Category Archives: Politics & Government

The meaningless sideshow

Posted on by

“This caucus, let’s face it, marks the beginning of a long, rigidly-controlled, carefully choreographed process that is really designed to do two things: weed out dangerous minority opinions, and award power to the candidate who least offends the public while he goes about his primary job of energetically representing establishment interests.”

“…the candidate who raises the most money wins an astonishing 94% of the time in America. That damning statistic just confirms what everyone who spends any time on the campaign trail knows, which is that the presidential race is not at all about ideas, but entirely about raising money.”

“…in the end, once the primaries are finished, we’re going to be left with one 1%-approved stooge taking on another.”

— Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone)

“A rejection of what our society has become”

Posted on by

Excerpts from How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the OWS Protests by MATT TAIBBI in the November 10, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone

“We’re all born wanting the freedom to imagine a better and more beautiful future. But modern America has become a place so drearily confining and predictable that it chokes the life out of that built-in desire. Everything from our pop culture to our economy to our politics feels oppressive and unresponsive. We see 10 million commercials a day, and every day is the same life-killing chase for money, money and more money; the only thing that changes from minute to minute is that every tick of the clock brings with it another space-age vendor dreaming up some new way to try to sell you something or reach into your pocket. The relentless sameness of the two-party political system is beginning to feel like a Jacob’s Ladder nightmare with no end; we’re entering another turn on the four-year merry-go-round, and the thought of having to try to get excited about yet another minor quadrennial shift in the direction of one or the other pole of alienating corporate full-of-shitness is enough to make anyone want to smash his own hand flat with a hammer.”

“People want to go someplace for at least five minutes where no one is trying to bleed you or sell you something. It may not be a real model for anything, but it’s at least a place where people are free to dream of some other way for human beings to get along, beyond auctioned “democracy,” tyrannical commerce and the bottom line.”

“It’s not that the cops outside the protests are doing wrong, per se, by patrolling the parks and sidewalks. It’s that they should be somewhere else. They should be heading up into those skyscrapers and going through the file cabinets to figure out who stole what, and from whom. They should be helping people get their money back. Instead, they’re out on the street, helping the Blankfeins of the world avoid having to answer to the people they ripped off.”

When experts don’t seem so “expert”

Posted on by

This is an excerpt from a post by Terry Heaton, one of the handful of thinkers I look to first for an understanding of what’s happening in the world. The link to his post is below, but the following paragraphs can stand on their own.

Our culture is based upon hierarchical layers of “expertise,” some of it licensed by the state. This produces order, which Henry Adams called “the dream of man.”

It also produces elites, the governing class, those who call the shots for others not so fortunate as to occupy the higher altitudes. This is the 1% against which the occupiers bring their protests, their dis-order.

We used to think that elites and hierarchical order were necessary for the well-being of all, but that idea is being challenged as knowledge — the protected source of power (and elevation) — is being spread sideways along the Great Horizontal. It’s not that we’re so much smarter than we used to be; it’s that the experts don’t seem so “expert” anymore, because the knowledge that gave them their status isn’t protected today. Anybody can access it with the touch of a finger.

This is giving institutions fits, and each one is fighting for its very life against the inevitable flattening that’s taking place. Medicine wants no part of smart and informed patients and neither does the insurance industry. The legal world scoffs at the notion that they’re in it for themselves as they occupy legislatures and create the laws that work on their behalf. Higher education increasingly touts the campus experience over what’s being learned, because they all know that the Web has unlimited teaching capacity. Government needs its silos to sustain its bureaucracy, but the Great Horizontal cuts across them all.

I added the emphasis in graf 3. For me, this is The Big Idea of the early 21st century. The high-speed smart phone in my pocket means you don’t necessarily know more than I do, so why the fuck should you be in charge?

What an exciting time to be alive. And sure to get exciting-er.

 

We need a virus

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t recall how the original War of the Worlds ended but in the Tom Cruise remake, [SPOILER!] the aliens succumb to some earthly virus to which humans became immune over the eons.

I frequently fantacize something like this to free us from the politicians and corporate swine [yes, I know they are not all swine] that we have allowed to rule us so completely. But their DNA is the same as ours, so probably not gonna happen.

Another fantasy involves meteors obliterating DC and Wall Street and we start over with a list of Things Not to Let Happen Again. Too much loss of inocent life.

Why do I see violence as a necessary part of our freedom?

I grew up in a small town. There wasn’t a lot to do but it was fine as long as you didn’t know anything else. A lot of politicians probably come from such places. And when they get to The Big City they have power and privilege. Life is GOOD! So good, they will do just about anything to avoid going back to that little town. Back to being just a … citizen.

Sometimes, however, you lose the election. So they created the safety net of the lobby. If you can stay in office long enough to get some power, you can leverage that should you get voted out of office. You don’t have to go back to Hooterville.

No, I do not believe “our system” still works well enough to free us from the people now holed up in the DC Helm’s Deep. I think we’ll have to drag them out one by one.

Unless some alien virus wipes them out

OWS: Not a game that someone wins

Posted on by
Reply

Douglas Rushkoff on OWS: Occupy Wall Street beta tests a new way of living – CNN.com

“Whether or not we agree that anything at all in modern society needs to be changed, we must at least come to understand that the occupiers are not just another political movement, nor are they simply lazy kids looking for an excuse not to work. Rather, they see the futility of attempting to use the tools of a competitive, winner-takes-all society for purposes that might better be served through the tools of mutual aid. This is not a game that someone wins, but rather a form of play that is successful the more people get to play, and the longer the game is kept going.”

“They will succeed to the extent that the various models they are prototyping out on the pavement trickle up to those of us working on solutions from the comfort of our heated homes and offices. For as we come to embrace or even consider options such as local production and commerce, credit unions, unfettered access to communications technology and consensus-based democracy, we become occupiers ourselves.”

The class war has begun

Posted on by
1

So says Frank Rich in this NY Magazine piece. A little long (by web standards) but worth a read. To wet your whistle:

“Elections are supposed to resolve conflicts in a great democracy, but our next one will not. The elites will face off against the elites to a standoff, and the issues animating the class war in both parties won’t even be on the table. The structural crises in our economy, our government, and our culture defy any of the glib solutions proposed by current Democrats or Republicans; the quixotic third-party movements being hatched by well-heeled do-gooders are vanity productions. The two powerful forces that extricated America from the Great Depression—the courageous leadership and reformist zeal of Roosevelt, the mobilization for World War II—are not on offer this time. Our class war will rage on without winners indefinitely, with all sides stewing in their own juices, until—when? No one knows. The reckoning with capitalism’s failures over the past three decades, both in America and the globe beyond, may well be on hold until the top one percent becomes persuaded that its own economic fate is tied to the other 99 percent’s. Which is to say things may have to get worse before they get better.”

The Class War Has Begun – And the very classlessness of our society makes the conflict more volatile, not less.

Scott Adams: The Evolve Button

Posted on by

“The most objective explanation of our problem is that the economy is changing faster than humans can adapt. We have more high-end jobs and fewer unskilled opportunities. That’s not anyone’s fault. And obviously we have a smattering of rich crooks and rich people taking advantage of the system. That has to be addressed, but it’s not the underlying problem.”

“Some say the government is the problem. But I think it is more accurate to say the government is failing to offer a solution. And that’s because the government has also evolved more slowly than the world in general. It’s an anchor on the economy. What we need is a form of government that is more nimble, and designed from scratch to support the economy.”

“*And for that we need a constitutional convention*. The genius of our constitution is that it has a big red button labeled “evolve.” We just need to push it.”

Robert Reich: The Truth About the Economy

Posted on by

Robert Reich describes what’s wrong with the economy in 2 minutes.

  • The economy doubles since 1980, but wages flat. Where did the money go…
  • All (or most) of the gains went to the super rich.
  • With money comes political power.
  • Taxes on super rich slashed, revenues evaporate.

You might disagree with his economics and/or his politics, but the guy can DRAW!

Time to end the war in Afghanistan

Posted on by

British MP Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan after 9/11, talking with citizens and warlords alike. Now, a decade later, he asks: Why are Western and coalition forces still fighting there? He shares lessons from past military interventions that worked – Bosnia, for instance – and shows that humility and local expertise are the keys to success.

Americans Elect 2012

Posted on by
Reply

“Now you can participate in the first direct presidential nomination process, ever. Americans Elect technology makes it possible for you to decide the issues, shape the debate, choose candidates and nominate the president in 2012.

Start by building your profile and identifying your colors, not just red or blue, but your true colors. The more you define your views, the more unique and vivid your palate will become. Maybe you’re light purple. Maybe you’re turquoise. Maybe you’re lime green. Choose where you stand on each of the issues and find out.

But don’t stop there because Americans Elect is just getting started. Soon you’ll be able to join discussion groups, connect with others and share the topics you care about most. You’ll also have the option to search a variety of candidates to find someone who matches your values, preferences and goals for the country. You might only be a 40% match with your neighbors or a 55% match with your state, but wouldn’t you want to match close to a 100% with your president?

And at the end of the day, Americans Elect is made up of you and other delegates. There is no special interest and no partisanship. We’re bringing the nominating process into the 21st century, to put the candidate you choose on the ballot in 2012.”