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Firedoglake’s Jane Hamsher was on MSNBC/Lawrence O’Donnell’s Last Word show Wednesday night, along with Adam Green of Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Together, they pushed the President and Democratic Congressional leaders to show real leadership in the tax cut and unemployment fights and not simply pretend to lead with meaningless votes they know they’ll lose.
In particular, Jane called out President Obama and Congressional Democrats for staging doomed kabuki votes but failing to lead a tough fight on the tax cut and unemployment issues, leaving their members exposed to another embarrassing and pointless loss, while leaving the real and very desperate needs of 15 million unemployed Americans and their families unmet.
House Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Congressional leaders have signaled they will hold a vote on Thursday on whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes up to $250,000 for couples ($200,000 for individuals). Extending the cuts for incomes above that level would not be included in the measure.
But a simple up/down vote would allow Republicans and conservaDems and more to sabotage the effort via a procedural motion to direct the preferred measure to include extending the cuts to all higher incomes too. The conservaDems and Republicans could then combine to pass a permanent extension of all tax cuts, including an unconscionable gift of $700 billion to the richest 2 percent of Americans.
So the Democratic leadership strategy is to structure a vote that precludes this procedure, but it requires a two-thirds majority — and no one expects the Democrats can muster all of their troops plus dozens of Republicans to achieve that. In short, the argument goes, this is all kabuki, a show to mollify the base or use for campaign fodder in 2012, but doomed to fail.
So Jane is rightly calling them out. There are millions of real people hurting. We need to extend unemployment benefits for the two million people who are about to lose them. We need real jobs programs. We need to address real problems and not just engage in kabuki politics and meaningless votes that fail to accomplish anything.
The country desperately needs real leadership on the issues that matter, but we’re not getting any from Obama or anyone else.
99 Comments
A ray of sunshine and not a moment too soon. Thanks Jane.
“The country desperately needs real leadership on the issues that matter, but we’re not getting any from Obama or anyone else.”
Not likely to GET any leadership on those issues, either . . .
We the people are losing the class war, and badly.
Good read, great clip of Mz. Hamsher at the top of her game. Rcc’d, always . . .
I gotta go find Larry O’Ds vid files and watch this whole episode with Mz. Hamsher . . . it looks like a good one, bless her.
speaking truth to power
tweeted and recommended
We’ve updated the clip to include the longer version with O’Donnell’s leadin and Adam Green’s comments.
Don’t know if this is related, but I read it on TPM today:
There was a time when we were a country led by giants. That time is long in the past, I’m afraid.
Mahalo Nui Loa, Jane…! Somebody is pleading our plight…! *g*
Oh give me a break this is very wrong, wrong wrong.
If the weak Democrats don’t fight this one, the tax cuts for the rich, then what the heck do they believe in? This goes to core values. This is it. I will give up if they give in on this. I have had it.
There is huge rising inequality. The poverty rates are rising. We have huge deficits. The majority of voters oppose keeping tax cuts for the rich. So what the heck? I don’t understand. Why not fight this fight?
These people leading America are cruel beyond measure.
Jane was awesome standing her ground and blowing through Lawrence O’Donnell’s false framing of basic human needs: 1) as “unusual” and 2) a left-versus-right “issue.” Huh? That’s just disingenuous, let’s-see-if-I-can-get-you-to-change-the-subject nonsense. She did a great job of affirming common cause where appropriate. The contrast is stark regarding what Americans are getting just on a basic human level versus what is delivered and, even what is vengefully withheld. And, yes, Jane *is* pointing out the sheer cruelty of this Administration that should be on display front and center.
So, once more I say “Thank You, Jane!” for telling it like it is and continuing to speak soul truth to arrogant and corrupted power.
“Which Way Is Up?” by Barry White (RIP, link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXvDleWJ5U )
Thanks for the extended clip. How much more clear and articulate can one person be in cutting through the crap going on with our, “leaders,” in congress and the white house? Our nation is its people, each and every one of us.
Jane, just wonderful, brought tears to my eyes. Why don’t we have any elected leaders with your principles and passion? Woe be to the American people.
Thanks Jane!
Spot on as always. Especially w/regard to the absence of leadership at the top.
Jane,
Absolutely fantastic statement on leadership and the plight of real people who need that leadership to help them. YOU are a true leader. Someone needs to turn that speach into a TV commercial.
The majority of voters oppose keeping tax cuts for the rich. So what the heck? I don’t understand.
Majority?
Of course the majority feel that way. The rich comprise only about 2% of the population. Easy to get majorities on the other side.
Great clip with Adam Green, Jane! I’d really like to shake some sense into our fearless leader, but it’s likely I’ll never get close enough to do so.
speech
Thanks Jane. The pols are cynically calculating that the 78% of the workforce who are employed will stick with them for fear of what the pols are doing to the 22% of the workforce who are unemployed (which is treating them like sh*t). But, we don’t have to cooperate with evil. Thanks for calling them out and ‘telling them off’.
Obama doesn’t believe in “leadership” only in bipartisanship. Epic fail!
The die was cast IMHO long ago when Obama signaled he wouldn’t veto a bill including an extension of tax cuts for the rich. NO LEADERSHIP.
Our leader is fearless because he never really takes a stand or makes a decision. You have no fear if you can’t be held responsible and I don’t think he feels any responsibility. He is convinced that we will vote for him again because the alternative will be so unpalatable. No one is rooting for Sarah Palin harder than BHO.
Word is, the deal has been cut. Extend ALL tax cuts for 2-3 years. No word what we get like ue extension.
Bennett is right. This is definately rigged.
I’m so glad you said what you did, Jane. Enough clapping along to their little puppet show.
Oh and Jane? You rock!
Maintain the Status Quo. Help the rich, especially Petey Peterson and his Crime Family. We got fooled again. Who could have anticipated? But Politics abhors a vacuum.
If the D’s abandon populism then Alex Jones and his Tea Party will gladly steal that issue. President Obama will not object. Alex Jones is a phony who will also play his role in this Populist Theater. Just as phony as the President.
Call out whomever you’d like but now that Obama (the plantation overseer) has satisfied his corporate masters (yessa massa) he is on track to be reelected by them in 2012. By engineering the defeat of Nancy Pelosi and returning the House to Republican hands, Obama has made his bones. He is now trusted by the oligarchy (slave owners) to run their country for another 6 years. The Left has again been neutered and is now even more impotent than it was made under Bill Clinton’s whip hand. Peace
Jane your presentation was awesome.
However you and time may well prove me wrong but this is one time I am skeptical of your interpretation of the tactics and the usefulness of attacking Speaker Pelosi.
There is in my view a danger in getting split off from the few friends our philosophy has in Congress if we can’t forgive some of their support of Obama, especially early on. The GOPers are already jumping on the bandwagon triangulating.
But we will see.
We have leadership, it is just that it is not all it was cracked up to be during the election.
For the love of god, indeed.
The country desperately needs real leadership …
Not gonna happen. The democrats are the Washington Generals of politics.
Good for Jane.
On the substance of the tax cut issue, I thought all along that the deal to extend the tax cuts for the wealthy & screw the rest has been in place forever. After all, it’s the wealthy, as well as the corps, who ‘fund campaigns’ (aka buying pols). In Paul Street’s first book on O, he goes into detail on how O was vetted by the wealthy before he became a candidate. It’s not a leap of thought to figure out how that would play out.
In general, I admire and respect Pelosi. But this vote is worse than meaningless. The Ds have been completely outflanked on this.
IMHO, it’s due to the cowardice of Obama early on. For me, his failure to draw a line in the sand early on doomed the entire process. Pelosi’s defense might be that Jane is right — if some sort of deal could be worked out — but her judgment may have been that that was impossible.
Or, maybe not. Maybe she thinks a symbolic vote is worth it. I’m with Jane on that. I don’t think it is.
That was beautiful! Brava!
Or, put differently, supply-side economics is the gift that keeps on giving to the rich.
Thank you Jane Hamsher for putting it out there how Pelosi is playing politics instead of trying to solve problems. She cldve have had a simple majority vote on extending unemployment benefits and been successful instead she chooses suspension motion which requires 2/3 approval has no chance of passing. Why bcz she wld rather play gotcha with the republicans than actually pass legislation that wld help people who desperately need it. Her leadership choices are examples of why the democrats lost the house, she played politics instead of making changes. It is unfortunate that her inept leadership was rewarded with another leadership slot.
What Pelosi does or doesn’t do means nothing. This game will be finished in the Senate. Pelosi got over 400 bills passed through the House that never saw the light of day in the Senate. Nancy Pelosi is one of the very few actual Leftists we have in Congress. Peace
I caught the tail end of a Public Radio program featuring former congressman Tim Penny yesterday, he was carrying water for the Cat-Food Comission.
He pointed to the fact that the upper 15% of taxpayers pay 70% of all income taxes.
What this indicates to me is that that upper 2% of taxpayers, who are recieving the $700 billion in benefits, are hiding behind the next lower 13% of taxpayers in order to fool the sheeple.
Every time I hear Tim Penny on the radio, I grab my wallet.
Our Government has borrowed/stolen $1.7 trillion from SS so far, and this whole focus on defecit reduction mythology is actually meant to mask the fact that they have no intention of repaying that debt.
That debt went mostly to financing tax cuts for republicans rich base.
I agree. Obama NEVER really opposed an extension of tax cuts for the rich. Just like he NEVER intended to sign a HCR bill with a PO. In both cases, we got the bullshit rhetoric up. And in both case, we will have gotten the knife in the back.
Jane,
You are brilliant and a treasure. If only the pols would have your sense or the sense to listen to what you are saying.
Thank you for all your hard work. You are the real deal!
I saw Jane on Lawrence’s show last night. Made me very proud to be a progressive and to have someone with Jane’s abilities to sort through the nonsense and get DIRECTLY to the TRUTH.
Thank you, Jane.
“but doomed to fail.”
*Meant* to fail. Because, you see, there is the competing base of wealthy donors that has to be mollified as well – except they can rest in the knowledge that as long as the Democrats deliver failure, the Republicans will not fail to deliver.
I don’t usually watch The Last Word, but last night it was left on at TRMS in the background. Then I heard Jane and Adam. These are two people who get my attention. I wasn’t surprised by Jane’s excellent articulation of the issues and the problems created by political ineffectiveness. But I was very surprised by her passion near the end. Her anger/indignation came across perfectly.
Thank you, Jane!
Indeed they are the most cruel and unfeeling people in America. Another thing I do believe Obama needs to do — when he makes his next trek out in “real America” for one of his neighborhood backyard meetings – he MUST get outside the Beltway and stay out of places like Catepillar. Hey, POTUS, come here, Middle Tennessee, get 20 miles out of Music City, USA and you will SEE what is going on in REAL AMERICA – no matter that the moronic imbeciles here in rural Tennessee voted more Rethugs into office — you have not come here at all – not during the campaign and certainly not since taking office. Alexander, Corker and Blackburn will NOT EAT YOU. They should not even be included in the mix — come see what the GREAT FLOOD of May 2010 did to the few remaining jobs that paid well and had benefits did to this area – DEVESTATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, NO INSURANCE, POVERTY and 48% high school dropout rate, high teen pregancy rate, meth and drug abuse — no HOPE.
Yes, leadership is lacking, but not just at the Executive Branch.
It’s lacking among union leaders, activist organizations, bloggers, and among us too.
Progressives should be using their collective powers to force change on corporate America. For instance, in the documentary Food Inc., which I highly recommend, the growing demand for milk produced without growth hormones forced Wal-Mart to carry it, helping small farmers throughout the country.
Activists who want to help support small farmers can organize a movement to buy farm products grown by small farmers. That’s just one example. But activist groups aren’t doing things like that, and they’re not getting much of a push from progressive blogs.
Refusing to buy food at McDonald’s or Burger King because their production processes are destroying the environment can have a big impact. So can something like committing to use mass transit for a month — or ride-sharing — as a way to do something about global warming.
If we want change, then WE as a group, YOU and ME, need to change our habits. Otherwise, we’re just as guilty, just as weak, as all the Democrats in Washington, including Obama.
So, how should we act to force change? What’s our next step? Leadership starts with us.
WOW! That is the strongest language I’ve heard from any Professional Left Progressive. “no leadership from Obama” Jane Hamsher. Where have U been? In AUG 2009, I wrote “So Much Promise, No Leadership”
http://binquick.blogspot.com/2009/08/so-smart-yet-so-stupid.html
I hope the Professional Left catches-up soon or there may not be a Democratic Party left.
Agree completely. Alas.
As always, a heartfelt thanks, Jane, for eloquently and passionately telling the TRUTH. Excellent commentary; could only wish that there were dozens & dozens more out there like you speaking truth to power and attempting to *educate* the populace about what’s really going on. Atta girl! Keep it up.
As always, nicely done, Jane.
I saw it last night — did my heart good.
Thank you for your consistently clear and com/passionate voice!
With this kind of “leadership” from particularly Obama, the Dems are doomed. The only thing the Repubs care about is their precious tax cuts for the wealthy–which Obama could take right off the table and make a moot point if he wasn’t the surrender monkey he is.
If you can’t win (and I think even unemployment benefits may be doomed, sad to say), the best strategy is to hurt the other side. No extension of any of the tax cuts is the best policy for Dems now. That is also the strategy that hurts the Repubs and their big-money donors the most. Send ‘em a message. You have to be willing to play Mutual Assured Destruction.
stewartm
Amen…thank you!
God! Bennet said THAT! And he’s a blue dog too.
I guess even some of them don’t want to be in power in a third world country
I just watched the clip. Unfortunately, Jane will be studiously ignored in the places that should be paying attention. As far as the repugs and bluedogs are concerned, those Americans who need help in this economy are not going to get it because those needing help are no more than collateral damage in the war for control of the reins of power in the nation. Actually, obama was sorry that he didn’t deliver the senate to the repugs. So far he has only accomplished half of his job. Extending the tax cuts for two years is just a ploy to get to the point that they can be fixed permanently in place.
We have “leadership” in government. It is just that they are leaders for the upper, upper class, and very willing to sacrifice all below that level.
I suspect you’re right… about BHO rooting for Palin to be his opponent in 2012. In that case, why bother to vote at all?
I’d love to play poker with Obama. He always throws away his highest card before the game commences.
Oh, and I’m sure everyone has heard by now that the unemployment benefits are not going to be extended.
The republicans are going to hold everything hostage to the tax cuts for the rich, even START.
Jane,
Your passion for the “every” man and for policies that actually benefit this country is inspiring. You damn near had me in tears. Thank you. If only our elected officials cared as much as you.
The republicans are going to hold everything hostage to the tax cuts for the rich, even START.
Moreover, even if deals are cut, they’ll be sure to sabotage or renege on them, because they’re scorpions, and that’s just what scorpions do.
It sure would be nice if we had a Democratic President in the White House to stop this mess.
stewartm
I was inspired to post here because I saw Jane on Firedog Lake. I’ve blogged about this on KOS and elsewhere, posted about it on Facebook and tweeted this, emailed this to Democratic Leadership and progressive commentators.
Jane, passing the Bush era tax cuts repeal in the Senate is indeed possible. The strategy is simple, yet party leadership and thought leaders like Jane and Adam Green appear to be ignoring this. Below is what I’ve been been blogging and emailing.
It’s a waste of time to compromise with Republicans. The Lame Duck Congress must prove it’s not lame. The House must pass the repeal of the Bush Tax Cuts for the top two percent and the Senate should use reconciliation to avoid a filibuster. The Bush Tax Cuts were originally passed via reconciliation.
The savings from the cuts’ repeal could then be used as pay-go for extending unemployment benefits. I don’t know if the unemployment benefit extension is deem and pass eligible, but linking them to the repeal may mean reconciliation is a legal tactic.
I hear little talk in the liberal media and blogosphere and zero from the Obama administration and elected officials, about using reconciliation to permit the upper income cuts’ expiration.
The cuts will be extended if deem and pass isn’t employed. The Republicans will definitely filibuster any legislation that doesn’t extend the cuts, if not make them permanent and the Democrats will cave in the game of chicken over the extensions of the middle class tax cuts. The President’s “I didn’t reach across the aisle enough” comment foreshadows Democratic wimpdom on the cuts.
The extension vote may happen soon, so we must immediately contact each Democratic Senator and insist they support reconciliation to repeal the cuts.
Thanks Jane! I loved the show of emotion when you were talking about people not being able to feed their kids. We need more of that. We need to put a face on this thing.
Actually, obama was sorry that he didn’t deliver the senate to the repugs.
Since I read the NYTimes article yesterday which said Obama privately described himself as a “Blue Dog”, that’s what I’m thinking too. A Republican Congress gives him cover, and that’s what he’s been aiming for all along much easier to accomplish.
As he portrayed himself in his 2008 campaign as being to the left of Hillary on most issues, only govern to the right of her, I now can’t help but think of Obama: “You dishonest, lying, scheming, SOB”.
stewartm
I would vote for Palin.
What great imagery!
LOL yeah. Except her conviction seems to be “off the table” just like prosecution of the past administration’s crimes due to her direct involvement.
Such reliability.
Uh, there is no “repeal” of tax cuts pending. The Bush tax cuts expire automatically on 31 Dec unless Congress votes to extend them, which is what this battle is all about: (1) extend all the cuts, (2) extend only the cuts for the working and middle class or (3) allow all the tax cuts expire.
Call the Waaaaambulance! We bloggin’ activists are so saaaad!
I would suggest that you do not tell people what they should do after deprecating them.
Southern Dragon
Passing the extension or permanence of the cuts for 98 percent of the population while allowing the top two percent cuts to expire is a de facto repeal.
The Senate can use reconciliation to the cuts for the bottom 98 percent. It blows my mind that no Democratic elected official or progressive thought leader has brought this up.
Thank you Jane!! Your voice is appreciated and desperately needed. We need lots more strong, progressive voices to speak.
I don’t think he’s a coward.
Jive talk got him here and jive talk will get him otta here in two or six years.
He has a steel spine to pretend he was going to carry through on his campaign promises, when he was lying about them from the get go.
He’s feathered his nest for him an his family forever.
Bill and Hill spent $ 3 million on the wedding and obama has two daughters.
I meant to say I saw Jane on MSNBC
Jane was wonderful. I wish Obama had her passion.
My new name for President Obama. The Ennui President.
It is very nice to hear someone who is capable of feeling and clearly expressing sympathy for others.
sadly unusual in politics/political commentary.
I think Jane is great. Now if we could only get her into the White House.
Why waste political capital on someone who is not only not going to be a leader, but is going to stab you in the back? I wasted too many hours working for Obama.
“Won’t get fooled again”? Wrong!
All of the Congress critters are in the top income brackets: counting expenses and all, they all earn more than $250K fersure. Why would they vote to increase their own taxes?
Obama thinks the Repugs will now go along and extend unemployment, increase the debt ceiling, and pass assent to the Start Treaty. Surely they will hose him — that letter from the Repugs confirms it.
Although, gotta gonder how it is that the new FDA rules passed with some repugs voting for?
Good job Jane. Unfortunately we’re not going to get any leadership from Obama. Never going to happen.
Posted in another thread, but it belongs here…
“And if Jane reads this, thank you for your words on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show last night. You were obviously emotional, everything you said was very heartfelt, and it takes a lot of courage to go on National TV and pour your heart out like that. From myself, my wife, and my children, Thank you for being an advocate in these dark times. You, and this site you’ve built, are a shining light.”
You are correcto….it’s time for the progressive orgs to disengage from the Prez….He is going to ruin the Dem party far more than BClinton did.
He has essentially made the Dem party of present equivalent to the GOP of the 80′s.
It was indeed a good moment – Jane’s honesty and analysis came through, as well as her empathy for the Unemployed and other issues of the left.
Well Done, Jane.
:-)
An extension without the cut for the rich (there is no repeal as the Bush cuts expire) is indeed possible via reconciliation, but then the cuts are not permanent and must sunset in 10 years – and the GOP can in the future change them via reconciliation if they regain control of both houses or if enough Dems cave to give them 51 votes (the latter is a real possibility – but it exists even if the cuts are made permanent – so perhaps reconciliation is the way to go).
All I can say, after just now watching, is a big thank you to Jane. (And sticking my tongue out at O’Donnell.)
Jane made me cry. Perhaps she could lend the exec branch, DOJ or mr. McCranky pants some conviction and humanity if they promised not to wack it up into financial instruments to be dumped on the Euros and the unions.
Larry’s a tool.
Wow, Jane was even better than usual. After the first week or so of L O’D's show, I quit watching it, so missed teh broadcast.
Jane’s passion at the end is quite moving, and she remains so articulate.
O’D sure tried to frame Jane and Adam as opponents, but I didn’t hear much disagreement.
One thing I’ll say for O’D, he didn’t cut either guest off in the midst of their main points.
I worry a little though – should maybe not say out loud – but Jane looks a little peaked. I hope she remains well, and just needs a good night’s sleep.
Haven’t heard how her remaining dogs are doing, lately; hope they are well, too.
We need you, Jane Hamsher! Take care of yourself!
The Peasants want leadership! The proles want a king!
Jeebus. You are the sovereign. Enough of the Hope for Messiah. Haven’t had enough “Change” yet?
Lead already.
I love you, Jane. Not only do I agree with you politically, but I love your passion and love to see your cute little face on the TV. Thanks for your service to the common people.
You got that right. I’m just sorry someone else isn’t taking up the reins to primary this corporate puppet in 2012. We need a leader, not a capitulator. Obama has caved so many times, he’s become a fulltime spelunker.
Thank you, Jane. The call to lead has never been put forth with more emotion and clarity.
Corporate sodomy……….
…..extracting liberty from you and me to ensure corporate profitability at the expense of life! Real heroes????????
Perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Here’s one thing you can do: Buy milk that isn’t loaded with growth hormones. Small farmers everywhere will thank you.
Buy chicken that’s not raised in a factory farm and isn’t an E coli incubator.
Don’t eat at McDonald’s, and tell the company it’s because they’re destroying the environment and contributing to global warming.
Take a train or a bus instead of driving, or share rides, for a week straight.
Buy products that are made exclusively by union workers (for instance, ship products UPS (union) instead of FedEx (nonunion) this Xmas season).
I can go on. But you get the idea. If we all did these things, we can change the world.
Your choice.
Feingold and Grayson in 2012!!!
Jane –
You need to set up a system of advance email notifications when you’re going to be on shows like THE LAST WORD. I won’t watch LoDo unless I know somebody like you is going to be on.
My thoughts also.
Just saw the video and I was so impressed with Jane and her passion.
Jane,
Could you explain, please, why you said the middle-class-only version of the tax bill was forcing House Democrats to “walk the plank”?
I ask because I often wonder what exactly makes Democrats so fearful of voting for a progressive measure. Is it the attacks of the right-wing media they dread? You know, is it Fox News?
Maybe their own shadow?
stewartm, boo!!
Jane, thank you.
I appreciate your honesty, empathy, and passion.
Flawless and full of grace.
I, too, believe that unemployment benefits should be extended at this time. The economy is in the crapper, and the usual recourse for those without unemployment checks (i.e. going out and getting a job) is not an option.
My question, though, reading the last twenty or so posts (and many more besides) that lucidly point to the many failings of the federal government (it is corrupt, it is run by people who put their own and their benefactors’ interests above all else–including, of course, the people and the country as a whole), why do you all want that same inept, inefficient, corrupt, and out of control government to create MORE useless programs that it will treat with the same amount of self-interest and greed? I simply don’t get or can’t follow the intellectual gymnastics it takes to get from the government is a failure to let the government do more (failing, presumably?).
Our government as a “republic” is supposed to represent “we the people”. There are numerous government agencies which used to work for “our” benefit in the past…for example, FDA. Unfortunately, thanks to the ongoing attacks against government in general for the past 3 decades and former President Reagan’s famous statements about government being the problem, that it has evolved into a negative. There are now people in charge of agencies that should NEVER have been there (example, placing Monsanto executives in FDA). When you put the corrupt in positions of authority, it takes very little to eventually destroy what is good about a system. I don’t want to destroy government, I want to make it better and actually represent citizens first.
Except the Washington Generals are much more entertaining.
Hello to all, and to Jane – Bravissimo! A most heartfelt thank-you, Jane, for pointing out what is right there to be seen by all, but is – alas – apparently invisible to most.
Jane, I must confess that I heard of and saw you for the first time Wednesday evening during this exchange on O’Donnell’s show; following which I immediately googled your name to find out what I could. As this is my first post, I’ll try to be succinct. I was deeply moved by your passion, particularly near the end when you talked about the unemployed and those about to be foreclosed on, and so close to Christmas. I was also very impressed and persuaded by your argument against a House vote. Normally, I tend toward political pragmatism, accepting that something needn’t be all that we really wish for to be worth fighting for. So, I was very skeptical when O’Donnell did the set-up; I was fully prepared to dismiss your point of view. Your argument for leadership that truly leads won me over completely, however, as did your point that a House vote is all for show. Unfortunately, we saw Thursday just how right you were. I could not be more bitterly disappointed in our president after his response following the House vote.
Having had time since Wednesday night to become familiar with only a bit of your work, I will sign off by saying that because of your sensitivity, clear thinking and courage on many fronts, you have my deepest respect and admiration. Thank you, Jane.
Thanks for the reply. But I still don’t understand what you (specifically “you”) think you (a general “you”) can do to make the massive, lumbering government work better. Agencies are headed by people who were owed favors (both sides of the aisle does this for fun and profit), there are so many insane requirements to get anything done (have you ever tried to get a simple answer from the DMV or even the Post Office?–NOT that I think we should abolish the DMV or Post Office. Well, okay, maybe the Post Office, heh)? Wouldn’t it be easier to make local changes? At the state level, even? Central planning is not working for our education system (as evidenced by ever-decreasing global academic standing). I don’t know, I don’t see the benefit in giving so much of our money to a federal government that we know will waste it, keep it, bribe people and nations with it, and all while we sit back hoping that we get to keep enough of our paycheck to pay our bills, hoping that one day maybe, they’ll get their act together.
By the way, just as a bit of an aside, you don’t really want the federal government to “represent citizens first,” because if you did, you’d be more supportive of the republicans . . . who, as you may recall, won the House by a huge margin (unseen in 70 years). Seems to me that the people, the citizens (I guess you call them, makes me think of Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen”–also the result of a sprawling federal government with endless control over everyone’s lives. People aren’t people anymore, are they? Anyway, as I was saying, seem to me that the people) chose the representation they wanted (both in 2008 and in 2010), no? So far, I’m not complaining about what the reps are doing (with some exceptions, many of whom will be gone in 2012 and 2014 anyway). We have massive unemployment, are printing and borrowing money like there’s no tomorrow, and people think it’s a good idea to keep spending, keep digging a bigger hole, keep erecting more massive government programs that don’t do a damn thing? Craziness. (Not to be rude to you, personally, I just think it’s general craziness because I happen to agree with Reagan that government is the problem.)
We aren’t hurting, we are dying. This so-called American Dream is a fable, a fairy tale, a small and very funny joke to those who are eating this country alive for their own enrichment. For those of us who have been laid off and have no unemployment, there is no chance we will not be living under a bridge in a box and hope to whatever deity there is that we will live until the next day. Although? Maybe just dying would be better and a whole lot less painful than what is going on now.
Our kids can’t go to Yale or Harvard nor any Ivy League school. It isn’t that they aren’t smart enough, it’s that they don’t have the right connections nor enough funds.
We are living in a plutarchy. The rich not only are ruling, they rule from behind the scenes… While folks are engaged watching the Kardasians or some other obscenity, those who we have allowed to rule are making sure that the majority of us will serve, only because there is no other choice.
The founding fathers would be appalled. I am appalled that I had to choose between worse or worser in the presidential election. We have been sold out. Thrown to the wind and left to expire.
Anyone can refute this if you will. Come out here into the Midwest and figure out how you will pay your bills. No jobs, no hope of jobs and it isn’t lack of education or skill, it’s just that there are no jobs, no work and no hope at all anymore.