been—for four years now!—predicting an explosive rise in interest rates and hyper-inflation. You see those high interest rates and hyper-inflation?
Me neither.
Conservative economists have revealed themselves as unscientific political hacks, and it is time to start treating them like flat-earthers.
A sub-point here: If Obamacare is going to be as destructive as you claim—why do you trust Romney to make health care policy? Romney was for Obamacare—invented it—before he was against it.
Third, why is a World War II level of military readiness necessary to the USA? Is there an enemy comparable to Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan? We are ready to fight World War II again, yet future global conflict will not be World War II again.
Einstein frequently remarked that we do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but that World War IV will be fought with rocks. For some centuries wars have been increasing in intensity. We are now at a level of military technology and organization where a global conflict will destroy civilization, and perhaps even the future chances of a revived civilization. The national security of the United States depends on a reduction in global tensions. You see any conservative advocates of global peace and justice?
Me neither.
Actually, there are a few. The economist Jeffrey Sachs comes to mind. And of course there is (redacted), in this discussion.
I seriously Do Not Get conservatives.
I am writing, I suppose, to underscore some of the contradictions I see. I have little hope of changing anyone's mind at this time, but I hope I will influence thinking in the future. Right now, like the crying girl in the YouTube video, I just want to get through this election.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
About the Voters
It occurs to me that this election is about the voters, more than the candidates. The
Republicans are now the party of conservative rich old
white guys. The Democrats are the party of everyone else. If the party
of the conservative rich old white guys wins, everyone else will be shut
out, possibly even denied the vote. Seen that way, there's a clear and
simple choice. We are fighting over the basic rights of citizens of a
democracy, and while the
major parties have moved closer together, their voters have not. In the
voters, I think, the hope lies; not in the party leaders.
Croak!
Croak!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Lesser Evil
"Of course you can vote for the lesser of two evils. You get less evil."--Chomsky, 2008
It seems to me that on the left we need to work for three things:
It seems to me that on the left we need to work for three things:
- Time. Time and demographics are on our side. This is why you vote for the lesser evil. If the centrists will bring us to the hard right by 2025, that is 13 years for us to change the direction of the country and, with a majority the younger popular and more and more women on our side, we might pull it off.
- Unity. It is often forgotten by well-off white men that this is an election about whether anyone counts politically other than old wealthy white guys but women, blacks, and gays can hardly forget.
- Electoral reform. We need to make as much space as possible for a new party to the left of the conservative party the Democrats have become.
We're For It Now!
What Digby Said.
The President has promised a "grand bargain" on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid after the election—he said so in the debate. Pete Peterson and the billionaires for austerity are putting on a full-court press press (sic.)
What do these people think they are doing? If this goes through it's going to fail, it's going to fail in the same way it is failing in Europe, and it's going to leave no country except possibly China standing. This is insane, even for the very wealthy.
With luck, it will all come apart. This is electoral poison, even for the absurdly entitled Senate. My guess is that Social Security will stand, Medicare will get some cuts, and Medicaid is going to get very badly hurt.
Food!
[edited a few days after posting.]
The President has promised a "grand bargain" on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid after the election—he said so in the debate. Pete Peterson and the billionaires for austerity are putting on a full-court press press (sic.)
What do these people think they are doing? If this goes through it's going to fail, it's going to fail in the same way it is failing in Europe, and it's going to leave no country except possibly China standing. This is insane, even for the very wealthy.
With luck, it will all come apart. This is electoral poison, even for the absurdly entitled Senate. My guess is that Social Security will stand, Medicare will get some cuts, and Medicaid is going to get very badly hurt.
Food!
[edited a few days after posting.]
Monday, September 17, 2012
Identity Crisis Politics
The War on Women, Blacks, Muslims, and just about everyone else...
The push to see the United States as the Christian nation it never was...
The dispute over Obama's citizenship... (And here I thought legitimacy disputes only occurred in hereditary monarchies.)
The primacy of identity over policy is the defining feature of this election. It is a feature of all US elections, but this year the election is about identity. This despite huge policy issues: unemployment, war, climate, and on. And yet the country is having an identity crisis. It is as though the public is trying to fix a leaky roof by undertaking psychotherapy, and all the while the roofer is busy stealing the family jewels.
Older white Americans seem to feel they've lost themselves in all the changes that have taken place since 1960, and they want the mythical past back. Everyone else is glad of the changes, or at least was until the wealthy old white guys were allowed to return to abusing everyone else back in the 1980s.
And so we have a conservative black president and an election about identity. As a progressive bird, it surprises me that the wealthy old white guys get so much support. Yet it just may be that the identity issue is the one to deal with. If it isn't resolved, and in favor of the whole public rather than just wealthy old white guys, policy is only going to get worse and worse.
Meantime, the wealthy old white guys are robbing the rest of America blind. I wish America would finish up with the identity crisis and get on with it already.
Breaking news: Romney may just have pushed the country a giant step on the path with his "47%" remark.
[Minor edits and rewrites within 24 hours of publication.]
The push to see the United States as the Christian nation it never was...
The dispute over Obama's citizenship... (And here I thought legitimacy disputes only occurred in hereditary monarchies.)
The primacy of identity over policy is the defining feature of this election. It is a feature of all US elections, but this year the election is about identity. This despite huge policy issues: unemployment, war, climate, and on. And yet the country is having an identity crisis. It is as though the public is trying to fix a leaky roof by undertaking psychotherapy, and all the while the roofer is busy stealing the family jewels.
Older white Americans seem to feel they've lost themselves in all the changes that have taken place since 1960, and they want the mythical past back. Everyone else is glad of the changes, or at least was until the wealthy old white guys were allowed to return to abusing everyone else back in the 1980s.
And so we have a conservative black president and an election about identity. As a progressive bird, it surprises me that the wealthy old white guys get so much support. Yet it just may be that the identity issue is the one to deal with. If it isn't resolved, and in favor of the whole public rather than just wealthy old white guys, policy is only going to get worse and worse.
Meantime, the wealthy old white guys are robbing the rest of America blind. I wish America would finish up with the identity crisis and get on with it already.
Breaking news: Romney may just have pushed the country a giant step on the path with his "47%" remark.
[Minor edits and rewrites within 24 hours of publication.]
Friday, September 7, 2012
The Worst Thing the Obama Administration Has Done?
(This is a collection of links about the response of the Islamic public to the vaccination scam the CIA ran as part of its assassination campaign against Usama bin Laden. I wrote them up for Ta-Nehisi Coates's blog, and decided they were worth repeating here. [Added:] these were flagged as offensive and not restored. Bah!)
Every time I think I'm getting to accept the Obama Administration, I'm reminded of something else awful it has done. My latest reminder was yesterday, when I read that Pakistan is deporting the non-Pakistani staff of Save the Children as probable CIA agents. As part of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the CIA ran a fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan, vastly undercutting the already uncertain Pakistani trust in real vaccination campaigns. Recently, Pakistan ordered all foreign employees of the Save the Children foundation out of the country on the grounds that they had been suborned by the CIA. It is possibly just grandstanding. On the other hand, it is possibly true: Save the Children is not likely to have the kind of hiring process that would detect an agent undercover.
It made the papers. Guardian story. AP story.
We also have Dr. Anthony Robbins, co-editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Public Health Policy: editorial at JPHP and backgrounder at ScienceBlogs.
It's not the action of the Pakistani government that most disturbs me, it's the disruption of the already fragile trust of Western NGOs on the part of the public in Islamic states. People will die because of this. Polio could be eradicated in Pakistan if the Pakistani people trusted the aid workers, and what trust there was has been badly damaged.
David Wright, Save the Children Pakistan country director, quoted in an editorial from The News of Islamabad, Pakistan, "Our ability to continue this important work has been seriously undermined by CIA’s use of humanitarian activity as a cover for their intelligence gathering."
BBC article from before the deportation: "UN polio vaccine doctor injured in Karachi attack"
Al-Jazeera on Taliban opposition to the program.
One of the most discouraging things about this story is that the Administration and the CIA have made the Taliban's allegations true.
[Restored because the author found his guts:] If this leads to the failure to eradicate polio in Pakistan, and the ultimate failure to eradicate polio globally, it will be the worst thing the Obama administration has done. Even a sufficient delay might make it the worst.
As I said, every time I think I'm getting to accept the Obama Administration, I run across something like this.
Every time I think I'm getting to accept the Obama Administration, I'm reminded of something else awful it has done. My latest reminder was yesterday, when I read that Pakistan is deporting the non-Pakistani staff of Save the Children as probable CIA agents. As part of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the CIA ran a fake vaccination campaign in Pakistan, vastly undercutting the already uncertain Pakistani trust in real vaccination campaigns. Recently, Pakistan ordered all foreign employees of the Save the Children foundation out of the country on the grounds that they had been suborned by the CIA. It is possibly just grandstanding. On the other hand, it is possibly true: Save the Children is not likely to have the kind of hiring process that would detect an agent undercover.
It made the papers. Guardian story. AP story.
We also have Dr. Anthony Robbins, co-editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Public Health Policy: editorial at JPHP and backgrounder at ScienceBlogs.
It's not the action of the Pakistani government that most disturbs me, it's the disruption of the already fragile trust of Western NGOs on the part of the public in Islamic states. People will die because of this. Polio could be eradicated in Pakistan if the Pakistani people trusted the aid workers, and what trust there was has been badly damaged.
David Wright, Save the Children Pakistan country director, quoted in an editorial from The News of Islamabad, Pakistan, "Our ability to continue this important work has been seriously undermined by CIA’s use of humanitarian activity as a cover for their intelligence gathering."
BBC article from before the deportation: "UN polio vaccine doctor injured in Karachi attack"
Al-Jazeera on Taliban opposition to the program.
One of the most discouraging things about this story is that the Administration and the CIA have made the Taliban's allegations true.
[Restored because the author found his guts:] If this leads to the failure to eradicate polio in Pakistan, and the ultimate failure to eradicate polio globally, it will be the worst thing the Obama administration has done. Even a sufficient delay might make it the worst.
As I said, every time I think I'm getting to accept the Obama Administration, I run across something like this.
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