October 12, 2007 archive

I wonder if you’re like me and think we might be living in some kind of crazy alternative universe where the inmates have taken over the asylum. And perhaps that’s why the only people who seem to be making sense these days are our comedians. I mean really, have you watched one of the so-called morning “news shows” lately? You don’t have to take a digital trip over to the likes of Malkin or Drudge or Fox News to feel like your head is spinning with the crazies. Because, while

I’ll be up at 10pm on the front page. i couldn’t get Jay Elias’s essay, Of Politics and People, out of my mind. I’m hoping to stir up some stuff… and see if it grabs you as it did me… here’s what i thought was brilliant (i have it out of order)…

Many of you may wonder why I have been so dogged with my “Quotes for Discussion” posts over the last year.  I usually offer them up without context or commentary, and they are tangential to the point of the sites where I post them at best.  Further, few people, including few of you, bother to read them or discuss them.  And even more, sometimes the quotes, and my purpose in posting them, is very hard to gather.  So, I’ll tell you why.

I post those quotes to remind us about people, and to try to get people to think about them, often in a different way than usual for politics.  Because it is easy to speak of political policy and strategy without thinking about these things, about the crucial role that people will have in them.

It is my belief that most political programs and ideas fail because they are not conceived or implemented with people in mind.

“An enlightened people, and an energetic public opinion… will control and enchain the aristocratic spirit of the government.” –Thomas Jefferson

No real original point to make here, no real solutions either, but it certainly does reinforce my point about The People. I am a tad uncomfortable comparing our current situation with the French Revolution…..guillotines make me nervous…. but….

I thought this was a democracy!

I suppose  representative democracy contains a certain element of aristocracy within it, at least in as much as the representatives will come to consider themselves above the people, better than the people.

Especially the long serving ones. Especially the long serving ones that have participated in gerrymandering etc. to make sure they STAY long standing. Especially the long serving ones who have people camped out in front of their house.

(btw I have no knowledge that Pelosi has participated in gerrymandering)

I suppose it only really becomes a problem when the representatives demonstrably stop representing the people….like this… Poll: 70% Support Fully Funded Withdrawal or NOTHING by andgarden…..

As I say….I am uncomfortable with talk of guillotines….but I become less uncomfortable with the word revolution everyday.

“If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.”

  Thomas Jefferson

Now, it isn’t totally that simple, but it really is that simple.  This has been the general modus operandi for the republican party – at least over the past decade.  Forget about governing, forget about issues, forget about any discourse or even heated debate.  It is either you march lockstep completely on everything or your life will be destroyed.

This starts at the top and works its way down throughout the party apparatus – the administration, the Congressional leadership, mainline members of Congress, the “mouthpieces” like Rush, Hannity, Malkin, Coulter and the like, and of course the “keyboard kommandos” at LGF and at Freeperville.  This is precisely why the level of discourse in this country has devolved to, well, next to nothing.  This is why we ended up in Iraq and have the major issues with respect to all of the problems facing the country.