Meditations on Yesterday's Entertainment (political)

pl

Comments

[jr786]

Most of the punditocracy reads it as a repudiation of President Hopechange. Fortunately, that rejection is not being read as racism, at least not as yet.

We're all a bunch of racist, misogynist gay haters, mind you, but still.

[D. Mathews]

The hawks are back. http://news.antiwar.com/2014/11/05/hawks-triumph-in-senate-will-push-more-aggressive-us-policy/

[SteveG]

TR. Hear Hear!! If it were so!!😎

[curtis]

Once the current dodging and prancing ends (if ever) we shall see if there is any support for Mr. Roosevelt's position. Time to get real.

[shege]

It will indeed be interesting to see how patriotic the new Congress turns out to be.

[Valissa]

Some voting cartoons http://www.grantland.net/voting.htm

"Politics, noun. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." —Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke." —Will Rogers

[Edward Amame]

Now we'll see some real something or other!

[Haralambos]

At the risk of pissing in the wind on the thread, my apologies for the vulgarity, I think TR got it wrong and those who follow him in the concept of the country misread our history. I recall 48 states and various territories and protectorates or other entities. I believe I have posted in the past here on the concept of our "tale of the tribe" to use Ezra Pound's term for our foundational "myth." Pound was an interesting and accomplished poet plus an arch-traitor, but he pointed to what countries, would-be nations or entity-like nations or empires looked to in order to explain and justify their claims for both territory and sovereignty.

The Greeks look to Homer and Alexander; the Romans look to Virgil, and the Portuguese look to Camoens' _Lusiados_ to name just several "countries" or "Empires.". I will not belabor the point beyond our foundational documents, which I take to be the _Declaration of Independence_ and the _Constitution with the Bill of Rights_. All of our foundational documents are under attack from various vantage points and political perspectives and under interpretation and re-interpretation by parties and the courts, as they have been for years. Just consider our Civil War. They have been from our earliest days, for better or worse, but I would say for better, at least in principle and perhaps in practice.

I would be happy to engage with anyone who would like more than two lines of comment on TR and his views, legacy, and relevance today.

[Fred]

Just the cover Obama needs for his Regime Change Russia campaign. Oops. I mean Operation Ukrainian Freedom. (or whatever new, new neocon name they will call in in 2015).

[crf]

If you comment, and a U.S. citizen, could you say whether you voted?

It's interesting how little of the registered electorate voted.

(I'm not american.)

[Anna-Marina]

Here is a story of Ray McGovern' arrest at 92Y, when he tried to attend an event featuring Petreaus and Boot:
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/10/31/former-cia-analyst-ray-mcgovern-arrested-while-trying-to-attend-david-petraeus-event-in-new-york/

Was it Petreaus & Boot' directive for NYPD to stop and arrest the 74-year-old veteran that served the US with distinction (whereas Petreaus & Boot seem to care about a certain foreign country?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_McGovern

[J]

Colonel,

Sen. McCain power just became a whole lot stronger in the Senate Armed Services come January.

[C Webb]

TR's wise words from outside the box. Truth in perspective.

[steve]

I look forward to the "opposition party" holding hearings on Obama's failure to prosecute criminal banking activity, Obama's expansion of the surveillance state, Obama's transfer of trillions of dollars to the financial industry, and Obama's penchant for seemingly endless military involement overseas.

Right?

[JM]

Yeah. The only thing that the election results "mean" is exponentially increasing gridlock for the indefinite future.

Bipartisanship is extinct, and has been so for many years. I wonder what Ike would think? I'm guessing it wouldn't be much of a surprise for him.

What ought to happen in our "nation?" Do we still have one? Maybe we should repair and maintain infrastructure, and perhaps make public investments in building new and more advanced "national" infrastructure? Nah. Let's just leave it up to the states.

Perhaps we should expand health insurance coverage beyond the millions of people who have been able to access health insurance under Obamacare -- after years of being denied health insurance. Nah. Let's go back to the way it wuz. Who needs authentic competition between private for-profit health insurance companies, and the subsequent pricing rigor imposed upon the medical profession?

Perhaps we should ensure that the financial sector doesn't sink us again *too soon*? A couple of decades, at least, before another "Lesser Depression?" That would be nice. Although maybe we should get out of the current one first?

The problem with the Republican strategy of opposing Obama no matter what the issue, or no matter what it means for the country as a whole, is that we all end up paying much more for the mindless obstruction than for policies that might result from informed debate and standard deal-making.

[turcopolier]

crf

I voted. I always vote. pl

[turcopolier]

Cee

Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you. It means that you do not always win. it is in the nature of life. pl

[rjj]

Obviously voters never have enough RELIABLE information, but when I have exercised my right to be ignorant, I believe my solemn duty is to abstain from exercising the right to vote.

[SAC Brat]

TR, founder of the Progressive Party. Ironic that we are still having problems with medicine safety, food safety, conservationism, monopolies and oligarchs who think they are more important than statesmen.

[Nancy K]

I'm a 67 year old woman and my husband and I voted.All of our 5 children voted also. It didn't seem to help our party, but that is the great thing about a democracy, there is always the next time.

[Fred]

Col.,

Much knashing of teeth from the usual suspects. It appears that in my state voters simply stayed home even with efforts to ease voting and a push for absentee voting.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/06/michigan-democrats-absentee-voting/18568041/

[Valissa]

crf,

Even though I have come to dislike both political parties I still vote. Since my polling place is only one block from my house it's very easy to do so. Having lived in many different places in my life, that has not always been the case. For many people a combination of their very full work & family schedule and inconvenient polling location contributes to people not voting. Then there are the apathetic voters.

A few years ago I bought a political science book that I found very helpful (yes, I am aware of the low opinion many people have of political science and I generally share that). It's a short introductory college level textbook I bought used at Amazon called "Culture and Politics: An Introduction to Mass and Elite Behavior" by Oliver Woshinsky. I did not notice a particular political bias, and I appreciated his "how it works" attitude (my engineer mindset likes that approach). While the book is US-centric he uses examples from many countries to highlight his points.

He has some interesting chapters on "Citizen Voting Behavior" especially one called "Who Participates in Politics and Who Doesn't". In one of those is his Pyramid of Political Involvement which goes like this:

"1-3% Influentials – Leaders & full time political activists
10-20% Participants – Regularly active in politics
40-70% Citizens – Voters, occasionally politically active
20-40% Apathetics – Wholly uninvolved in politics" ...

Note that the numbers above are broad, but it gives you some idea of the ratios. Also each level of involvement requires a greater output of time, energy and personal resources than the one below it.

In addition to the normally apathetic types, I think many people feel the system is rigged and that nothing worthwhile will come out of their voting. Can't say I blame them.

[makosog]

Wonder where ISIS took to...

[makosog]

Voted here Pepub even though NJ is a Dem stronghold.

[makosog]

Nope. They should concentrate on the issues at hand and pass a lot of bills to smoke out Obama as the "veto prez...