Democracy

I sincerely hope that’s not what’s going on, but hope is a thin thread on which to hang the survival of our representative republican form of government. Uh, to those brain-lesioned ‘progressives’ out there… we do not, as the Lame Stream Press is so fond of stating, live in a democracy. True democracies are nut houses… a little like the current administration. But then, the DeMarxist party has been a squirrel cage for a long time.

It took a national malaise, coupled by an almost historical disregard of facts by adults in this nation who should have known better, to bring us to this pass in which our nation at present finds itself.

With regard to the issue of the debt ceiling. I’m of the firm belief that this is where we have to make our stand. Either this leadership, this Republican Congress, recognizes that we simply cannot do it, we can’t spend more!, or else…

Boehner’s bold statement saying that we won’t allow one dollar in spending without a dollar in spending cuts… What!? Uh, John. Don’t you think that’s a little ‘harsh’? After all, we’re only in the hole by 14 or 15 trillion dollars. Good gravy! What the hell does it take to get through to these knotheads?

And now… wait until you hear this… Mitch McConnell, arch RINO, is calling for la grande accorde. “Why, it’s time for both sides to come together in the ‘great deal’.” Why do I sense McCain in this too… Or maybe he’s too busy pushing illegal alien amnesty.

I don’t know about you, but somehow I don’t see such a liaison as a happy ending for us… the American patriot, citizen and taxpayer. I, for one, am sick to death of their stupid games. One can only assume they haven’t gotten the message.

We get a wide variety of comments here, some from quite surprising sources. I’m not in the poll or prediction business, but we do get a pretty good feel for the mood of the country on issues. I’m here to tell you that nothing has changed. The anger is still boiling just below the surface… and the undeniable truth is in front of each and every citizen’s nose every time they have to buy gas or go to the grocery store. Every time I see a one dollar and sixty cent item selling for close to four dollars, I think of who and what is responsible… and I’m not alone.

This 2012 election is ours to lose. What really scares me is that the Republicans are plenty stupid enough to lose it for us.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2011

Not quite, but perhaps.....

Google recently commended one of its employees for his role in the recent Egyptian movement. 

"Mr. Ghonim, Google's head of marketing in the Middle East, tapped Facebook to organize protests in Cairo, an effort that landed him in secret detention for more than a week.
"

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704409004576146420160584418.html#ixzz1E7q2yH

But the real story here is the role that not only Google, but other web engines and social media networks will, and have been playing in democracy movements, and the development of democratic demonstrations worldwide.

The Tehran uprising just two years ago employed Twitter as a vehicle for its movement, and again Facebook was used to organize protests.....

For those who find Facebook and other social networks as silly means for self-indulgence, it'll be interesting to see how great their role can really reach.

Micah Sifry writes an important essay about hope, change and disillusionment: "The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality".

[T]he image of Barack Obama as the candidate of "change", community organizer, and "hope-monger" (his word), was sold intensively during the campaign. Even after the fact, we were told that his victory represented the empowerment of a bottom-up movement, powered by millions of small donors, grassroots volunteers, local field organizers and the internet. [...] The truth is that Obama was never nearly as free of dependence on big money donors as the reporting suggested, nor was his movement as bottom-up or people-centric as his marketing implied. [...] 

The problem for Obama and the Democrats today, as they head into 2010, is that much of their activist base appears to have swallowed too much of the wrong half of the myth: they thought that Obama would be more of a change-agent, and never really embraced their own role.

I wrote about this in 2008: "The election of Obama did not empower people. It empowered politicians. ... Hope and Change got people on board the Democratic bus. Political convenience will throw them under it."

Sifry has recognized a deep flaw in the Democratic/Progressive message: Progressives preach "empowerment", yet they constantly move power to Washington, DC and away from local and state government.  As a matter of pure statistics, individual voters have more power at the local level than the State level, and more power at the State level than the Federal level.  Decentralization + voter mobility is even more empowering.

And yet, power continues to consolidate in Washington, DC.

Ezra Klein has been arguing that "a political system too dysfunctional to avert crisis is also too dysfunctional to respond to it."  David Roberts has said that critically important issues rest "in the myopic, sociopathically indifferent hands of Ben Nelson, who represents one-half of one percent of U.S. citizens".  And you know what?  They're right.  While we may disagree on the policies that ought to be enacted - and on whether the problem is the filibuster or the public choice theory problems - it is true that there are many structural, political flaws in our collective decision-making process that make it difficult, perhaps impossible, to address difficult problems effectively.

Progressives continue empowering Washington, DC, but what they are ultimately empowering is a Single Point of Failure.

This discrepancy between the Democratic message and reality represents an opportunity for Republicans to both discredit the Democratic message and pursue a better, more reality-based agenda.  If Republicans want to pick up these voters alienated by the Obama Myth and tap into America's deep, populist interest in limited government and individual freedom, they should take advantage of this opportunity to legitimately "empower the people". 

Out of the Box idea.Since 1967, Israel has been grossly incompetent at "Occupation".  Compare theirs with the US / Bush occupation and democratization of Iraq. Israelis, whose side I mostly support, have nevertheless been racistly uncaring about helping the Palestinians enjoy Human Rights and other Civilization benefits. Now, Israel should slice off about 10% of Gaza, near the border, and re-occupy it. Put up cement car stops and fence in a new border, and send the Palestinians into re-education work and food camps, where they are taught how to be productive capitalist workers from the carrot - no carrot approach. Do work and get paid; or don't and don't. But no free food. Enforce free speech and free religion and thorough house searches of every house in the 10% re-occupied. Promise to return that part to a Palestinian state that agrees to borders with Israel in a Peace Agreement. Claim that a Peace Agreement, not a ceasefire, is the goal. Israel should be drafting Israeli Arabs for a big part of occupation force. They should also be setting up soccer and other sports for the boys, especially, along with English language schools for both boys and girls....

Is this TheNextRight a good place for Out Of the Box speculative ideas?  Or should I use another blog?