Tag Archives: elections

Political Rants

What’s up.

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Just a few thoughts prior to the most expensive mid-term elections in U.S. history.

Don’t abstain. You’ve heard this before from wiser people than me. You’ve even heard it from me. In any case, here it is again – don’t stay home on election day. Go out and vote. Vote against the money tide from corporate America. Make their Supreme Court-sanctioned pay-to-play electoral machine useless to them. It only works if we cooperate by failing to oppose their favored candidates – don’t. Get out there and mark those ballots – again, not because that’s the only thing that needs to happen in order to build a better world, but because it’s necessary to keep the media-fueled G.O.P. “tsunami” myth from materializing.

I’m most particularly addressing this message to folks in states like Wisconsin, where you are represented by the finest member of the U.S. Senate. For god’s sake, don’t replace Feingold with some vacuous millionaire CEO. And for those of you in Nevada who, I’m sure, read this column religiously, I encourage you to hold your noses and vote for Harry Reid, rather than allow that bigoted Schlafly clone to become one of the most narrow-minded members of the world’s greatest deliberative body. (Any sane person would vote against her on the basis of her incendiary anti-immigration ads alone.)  

Bloody mess exposed. I’ve sifted through only a tiny corner of the Iraq War documents released by Wikileaks, and I have to say I feel something distantly related to PTSD. Go to the Guardian site and check it out. This trove helps to confirm the oft-criticized claims of the antiwar movement; that the Bush administration was wanton in its disregard for the well-being of Iraqi civilians, that it had an administrative policy of non-intervention when detainees were being tortured, and so on. The torture revelations are not that surprising – this is the kind of approach we traditionally followed with third world allies prior to Bush’s wars: have the CIA guy observe while the El Salvadoran officer applies the thumb screw or the electrodes. In Iraq we had both the new way and the old.

Relax. When the power went off on that nuclear missile base in Wyoming, the major media outlets – including NPR – offered a brief item that amounted to, don’t worry, we never lost the ability to launch them. I slept a whole lot better after hearing that.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Punch and Arcuri.

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Had a feeling it was going to be this bad, but honestly… I guess I didn’t realize how bad “this bad” truly could be. The congressional district I live in (NY-24) is being completely flooded with ads paid for by both candidates and independent front groups. Watch five minutes of commercial television and you will see an unrelenting battle between these forces, in which the ads overwhelmingly spotlight the candidates they oppose. They’ve got the low, ominous music, the gravel-voice guy, the nasal, sarcastic-sounding lady, the uncomplimentary photos of Brand X candidate, all cloudy and grayscaled. Some are clearly national ads customized to fit the district; others home made. All are execrable.

It would be no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I have voted for (and even volunteered for) Michael Arcuri (D-NY) in the past. That is not because of any deep or enduring loyalty towards the candidate; again, I vote strategically. His election means one less vote for Boehner and the crew. (Remember: When you stay home, you ride with Boehner). But I have to say, his ads are as childish as those of his opponent. In fact, some of them seem calculated to alienate the most hard-core of Democratic party constituencies – those traditional left anti-war folks who hold their noses every two years to vote for the lesser of two evils. Arcuri’s got an ad out accusing his opponent of supporting a group that will “cut defense spending in half”. Like that would be a bad thing.

Still, the evident power struggle that’s playing itself out from coast to coast is hard to abstain from, particularly when you see inflammatory ads that so distort the history of the last two years. Tagging the TARP bailout to Obama. Saying the stimulus “failed”. Even with all this, though, it isn’t merely the factual distortions that make these ads detestable. One must recall that advertising – unlike many other forms of speech – is crafted to have an emotional impact. It’s not just that they are inaccurate. Far more crucially, they are designed to discourage people, to scare them, and to make them more cynical.

The result of all this? Another class of badly compromised legislators, no matter who wins any individual race. Hence, government becomes more dysfunctional as elections become more driven by corporate cash. Mission accomplished!

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Citizens unite!

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Dear progressives and like-minded folks… set aside your various misgivings with respect to the Democratic party for the next few weeks. Just consider this:

Point one: Not your daddy’s GOP. As bad as this past two years have been, it could get much worse. And with the current crop of Republicans in charge of Congress, it most certainly will. Anyone with the memory of an ant can recall what the last G.O.P. congress was like. This next one would be far more destructive, as some of the moderating influences have been removed and the more radical elements brought to the fore. We will see Mike Pence, Darrell Issa, and Michele Bachmann in leadership positions. This will mean destructive legislation, impeachment proceedings, and god knows what else.

Point two: Corporate cash. It likely has not escaped your attention that corporate interests – spearheaded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – are pouring money into this election like never before. Newly empowered by the Supreme Court’s execrable Citizens United decision, non-party groups are performing as cutouts for the financial industry, the energy sector, manufacturing, you name it. Karl Rove’s groups alone have raised more than $50 million and are now shooting for $65 million; the Chamber something like $75 million. They see an opportunity to bag this election, and they’re willing to spend the coin to make it happen.

Which brings us to Point three: United citizens. The only thing we have to fight this election with is our votes. We cannot match their dollars. But their pricey ad buys are worth nothing if enough people get off their butts and vote against the shills they are funding. Sure, I know… if we had strong candidates, it wouldn’t even be a contest. That’s partly true, though in the case of people like Russ Feingold, money is definitely the problem. We can trump the fortunes of the well-heeled if we’re willing to exercise our franchise as voters. The key is thinking of voting as a strategic act, rather than a literal expression of support. Do I ever wholeheartedly support the people I vote for? No. But voting is one strategy amongst many. The right understands this. The rest of us must begin to.

So hold your nose, cross yourself, whatever the hell you have to do. Just vote against the money bags. And have your fights with non-Republican legislators and executives…. just not in a general election. That’s cutting off your nose to spite your face.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Big words.

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No time to think, less to write, so this is right off the top of my head.

Food Fights. Those are the words that come to mind when I think of this year’s political campaigns. I remember 2006 being similarly acrimonious, but honestly, this year is worse. It seems like there are nothing but attack ads. Even the nice-nice “Hi, I’m blankety-blank and I want to be your blank” ads have a poison pill embedded in them for the opposition. The California gubernatorial race has descended to an exchange of “He’s a liar!” and “She’s a whore!” in something reminiscent of my junior high lunch room. The New York race is, if anything, even more surreal in its nastiness. I’m anticipating a crush of toxic direct mail in the closing weeks – lookout, mailbox!

Imperial Prerogatives. There has been a lot of reporting on Pakistan the last couple of weeks. Their military closed a crossing to U.S. convoys on the Af-Pak border in response to a range of disagreements, not least of which are disputes over U.S. and NATO (essentially U.S.) incursions into Pakistani national territory. There is a kind of impatience to the reporting, communicating the administration’s and the military’s frustration with Pakistan’s failure to adequately support their seemingly endless war in Afghanistan. It’s reminiscent of the official line during the Vietnam war, when American officials would complain about “sanctuaries” in Cambodia and Laos, while they confidently flew devastating bombing runs out of their own “sanctuaries” in Thailand and elsewhere.

This week starts our tenth year in this war, and we seem – if anything – farther from the end than we were when it started. We are more than seven years into Iraq, and now appear to be fighting in Pakistan. Where does this end? Does anyone still think that we are accomplishing anything besides investing in generations of people who hate our guts? That fact is already manifesting itself in Iraq, where the new legions of Al Qaeda fighters are internal refugees, disaffected and ready for revenge. Our dismal performance in the wake of Pakistan’s recent disastrous floods – barring refugees from the sanctuary of one of our air bases; failing to press our military helicopters into disaster relief operations; and some say worse – will gain us the love of very few survivors. This war itself is a disaster, perpetuated by us. And it is one we have the power to end.

Summers Out. Larry Summers is off to make more millions consulting for the investment banks he defended in the White House. High time, too.  

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Contact with America.

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First item: the Democrats are among the most exasperating political parties on Earth. They seem to have an innate sense of how to alienate their core voters, casting over the side any item of legislative action – the public option, Medicare expansion, don’t ask don’t tell, the fight over middle class vs. top 3% marginal tax rate reductions, etc. – that is remotely popular.

That said, let’s look at their opponents. Probably a good idea, since there’s an election coming up. And these folks look pretty grisly. Oddly, they picked what looked like a Home Depot lumber department to announce their “Pledge To America”, a lobbyist-written document full of stuff that would make, well, lobbyists very happy. (Perhaps the choice of venue is their way of telegraphing the kinds of jobs they plan to create. How do you look in an orange vest?) Rather than talking about what’s in the document, let’s look at what they didn’t put in there… but which they advocate none the less:

Privatization of Social Security. It’s no secret that most if not all G.O.P. legislators are in favor of converting Social Security into a glorified 401(k) plan with private accounts. This has long been their goal, given their hostility to the very notion of the social contract that is at the heart of that very successful program. They will, like W. Bush and others (including, amazingly, more than a few Democrats), appeal to individual greed in hopes of building support for ending this guaranteed supplemental income that has lifted elderly people from poverty for the past seventy years.

Gutting Medicare. They hate this one, too, no matter what they tell you. The Republicans want to move to something more like a voucher system, so that old and sick folks can go out and buy coverage on the open market – so easy to do when you’re old and sick. Is Medicare losing money? I would expect so, since it only covers (wait for it) old and sick people. If they want it to be solvent, why not expand it to include everybody… including those who don’t need a lot of care? I’m just saying.

Dismantling the Veteran’s Administration medical system. Same deal – vouchers instead of reliable care. This has been shamefully advanced by John McCain, whose beer-heiress wife will pay his medical bills if needed, no doubt.

Nothing particularly new in this list. And there are those amongst the Democrats who would jump right on board with most or all of it. But if the Republicans fail to gain a majority, they would never have the opportunity to do so… so let’s save them (and us) from themselves.

luv u,

jp

Uncategorized

Tea totalers.

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Fast again, my apologies.

Our friends in the mass media are breathless over the primary elections this past week, particularly with regard to the triumph of certain “tea party” affiliated candidates. This is the big story, we’re told – the tea party conservatives are where all of the enthusiasm is this year. It’s a growing movement, says old Pat Buchanan, as if we’re witnessing anything new. Have any of these people actually lived in the United States over the past twenty years? I wonder.

What is the tea party movement, after all, but the hard core of the Republican party conservative base? Chris (Lambchop) Hayes made this point on Rachel Maddow’s show the other night. Think about it for a minute – even at his nadir of popularity, George W. Bush could count on the unquestioning love of 25-30% of the country. This country is home to more than 300 million people, so that 25% adds up to 75 million people. Based on their rallies and their primary returns, the tea party appears to be a subset of that block – more like Glenn Beck’s 10% vanguard. These are people who loved Bush/Cheney, supported both wars they started, ate up the tax cuts, blamed Katrina on the victims, and called Obama a terrorist during the McCain campaign. “He’s a… an Arab,” said the crazy lady at one of McCain’s rallies, searching for the right epithet.  From the moment of Obama’s election victory, these people have been screaming to “get their country back.” My question is, “back” from whom? The people who voted in the last national election? Screw that.

The simple fact is, these people have only effectively been out of power for less than two years. Sure, the Democrats took control of the Senate and House in January 2007, but they had razor thin majorities and a Republican president to work with. Bush was able to triangulate with the always-useful conservative Dems in both houses to block any progressive legislation and keep the cash flowing for both wars. So they are complaining about what amounts to the last 20 months. Indeed, their complaints would have no traction at all were it not for the horrible unemployment rate and the continuing sluggish economy – due in large part to the consistent blocking action of congressional Republicans and (again) conservative Dems, who cut the vast majority of infrastructure spending from the stimulus package and now whine that it didn’t do enough. I guess Bill Clinton did have a point with “It’s the economy, stupid.” In the absence of a draft or a war tax, nothing resonates with the American voter more than jobs, jobs, jobs. 

To paraphrase the old WWII sign about carpooling – If you stay home on election day, you ride with Boehner. Whatever else poor, working, and left-leaning people need to do to make life better in this country, they need to get out and vote. Need a ride to the polls? Call me.  

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Backlash.

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A few brief and sullen meditations this week. Not much to say, really, but I’ll say it anyway.

‘Lection Show. Primary day was a bit underwhelming, to say the least. Not surprised to see Arlen Specter voted down. Just a bit too much political opportunism there to survive, I suppose. Never been very keen on him, I must admit. He was one of the decisive votes in pulling serious infrastructure spending out of the stimulus package last year, as I recall. And it’s hard for me to forget his spirited defense of Justice Thomas, whose bitter judicial philosophy (such as it is) we have been saddled with for the past two decades (and will likely have to live through for another two). John Murtha’s seat stayed in Democratic hands – that’s a disappointment to some.

So was Rand Paul’s victory in Kentucky, against an establishment candidate avidly supported by Cheney, McConnell and others. While Paul has gotten himself tangled into knots with some absolutist libertarian positions, he shares his father’s disdain for both of our useless wars. That, at least, would be an embarrassment for his party… and a well-deserved one, at that. He would also be one of the only truly anti-war senators. Hard to fault him for that.

What I can fault him on, though, is the logical outcome of his extreme libertarianism, which his recent comments illustrate. He’s troubled by what he sees as a heavy handed approach to BP by the administration, since that violates his sense of the total separation of the public and private spheres. For one thing, it’s amazing to me that he would consider what’s happening between Obama and BP overly intrusive or burdensome to the oil giant. If anything, it’s way too cozy and too permissive. Personally, I think they should break BP into a million pieces and cash each fragment in as a downpayment on the damage they’ve done through their greed and negligence. But Paul refuses to acknowledge human agency in either the BP undersea oil volcano, or the Massey Energy mine disaster, or I imagine any similar circumstance. “Accidents happen”, and when they do, government looks for people to “blame”.

In that respect, he sounds severely unhinged. But only because he’s willing to say out loud what many right-wing politicians and tea party “patriots” (i.e. former Bush voters) are thinking quietly to themselves.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Mass panic.

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There’s a lot that can be said about the Senatorial special election in Massachusetts on Jan. 19, and I’m not going to say very much of it. (You’ve probably heard most of the political post-mortems already.) Looks to me like the good people of our neighboring commonwealth have seen fit to hand Ted Kennedy’s old seat to Mitt Romney 2.0, a slight upgrade from the original model (this one, at least, confirmably anatomically correct). As far as his political positions are concerned, it’s a mixed bag – a little angry anti-bank populism (People are mad, damn it, and so am I!), a little love for waterboarding, some tin-foil hat-ism, and the usual measure of running away from his most inflammatory comments, like passively questioning president Obama’s origin as the son of two legally married individuals. (Smooth.) There’s also the listing from political side to political side as needed, like voting in favor of Mitt Romney’s statewide health insurance system in Massachusetts, but opposing the national version.  He should blend in nicely with the G.O.P. caucus, though poor Jim DeMint will have to forfeit his crown as the party’s Senatorial winged Adonis. (Sad. Very sad.)

Indeed, his greatest political impact may indeed be the effect his election is having on the Democrats, who have been rending their garments, flagellating themselves, etc., ever since last Tuesday. One gets the impression by listening to heavyweights like Bart Stupak and Evan Bayh that their strategy moving forward will be something like stand quietly at the back of the chamber and hope their constituents will elect them by default. Even my own home district Congressman Mike Arcuri is sounding a little timorous, perhaps because the Republican fool who nearly unseated him in 2008 has announced his intention to try again this year (a mere day after Brown’s election) and local tea-party freak Don Jeror (a.k.a. Mr. “You are LYING to me!”) has said he is looking for a conservative Democrat to challenge Arcuri in the primary. (Jeror has been making the error of using modern human language in his search for an electable caveman. He should use grunts. Try it, man!)

Tin-foil hats aside, I’m beginning to think the hyper-conservatives have been right about the Democrats all along: bloody hell, they ARE surrender monkeys! In all seriousness, I think this has just given them the excuse to openly channel their inner Republican (to the extent that they haven’t been doing it up to now). Of course, with this week’s Supreme Court decision removing any restrictions on the flow of corporate cash into political advertising, any Democrats who maintain a less-than-congenial relationship with Exxon-Mobil, Google, Cargill, or any other firm with deep pockets will likely find their districts flooded with attack ads, paid shills, and every kind of legal sabotage money can buy.  Yes, folks – George W. Bush and his reactionary predecessors are truly the gift that keeps on giving. The 5-4 decision to sell our electoral process to the highest bidder was advanced by two Reagan appointees, one Bush I appointee, and (crucially) two Bush II appointees. Is it too late to say, we should have kept W out of the White House?

I am afraid it may be too late. Score one for the corporatists. We’ll need to work on how best to fight this.

luv u,

jp