Nice Try, Regressives.

Government Is A Problem; Government Is A Solution

Not really. Government simply is.  It's a tool that can be used for good or for evil.  Nattering on about "the government" is just talking about yourself, because you, me, and several multi-national corporations are the government.

Kiplinger's has a fine essay on the futility of arguing over "Big Government".

In short, we want the government to be there when we need it, whether it’s to rescue the financial system or to plow snow covered streets. But when government is inefficient and wasteful -- or doing something we don’t believe is wise or critical -- then it’s a different story.

*Source: Kiplinger

The elephant in the room is the multinational coporations, which have been given carte blanche to do what they will in terms of spending on elections.  Supporters to a man say that a corporation is a person, and can't be denied the right to speak.

Well, that all sounds good in theory.  As Dad used to say: "Everything works in theory".

The counter-argument is that it's easier to organize money than it is to organize people.  Who's got the money? The corporations.  It gets you media buys, billboards, flyers, etc.

People gets you people.  They have limited money, limited time, and they aren't usually able to hire out PR agents or bundle bribes contributions to legislators.

Now here's a fun option: Google TV ads could potentially be a leveller.  I wonder if we could have flash ads, like we do flash mobs?

But that's all flash and glitter.  What the people in the country need is information that's correct, that's put together, and that shines a light on what's really going on.  We need to connect the dots.

More on that later.

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*Sorry about any rendering or ads, it was required by Kiplinger.

We've been doing this a long, long time

The first self-executing bill was the U.S. Constitution.

Of all the issues that the Anti-Federalists gave for rejecting the new constitution, the lack of a bill of rights was the most compelling for many people. In the ratifying documents of five states, requests or demands for a bill of rights were included in the text, along with suggested lists (see the ratifying documents of Massachusetts, South Carolina, New Hampshire,Virginia, and New York. Rhode Island also included a list, but they ratified the Constitution after the first Congress approved the Bill of Rights).

Mind the Gap

I got into another Internet Spat this week, 'cause nothing was on TV.  For the most part, we were talking past each other, because the basic reality of the situation was pretty simple.  It got a little silly toward the end, but nearly halfway civil as we finally agreed to disagree.

(Normally I cut off "debate" when the person in question starts calling names, but like I said, there was nothing on TV, and there was some halfway decent argument in the fellow's posts)

Anyway, I got this little gem in my email the other day, "When Debating a Liberal, Start With First Principles", by hardworking Big C Conservative Mark Alexander.  It's a nice little essay on how to slide your way around talking points without having a real conversation.  He's at least honest enough to say that when you're up against another True Beleiver, it's not going to end with agreement, but with a scorched earth, and the only thing that counts is ammunition.

I remember seeing a similar article after the 2006 election.  It was titled "How to talk to a Conservative" or similar, but damned if I can find it now.  It was taken from texts on how to convert former religious folks and smokers.  I found it a smarmy bit of writing and disregareded it. 

eHow.com has a surprisingly good article on simply having a discussion.  Yes! Magazine, who's new to me, has a whole series on talking past the gap.

I've been watching the Coffee Party, which hasn't decided what it'll be when it grows up, but it shows promise.  Guess we'll see.

In other news, Redstate has banned Birthers.  Good move, I think.  Wonder if my Rep knows?

You can't say you didn't see it coming...

Here.  This is where we passed the "PATRIOT" act.  Notice how few people were in the room.  Notice how if it weren't for Maxine Waters, working all stinking day long, there wouldn't even be any recorded votes.  Don't forget the parts where Congressmen come in and say "hey, this bill is different from the one I agreed to last night".  Remember for a few months later, other Congressmen (Republican and Democrat) objecting to bits of the bill that were inserted while they weren't looking, and quietly removed them.

Conrast with the political theater that has been the health care debate.  How many people have had their hands in this pie?  How many trees killed, how many hard drives thrashed, how many good proposals stripped out and/or ignored?

Opponents have had their chance, gotten in their hits.  It's time for the grownups to get to work.  You can be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Oh, one more thing: you're welcome.

7+ hours in 1,000 words or less

Thanks to Fark.

Republicans: The American People want this bill gone because they hate it. Look at the polls.


Obama: Yes, but they love every individual thing in the bill when it isn't spun that there are going to be death panels and other lies you all made up. What they hate is the cost, but the reality is that bills cost money.

Republicans: But you are taking over the entire health care industry.

Obama: Alright, but you say that citing reasons which are actually Republican ideas that we included in the bill.

Republicans: Whatever, we want it all scrapped or we will continue to filibuster, and we don't want you to use reconciliation or anything else we used to ram our ideas down your throats for the first 6 years of Bush. These Senate rules that allow for a simple majority vote are un-American!

Obama: What don't you understand about how being in the minority works? If you want me to phrase it differently, we have a Democratic President and the 2nd largest majority ever, down from the largest majority ever by 1 vote, because the American people you are so fond of quoting voted your asses out after 8 years of you completely farking up our entire system. Know your place.

Republicans: Ok, fine, but the American people hate this bill because it costs too much money. We can't afford it.

Obama: Yeah, but the CBO states it will reduce our deficit in the long run compared to doing nothing. That's otherwise known as "not paying as much." It does cost money, and health care reform will cost a lot of money. It won't cost us more money than would otherwise be spent though.

Republicans: Fine, but we want it all done in small bills rather than a big, comprehensive one. That's how it should be done.

Obama: That's what we've done since you guys killed reform in the 90s. Now look where we are. If you go to fix one thing, you have to enforce it by fixing another thing, which leads to another thing, and not taking care of the side-effects each change has is the reason so many of our small bills in the past like the donut hole are now destroying us.

Republicans: But we want it all scrapped. We have to start over even though we agree on a majority of the things in the bill. We believe that suddenly all these issues will magically change and we will come up with brand new ideas tackling these problems that haven't been thought up in the past year. And we'll play fairly with you this time rather than completely abusing the filibuster process and demanding you do not use similar tactics that the majority gets to enjoy, we promise!

Obama: You already said you wanted it scrapped, I already said no.

Republicans: Ok well then we want the bill to consist mainly of our bill instead of yours. That way we can only cover 1/10th of all the uninsured people and basically do nothing useful to avert the impending disaster we are heading into at our current rate.

Obama: YOU ARE IN THE MINORITY. YOU DON'T GET TO CALL THE SHOTS. WHAT IS SO farkING DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS?

Republicans: But this bill costs too much money. We can't afford it and the American people don't want it.

Obama: ... ok now you're just farking with me, right?
 
Now, to be fair, it wasn't all Obama, all the time.  Most of these points were made by Democrats and Obama.

I'm back! Did you miss me?

Hello, dear reader(s)!  Between dead computers and dead internet connections it's been a wild winter. 

Since the primary election's but days away I'm not going to bother with transcribing the rest of the debates, except to mention that Govenor Hair is a liar:  he knew about the Futile Care Law (passed when he was Lite Guv) and did nothing about it, even after hearing about it in the last election.

Oh, and Hutch gave a thoughtful and nuanced answer to the question of whether she'd work to overturn Roe v. Wade.  It made the head hurt, hearing that from a Republican, but I heal quickly.

Medina has since proven that she's in over her head.  I've long thought that Libertarians were entertaining as a group but scary as individuals.  I don't vote for them unless I know they'll do no harm or they won't get elected.

Teab*ggers, however, are scary as individuals and as a group.  It's difficult to watch otherwise sane people be manipulated as easily as this crowd.

On the Democratic side, there are a slew of candidates, but Bill White stands out as sane, so it should be an interesting year.

In a development good for everyone, Kinky Freidman has dropped out of the governors race.  I guess it was already too nuts.  He's instead running for Ag Commissioner, and he's doing his homework as well.  Good luck, sir.

Anyway, I'm back and I'll be seeing you!