If there is anything I can say about myself, it is that I am an equal opportunity bitcher. That is, I believe that bitching shouldn't be undertaken blinded to any side of any given argument. In order for bitching to truly exercise those infuriated demons, one must be willing to bitch about the idiocy of either side when the occasion arises. Without that, you've only half assed it and the sense of peace isn't as complete as it would otherwise be.
The goal of a good bitch session (or rant) should be letting it fly so that you can take a deep breath at the end and say "ah, I feel better" and then get back to work. If you can't look for and work towards solutions once the demons have been exercised, the rant was pointless. And rants should never be pointless.
That rings especially true in politics where partisan and party line is the age old mantra. I'm a Democrat. I love politics. I don't think anyone has a right to bitch about any of it unless they're doing something about it. So, I try to do my civic duty and take part in the entire political ballgame.
I have to admit though, that I detest the crap flinging that has everyone suiting up with windshield wiper installed cosmonaut suits a year before elections even roll around. It sends me into a fury. I hop around like a little dwarf, screeching and squealing and shin kicking. In the word vomit that I spew during those episodes, you're likely to hear all sorts of naughty things fly out of my mouth.
What can I say? I'm a foul mouthed pirate at heart... that will probably come back to haunt me one day. But, I suppose I'll survive it. If a fuck here and there ruins my life... I figure life had to have sucked in the first place and could probably use a little ruining.
At any rate, being an equal opportunity bitcher means admitting when the Democrats are screwing up. And quite frankly, I'm so fed up with them that until this morning, I wasn't sure where to even start. And then I get this blasted "Republicans Asleep at the Wheel" email from Chris Van Hollen, the DCCC chair asking me to contribute to help further the Democratic Party cause.
As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly where to start....
What the Sam hell is wrong with people that we find it more conducive to anything to point out the faults of the other side when our faults are running at exactly the same rate and in exactly the same direction?!
The first paragraph of said offending email says:
Two years ago, the Republicans were so confident they would keep their Majority in Congress that they fell asleep at the wheel. As we approach our one-year-out deadline, House Democrats will not make the same mistake.
Well!
Where the hell have the Democrats been? They aren't doing so hot in the polls right now and that one year mark will be upon them very, very shortly. According to the CNN/Gallup poll released last week, the approval of Congress as a whole stands at 22 percent. That's not exactly something to brag about, even taking into consideration the 43% approval rating of congressional Democrats in that poll (and it should be noted that the poll probably isn't even all that accurate). They're in the majority of both the House and the Senate... seems to me that means they deserve the majority of the blame for accomplishing nothing.
Granted, when they do actually try to do something it tends to get vetoed. However, they're spending more time on non binding resolutions and party line soundbites than they are actually working. And then of course, you've got the Democrats that are running for President marching all over the world parroting why they would make the best president and yadda yadda yadda.
Bah. Instead of the soundbites, the non-binding bullshit, and the never ending campaign trail... how about we get to work? Stop telling me what you will do next year if you're lucky enough to become the next president or have a Democratic president (when you even bother to tell me that much) and show me today what you can do.
I don't want promises, I don't want crap flinging. I need solutions. There are any number of problems just hanging out waiting for attention. Maybe they aren't huge by your estimation, but they are a start. Look at them. Work on them. Fix them.
Until that happens, I don't really care if Mitt Romney is the devil, if John McCain is a moron, if Giuliani is a flip flopping adulterer. Telling me what they can't do and calling them creative names doesn't at all prove to me that you're capable of doing the job you say they can't do.
At the top of my list of Presidential criteria is results. I want results. I don't want promises. I don't want pep talks. I don't care if you've been in Congress 80 years. I don't care if you're male, female, or an alien life form. I want for you to sit your ass down in Washington, come up with a plan, and then give me results. No crap flinging, no parroting, no bullshit, no year of campaigning. I want pleasantness, original thought, honesty, and no campaigning for the next six months.
Granted, I'll never get the last. But seriously... I'm looking forward to GWB's last day in office as much as most of the Democratic Party population. If I'm really moved that day, I'll even consider streaking through the neighborhood wearing nothing but a cardboard sign that screams in bright bold letters that he's gone. And despite that, it absolutely infuriates me that we're so focused on that day, we've forgotten what needs to be done every day until then.
I helped elect these people to work for me NOW. Not in another year plus. So far... I'm not exactly thrilled with the work they have produced. Had it been someone I paid directly, I'd have fired them all in a fury months ago.
But no. They've managed to convince nearly half the party that they're doing a fantastic job, so we're stuck in the quagmire that is the sum total of their efforts to date... it smells a lot like the bullshit they've been tossing around the entire time. And while we're floundering about there, I begin to feel as if I'm the only one not blinded to the general idiocy that politics is increasingly becoming.
We'll all just stand in one place, screaming back and forth and hope the collective bad breath propels us onward and upward and the problems we're facing solve themselves because we can't be bothered with them.
Yep... bloody brilliant move towards progress that one is. It's almost as good as touting how awesome we're doing when reality takes a different view far too often for comfort.
Politics, my dears, isn't about progress or doing what's best for the country. It's about who shouts the loudest and comes across as being the most believable to a public that's too amused by the antics of those playing to call a halt to the side show.
Politics are the same as they were when cavemen walked the earth: whoever has the bigger stick wins. [please don't take that in a dirty way, ha]
The democrats promised the world.
All they did was (in their first 100 hours that they were going to do a TON of stuff) take a day off for a football game (the actual reason stated), take a half day off and have the other half day be 'kid day' where each congressmen had kids there, so they didn't work. They raised the minimum wage (which does nothing to help the poor, but we won't get into that). . . . that's it.
All they've done is complained whined and moaned about how evil the president is, how horrible Rush Limbaugh is and have done.... nothing.
They STILL haven't put a appropriations bill up for the President that isn't full of ear marks and shady tax hikes. (Which is why he vetoed the previous ones... LOTS of tax hikes hidden in the bill)
They still haven't done anything about anything they promised to do.
Even their minimum wage bill is wholly weak. It raised minimum wage, but in three steps, the last step not taking affect for another year or two. That way, when the damage starts hitting the economy, they don't have to worry about being blamed (as the average person will have forgotten about the raised minimum wage)
that's it. They've done nothing. That they still try to rip on the republicans just SHOWS that they've done nothing.
If they did something (even something stupid) they could at least hold it up as something they did.
They have... nothing.
I'm a conservative, so I'm always a fan of the conservative candidates (note I said conservative, not Republican, there is a world of difference) . .. with few exceptions, I say vote them all out. (I do like my reps and senators, representing Oklahoma.)
My representative, I'm pleased with. My senators... not so much so. :) I'm generally a "crazy liberal" but I'm fed up with politics in general I suppose. No matter who is in charge, we're not accomplishing much. We spend all of our time shout back and forth about the crappy plan the other side has than actually trying the entire teamwork philosophy.
Infuriating.
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~Fallon~
"I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud of thoughts which were not their thoughts" -Lord Byron
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Well, for decades, we've been sliding to the left, both political parties have become much more liberal.
one of the trademarks of a liberal is that there is a push to spend money on a problem without actually fixing it, then call a program a 'success' based on the money spent, rather than the qualitative progrss.
And, frankly, too many on both sides of the aisle are career politicians. The original senators and presidents were all otherwise employed. Many were farmers, some bankers, some scientists.
Being a Senator or President was never meant to be a full time vocation. At first, President Washington didn't want to take any pay at all, as he didn't need it. He eventually accepted a salary as it was suggested that him NOT taking a salary may one day lead to a situation where only the rich could try to be president, as anyone else would be too poor to balance their "Real job" with their political office.
(Of course, now days, you have to be loaded to even ATTEMPT making a run for congress, plus you get a GIANT salary and, if you get reelected a couple times, a lifetime pension plan plus full medical coverage that, if the populace found out about it, would lead to open riots.)
But, I'm just an evil conservative. *wink*
and with that, I"m out. have fun all.
A good place to start would be term limits for Reps and Senators.... I'd even go for crossing that term limit... no more than three or four terms combined for the two. If you're a Rep two terms, you can only be a Senator once, etc. And then of course, no increases in wages for Reps and Senators unless they've done their jobs (which they routinely don't do). No pension plans aside from what you amass in 401k during your 4 terms. Medical coverage provided only while you're in your terms. And then I would attack campaign finance issues... set a limit and no one is allowed to go beyond that, ever on pain of being kicked in the ass for two years. Career politicians would revolt... at least that's the general idea :)
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~Fallon~
"I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud of thoughts which were not their thoughts" -Lord Byron
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Its too bad that we don't have voters who are smart enough and engaged enough to impose term limits at the ballot box. People get the government they deserve and our lame population is asleep at the switch and we are getting crappy government as a result.
It makes me long for the days when we had limited suffrage. I see no reason why ignorant people should be allowed to vote. I think their should be some minimum criteria (other than age).
Another alternative would be to reform the re-districting process to eliminate gerrymandering. Gerrymandering creates to many safe legislative seats where there is no competition between Republicans and Democrats. The result is that once somebody gets elected they can keep their seat until they die even if they are horrible.
I would probably reluctantly go along with term limits but it is never going to happen because it would take a Constitutional Amendment. Can you imagine a bunch of Senators and Congresscritters approving by a 2/3rds majority an amendment to term limit themselves?
I say reluctant because the problem with term limits is that it makes no allowances for keeping the really good ones. There are some Republican legislators that are really good public servants that I would hate to lose. I'm sure you feel the same way about certain Democrats. I justt want to dump the corrupt, the retired in place and the incompetent.
There have been a few people who tried to fight for term limits. Fred Thompson was one. He really believes in them.
I do too, but how do you get a group of people to actually vote for something that would affect them in a negative way?
They don't even have to vote on raises.... they passed it, years and YEARS ago, so that unless they produce and pass a bill to NOT get a raise, it is automatic.
I do agree that too much money is spent on elections, but I don't know that a cap is going to work. As it is, it isn't the candidate that puts out the most vicious ads, but other groups (like moveon.org, that tried to pass an ad with President Bush pushing an old lady off a cliff, which was their 'protest' of his social security admendment)
Attack groups are on both sides... and they're privately funded. You can't touch them. First Amendment protection.
If we 'cap' anything, I'd like to see a limit on how early you can run. I'm already tired of the 08 election cycle, and we don't vote for over a year!
However, the Left wanted to collect more money, so they started running RIGHT AFTER their 06 congressional win, then the republicans, not wanting to miss out, jumped in as well.
blah.
If your top criteria is results, then you should probably look at Rudy Gulliani who transformed New York City from a criminal hell hole to one of the safest cities while cutting taxes and leaving it in decent fiscal shape while working with a Democratic controlled council that opposed him almost every step of the way. Or at Mitt Romney who saved the Utah Olympics, has made himself a fortune in the business world and was quite effective and popular as a Republican governor in a very Democratic state.
Don't worry about the stuff they are saying now. They are just tossing out fresh meet for the conservative base. If either of them manages to win the GOP nomination you can expect them to run hard to the political center where both of them are more comfortable anyway. Most conservatives don't trust either of them as conservatives and particularly think that Rudy is a closet liberal. As a conservative I don't like either of them although I respect their accomplishments and their proven leadership skills. (Oh and pleeeeeezzzz don't through me into that briar patch). I really don't like them. I am a Fred Thompson guy because of his great position on illegal immigration.
None of the Democratic candidates have any meaningful record of accomplishment and there is no reason to think they will be particularly effective as President. Obama is just a baby Senator and Hillary doesn't really have much in the way of accomplishments and has done little as a Senator. She has considerable vicarious experience through her Husband but for the same reason also carries a lot of baggage that will make it hard for her to be effective even if she wins. Bill was one of the most talented politicians ever but Hillary is not Bill. John Edwards has the most real world experience and made himself rich getting results in tort court. Not a very impressive bunch.
I'm a Duncan Hunter guy myself... I'd like to see Fred or Rudy as the VP... both could handle congress well in that capacity.
While we have a Democrat controlled congress, I don't want a liberal president. Government works best, these days, when it is unable to provide us with new taxes or laws.
I've been registered Republican all my life but I was so torqued at the failure of the last Congress to control spending and to honor Republican principles that I re-registered as Independent. I'll still mostly vote conservative but the Republicans can never again count on my partisan support.
If we all renounced our party affiliations a lot of this bullshit would stop.
I'm not asking people to stop voting their principles and electing people who represent those principles be they liberal or conservative but the politicians would be a lot more concerned about results and a lot less concerned about partisan politics if the parties were smaller and there were a lot more independents that looked like they might swing their vote either direction if they failed to perform
I'm just as disappointed as you are with the lack of progress being made by the Democratic Congress. There are a great many tools that are available to congress to end the war-- they don't even have to stop funding the troops to end the war. They could threaten to stop funding other things. They could even force departments heads to testify 24 hours a day in Congress. And instead of giving each department a check to manage day-to-day office stuff-- well let's just say-- you need a pencil? Here's 25 cents. Need paper? Here's 5 bucks for a pack. And Congress could even make them give daily reports on what they're buying. You used the copy machine? Here, fill out these 15 forms. Seriously, Congress has the power to make people's lives hell and force an end to the war.
And for the lack of action on anything else, I don't really blame the House, they're actually passing legislation through. It's the Senate that's causing the stall. I know I would have gained a whole hell of a lot of confidence in our legislature, had they actually drawn up articles of impeachment.
responsibility for leading a country is not served by immature acts like making someones 'life a living hell' for actions or policies you disagree with.
As for Articles of Impeachement, what, exactly, should the charges be? (And please don't with the constantly repeated, but always debunked "Bush Lied People Died!" stuff..)
these tools at congress's disposal isn't meant to be used in simple policy disagreements. People are dying... allowing the continuation of failed policies is the antithesis of leadership. These methods are hardly immature, given the magnitude of the situation.
And I wasn't saying Congress should call in all department heads to testify 24/7. I'm just saying Congress isn't as helpless as it is trying to portray itself currently.
And sorry, i'm more educated than that; to simply draw up articles of impeachment because of lies (funny, how Clinton lied, no one died, and articles of impeachment were drawn); it's for the abuse of our constitution, a document which the president took an oath of office to defend. Do you know the signing statements that Bush has issued, which essentially say that Congress or even the Courts could not stop the president should he choose, to say for example, torture?