Honesty

'In the end, without honesty, every reason we use to vote for someone is a joke.  Delusional thinking about candidates has produced our delusional democracy.  Time to stop voting for liars.  Better to not vote at all.  Voting for liars only encourages more lies'

That was very well said except that.. it was said before in Greece, Rome,  France, England, Russia..  All societies balance between 'honest work for honest pay' and '  I am honest until proven otherwise.' This is not new. What is new  though is the damage done by these people.

The US  is facing the identitiy crisis: who are we and who is in control ( this one is the painful one).  This has nothing to do with democracy- it has everything to do  with interests and religions.  Deep down we all  are scared of someone else and  deep down we ( honesty, please), or at least many of us would  agree to any govt  which consists of the people we think are  like us: white males  want white males, Latinos want a Latino, Jews want Lieberman, women want a tight butt or  something in the skirt... As soon as most  of us do not face the real tough problems of survival ( or at least that is what we are told) we will  indulge our animalistic instincts in the 'privacy of our own homes' and that privacy is exactly what killed  those giant civilizations before  us- it became a masturbation instead of real sex, illusion instead of reality,  blubbery instead of real talk and cowardice instead of courage. All of that is  not new. The nuclear weapons and the consequences of  the inevitable painful transformations are.

Honesty does not make people happy. And as soon  as it is so, as soon as people know that and nobody told them otherwise they will prefer 'I am honest until proven otherwise' to 'honest work for honest pay'. Great man John O'Hara invented that mantra.

by Mark Sashine (46 articles, 19 quicklinks, 234 diaries, 3343 comments) on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 8:21:36 AM
 

Huckabee and the election

Anyone interested in a funny (but it really happened) column about what Huckabee is really like face-to-face should try:

by lane filler (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments) on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 8:25:11 AM
 

How to elect a Republican

As a retired politician, I truly resent the statement that all politicians are dishonest.  Some are more so -- some are less so. 

If we liberals stay home and do not vote, the Republicans have won by default.  Great way to go!!

by Shirley Bianchi (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 85 comments) on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 12:10:23 PM
 

Please tell us how things would be different, if Republicans

would have retained their majority in Congress in Nov '06.

You write, "If we liberals stay home and do not vote, the Republicans have won by default.  Great way to go!!"

Why would that be any worse than what we see before us?

Also, you seem to be using the word "liberal" as a synonym for "good." It's not. So-called "liberals" vote for military budgets in the exact same way that "conservatives" do. "Liberals" are not noticeably more opposed to torture than conservatives. They don't seem to defend the Constitution more than conservatives -- indeed, some conservatives defend it more strongly than many liberals (though neither group defends it all that well). The 2 groups are only marginally different on issues affecting corporate power.

Rather than reacting to the article as though it were a personal insult to you as a recovering politician, why not give some thought to the issues of substance that it raises?

by Richard Mynick (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 1064 comments) on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 1:31:13 PM
 

Response

How silly of me to assume that not everyone subscribes to an abhorence of 'collective guilt'.  Not all Republicans are bad, of course.  Nor are all liberals bad.  Nor do all women respond to comments personally.  But the Republicans who are in office now certainly are not supporting the Constitution nor our civil rights.  By not voting and seeing to it that the Republicans who happen to subscribe to the same philosophy as those who are in office now, we will soon be writing our own, "Cry, My Beloved Country."

As to your assertion that I should not be offended by someone painting all politicians with the same brush personally, why should I not!  I am just as offended by someone painting all responders to articles such as these as stupid.  Any blanket statement offends me, as it should you.

by Shirley Bianchi (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 85 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 3:01:16 PM
 

advertising

You bring up the interesting point - campaign donations.  Candidates rely on massive sums of money to get elected.

The people I voted for in 1996 did not have hugh campaign sums.  Alan Keyes did not have money, and Ralph Nader and his running mate were not wealthy either.  I voted for them knowing they would not win, and my vote would help them in future elections.

Does money influence votes?  There are candidates I will not vote for regardless of their money and advertising, such as Sen. Clinton. I ask you - at the end of election day, are people satisfied with voting for the biggest spenders?

by Barker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 109 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 9:41:45 AM