ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS THAT GOOD MEN DO NOTHING.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

........As Teats on a Boar

That's what the Democratic Party often is as useful as. They are, at times like this, completely useless. Like a teenager on drugs in August. Sometimes I wonder why I [sometimes] vote for them. Then the Republicans do something stupid, like compare anything to Nazis. But this isn't about Republicans.

The Democrats took two national elections because people were sick of the Republicans, their illegal war in Iraq, their thumbing their nose at the rest of the world, their trampling on the Constitution. They were elected by a various coalition of minorities, educated young whites, gays, and blue collar folk who had realized they were getting the GOP shaft. So what do the Dems do? Nuttin', I tells ya.

Part of the reason why the Dems do nothing is that they are terrified of the Republicans. A minority party, completely cutting itself off from every constituency except rural gun owning Bible thumpers has more influence than the party with 60 votes in the Senate and a sizable majority in the House. Why? I think this has something to do with flashbacks of Jimmy Carter, the nicest guy who should never have been President.

But seriously, what is the deal? The deal is is that Americans, collectively, are stupid, and both parties know it. Sorry, my fellow Americans, you can be mad, but I will lay out the proofs. Exhibit 1: Death Panels. 'Nuff said. Exhibit 2: reelecting George W. Bush. After the guy literally stole his first election, why would anyone vote for him on the basis of their values? Exhibit 3: Americans believe that you can stop criminals from using guns with gun control. Self explanatory. Exhibit 4: after about 8 decades of locking up Americans, and ratcheting up police authority to search and seize, we are still four-square into the War on Drugs, notwithstanding the human and monetary cost. You would figure we would have learned by now that punitive measures are not any boon. Exhibit 5: the debate of gay rights and gay marriage. As if anyone should care. Exhibit 6: roomfuls of people on Medicare protesting government run health care. Really?

Much of the time, the Democrats have been useless to their constituencies. Take gay rights, for example. Bill Clinton attempted to roll back the odious and self defeating ban on gays in the military, and yet we still have "Don't Ask Don't Tell," which is just as bad. On top of that, he signed the probably unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act. Go figure.

More recently: few votes against the PATRIOT Act; few votes against the authorization to go to war in Iraq; little defense of the FISA Act; belated rage against the excesses at Guantanamo Bay; wholesale failure to stand up to the revision in the Medicare Bill which prevented the Federal Government from negotiating prices for pharmaceuticals; failure to properly vet Bush's nominees to the Supreme Court.

Barack Obama was elected, in part, by the same gay constituency. To date: lip service.

This is the same dynamic of Democratic Party weak-knees that lead John Kerry to get defeated on the issue of his heroic military service, rather than his opponent's actually avoidance of going to war by going AWOL. At least his loss gave us the phrase "Swift Boating."

And to the singular issue of the moment, health care reform, what does the party with overwhelming votes in both houses do? Start to cave at the first sign that there won't be any bipartisan support. Ooooh, the Public Option is dead on arrival because Chuck Grassley won't support it. Well, let me tell you one thing: Chuck Grassley is dead to me, and the Dems better start thinking that way, too.

And you Blue Dogs: what the hell were you elected for? To be a bunch of weenies at the first sign of a GOP putsch? Tell your constituents, red and blue, to stop being a bunch of stupid sheep, that there are no "Death Panels," and that if Norway and France and all these other countries we think of as weaker than us or beneath us can provide health care for all their citizens, then it is a mark of shame that we don't do it for our people. Then club them over the head with facts: single payer systems are a fraction of the cost of our "free market" system, mostly because of the overhead in administration and executive pay and the need to turn a profit.

And if they are so bent on the free market, well tell them that the Public Option is the free market in operation, with the government competing alongside industry. If the insurance industry can't compete - too bad, so sad, that's the breaks.

So, Democrats, stop being such a bunch of lilly livered, yellow bellied, cowardly, craven little fraidy cats and stand up to John Boehner, aka Tan Man, and Eric Cantor, and Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the hateful right wing set, and set it to a vote. With the goshdarn Public Option in the bill.

And if they aren't going to get it done, well, President Obama, get in there and bust some kneecaps Chicago style. If you aren't going to win, at least go down standing up with your boots on. Sound off like you got a pair.

11 comments:

  1. 1) Perhaps the folks in Congress actually saw the writing on the walls and knew if they went ahead against the wishes of their constituents that they'd be looking for work next November?
    2) Much like the conservatives did in the Newt Gingrich days of the mid 90's, when they over reached and thought they had a mandate for more than they did, Obama, Pelosi and Reid are finding out a large majority of folks do NOT want the government running their lives. Most do NOT share their values.

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  2. 1) Maybe, except people on Medicare are the ones somehow not wanting government run healthcare. (?) And somehow the [non]issue of death panels outweighed plain good sense. Rather, I think it is more noise and blather than writing on the wall.

    2) Point taken, except that health care reform, including the potentiality of a single payer, is an actual issue the President ran and won on, and through which the Dems actually solidified their majorities in Congress. It's not like the Dems went out and impeached someone over oral sex. Yet. But wait, there is plenty of time.

    Thanks for the comments.

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  3. I have just one question for anyone who supports single payer healthcare: Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party???

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  4. I've this this a lot of thought, Tom, and I believe the proper response to your question, measuring its tone, depth, and relevance, is the following:

    I know you are, but what am I?

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  5. Not exactly a denial but definitely more coherent than Obama's explanation of why Americans should quietly go along with having their healthcare taken over by unaccountable government bureaucrats.

    I know your ilk are very anxious to start talking to your doctor's secretary through a glass partition, being told "go to the next window" at a location across town, and being told to bring money orders in the amount of $82.22 cents to cover the co-pay for your doctor.

    Once government is responsible for paying for healthcare, it's only matter of time before there are punitive federal taxes on soft-drinks, beer, red meat and other things too numerous to list.

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  6. Thanks for the compliment, Tom. Yes, I love talking through partitions, and me and my ilk wouldn't support health care reform without a mandate for more, and thicker, partitions. Of course I want more beauracracy, layer upon layer. And that $82.22 is only about $17.78 less than my co-pay is right now, so that's a wonderful thing. Hey, I guess we can repackage all those "punitive" taxes as regressive "consumption" taxes that are the darling of right wingnuts like your pal Grover Norquist and yourself.

    I know this is a stretch for you, but do you not feel a moral imperative to assist your fellow American, like you feel there is a moral imperative to not pay taxes? What would your favorite political philospher, the Lamb of God, say on this topic? If Norway can do it with but a tiny fraction of our resources, why can't the most powerful nation in history do it? Why is enhancing the suffering of your fellow American for the sake of an obselescent industry's profits a priority for you?

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  7. The difference between a conservative and a liberal is that a conservative does not equate increased taxes with compassion.

    No matter how noble an idea for government intervention sounds, in the end it is you standing in front of some scumbag moron behind a window, who is trying to do anything they can to tell you "no" so they can get back to playing solitaire or whatever the f*ck they do. Half the people working the windows at the DMV, the Courthouse etc. couldn't survive a job at McDonalds for a week.

    Go do some research and see how much Bush and Cheney donated to charity every year compared to Obama and Biden. Obama, who is quick to count and spend other people's money, allows his own family members to live in mud huts in Kenya and housing projects in Boston. But according to Obama, the rest of us are supposed to be "our brother's keeper" by submitting to government-run healthcare.

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  8. Neither relevant nor poignant arguments, Tom. You avoided my challenge regarding moral imperatives and priorities, and launch irrelevant ad hominen attacks. Why are you so fearful of helping your fellow American? Some might deduce it is because you hate your fellow American, and by extension, America. Say it isn't so, Tom.

    I think highly of you, though.

    And in the future, keep the language clean. This is a family friendly site.

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  9. As near as I can tell, to be a liberal:

    * You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried, is because the right people haven't been in charge.

    * You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

    * You have to believe that taxes are too low
    but ATM fees are too high.

    * You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides aren't.

    * You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranians

    * You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented changes in the brilliance of the Sun, and more affected by yuppies driving SUVs.

    * You have to believe that trial lawyers are selfless heroes and doctors are overpaid.

    * You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being gay is natural.

    * You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature but pasty, visionist activists who've never been outside Seattle do.

    * You have to believe the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of funding.

    * You have to believe the NRA is bad, because they stand up for certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good, because they stand up for certain parts of the Constitution.

    * You have to believe conservatives are racists but that black people couldn't make it without your help.

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  10. Tom, the depth of your self imposed ignorance is astonishing, and it saddens me. You once again engage in unreasoned ad hominen attacks, painting in broad swaths, using bumper sticker slogans as if they are reasoned arguments and are useful political discourse.

    Again, you mindlessly attack "liberals" yet fail to address my challenges to you. You seem to relish insulting people, yet I fail to see the purpose, or the relevance to this post. Maybe you should read what I write before randomly vomiting venom.

    As far as I can tell, if you are representative of conservatives you have no idea what socialism is; you have no idea what anyone thinks of businesses; ATM fees and tax policy are now magically linked; you think that your privileged life is due to some inborn superiority; you believe 60% of this country wants to face a nuclear armed Iran; you fail to realize present day global temperature rises directly correlate with the industrial use of fossil fuels and release of greenhouse gases; you fear and hate homosexuals; you hate science except when it can be warped to your personal purposes; you don't know who the hunters are - do you hunt?; you hate America, especially the Seattle region; you think the NRA actually wants to defend gun rights rather than make money by drumming up fear; you are very concerned about looking like a racist, as if you are compensating for something; you view the political system like a college football contest, simply rooting for the red team to win.

    One more time, Tom: what are your priorities vis a vis providing health care for your fellow American? Stick tot he issue.

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  11. I like you Ray, so I'm going to choose to ignore your personal attacks against my character, intelligence and patriotism the next time I see you. I wouldn't ask you in a post how much you've donated to charity to back up your moralizing about compassion for the needy. I've tried to direct my arguments toward the substance of what you're saying and not you personally. You haven't returned the courtesy.

    I haven't tried to "smear" you by saying you try to substitute $50 words (ad hominem, specious, etc.) and name throwing (Grover Nordquist, Karl Rove, etc.) for any kind of substance. And don't talk about "reasoned arguments" when you talk about "stealing" elections, that America "tortures" and wages "illegal" wars, and say Obama's "life is threatened" and that people oppose him because they're racist.

    With that said, I respect you for putting your views out there and it is informative to see how radical leftists think. That is the last response I'm going to have on this post, but this is your site so I know you'll feel compelled to have the last word. I will continue to take target practice on your "specious" rants in your other posts. It's like shooting fish in a barrell.

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