Total eclipse of the smart? Why the left wing can’t get off the ground
UPDATE – JAN 26: I wrote this a week ago when I still clearly felt sanguine enough about the political situation in America to sort of be able to joke about it. That was then. News today that Obama is freezing domestic spending is giving me a fucking embolism. Read this and sob. I am speechless. Enjoy it while it lasts.
black cats
JAN 14: The world lost another great reason to have sex today — Teddy Pendergrass passed away. Driving home at 3am and hearing “Love TKO” on AM 1290 was always to wish that there was a real secret garden, covered in velour, that one could be inside of. Kind of like the garden of eden but with more mirrorballs, bearskin rugs, fireplaces and hotpants. Another grittier soul stirrer that hurts so good is Howard Tate’s “Get it While You Can” which, in a velour covered nutshell, would be my advice to the current democratic majority.
I’m increasingly frustrated at how far left of most of the people I know I seem to have become politically. It’s not like the people I hang around are remotely right wing — I’d like to think that any teabaggers among the bunch are just dangling their nuts on someone’s face and not doing something disgusting like protesting…whatever the teabaggers are protesting. Yet, perhaps because of my way of expressing my political leanings — banging, shouting, swearing, high blood pressure — people seem to think I’m some kind of loony radical. The former part of the equation may be debatable but I’m definitely not a radical. If anything I would consider myself an old-schoolish Democrat. During the last election, when not blogging like a fucking superstar, I thought about the issues that mattered to me and this is what I came up with. I am, broadly speaking:
- pro choice
- anti death penalty
- anti war
- anti gun
- pro public programs like education and healthcare
- pro workers rights
- pro gay rights
- anti nuzzling the nuts of large corporations
- pro paying attention the constitution and individual freedoms
- pro regulation of corporations and markets
and to my great dismay I found that the current Democratic party stands for very few of these things in any concerted, meaningful way. I do not see myself as driven by some Quaker-ish peacenik ideology. I am a big fan of the practical. Some of the reasons I’m against the death penalty are because it’s expensive as fuck, doesn’t work as a deterrent and we often kill the wrong person. I’m totally willing to talk about the death penalty as a crime fighting tool, but not until we stop executing innocent people or sticking them on death row for decades at a time based on a bunch of bullshit.
I think some of the most powerful reasons for universal healthcare are economic: how can we have an innovation economy when people are afraid to leave their jobs or compete globally when Detroit is paying more for healthcare than steel?
I’m all for discussion of what the fuck we’re doing in the Middle East. If someone can explain to me what victory and success actually mean in Iraq and Afghanistan we’d be off to great start. If we’re really going to crunch the numbers is 3 trillion dollars and 4,000 American lives worth the cost of avoiding “another 9-11”?
We’ve now spent 1 billion dollars for each person that died in 9-11 (although firefighters who responded that day are dying painful deaths due to injuries sustained that day — mostly respiratory related — combined with lack of healthcare). What are your core ideals and does your party stand for them? If centrism is one of them than bully for you, you’re just not getting it right now. If Obama + Co. really want bipartisan bills they should let the Republicans write them because their current efforts sure aren’t working. Maybe they should look inward — ‘what did the Bush White House say to me that encouraged me to enthusiastically support the Patriot Act, invading Iraq, FISA, etc.?’ and utilize that firsthand experience in a constructive manner. The Democratic party is embarrassingly right wing and embarrassingly, I would even say dangerously, lame. Democratic pols, and their constituents, need to evaluate what they want and go for it. This should be a great time for the Democratic Party and for some reason they keep being hung out to dry. We’re supposed to trust them to defend us from nuclear-armed rogue stations when their heathcare efforts were derailed for months by a post on Mrs. Going Rogue’s Facebook page? Obviously I would be right chuffed if the new Dem agenda was right in line with mine but more than that I’d like to see some sort of thought and discussion given to what the Democrats stand for in 2kdime, no matter what it is. I think many people voted for Big O even though he did not actually represent their beliefs and are feeling salty about it now. Lack of clear objectives has gotten us mired down in a lot of messes during the last decade.
Politicians are often concerned with legacy, especially as their time draws to a near — and it certainly look like that may be happening for a number of Dems and certainly the “filibuster proof” Demjority [JAN 26: now past tense]. A lot can be learned from Teddy Pendergrass in this area. Teddy P spent the last few decades of his life in a wheelchair after being paralyzed when the brakes went out on his Rolls Royce (True story. The tranny in the car with him walked away uninjured) and he’s still remembered as an ultimate ladies man able to increase birth rates just by opening his mouth and crooning a few notes. Harry Reid may have been a boxer (I know, seriously) but he don’t know nothing about the Love TKO. Heaven Only Knows the left wing needs a little more cohesion and A Little More Magic or You and I and everyone else clinging to the sinking ship are going to Turn Off the Lights, Close the Door and walk away thinking I Don’t Love You Anymore and The Whole Towns Laughing at Me. Can’t we try Dems? Can’t We Try?
SongOTD: T.R.O.Y./Fuck You Max Baucus Edition
WHY WON’T THE FUCKING DEMOCRATS LISTEN TO ME AND STOP LOSING/HIRE ME????
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January 26th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
You nailed it. I could rattle off a list of policy (in)decisions that the Obama administration has either perpetuated or just waffled on, but it suffices to say that for many, many of us who would be considered “leftists,” the Obama administration has demonstrated itself to be a disappointingly smug coterie (even Krugman’s recent editorial seems to agree, as far as economics are concerned: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/opinion/25krugman.html?em).
Why does it seem plain as day to me and my so-called leftist friends that if all the Obama administration can do is draw out Republican strategies to a null point, they won’t be elected again by a populous that is more or less center-right, but at least willing to give a guy a chance if he can do a good job? Why can’t they do a good job? After rewarding the banks and fudging health care in the name of a lame bipartisanship (for starters), it really is their sole responsibility to pick up the pieces.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Thanks dude. I just do not get it and it’s my complete inability to comprehend the logic, not the ideological leanings (or lack thereof), of the Dems that blows my fucking mind. 1 Prez, 59 Senate seats, 78 seat advantage in the House. It just don’t add up.
Hope to see more reviews up on Active Mesostics. Art and the compulsion people still feel to create cheers me up immensely. That and food. Let’s combine the two, holler at me.