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"They All Disappoint"

by: Armando

Sun Dec 09, 2007 at 21:44:14 PST        
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The best show on television today is "The Wire." In subsequent entries, I'll explain why I think so. Its new season, Season 5, starts in January and The Wire will be one of the things I write about. Season 4 focused on politics a good deal.

At the finale to Season 4, the new mayor of Baltimore, where the show is set, is faced with the dilemma of doing "the right thing" and doing what he perceives is the right thing politically (the plot point involves "eating shit" so the Baltimore schools get money it needs vs. what's right for his shot at being Governor. You know what he does.

Afterwards, his close aide, who fought the campaign with him, discusses this with the chief of staff of the former mayor, saying "can't believe he left the money on the table." The former COS responds "they all disappoint." And indeed, they do. They've all disappointed, even Lincoln, FDR and Bobby Kennedy.

As citizens and activists, our allegiances have to be to the issues we believe in. I am a partisan Democrat it is true. But the reason I am is because I know who we can pressure to do the right thing some of the times. Republicans aren't them. But that does not mean we accept the failings of our Democrats. There is nothing more important that we can do, as citizens, activists or bloggers than fight to pressure DEMOCRATS to do the right thing on OUR issues.

And this is true in every context I think. Be it pressing the Speaker or the Senate majority leader, or the new hope running for President. There is nothing more important we can do. Nothing. It's more important BY FAR than "fighting" for your favorite pol because your favorite pol will ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS, disappoint you.

In the middle of primary fights, citizens, activists and bloggers like to think their guy or woman is different. They are going to change the way politics works. They are going to not disappoint. In short, they are not going to be pols. That is, in a word, idiotic.

Yes, they are all pols. And they do what they do. Do not fight for pols. Fight for the issues you care about. That often means fighting for a pol of course. But remember, you are fighting for the issues. Not the pols.

More on this theme in a week or so. I'm traveling.  
Armando :: "They All Disappoint"
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"They All Disappoint" | 44 comments
Sorry to hit and run (4.00 / 20)
But no time and saw some things around that made me wonder what folks are thinking.

Peace, seasons greetings, etc.

"as usual, . . . analytical and calm"  

What is this Wire of which you speak. (0.00 / 0)
Seriously, haven't seen it or heard of it; but I will check it out, now.  
[ Parent ]
Well... (4.00 / 11)
right now I'm busy being disappointed, but I expect I'll find a better hobby tomorrow.

"I like irony except I find that if you just toss your clothes in the dryer for a few minutes you hardly ever have to use it."- ek hornbeck
So Biden's statements didn't inspire you? (4.00 / 2)


"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
Biden was good... (3.00 / 3)
though a bit weaker today.  Rockefeller, Pelosi, Reyes, Harman, DiFi...

Not so much.

Our boys have some real personality problems they do, and it makes them a tough sell and reduces their ability to win.

"I like irony except I find that if you just toss your clothes in the dryer for a few minutes you hardly ever have to use it."- ek hornbeck

[ Parent ]
I agree about the issues. (4.00 / 9)
I don't want to fight for the pols; I just don't want to feel like I have to fight them.
Still fishing for someone who speaks for my issues.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

"Speak your mind, even when your voice trembles."
-Maggie Kuhn

Got it, chief. (4.00 / 2)
Assume you are off searching for a different pol to [weakly] support in the primary.

"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
Got my girls (4.00 / 13)
and that has not often enough. So we are traveling and having fun.

Hope all is well with ya'll.

"as usual, . . . analytical and calm"  

[ Parent ]
Have a wonderful time. (4.00 / 8)


"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
Enjoy your time with them... write later! (4.00 / 5)
There is nothing more important we can do.

Yeah, yeah. I know I took it out of context, but you said it!

[ Parent ]
Agreed about 'The Wire' and agreed ... (4.00 / 8)
...about being a Democrat. I'm a radical ddemocrat) who remains a Democrat because that's my only viable electoral choice.

But, while I agree that it is important to get the Democrats, as in the Democratic Party, to fight for our issues, I have to disagree (nitpicker that I am) that There is nothing more important that we can do, as citizens, activists or bloggers than fight to pressure DEMOCRATS to do the right thing on OUR issues.

The DP can only do part of what needs being done. Our pressure must be directed elsewhere as well - from outside electoral politics.

True. (4.00 / 4)
They're not the only Villagers.

"I like irony except I find that if you just toss your clothes in the dryer for a few minutes you hardly ever have to use it."- ek hornbeck
[ Parent ]
Intriqued by the term radical democrat (4.00 / 1)
I googled around and found this piece which you, and others here, may find interesting:

http://cpi.politics.ox.ac.uk/p...

gone fishing

[ Parent ]
You might be interested in this ... (4.00 / 2)
...book: W.E.B. DuBois - Black Radical Democrat. Not that I agree with all the DuBois stood for. But he had the right attitude on a lot of counts, imo.  
[ Parent ]
thanks (0.00 / 0)
I am interested and will read

gone fishing
[ Parent ]
very interesting and provocative find and website (4.00 / 1)
as an ex-pat i also find it interesting that some of these more forward looking concepts are being formulated in the traditional centres of the Oxford/Cambridge axis.

It often amazes me how much harm is being inflicted on the ability of intellectual centres of science and political thought in the United States by the mindless excesses of fundamental Christianity. To even be having serious discussions about the age of the planet, unless it be in the millions or billions, and whether life as we know it evolved based on survival of the most fit to adapt or was designed by an intelligent being in six days, a few thousand years ago, boggles my tiny mind. It is refreshing to turn it to more stimulating mental excercises as articulated in this piece.  

I am daily personally reassured that the very concept of 'intelligent design' is competely refuted by the current occupant of the White house plus his wannabee candidates.  I amusee myself in imagining which sentient being or plant or bacterial life form will attain supremacy when man becomes extinct, as appears inevitable at this point in evolutionary time.

One of the more interesting evolutions in The Golden Compass is the 'Spy Fly', nasty little bugger.

[ Parent ]
Ah, that mind ain't tiny (: (0.00 / 0)


gone fishing
[ Parent ]
thankee, kind sir or madam (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Elsewhere? Where? Who? (0.00 / 0)
I'm done wasting my time and money on Democrats.  Armando's suggestion to "fuck em all" (dramatization, I know) at least protects me from me.  I'd love to know who/what you have in mind by this.  
The DP can only do part of what needs being done. Our pressure must be directed elsewhere as well - from outside electoral politics.

[ Parent ]
Happy Holiday (4.00 / 1)
Issues speak louder then words. I'll check out the wire, all episodes are on my cable, I 've always been curious.    
Wire Family Here (4.00 / 1)
each season is better than the next

gone fishing
[ Parent ]
Well said. n/t (4.00 / 2)


Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. - Ambrose Bierce
Disappointment is, well, (4.00 / 1)
not the point.

The point is complicity.  The point is not taking responsibility.  The point is not telling the truth.  The point is not admitting they made a mistake and hence being able to make a new start and turn the ship around.  

"The second teaching from the golden eternity is that there never was a first teaching from the golden eternity. So be sure."  Jack Kerouac


Perhaps the best show... (4.00 / 2)
...on television ever.  Seriously.

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it." ~ H.L. Mencken
You are obviously way to young to have been (0.00 / 0)
hooked on The Fugitive!

"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
Your timing is perfect (4.00 / 2)
I'm a HUGE fan of "The Wire," but I don't have HBO. I've been catching it on dvd. The fourth season should be delivered today. But I think its finally time to break down and order HBO.

Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it. Mahatma Gandhi
From what I hear (4.00 / 1)
this season is expected to be even better than last - which is hard to imagine. The thing about the WIRE that hooks everyone is that it is both complicated and mesmerizing, both based in reality and metaphor - not too mention ensemble acting par excellence, incredible ise of music and editing. I could go on. Get HBO of only for the series.

gone fishing
[ Parent ]
If it is now essential we have HBO to understand (4.00 / 1)
Armando's work, how about a fund:  one simple click.

"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
"The Wire," HBO? (4.00 / 1)
and I thought it was just "Battlestar Galactica" we were missing out on!

I'm enjoying Papa Sutherland's manic turn on "Dirty Sexy Money." God, that man grins like the Devil himself.

Okay, The Wire. Will see if it's downloadable from Amazon.  

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  

[ Parent ]
Sounds like something my library may have after (4.00 / 1)
the season ends.  Too late to keep up here though.  

"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
Yeah, probably too late. (0.00 / 0)
That's alright. I've squirreled away a stack of fiction for the winter and fiction can be just as informative on today's culture as non-fiction. In other words, the world brought to us by BushInc&Inc (second Inc includes dems-in-bed-with-bushie), is as far-out (but much less "magical") as anything written by Garcia Marquez.  @;-)

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
I am definitely a reader, not a TV watcher (well except (0.00 / 0)
for baseball), so I agree completely.  

"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
The Wire (4.00 / 6)
I got into the Wire last year--have since seen that old issues "on demand."  As a former teacher in the slums of NYC, let me state this show is very, very realistic.  For example, the woman playing the assistant principal is so recognizable that I thought I really worked for her once.

But the beauty of last season was the disgusting future exposed for the youth from such neighborhoods.  Some teachers work their asses off, have success, and then see it has no legs; the street is so much stronger than the school.  The good kids have very little chance to escape their parent's fate.

Every politician and school board member must be forced to sit through this series.  So should every voter.  To the evangelicals of this world, isn't this the issue you should be interested in?  Does God allow you to ignore this?  Are the innocents to be punished for the sins of their fathers?

I don't know the answer to the cycle of failure in the schools, but I have some definite ideas.  First off, it's gonna cost big bucks--tax money the pastors of this country should be advocating from the pulpit.  Second it's gonna require intergration not just of the schools, but of housing.  Another thing required will be the cops not pushing drug dealers away from "good" neighborhoods into the ghetto.  Ever wonder why rich kids have to wander off the gated community grounds to get their score--politicians tell the cops where that trade is least offensive--the bastards?

Lastly, kids shouldn't be bombarded with gangsta shit on the tube.  Don't glorify that which destroys the children.  Basketball players should stop wearing diamond earings--they look like pimps--or is it v.v?  Kids looking for role models can't find them in their homes oft times, and the media pollutes the efforts of hard working teachers and preachers.

I forgot, I must have killed many of my students by recommending the armed forces as a way out of the drug culture.  There  wasn't an Iraq then.  Makes me cry at night.

Powerfully said documel!! (4.00 / 2)
We all have our individual issues that drive us - this is mine. I work in a non-profit in an urban area with kids. We have staff working in middle schools with students who are chronically suspended for their "street" behavior. One of our staff who does this work says he sees his job as teaching kids who have developed the skills of the street how to behave in order to succeed in school - they don't have those skills. And until they do - they will continue the Cradle to Prison Pipeline that is the future right now for one out of every three black boys in this country.  

Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it. Mahatma Gandhi
[ Parent ]
"Basketball players should stop wearing diamond earings-" (0.00 / 0)
The fourth grader I tutor is so bright, so dedicated to learning everything he can.  His brother, who just started high school, isn't quite as dedicated and he now wears a large fake diamond earring. What are his parents, who are hard-working Latino immigrants, thinking?  

"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
No permanent political relationships... (4.00 / 4)
...just permanent interests.
one person who rarely disappoints is Armando (4.00 / 5)
like him or loathe him he can almost always be counted upon to make you take your medecine like a man or a woman. I particularly appreciate his understanding that it is our duty as activists, citizens or bloggers to pressue our elected leaders to do the right thing on OUR issues. The fact that unfortuantely those issues seem to be all over the map and it would prove totally impossible to change all of them and please everyone, it is still an important credo to follow.

One of the reasons, I think anyway, the blogosphere so often disappoints is because people mistake a buffet for the table d'hote.  They want a afixed agenda with a limited amount of familiar choices, instead they get a groaning table laden with unecessary and unfamiliar dishes.  They partake of too much and then complain when they get a bellyache and blame the givers of the feast instead of their own greed.

Less is more, go Armando.

Love him, Sorry Armando (0.00 / 0)
I know this kind of attention pisses you off.

gone fishing
[ Parent ]
tough, he must learn to take his medicine like a MAN (4.00 / 1)
hadn't you heard this is the 'Year of the Manly Man and Woman'
[ Parent ]
Better clue in Mike Huckabee. (4.00 / 3)


"We can't change the country. Let us change the subject." Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, by James Joyce(1922).  
[ Parent ]
I would love to hear some discussion about (4.00 / 2)
what 'OUR' (because i am not at sure who WE are or WHAT is important to US) issues means in terms of being a big tent Democratic Party, the progressive wing of the Democratic party and the Centrist wing of the Democratic party because both wings seem to be flapping to different thermals, threatening to fly off altogether and leave the body lurching along like a bloated blimp barely staying aloft.

I have been doodling around the internet today trying to get a handle on what being PROGRESSIVE really means, and did not realise before that in fact the Progressive Party grew out of a split in the Republican Party at the end of Theodore Roosevelt's second term, leading to another 4 year Republican term under William Howard Taft, which then led to election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson who ran against Roosevelt who ran on the Progressive Party ticket.

This all leads me to understand how miniscule is my overall understanding and factual knowledge of American early 20th century political history.

If someone changes party affiliation, for example, and has already served as president for two terms in one party, can they then switch party affiliation and run again for another couple of terms? does any one know?  and does anyone have any suggestions regarding the history of 'Progressive Party politics' in America in both parties that have dominated, at least to my knowledge in post WW2 political history.  

Thanks for the visual, (0.00 / 0)
soccergrandmom!

"...because both wings seem to be flapping to different thermals, threatening to fly off altogether and leave the body lurching along like a bloated blimp barely staying aloft."


No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  
[ Parent ]
Good evening, all! (4.00 / 1)
Read this essay earlier today, and since I agreed, didn't know what to add. Still don't know what to add to the bounty of common sense here and in the comments, so will highlight a sentence of Armando's that struck me as a basic and true touchstone:

As citizens and activists, our allegiances have to be to the issues we believe in.

Here here! Torchbearers change, details morph, but our core issues remain.

No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  

And we stand for these issues (4.00 / 1)
even if all that's gained is their passing from one generation to the next. It's a responsibility I take seriously.

I'm not overly hopeful, but I'm not hopeless. None of this is pretty and there is no such thing as a pure candidate. Blind loyalty to anyone, or any idea, can be frightening to witness. We've all see examples... from strapping bombs to bellies, flying planes into buildings, stealing elections, to--

I remember what my aunts, uncles and parents worked for and my nieces and nephew will remember what issues their Aunt KJ stood for, far and away far beyond what candidates I supported.



No ponies, but
"Please pass the lotus flower..."  

[ Parent ]
"They All Disappoint" | 44 comments
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