great bob herbert op-ed in the sunday new york times:
Road Map to Defeat - New York Times
The Democrats have become so psychologically battered by these many
decades in the leadership wilderness that they consider the Clinton
years, during which the president was impeached and they lost control
of both houses of Congress, to have been a period of triumph.
***
yes! isn't that it? doesn't it feel the same as watching the lions staff call 5 wins, or 6, an encouraging sign? or the michigan state football team celebrating their bowl game appearance, an honor only bestowed because they were slightly above mediocre and because there are so many companies willing to sponsor a meaningless bowl game? (seriously: the outback bowl? the music city bowl? doesn't every D1 school host one of these silly "inter-league-post-season" fiascoes?)
so much for that feeling in november of 06, having taken majorities, thinking the war would end and bush would be stymied a bit. even after the bush administration handed the dems the virtual heads of karl rove and donald rumsfield on a silver platter: nothing.
i want so badly for this country, and the dems, to get it together, to make some type of advance. to stop bleeding money, warmongering, pork-barrel projects, propping up failing industry (after all, if capitalism is supposed to work, why does the gov't have to help it so often?) and giving safe exit to corporations who bankrupt their workforce and yet manage to pay their ceo's tens of millions of dollars for "successfully navigating bankruptcy".
it's the same old song: if you want to win, you have to be serious. i see too many progressive-minded folk treating their work and lives as though they don't need to be held accountable--to schedules, being in the office to answer the phone and do the shitty work, being organized, and then celebrating the bullshit little things instead of not wasting the time and charging full steam ahead--when what they are supposed to be doing is holding other people accountable to existing laws or creating new ones.
a hilarious man named don wolcott once said "being on time is not a right-wing conspiracy", and i think it is a point well taken. do you want to know why the republicans are always winning? they are organized, more so than the progressives who like to invoke the grassroots ideal of organizing. they have a 5, 10, 20, probably even 300 year plan. they have an agenda. they are on time. their offices are always staffed. they show up for meetings.
if we will take aim at republicans for their obvious hypocrisies--voting against gay rights when they are gay, etc--then shouldn't we work to minimize our own? shouldn't we make ourselves as unassailable as possible? you know, not breaking laws, even if you don't think the laws are fair? because my bet is a lot of corporations don't think it is fair to provide health insurance, or retirement benefits, or consider their workers above their profits. but isn't that what we want them to do?
there's no excuse. perhaps i am becoming a moral absolutist as i age, or believe too strongly in the 'doctrine of correspondence'; the outside should match the inside.
as mr. herbert points out, the people of this country are practically begging for the dems to step up and (my words here) just fucking accomplish something. so do it.
Road Map to Defeat - New York Times
The Democrats have become so psychologically battered by these many
decades in the leadership wilderness that they consider the Clinton
years, during which the president was impeached and they lost control
of both houses of Congress, to have been a period of triumph.
***
yes! isn't that it? doesn't it feel the same as watching the lions staff call 5 wins, or 6, an encouraging sign? or the michigan state football team celebrating their bowl game appearance, an honor only bestowed because they were slightly above mediocre and because there are so many companies willing to sponsor a meaningless bowl game? (seriously: the outback bowl? the music city bowl? doesn't every D1 school host one of these silly "inter-league-post-season" fiascoes?)
so much for that feeling in november of 06, having taken majorities, thinking the war would end and bush would be stymied a bit. even after the bush administration handed the dems the virtual heads of karl rove and donald rumsfield on a silver platter: nothing.
i want so badly for this country, and the dems, to get it together, to make some type of advance. to stop bleeding money, warmongering, pork-barrel projects, propping up failing industry (after all, if capitalism is supposed to work, why does the gov't have to help it so often?) and giving safe exit to corporations who bankrupt their workforce and yet manage to pay their ceo's tens of millions of dollars for "successfully navigating bankruptcy".
it's the same old song: if you want to win, you have to be serious. i see too many progressive-minded folk treating their work and lives as though they don't need to be held accountable--to schedules, being in the office to answer the phone and do the shitty work, being organized, and then celebrating the bullshit little things instead of not wasting the time and charging full steam ahead--when what they are supposed to be doing is holding other people accountable to existing laws or creating new ones.
a hilarious man named don wolcott once said "being on time is not a right-wing conspiracy", and i think it is a point well taken. do you want to know why the republicans are always winning? they are organized, more so than the progressives who like to invoke the grassroots ideal of organizing. they have a 5, 10, 20, probably even 300 year plan. they have an agenda. they are on time. their offices are always staffed. they show up for meetings.
if we will take aim at republicans for their obvious hypocrisies--voting against gay rights when they are gay, etc--then shouldn't we work to minimize our own? shouldn't we make ourselves as unassailable as possible? you know, not breaking laws, even if you don't think the laws are fair? because my bet is a lot of corporations don't think it is fair to provide health insurance, or retirement benefits, or consider their workers above their profits. but isn't that what we want them to do?
there's no excuse. perhaps i am becoming a moral absolutist as i age, or believe too strongly in the 'doctrine of correspondence'; the outside should match the inside.
as mr. herbert points out, the people of this country are practically begging for the dems to step up and (my words here) just fucking accomplish something. so do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment