Your six point plan for America, which I became aware of on the eve of the recent elections, brings to the table a handful of concepts that sound very nice:
- You will end the Republican culture of corruption and bring us real ethics reform, accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. You'll make certain the government serves the peoples' interests and not that of big business.
- You will protect Americans at home and tell the truth to our troops, citizens and allies. You'll have a strong national defense, win the war on terror, ensure success in Iraq, and free America from its dependence on foreign oil.
- You'll eliminate billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop energy alternatives.
- You'll create jobs that stay in America and bring us a budget discipline that reduces our deficit. You'll support fair trade agreements that raise standards for all workers here and abroad and make American businesses more competitive. You'll provide every child with a strong foundation of education.
- You'll make sure everyone has access to affordable health care, invest in stem cell research.
- You'll ensure retirement with dignity, starting with pension reform, prevent privatization of social security, and work on new ways to help hard-working Americans create retirement savings.
I like these grandiose notions, but I fear they are exceedingly fuzzy-headed and nothing more than fancy words on paper. For a starter, we have already seen Nancy Pelosi cozying up to the second largest lobby in Washington, the Israel-American AIPAC, explaining that the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza have nothing to do with the Israel-Palestinian conflict. So we have already set out on the wrong foot in the wrong direction, by lying to our troops, citizens and allies, and not missing a beat in continuing the culture of corruption in Washington.
You're going to win the war on terror? Is there some particular means by which you hope to do that? Has the DNC even defined what the "war on terror" is? If so, would you please state it publicly, so that Americans and the world do not have to keep on guessing?
I would ask the same for your definition of "success in Iraq." The only success I can see is that we get out immediately, make reparations of some unfathomably large kind, and perhaps try to find other parties who might be willing and able to sit at the table, talk, talk, and talk some more-in the absence of our troops that virtually everyone wants out of Iraq-and make sure that the Iraqis get control of their own oil supplies and help with putting their infrastructure back together.
You are going to bring us energy independence? Is there a single physicist in the DNC who has the slightest clue as to how this might come about? Can you give us a hint as to how this highfalutin concept will filter down to reality? I've been trying to figure it out for over thirty years, and I honestly don't see how to get from here to there without the most radical and immediate changes, none of which I hear you proposing.
How exactly are you going to create jobs that stay in America? What's the plan, Sam? Give us even a tiny hint, please. And how are you going to make American business more competitive? Near as I can see, American business follows the simple principle of worshiping the Almighty Dollar, looking out for itself and itself alone, seeking tax breaks and laws and bogus fronts that time after time make the public pay for the benefit of a few. When the "the bottom line" is the highest principle in American business, how exactly are we going to see anything other than exporting jobs for cheap labor, ripping off resources elsewhere in the world where environmental and social concerns are minimal or non-existent, and giving short shrift to American employees? But prove me wrong, please-give us some specifics and cease with the lofty mumbo-jumbo.
Universal health care and stem cell research? Wonderful, but where does the funding come from, and how are you going to get these projects in place? It's great to have lofty goals-I get a few myself every New Year-but can the DNC give us a little detail as to how these things are going to be accomplished?
It's claimed that the DNC will ensure retirement with dignity. Well, that's great too, but there's quite a few of us out here wondering how and when that's going to happen. It looks like a pile of poop so far. Near as I can tell, it will take a miracle such as I have never yet seen in politics.
Please pardon me for the tone of this letter, but I'm sick and tired of words, words, and more words, when they don't translate into anything that might be conceivably recognized as reality. And I'm sicker still of such words when they pop out just before an election, in such a blatant last-ditch effort to win a few votes.
You and the DNC have not offered a vision. You have offered a mouthful of malarkey that does nothing but sound slightly better than the stream of lies we've had to endure from the present administration. But you've offered absolutely nothing that is tangible or believable, and you've already sprinted off in the wrong direction with Nancy's first big lie, described above, and then with the appointment of Mr. Hoyer, who led the charge against Democrats taking a strong position on Iraq, while serving himself as a mouthpiece for George Bush. You yourself have told us in the past that you won't touch the Pentagon budget, which in fact uses war to justify its own existence. So stop the nonsensical talk, please. It gives me severe headaches.
Geery lived off the grid for 15 years in an earth-sheltered, solar heated home, while his kids learned in school that solar energy isn't feasible. NAPTA hosts a page on Geery's foibles in education, and explains how he got his butt fired from a tenured teaching position. Here's a short clip of his most recent solar contraption; for more on that project, and Geery's contention that the Wright Brothers took a wrong turn, please visit his airship page (hyperblimp.com). Apparently, Geery is the only one in the world to respond to Osama bin Laden, call bullshit on him and George together, and expose them for the pansy ass rich kids that they are. Unfortunately, bin Laden has been too scared to write back and explain himsself; and George is still working hard to finish his goat book.
Thanks for a reality-based view of our world and the Dems in particular. Our democracy has been vanishing for quite some time under two-party control of our political system. That's why I call it a delusional democracy. So many people get fooled or practice self-delusion because of campaign propaganda, the main purpose of which is to make distinctions between the two parties, when in reality their roots are planted in the same soil - corrupt big money.
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (113 articles, 20 quicklinks, 46 diaries, 428 comments)
on Monday, November 20, 2006 at 10:11:01 AM
I had thought myself the only person to believe Howard Dean a phoney and an opportunist. I noted his exceedingly cozy relationship with the GOP while LT. Governor and even more so as Governor of Vermont. I also was aware of his contentious relationship with Democrats during that same period, thus, when suddenly becoming a darling of the left during his ill fated run at the nomination, I took much heat for remaining unconvinced of his sincerity.
His winning 50 state strategy notwithstanding, and that is easily called into account as this past election was in no way an endorsement of Democrats just a slap in th eface of George's policies, I would look for nothing progressive from Howie.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 7:20:24 AM
I thought they loved us. Didn't Howard Dean say that he was going to take alll of that campaign donation money from the corprocrats and return it so they wouldn't "owe" them anything? Aren't the Democrats working to change the way campaigns are financed so that people aren't already bought and paid for before thety take their seat in congress? He didn't say that? I bet he lives in a big house and sends his kids to private schools and pays more on his credit cards in one month than I make total with my lousy college public safety job and my Army pension in one year.
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Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 575 comments)
on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 10:35:52 AM
I went through a long, painful period of disillusionment with the Democratic Party. It didn't end until Fall 2004, when I registered Green. I don't expect my party to occupy the White House (or even a US Senate seat) any time soon, but at least I no longer lose sleep wondering how I can be registered in the same party with feckless reptiles like Joe Lieberman.
Dennis Kucinich will always have my vote, regardless of his party affiliation. He is one of the few US Congressmen to put liberty, justice and the Constitution above partisan politics. And for precisely this reason, the one job for which he is worst-suited is Big Party Bossman.
The Republican and Democratic Parties are big tents, and the only thing one should expect to find inside a big tent is a three-ring circus. Congressman Kucinich serving Ohio effectively and vocally as a Democrat is a credit to his intestinal fortitude. But it is NOT evidence of vision in the Democratic Party -- a quivering, drooling hulk that exists only to vie for supremacy in an endless game of king-of-the-hill.
Leave the ringmastering to guys like Carville, Rove and Dean. There are too few legislators like Dennis Kucinich to begin with.
by
Prónius (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 11:35:13 PM
