Booman posted something today…One of These Parties is Not Like the Other. (<http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2018/12/4/93232/6907>)
In it he quoted from a “letter”…actually a political document of intent…from the 46 new Dem House members. (<http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/letter-from-the-class-of-2019/3335>)
Following are the inherent problems that I see in this letter.
He quoted:
While we have a duty to exercise oversight over the Executive Branch, particularly when the Administration crosses legal lines or contravenes American values, we must prioritize action on topics such as the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, our crumbling infrastructure, immigration, gun safety, the environment, and criminal justice reform,” the freshmen wrote. “While we may not always agree on how to approach every issue, we are united in the belief that we have a mandate to debate, draft, and work across the aisle to pass legislation.
Read on.
Problem #1-“While we have a duty to exercise oversight over the Executive Branch, particularly when the Administration…contravenes American values…”
Definition, please.
Which “American values?” There are so many, and many of them are directly contradictory.
I’m serious here. To paraphrase Mark Twain, everybody talks about “American values,” but nobody satisfactorily defines them. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution are usually the two documents referenced in this claim, particularly the second sentence of The Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I mean…c’mon!!!
This missive was written by a group of middle-aged white males of European descent…mostly English, almost all Protestant…who were upper middle class to wealthy property holders, many of them owners of slaves!!! This is a group that went on to commit near-genocide on the original settlers of this continent, held women in a state of non-voting servitude for well over 100 years, had almost no use whatsoever for people of other faiths, and despised non-heterosexual individuals.
I repeat:
“Which ‘American values?’ “
The official ones or the ones in true practice? “Values” which have for the duration of this country’s existence varied extraordinarily from region to region.
Oh.
Wait a minute!!!
I can hear the answer now.
The values of the majority, of course.
Which fucking “majority?”
We have a voting system and media that have been so overrun with corporate money that there is now no way to even approximate what “the majority” of U.S. citizens really believes.
I can hear the answer to that one, too.
Don’t be absurd. We’re just playing politics. We mean the values of “our” majority.
And what if that “majority” is not truly a majority?
What then?
Another answer:
Don’t be absurd twice. The right has been playing this game for decades. So have we. We came up short recently and lost to a dangerous mountebank, but now? Now we’re going to play the same game. We’re just playing politics. That’s the name of the game!!!
Duh!!!
Great work, newbies.
More mealy-mouthed bullshit.
Why do I say this?
On to my second point:
Problem #2-In this entire communication, there is not one word referencing:
A-The Permanent War system that is quite literally sucking the life out of this country and its economy.
B-The corporate forces that have bought and sold almost the entire federal government, most of the state governments and most of the mass media…a mass media that is now entrusted only with manufacturing consent (one way or another) for the portion of the electorate that has not been so turned off by the whole process that they continue to vote.
Oh.
Yeah.
This little gem:
…many of the undersigned have already called for a comprehensive anti-corruption and campaign finance reform bill to be the first item addressed by the 116th Congress. While we may not always agree on how to approach every issue, we are united in the belief that we have a mandate to debate, draft, and work across the aisle to pass legislation.
Yeah. Riiiight!!!
As if a Republican-controlled Senate in which almost all of the members…no matter to which party they nominally belong…are totally financed by corporate monies.
Give me a Barak!!! Err, ahhh…I meant of course “Give me a break!!!
Once again…the inevitable answer:
Don’t be an idiot. We are being pragmatic. Ya gotta go along to get along.
Yes.
Indeed.
Just like the current leaders of the Democratic Party have been “going along to get along” since the Clinton I administration.
And where has that gotten us?
A-Trump.
B-A besotted Republican Senate that will trample any truly progressive legislation that comes its way.
C-And…for good measure…a right wing Supreme Court.
The ABCs of U.S.politics as they stand today.
Great work, new 46!!!
You gonna go along to get along too, right?
Dear readers…do you know the identity of almost only member of this new 46 who is speaking out boldly on these matters and is as a result…positively or negatively…being extensively covered by the mainstream media?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
She at very least understands the one most important concept in modern American politics…the same concept that Trump understands.
Say what you want to say about me, but spell my name right!!! Social media will do the rest.
She takes a good picture, too.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez For Preznit!!!
Or at least Vice-Preznit.
My ticket right now? If anybody cares, of course…a ticket that would scare the holy shit out of both sides of the PermaGov duopoly?
O’Roarke/Ocasio-Lopez!!!
I think think that this ticket would win in a landslide against any available Republican, From Trump on down. Or up. Whatever.
I really do.
Think on it.
Forget about “identity politics”…this ticket would do very well with minorities of all sorts (Racial, sexual, religious…whatever.), women and the young. But think about the 30+% who have not voted recently!!! Reach 1/2 of those people and what do you have?
Authenticity squared equals…
Landslide!!!
Let us pray.
Or continue to be preyed upon.
Later…
AG
