Your federal government has failed the hurricane victims and the people of America. Let this not be a time of absolute hope for the left on the political spectrum that the complete dissolution of the power of the right will be the natural result. The institutions of government have failed. This is much larger than partisan concerns. This is a failure of a political system and the people of America will hold individual politicians responsible, regardless of party affiliation. And so they should.
We’ve watched as Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) has spread her polllyanna-like attitude this week across the television screens of America – praising the federeal government regardless of the fact that absolutely nothing had been done for the victims. She may be just one of many Democrats who will most likely never be re-elected due to her lack of candor and honesty. She represents the part of the Democratic party that panders to those in power to the point where even she, in the face of the most excruciating domestic disaster, could not bring herself to take off her political hat and act like an ordinary, compassionate and disturbed human being. There was no humanity in her stance.
The people of America, especially those on the left, must now ruthlessly evaluate each politician elected to speak and act on their behalf. Who supported all of the pork that was handed out in the last budget? Who supported the millions to be spent on a useless bridge in Alaska – millions that could now be spent on rebuilding the gulf coast had it not been diverted to useless projects? Who supported the tax cuts for the rich? Who will dare support more the next time around? Who supported the bankruptcy bill that will force hurricane victims to use their aid money to repay their credit card debts rather than to rebuild their lives? Who panders to the big corporations – corporations with billions of dollars in profits who have been noticably absent this past week? Who continues to support massive spending on Iraq knowing that millions of dollars are unaccounted for? Who allowed a 30% poverty rate in New Orleans to become socially acceptable? Who refused to fund the Army Corp of Engineers the funds they requested to shore up the levee system in New Orleans years ago?
Who failed?
Now is the time to answer that question and now is the time to be brutally honest – regardless of your party affiliation. Your system has failed. Members from both parties are responsible. You owe it to your country to demand accountability, but don’t let Bush’s failures this week blind you to the fact that some of those you support on the left have failed as well. Just as New Orleans and the rest of the ravaged gulf coast will slowly be reborn over the coming years, your government institutions that have crumbled must also be reconstructed and they must be rebuilt to withstand every possible hurdle. Some changes must be immediate. Others will take time.
Now is the time to speak more forcefully and honestly than you ever have before. Now is the time to rally every possible resource to ensure massive change. Now is the time to believe that you deserve life and liberty in the USA and that your elected officials and civil servants understand that you will not rest until they serve you. They are your servants. They are your face to America and the world. They have failed you. America has failed.
Weird thought…
Is now the time to really “throw the bums out”?
Seriously, what if the Dems decide every one of these tragedies could have been prevented (duh!), and retire the whole damn slate.
I don’t think the Republicans would know how to deal with that. Their game has been to compromise the Dems at every opportunity — get them to sell out — simply to provide cover. After all, how can the Dems use the Bankruptcy bill against the Repubs, when 1/3 voted for it? Or how can they oppose the Iraq war, when in 2004 they were all defending those votes?
A fresh start. We vote all our bums out, and free ourselves from the damn Republican-enablers.
Sure, we’ll lose some good people. Let them take non-electiv positions in the party — take two years off, then try to re-apply.
They’ll never go for it. But then, if they lose in the primaries they don’t get a choice.
Retire the whole damn slate, and start fresh.
And force the Repubs to choose — run DeLay and Hastert and the whole discredited corrupt bunch, or follow suit.
Just a thought…
Retire the whole damn slate, and start fresh.
I hang on to the truth that there are some honourable politcians out there – not many, but at least a few.
Hastert – at a fundraiser instead of being back for the House vote on the hurricane relief funds today. He, and all Republicans, should be ashamed.
Oh, I do too. But if we want to bring in folks who’ve given up on politics (a far wiser strategy than angling for ‘weak republicans’), we’ve got to do something bold to say — we really have changed.
If Wellstone were still alive, I’d ask him to step down too. Put him in charge of organizing the MN party, or serve as a resource to his replacement, or put him in our version of PNAC — take a step back from the deluge of details and put together a big picture — put all his experience to work.
Put some new voices out there, and make damn sure they say some new things.
Hastert and co simply don’t operate with a concept of shame. They know what they stand for, and they fight like hell for it.
It may not be what you or I think should be fought for, but you have to give them credit that they fight damn hard for it — even as it trashes the entire nation for the benefit for a very very few.
They fight, we capitulate. That alone is reason enough to start fresh.
It may not be what you or I think should be fought for, but you have to give them credit that they fight damn hard for it — even as it trashes the entire nation for the benefit for a very very few.
They sure do fight for it and I think now that millions will see exactly what “it” is. It’s not about being a government for the people. It’s about being a government for the power mongers. You and I know that and now those who would defend such a government will all have to answer for their support of that agenda as well. I think the situation on the ground – in homes, in communities, in states will now become much more personal and the political battles will be much more striking and wounding for all involved. It’s ironic that the Iraq war did not spur enough of that type of reaction – the type that so swelled during the Vietnam war, but I think this disaster will pit person against person in a way the US hasn’t witnessed for decades and the dividing lines will become even more sharp. It’s going to be extremely painful.
Another crossroads. How we as a country read the disaster will bear on all other aspects of the administration’s actions. If – huge if – the MSM continues to report the events leading to the devolution of New Orleans and environs, the people will continue to demand objective answers. Wending through that thicket will lead ultimately to the White House.
I think the direction of investigative reportage will appear on the pages of Sunday’s newspapers, radio programs, and television. Any partisan slant will serve as another wedge. Objective reporting will help to unify and reduce the divide.
At this point it looks like a toss-up.
And maybe that is okay. We need to clean house all around, we know we do. There are not a lot of clean dems, and damn few clean repubs because power tends to draw people who have only a limited agenda – more power. But, maybe with the blogs we can catch those out. But only if we have the mindset that it doesn’t matter about the party as much as it matters about the person running for office. Let’s let a few bad apples go and throw some lemons out. Clean house all around, fumigate even.
Your country deserves so much more than this current state of affairs. I think many more millions realize that now.
yes.
You have put your finger on the folly of “any democrat will do”. No, I will not be a classic enabler, “I know you love me and you’re sorry. Just don’t do it again.” Bullshit, that’s how domestic abuse victims die.
Any politician who gets elected on party affiliation alone has no reason to do right by the people he or she represent and every reason to believe the people he or she represents are fools. Because they are.
We are stronger together, the great center can hold. Serve we the people, stop screwing us to keep yourself in power and make your buddies rich. We will not be distracted by the gay rabbit in the hat or the abortion card game. We see you, and what we see is filth.
That’s what this anarchy of information exchange hums with daily: how to be represented by “twin sons of different mothers”? Or two sides of a counterfiet coin.
Some advocate change from inside the democratic party, preferring to exploit the wedge driven between the “old guard” and the new “movement”. Others, myself included, advocate simply removing ourselves from allegiance to any party, and supporting candidates that most closely reflect our views. (What a concept).
The disaster proves your point: the problems are systemic not partisan. But you’d be hard-pressed to find enough people familiar with the process of governance to grasp the distinction.
You’re right that we now have the opportunity. The question is whether we can gain a critical mass in time for the next election cycle.
I heard some interesting commentary earlier. If Guiliani was running for the Republican ticket and the election was tomorrow, as a result of the thirst for leadership in the country right now, he might win in a landslide. That could very well be the 2008 scenario that results from this Bush administration letdown.
I don’t know if Guiliani has been asked to be an advisor in this situation, considering his experience dealing with the aftermath of 9/11, but if he hasn’t, I would bet that it’s because the current administration doesn’t want to be seen as giving him any kind of push or endorsement because he’s not this administration’s preferred candidate. If he has been asked to help, I’m wrong about that of course.
Thinking about all of that made me step back and realize that Dems can’t be counting their chickens before they hatch right now. The country is in a very precarious position and the people will be looking for a hero – someone who will guarantee their ssafety and security. Who, in the Democratic party, can say they stand as that person right now?
There are none. Strange, but I don’t think the next President will claim strict allegiance to any party. If a “true believer” (progressive/social democrat) emerges with the right message, I think it possible he/she could be drafted into a national partisan-neutral movement. (We are all so tired of politik).
I’d put money on a candidate that met the requirement, but did not announce until the last minute; hit the ground running; never wavers in message; and stays clear of consultants and the MSM.
Interesting because I’ve been thinking that the door is wide open for Independent candidates now.
and should he choose to enter political life the skeletons will be lining up ready to go. From no-bid Motorola radio contracts that didn’t work in the World Trade Center to police brutality are a couple of issues I come up with off the top of my head from the left.
Criticism from the right are the affairs, the abortion rights, oh hell I’ll let them eat their own.
Giulini’s “hero” status is easy to chip away, that is why I believe he doesn’t show his face too much except for speaking engagements to friendly audiences (where he does still get protests.)
I’m no Guiliani supporter but at least he took the ball and ran with it after 9/11 – unlike everyone in this federal administration.
I just think the left needs to be cautiously optimistic now. The fall of this government is practically guaranteed, but the fall of the Republicans is not.
It’s about time someone called a spade, a spade.
let’s see if this voice can be heard, and then listened to.
that’s what it’s going to take, a very loud voice, from the people to change the mess we’re in…I’m listening…..
Bravo catnip, and glad to see you back ; )
Guy I knew in the AF used say “call a spade a f*cking shovel”. Nobody’s walking point.
yeppers, and it’s time to shovel some shit ; )
Thanks, infidelpig. “They” said that 9/11 changed everything. I didn’t believe it then because I knew it’s the nature of people to slip back comfortably into denial and stay there. I think this hurricane, however, has changed everything. It’s ripped the face off a country and stripped its pride to the point where the wounds will be felt for a very long time.
There is no one to blame for the event itself. Bush cannot announce a faux “war on hurricanes” or a war on natural disasters. He cannot distract the country by pointing at some foreign enemy to blame. All finger pointing is aimed squarely at him and his complete failure to respond. This is it. Stick a fork in him personally – he’s done and this catastrophe will mark his legacy. And so it should because it is the epitome of his character – the inability to comprehend human suffering. All he knows is the political game. The man is heartless.
point fingers says Scott McLelland. This is political – this is a demonstration of politicians and political appointees failing the people of the USA. Michael Brown of FEMA, (Bush calls him “Brownie”) has been totally inept. Wonder about his background?
More on Brown
Well – screw Brown and the horse he rode in on.
I was shocked to see the constant press interviews he did this past week. I kept thinking “this is the guy in charge? Why the hell isn’t he out there doing his damn job? Don’t they have a FEMA spokesperson?”
“Brownie”. “Turd Blossom”. Bush seems to have a fixation with shit. No wonder he picked the crappiest appointees. They should all be flushed.
Michael “victims R responsible” Brown
First, it’s nice to see your words catnip. I hope you are doing well 🙂
Second, I believe there needs to be an examination of all politicians, top-to-bottom, and them to be held accountable for everything from bankruptcy legislation to tax cuts to STILL not joining Senator Feingold’s (what I would consider to be) moderate approach regarding the Iraq war.
But I believe that is what primary elections are for. I think Lieberman sees that danger, and quickly jumped into a call for investigation into the Federal Government’s response. One investigation does not erase all of the damage he has done to the Democratic Party and to the USA since he’s been in office, however. I believe there will still be a very strong primary challenge.
As to “throwing the bums out”, I live in a state (California) with term limits, and I don’t see it working very well. It takes many, many years for individuals to become familiar with such topics as levee heights and flood probabilities, just to use a red hot example. When the person in office is term limited out after only 4 or 6 years in office, they have to rely on getting up-to-speed quickly on such issues, and that getting up-to-speed too often means listening to the “advice” of lobbyists who owe their loyalties to whom is paying their paycheck, not the citizens or the community. I believe that on paper, in theory, the “citizen politician” that worked during George Washington’s time, where smart people would give up some portion of their careers to serve our country by being legislators, similar to jury duty, just doesn’t work when we ask of our legislature to be knowledgable on such a wide variety of complex issues.
As I often write, I am a unapologetic optimist. We have witnessed an utter lack of government’s basic response during a major crisis, which is despicable and directly led to perhaps 1000’s of deaths, but I don’t think that Representative John Conyers needs to lose his job over it in a purge. We need his wisdom.
What I do see, and which many smart people have been working on, is a progressive movement that is independent of the Democratic Party. It happens to be a topic on dKos today, but this has been talked about for a long time, and revolves around the big money no longer blindly giving to the Democratic Party (for just one example). There will be many times when the paths cross, but no more blindly selling out the working class for bankruptcy bills, or PATRIOT acts and Wars on XXX which leads to unaccountable budgets and anyone disagreeing having their patriotism called out (War on Drugs, War on Poverty, War on Terrorism.) This is going to take a long time, it took a long time for the Republicans to get to where they are now. But, they have had to sell their souls out many times over to get to where they are (Fundamentalist Christians, Terry Schiavo’s, Iraq), and there is going to be a split between neo-cons and true conservative Republicans. And I think this week has illustrated to some (certainly not all) conservative Republicans that tax cuts do not come without a price, that there is a role for Federal Government even though there is certainly waste (there is waste at ExxonMobil too.) Ask a Republican Governor that is having to deal with the cutbacks from the Federal Government how well that Estate Tax cut is going.
In other words, I don’t want to lose Representative Sheila Jackson Lee or Senator Boxer (though her letter this week was very disappointing.) I want a progressive movement that transcends D or R (although I don’t think a 3rd party will be successful, but I’ve been wrong many times before.) I want a movement that motivates and drives Americans to do the right thing, to look out for each other instead of hiding behind gated communities, that sees the benefits of a fair tax system that allows us to have good schools and good roads, and the flexibility of responding to national crises. Whoever lines up behind THAT platform of ideas will be ready to take over this country, and be strong enough to overcome the right wing media (that had a dose of reality thrown at it during Katrina coverage, let’s hope it continues), the hidden racism and class warfare that equates reasonable fair taxes with welfare cheats and laziness that government is fostering.
It will not be easy, but the technology is now available that was not available even 10 years ago. The western U.S. is providing solid Democratic candidates that get it, and we have a leader (Howard Dean) that I think is the right man for the job at this time. Again, this new movement will have to communicate clearly and has a long way to go. But much as FDR and the New Deal grew out of Hoover, we have another chance to rebuild America with progressive ideology to the point where we are members of the world community, responsible to our environment, and taking care of the least among us. This is independent of the Democratic Party, or at least the one that grew out of the FDR-era that could count on union households and then the civil rights movement, but has since gotten fat and takes things for granted and moved Republican-lite on us.
We need to clearly communicate practical, fundamental ideas of the role of government, and how it should fairly be paid for. We need to show places where government should be OUT of our lives (abortion, PATRIOT act, monitoring peace groups, gay marriage) places where it should be IN our lives, such as universal healthcare (our corporations start off with a disadvantage of paying for health care as the only major industrialized country to not have this through our tax system), proper care of our elderly (Social Security needs a slight tweak, not removal as the Republicans want), and response to true national crises. These are all issues that would poll very well, let’s get politicians to do the right thing and stand by the people when they make these votes. Most times it will overlap with the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. But it’s time to decentralize out of Washington DC and their consultants. Whether the Democratic Party jumps on board, it is up to the powers that be. I think that makes the most sense, and gets us to our goals quickest. But the inside-the-beltway types like the DLC will not give up their power easily.
Excellent points. Just to clarify – I do support tireless and honest Dems like Conyers, Boxer, Waxman et al. I believe that they need to be the majority voice of the Democratic party. Those who are more concerned about appearances and lobbyists and corporate money need to go. At the same time, the system itself needs to be revamped and you’re right, that will take a very long time. I think people realize now that the status quo on so many fronts is no longer workable or acceptable.
Like you, I’ve thought about what the role of government ought to be this past week. The administration talks the talk, but all of the extraneous government activities and interests that they promote that trump the true role of government – social welfare, security, leadership etc must be curtailed so that the real business of running a nation can be done effectively. Easy to say, but extremely difficult to change.
As for the Democratic response this week, I’ve received most of my hurricane coverage via CNN and, frankly, I don’t know where the unified Democratic front has been. I sure haven’t seen it. Perhaps CNN just has not covered it, but I don’t see any Democratic leaders on my TV screen expressing anything regarding this tragedy (other than Dem members of the Black Caucus and Mary Landrieu). Where’s Harry Reid? Why isn’t Howard Dean on CNN? Why hasn’t there been a visible gathering of Dems who stand with a message of hope for the American people? Where are they? This isn’t about politics. This is about leaders who are not getting the message out. That is yet another failure. It could just be CNN’s failure since they’ve chosen to cover the facts (mainly), but it distresses me that there is no cohesive message of leadership from anyone.
This whole situation is a huge mess – mishandled by far too many public servants.
From the Boston Herald
His was a patronage appointment through a college buddy to a job for which he had no qualifications whatsoever.