Lessons from Scott Brown
And now, as if anyone cares, Green Eagle's take on the Democratic humiliation in Massachusetts yesterday.
First of all, just in general, I lived in Massachusetts when I was in graduate school (I voted for both Teddy and Tip O'Neil at the time) and I have never met a bigger bunch of greedy, self absorbed people in my life. They are still deeply infected by the "screw you, I've got mine" attitude of their Puritan ancestors; the same attitude that led to evangelical Christianity as we unfortunately know it today. So I don't really have much respect for anything they do.
Second, I don't give a damn about Martha Coakley, whom I was only vaguely conscious of before this nonsense (how many other State Attorneys General could any of us name?) and whom I hope to never hear of again. The question is not why she ran such a miserable campaign, but why the Democratic party was so complacent and arrogant that it just assumed that whoever they picked, however weak, would automatically be annointed the winner.
Now, on to some suggestions for long overdue changes that will help the Democrats avoid such things in the future.
1. Republican leaders care about nothing but their own wealth and power, and, since Reagan, have not given one God damn for the fate of the country and the rest of us. They have no intention of participating honestly in running the country and they will do anything to destroy their Democratic opponents, no matter what the cost to the American people. This is an ugly reality that this country has never faced. It is impossible to work with them in any way, and it is long past time that the Democrats realize this; furthermore it is essential that Democrats constantly confront the American people with this near-treasonous reality.
It is time to stop the ludicrous talk of bipartisanship. As usual in this world, if you want it, you'd better do it yourself.
2. The press in this country, thanks to Ronald Reagan, is now virtually entirely owned by large corporations allied with the Republican party, and is going to present every issue in the manner most favorable to Republicans. Democrats are never going to get a fair break there, and it is about time that they admit this sad fact, and act accordingly. Democrats need to be absolutely united and persistent in presenting this country's problems as the result of Republican cant designed to provide cover for the depradations of the rich, and to constantly point out that the government's difficulty in dealing with these problems is almost entirely due to self-serving Republican obstruction. In other words, it is long past time that the Democratic party unite in telling the truth to the American people, regardless of the storm of abuse that Republicans and their collaborators in the press will direct toward them.
It is long past time that Democrats return the truth to our political discourse. Reagan, elected through treason, and Bush II, placed in office by corruption on the Supreme court, have almost mortally destroyed this country, and very likely destroyed its economic and political superpower status. This is the new reality which we must live with, and this is the damage which, as usual, Republican criminals have left the Democrats to repair, while they stand on the sidelines and throw stones. We must operate on the basis of this understanding; anything else will result in the same pitiful results we are seeing on health care reform.
In the meantime, the press colludes with the Republican party to give credence to any sort of right wing nonsense, like the absurd notion that a law passed in the 1970's requiring banks to loan to minorities based on the same standards they used for whites, somehow thirty years later caused a near depression, or that the government "took over" the banks and the car companies, rather than paid to keep them from collapsing due to the failure of their sacred private management.
3. Republicans, with press collaboration, have managed to propagate the preposterous idea that Democrats have no right to pass legislation unless they can amass sixty votes in the Senate. This rule, of course, doesn't apply to Republicans in any way. Under Bush, fifty votes and Dick Cheney were perfectly acceptable to pass any bill, no matter how radical or harmful to the American people. Republicans can get away with this antidemocratic nonsense, because Democrats like Harry Reid refuse to stand up and state the obvious: in a democracy, the majority rules, and any bill passed with 51 or more votes is totally in accord with our American way of governing, regardless of the use of reconciliation, or whatever other tactic Democrats need to use to overcome Republican attempts to make the country ungovernable. All that counts is that a majority in the Senate will vote for the bill: that makes it fair. That has always been the way our government worked, up until the last couple of decades, when Republicans decided that any low tactic is acceptable to get what they want, and it can be true again, if Democrats want it.
4. It is obvious that Democrats have lost favor over the last year, not because they have been too progressive, but for absolutely the opposite reason. If the Dems had delivered a truly progressive health care bill in the Senate, if Obama had kept his promise to close Guantanamo, if he and congress could be seen to be working to stop the criminal depredations of our financial industry by means of strict new financial regulations, even a nonentity like Martha Coakley could have won. Instead, they have allowed Republicans to manipulate them into weakening their every action until it is essentially useless. As it is, too many people in this country are wondering, what's the point in supporting these guys? And sad to say, they have good reason to feel that way.
Well, I think those are some lessons that we can learn from yesterday's vote.In the end, the deck is stacked against the Democratic party, which has nothing on its side but the truth. It had better use that weapon, because it is all we have.
First of all, just in general, I lived in Massachusetts when I was in graduate school (I voted for both Teddy and Tip O'Neil at the time) and I have never met a bigger bunch of greedy, self absorbed people in my life. They are still deeply infected by the "screw you, I've got mine" attitude of their Puritan ancestors; the same attitude that led to evangelical Christianity as we unfortunately know it today. So I don't really have much respect for anything they do.
Second, I don't give a damn about Martha Coakley, whom I was only vaguely conscious of before this nonsense (how many other State Attorneys General could any of us name?) and whom I hope to never hear of again. The question is not why she ran such a miserable campaign, but why the Democratic party was so complacent and arrogant that it just assumed that whoever they picked, however weak, would automatically be annointed the winner.
Now, on to some suggestions for long overdue changes that will help the Democrats avoid such things in the future.
1. Republican leaders care about nothing but their own wealth and power, and, since Reagan, have not given one God damn for the fate of the country and the rest of us. They have no intention of participating honestly in running the country and they will do anything to destroy their Democratic opponents, no matter what the cost to the American people. This is an ugly reality that this country has never faced. It is impossible to work with them in any way, and it is long past time that the Democrats realize this; furthermore it is essential that Democrats constantly confront the American people with this near-treasonous reality.
It is time to stop the ludicrous talk of bipartisanship. As usual in this world, if you want it, you'd better do it yourself.
2. The press in this country, thanks to Ronald Reagan, is now virtually entirely owned by large corporations allied with the Republican party, and is going to present every issue in the manner most favorable to Republicans. Democrats are never going to get a fair break there, and it is about time that they admit this sad fact, and act accordingly. Democrats need to be absolutely united and persistent in presenting this country's problems as the result of Republican cant designed to provide cover for the depradations of the rich, and to constantly point out that the government's difficulty in dealing with these problems is almost entirely due to self-serving Republican obstruction. In other words, it is long past time that the Democratic party unite in telling the truth to the American people, regardless of the storm of abuse that Republicans and their collaborators in the press will direct toward them.
It is long past time that Democrats return the truth to our political discourse. Reagan, elected through treason, and Bush II, placed in office by corruption on the Supreme court, have almost mortally destroyed this country, and very likely destroyed its economic and political superpower status. This is the new reality which we must live with, and this is the damage which, as usual, Republican criminals have left the Democrats to repair, while they stand on the sidelines and throw stones. We must operate on the basis of this understanding; anything else will result in the same pitiful results we are seeing on health care reform.
In the meantime, the press colludes with the Republican party to give credence to any sort of right wing nonsense, like the absurd notion that a law passed in the 1970's requiring banks to loan to minorities based on the same standards they used for whites, somehow thirty years later caused a near depression, or that the government "took over" the banks and the car companies, rather than paid to keep them from collapsing due to the failure of their sacred private management.
3. Republicans, with press collaboration, have managed to propagate the preposterous idea that Democrats have no right to pass legislation unless they can amass sixty votes in the Senate. This rule, of course, doesn't apply to Republicans in any way. Under Bush, fifty votes and Dick Cheney were perfectly acceptable to pass any bill, no matter how radical or harmful to the American people. Republicans can get away with this antidemocratic nonsense, because Democrats like Harry Reid refuse to stand up and state the obvious: in a democracy, the majority rules, and any bill passed with 51 or more votes is totally in accord with our American way of governing, regardless of the use of reconciliation, or whatever other tactic Democrats need to use to overcome Republican attempts to make the country ungovernable. All that counts is that a majority in the Senate will vote for the bill: that makes it fair. That has always been the way our government worked, up until the last couple of decades, when Republicans decided that any low tactic is acceptable to get what they want, and it can be true again, if Democrats want it.
4. It is obvious that Democrats have lost favor over the last year, not because they have been too progressive, but for absolutely the opposite reason. If the Dems had delivered a truly progressive health care bill in the Senate, if Obama had kept his promise to close Guantanamo, if he and congress could be seen to be working to stop the criminal depredations of our financial industry by means of strict new financial regulations, even a nonentity like Martha Coakley could have won. Instead, they have allowed Republicans to manipulate them into weakening their every action until it is essentially useless. As it is, too many people in this country are wondering, what's the point in supporting these guys? And sad to say, they have good reason to feel that way.
Well, I think those are some lessons that we can learn from yesterday's vote.In the end, the deck is stacked against the Democratic party, which has nothing on its side but the truth. It had better use that weapon, because it is all we have.
Comments
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/110609.html
As you will see, Republican efforts to deflect this charge consisted of fabrications and lies, and there can really be no doubt that this actually happened, and that it constituted in the most clear terms "adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort," i.e. treason. This is not some meaningless, belligerent use of the term, as we became so accustomed to hear from Republicans during the Bush Administration, but the act itself, in the most clear form.
Incidentally, Reagan again turned to treason when he illegally provided these same Iranian mullahs with 2000 (yes, you read that number right) missiles, in order to raise money in secret to continue his illegal funding of a right wing terrorist army in Central America.