The American Government: Much Form, No Substance
Buck November 30th, 2007 - 10:30 amI’ve been reading a lot lately from various web blogs that many people are stating their belief that, whether Republican or Democrat, they’re all one and the same any more. That, regardless of what their stance may be on any given issue, that all the major political players within the beltway are owned by corporate America.
There is a lot of truth to this, unfortunately. But I sense something else at play here. Something more basic, but no less tragic; the “fast food” syndrome has overcome our government.
Grahame Broadbelt, of Demos blog, states the problem well:
But it seems to me that political parties must be more than containers for a collection of modern day consumers seeking the instant satisfaction of getting their issue attended to. As political parties widen their attempts to be that container (by trying to appeal to every interest, every sliver of opinion, every issue), they in turn look fragmented, disconnected and rootless. And all the time their constituencies are shrinking.
What we are seeing is a fragmentation of our social and political concerns into bite’sized chunks appropriate to our poor attention spans and intellectual diet. Such a fragmentation invades our discourse, pollutes our narrative and ends up with lots of really clever people sitting round a table not managing to talk about what political parties are actually for. Call me naive, but I thought political parties were about the development and enactment of political ideology (remember that; we used to talk about it a lot in the days before fizzy drinks and fast food).
No doubt we Americans seek instant gratification. In our discontent with our government, maybe we should reserve some of that finger-pointing for ourselves.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:24 am
It takes perseverence to implement real change in our politicians. In my mind, this means that Americans get off their asses on EACH and EVERY election and vote out the assholes who didn’t live up to their promises.
The Dems did get a lot done at first, then I feel Pelosi and Reid thought they had done enough and went back to head-in-trough politicking. We were told they would end the war. They haven’t. So this coming election cycle, the American people need to vote out every asshole who has been dragging their feet on this. The Whole “They are all the same” line has one very big effect: It keeps people on their asses and not voting. When these politicians, WHO TRULY VALUE THEIR POSITIONS keep getting fired when they don’t do what they promised to do, the next crop will be more likely to work that much harder. Their Complacence is due to OUR Complacence. Keep their feet to the fires. The elections in Nov taught the Republicans a very important lesson, one that hasn’t sunk in yet, but as more of them are handed their walking papers this next go-around, I think they will understand its time for a big, big shift.
As for the Democrats- Their lesson comes this next election as well. No Votes for incumbents who have backed down on the Holy Trinity- 1.Ending the occupation of Iraq. 2.Impeaching and criminal charges for the Bush Administration and 3.Ending Big Business’ chokehold on energy policies. I really don’t think Term limits are actually any problem at all, if the lazy American public would make it their sacred duty to vote. We wouldn’t have the same dipshits again and again.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Political parties mainly exist to acquire and maintain power. Their “philosophies” are often more a marketing strategy than actual goals. Yes, there are woefully uninformed voters, but consistently, average citizens  and certainly liberal bloggers  try to push for more depth, while most of the MSM (certainly TV pundits) consistently make things more shallow.
I want to see plenty of primary challenges in 2008 for both parties.
Of course the Dems are better, and I get sick of hearing the “They’re all the same” bullshit. It’s a lazy, false equivalency that lets both major parties off the hook, and certainly individuals. Besides - abortion, the minimum wage, torture, habeas corpus anyone? Invading Iraq? Ya think Gore would have done that?
The problem is, far too many Dems are far too beholden to corporate interests or otherwise craven, and happy to go along with authoritarian measures and belligerent foreign policy even if they wouldn’t introduce such measures themselves. It’s the reason Feinstein and Rockefeller have been such tools on FISA. The Dems are pikers compared to the Republicans when it comes to corruption and authoritarianism. It’s not as if they’re a particularly liberal party, though. They’re mostly bourgeois in attitude and defend the status quo, even when it sucks. Class and power are almost always more important issues and allegiances than race, gender, political party or anything else.
The system we have ain’t great, and is badly flawed if not broken. But while we work to reform that, why not support the best people you can find? Or why not take over the Dem party from the DLC and corporate types? Building a viable 3 or 4 party system ain’t gonna happen overnight, and with the current electoral college system, it’s virtually impossible for an independent to win the presidency. 3rd party candidates and public funding are possible and successful on local and state levels, though, even if it’s still harder than it should be. Meanwhile, even if there’s not someone you want to vote for, there’s nearly always someone to vote against.
I really don’t know many if any liberals  let alone many adults  who view any politicians as heroic knights riding in to save them. Authoritarian conservatives are much more likely to do so, because that’s how they look at the world. But it’s an aspect I see Arthur Silber and some others missing. Sure, saying we need “more and better Democrats” can be a naïve if one has blind faith in the Democratic Party as an institution, and think as a whole the party will fight for you without being prodded pretty damn hard, and most of all if one doesn’t see how corrupt the current system is. But there’s nothing wrong with trying to elect actual liberals, or someone who will actually try to fight the steep uphill battle for reform. Most people, I think, have the experience of liking a politician and then being disappointed, and take a more pragmatic approach to elections. I know I wasn’t thrilled by Clinton’s various panders, and the AUMF vote in 2002 was despicable (I’m overdue for a retrospective on that). I’m sympathetic to those who walk away in digust, and since I was a teenager I’ve liked the slogan “Vote for Cthulhu : If you’re sick and tired of voting for the lesser of two evils.” (H.P. Lovecraft’s evil ancient god, for you non-geeks.) But I’m also not willing to be lectured by anyone who’s not trying something themselves.
I also think liberals  or at least party Dems  let conservatives off the hook far too much, and certainly the media does, assuming they’re acting out of some ideological purity, given them a pass for being unrepentant assholes. The Dems in Congress are a disappointment, but the GOP is pretty damn evil. You think the GOP doesn’t know Iraq is a disaster? (There have been several articles showing they clearly do, but most are afraid of contradicting Bush in public.) You think they really don’t know what they’re doing with every obstructionist vote, or their stances on other issues? They consistently put politics ahead of the good of the country as a whole. Hell, their platform itself is all about that, giving more wealth to the obscenely wealthy, more power to the powerful, stripping civil liberties and screwing over the poor and middle class. I should do a post looking back on Rick Santorum, but while he was an ideological zealot, he was also a deeply corrupt bully. He played a central role in the K Street Project and pushed hard for measures that would screw the taxpayers to help his buddies and donors. He knew what he was doing! Being corrupt and a wingnut is far from incompatible  hell, part of wingnuttia is perpetrating and defending corruption. The Dem leadership deserves almost all criticism they get, and more, but our presence in Iraq could not continue without Republicans protecting George Bush while Americans and Iraqis die.
Sure, we average citizens can take the rap for what we should take the rap for, but let’s not forget to go after the real muthafuckers out there.
November 30th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
No money = no war. Rationalize that.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Bro | 11.30.07 - 6:35 pm
Um, who exactly disagrees with that?
The article was essentially taking voters to task for being shallow. And sure, there are some dumb voters out there, but a much bigger problem is crappy reporting, and craven and corrupt politicians.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Whoops! Cookies. That was me.