Pundits like to say that Washington politicians live in a bubble.
They use the bubble theory to explain why elected officials profess to care about the average person yet continue to vote in favor of policies that seem to maintain the status quo -- where wealthy and powerful people and corporations get the mother-lode and the rest of us get the crumbs.
The bubble theory is a myth.
Elected officials are not walking around, unaware of what is going on around them.
They are shrewd, calculating and ambitious people who got where they are because they know how to play the GAME.
And the game is what politics is now and has always been about; a power match where back-room deals are made and minds are made up -- long before we see the public spectacle of hearings and long-winded speeches on CSPAN.
Some say that a democracy is messy and that compromises must be made in Washington in order to get anything done.
Democracy = Compromise is another myth.
The myth that compromises must be made in a democracy is perpetrated to excuse our representatives in government when they side with the opposition or vote for something that goes against their constituency.
Actually, politics is more like the mob. Government is a seedy business. Elected officials, like mobsters have now and always will do what needs to be done to keep themselves in power.
It is not about you and me. Never was.
The only way to get politicians to do the bidding of the people who "elect" them (something they are supposed to be doing anyway) is to truly threaten them with losing that seat of power.
That is why both political parties spend so much time working to rig elections so that only a few ethically minded people get voted into the club. The local party bosses act as street thugs bullying people to fall in line or risk losing support.
It is a sickening reality folks. Best we all wake up to it.
Speaking of waking up, last night I dreamed that I was living in a country that was spiraling downward toward fascism.
In my dream, the government and its agencies condoned and committed torture. They imprisoned innocent men, women and, yes, children, with no probable cause and no habeas corpus.
People were kidnapped from their home countries and taken to distant lands where they were subjected to horrifying "enhanced interrogation."
Rainbow Law is Elisia and Carrie Ross-Stone, lesbian civil rights activists, life partners and grandmothers. We own and operate Rainbow Law, an online service offering legal information and free and affordable legal documents for gay and lesbian families.
We also publish RainbowZine (http://www.rainbowzine.com), a progressive LGBTQ newsletter and we Blog at http://RAINBOWbLAWg/.blogspot.com.
In 2003 and 2004, we rode our bicycles across the country to advocate for marriage equality. Lesbian Grandmothers from Mars, a documentary about the ride, premiered at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in San Francisco in 2005.
And if all of that is not enoiugh to keep us busy, we are building our own house with our own hands out of recycled materials. The building project is online at http://www.BuiltfromTrash.com.
This post reveals my life-long inner struggle as I have tried to keep an optimistic and open mind about a possible better future while, at the same time, becoming more and more frustrated by the grim reality of cynical politics.
When I first caught the political bug, I believed I could make a difference. I joined and volunteered for progressive organizations, I marched in DC, I lobbied Congress. I wrote letters, signed petitons and testified at Congressional hearings.
What I saw was shocking to my young and naive psyche. Officials left the room, whispered to one another, read the paper and basically turned a deaf ear in the middle of passionate and heart wrenching testimony.
Then, as if the hearing never took place, legislators voted in whatever way they had agreed to before the whole thing ever happened -- and none of the tales of rape, poverty, sickness or unfair treatment made one bit of difference to the robots with the power to make things right.
They have no souls. And those who do (like Jimmy Carter) get slaughtered.
It is Darwinism at its finest.
Survival of the poilitcally fittest produces an evil and fascist government.
by
Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments)
on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 9:56:23 AM
What do you mean by progressive and progressive issues?
By progressive do you mean anti republican?
Do you mean your beliefs in your time frame?
do you like many other see progressive as meaning those who agree with you?
What do you expect from politicians?
oh by the way Darwinism ISN'T 'survival of the fittest' as you imply. That was a phrase coined by an Astronomer who was a theist opposed to Darwin's theory.
by
Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 4:25:42 PM
The definition of the word Progressive: of, relating to, or characterized by progress; or, making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities
The definition of the word Conservative: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions; or, marked by moderation or caution
Progressive issues are those social, economic and political issues which strive to create justice, fairness and equality. They primarily include (but are not limited to) clean renewable energy, environmental protection, access to education, employment, health, sustainable living wage, and housing regardless of race, gender, physical ability, age or sexual orientation.
A conservative tends to resist change and/or is compelled to go in reverse out of fear, or the desire for a nonexistent, idyllic past. If this definition describes a Republican, then so be it.
A progressive goes forward -- toward a better future. Progressive people recognize that unless we learn from past mistakes and move forward we run the risk of repeating the tired old mistakes of the past. If this definition best suits a Democrat or "liberal" then count me in!
Correction: Darwin's theory of evolution is NOT survival of the fittest. Rather, he noticed that a scarcity of resources in a burgeoning population would lead to competition between individuals of the same species that had to compete for those resources. Those individuals with "better" traits were able to survive while those with "inferior" traits died off. The surviving individual passed on the desirable traits to the next generation and so on. He called it "natural selection."
So silly of me to get that so absolutely wrong.
by
Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments)
on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 5:55:08 PM
4 comments
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