Tonights Reading Material

I mean to read that link in full, but haven’t yet.

I’m going to point out that I don’t like the framing of “the death of the Democratic Party as it was back in the day when it worked for the little people”, but don’t intend to beat you up about it. Just a couple of comments.

The Democrats used to OWN the South as recently as the 60s, and were the biggest racists on the planet, so I’m kinda glad that Democratic party is dead.

And, I prefer to think of it as “the death of the American political system as it was back in the day when it worked for the little people”. And I’ll stand by that, because at times, it did. We didn’t pass civil rights until ’64. That’s not that long ago.

Oh, one more. Roosevelt got us social security. He also locked up every Japanese-American in the country. LBJ got us Medicare. He also escalated the war in Viet Nam. We have a long history of taking the good with the bad.

Anyhoo…

I’ll leave something out, I’m sure, but what’s wrong with American politics that leads to us being ignored is, in no particular order;

Money. A few control most of it, and they can buy LOTS of (stupid voter’s) votes with it. And when that fails, they can DEMONSTRATE to “our” congressmen that they won’t be re-elected if they defy them.

“Low information voters”. The reasons are many, some of them noble, some a function of demographics, some just pathetic. Half of all America is below average in intelligence. I’m well aware of the controversy over the book “the Bell Curve”, but it’s math, fergawdsakes. Half of any group is below average in whatever criteria you can name. “Bubba, down ta the bar, thinks Obama is a socialist fascist ni@@er Kenyan, en Fux nuz AGREES. I’m not votin’ fer him!” Or “I have to work 3 jobs (thanks to the GOP economy, my 2c by TB3) and don’t have time to keep up with every nuance and still pay any attention to my kids.” Or how about this?; “My family’s been Republican for generations.” OK, that came across crueler than I intended, but the points are that lots of people vote GOP for reasons that even they can’t defend, and it’s the GOP that’s the problem.

Voter turnout. If people got the day off to vote, more people WOULD vote, and all you have to do is look at the GOP effort to stifle voting to know that more voters = better representation for the 1%.

The media. They lie to us. Every fucking day. For the past 40 fucking years, but it’s gotten far worse now that everything we hear, everything we see, is controlled by a handful of ultra-mega-wealthy corporations.

I understand, I HONESTLY understand, why “average Joes” feel so helpless. We’re up against a well-oiled, well-funded, marketing MACHINE. Frank Luntz is just the tip of the iceberg as far as marketing goes. We’re up against the people who have had more money than they could possible spend from cradle to grave, and they want it ALL. They want all that sweet, sweet cash we’ve been putting into SS and medicare our entire lives. They want us to work until we’re not productive FOR THEM, then (as Alan Grayson so eloquently put it) “die quickly”.

They want to take our homes (reverse mortgage, anyone?) and everything we’ve earned OVER OUR ENTIRE LIVES (nursing homes, anyone?) and leave nothing to our kids, because the only people who “deserve” to live like royalty are those who already have a lot of money. And if “I” have the gall to say we should tax estates over $5 million? CLASS WARFARE!!!

This last is especially galling coming from the teabaggers, when what we were breaking away from was a system devoted to royalty, and royalty in the US capitalist system is “I’ve got more money than you.”

I left a lot out. I’m ranting, I know. But focusing on “how far the Democrats have fallen” seems like such a waste of good brain cells to me. I’m frustrated by it.

We have failed. We rant and rage on message boards, but we don’t organize. We point fingers at political parties (yeah, I fucking HATE the GOP), but we don’t do a fucking thing to get our candidates on the ticket in a primary, then get them over the threshold in the general, much less run ourselves.

I’m not “mad” at any of you guys, but I don’t know if I can respect your focus. Not now. Not when rMoney could be our next POTUS, and the GOP could hold the House and take control of the Senate.

Remember when Bush had a GOP congress? He fucked us REAL good.

It’s too late this election. NONE of our votes matter in the POTUS election.

I vote in DE. I’m happy with my representation in congress.

The only thing I have left is to try to help “down-ticket” people who will support my President and congressional delegation.

So, maybe I can’t relate to how things are where you live.