by Mark in Santa Rosa
My own thoughts on the subject suggest that there's no real intent among Dems to actually implement ANY policy or program which might somehow infringe on corporate profit. There's a ROLE to be played, rhetoric to be repeated. The masses need to be placated.
I KNOW - without question - that politicians understand what most "Joe Six-pack" Americans want because they know what to promise on the campaign trail. I believe I understand enough about the technical workings of Congress to know that the party in power can pretty much do what it wants to do - most especially when the party in power also controls the White House.
To me, that means we COULD have had reform for Wall Street. We COULD have ended evil george's wars. We COULD have restored this to a nation of laws. We COULD have repealed evil george's tax cuts for the rich and made Social Security solvent. We COULD simply open Medicare to all Americans. Many of those things COULD have been done by now. No, not all of them, at least not completely. But by now, it SHOULD look as though we're heading in the right direction.
So if I can easily win a fight but I don't, what does that mean? I think it means I chose not to. It's like when I wrestle with my four-year-old grandson. I put on a good show - play the role. I tell him I'm going to win this time - repeat the rhetoric. It LOOKS (to him) like I'm trying to pin him. HE thinks he "won" - hey, he's four. But the truth is, if for some reason I felt it was in my own best interest to pin him, I could do so without effort. I think this quote from Douglas Adams sums it up nicely, even though Adams is ostensibly writing about the President of the Galaxy:
"The President in particular is very much a figurehead - he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it." - Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe
His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.
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