My "Political" Rant of the month.
Posted by Wayne on Nov 1, 2011 at 8:22 PM |
Something's broken and it's not my Timex.
 

I think the biggest problems for *everyone* in the USA is that the people who enact the policy almost always see the positive results and never the negative consequences from same.
No matter what ANY upper party members or their biggest supporters do (on either side of the isle), they’re set for life. They have their friends and family taken care of, and will always have the best medical/health care, they’ve made the network connections to assure financial independence etc.. etc.. so they’ve already “won”.

Everything else in life once you have those basics covered is just a game, and that’s what our government does. They play the ping-pong game of “more”.
And the only way to permanently assure that both sides get and maintain “more” is to make sure there will always be 2 sides in conflict.
Neither side will back off and neither side will ever go so far as to force the other side to fold.

Mutually Assured Fluctuating Balance of Wealth and Power.

 People want to blame “Big businesses” but they aren’t doing anything different. “Big business” acts the same today as it did 30 years ago.
And not every business that is successful is the spawn of all evil. Many of them are big because they’re smarter/faster/better than their competition and treat their employees fairly. (but that doesn’t make for a good headline, it stirs no controversy)

People want to blame "Social Programs" (which contrary to popular belief aren't "Socialist Programs") But those programs are needed no matter how horribly inefficient and corrupt they are as well. But any time there is a problem their entire existence comes under question. Many of these programs have the monumentally difficult task of trying to help those who want to contribute while dealing with those who would totally abuse the system. "Many will play, few will win."

The real issues all stem from the fact that the upper echelon of both parties are far more corrupt than any business in the headlines. (Enron can't hold a candle to The House and the Senate when it comes to corruption.)

 Lobbyists only have as much power as those listening to them will give them. You can spent $2-$2T and it won’t make a difference if the politician in doing his/her job in the interests of “the people” and not themselves/their party.

 Another issue is that the US is really made up of 4 groups right now.

A. Those who are set for life
B. Those who (despite the economy and despite not being “rich” are doing ok and have hope they will continue to do so)
C. Those who are struggling
D. And those who are not managing to make it at all.

 The press (depending on which agenda they want to push today) would have you believe that there are really only 2 groups, either  A and B, or A and D.
In doing so they assure that you will be/see the other groups and rally to defend/condemn their lack of representation (misdirection/continued conflict)

Political Parties work first and foremost in the interests of themselves and each other, benefits to "the people" happen as a conciliation or byproduct.

The #1 card in the game is misdirection. The two parties are engaged in a never ending war of “They’re wrong, we’re right!”  “The people” will suffer their own party doing almost anything in the effort to further “our” ideology over “the other guy”. (who paid attention to what *other* bills were passed during the debt ceiling debacle, or 9/11?)

What REALLY blows me away is that under the blinders of “US Vs. Them”, people will absolutely forgive (even defend) transgressions they would NEVER have stood for otherwise. 

Of course at the end of the day the Democrat and GOP leadership are madly in love with each other’s “We vs. They” philosophy. If either side were to “give up” it would be a monumental catastrophe for the money they rake in. Who needs to fund a drive to push an un-opposed idea, who’s going to tune in to watch an opinion commentator talk about how “After putting a lot of work into an issue another problem was solved today”? Progress doesn’t sell nearly as many commercials/ads/products/posters/etc.. as “Scandal!, Fraud!, Look what “THEIR SIDE” did! Doesn’t that make you angry?!, doesn’t that make you want to get out there and blog, and donate to this cause!?, and take back/keep the Whitehouse!, and put this sticker on your car….blah blah..”

Of course the game wouldn’t work if you didn’t have a lot of lemmings lining up to choose sides and start frothing at the mouth about every transgression.

 Remove yourself ENTIRELY from your party beliefs for a minute, assume everyone else could do the same.

Does anyone *honestly* believe that the top 10 or so issues that plague the American People couldn’t be solved if both parties had the same “agenda” and in short order?

And I’m not even talking the issues that probably can’t be agreed on (ie anything that messes with core religious doctrine and it’s zealots)

Poverty, Education, Hunger, Homelessness, Jobs, The state of US financial affairs, diplomatic relations,… They all have these two big anchors attached to them pulling In two different directions (usually BOTH away from the goal) The political funding/spending alone for the past 10 years would have put huge dents in some of these issues if not solved some/all of them forever.  Roughly 5Billion is spent on the presidential race, that's just one microscopic portion of all other spending that goes on 24/7/365. All the other elected seats, the contributions, the funding, the special companies setup just to run smear ads/funnel money etc.. etc..

And while you could never get people to give up those little buttons with donkeys and elephants,..when you get right down to it,…if you really talk to “The people” the majority are more than happy to compromise on all but the smallest number of issues if it means there are real concrete results. And in a lot of cases would do a “hostage swap” on the big issues as well. Of course they’re also equally willing to let those issues go unresolved forever under the guise of “Well we can’t fix this problem because THEY won’t let us, we’re keeping them at bay though and one day we’ll win!”
The issues that can’t be worked out in a reasonable manner? Well, at that point we should all just agree to leave up to and issue vote of the population of the individual states (We’ve already determined that they cannot/will not be solved as a nation so how could that be worse.)

The flip side of the coin is that there are agenda made law party policies that no one on either side wants or would ever want except to challenge them would be to challenge "your own party" and thus they get away with more money/power grabbing.

(One of the big issues is inheritance,.. the majority of the US population wants no "imposition" on inheritance. What is left to you by a dying loved one is yours period, almost no one (outside of the tax collectors and the party politicians" believe there should be any taxation or penalties for such. Yet the laws that steal some of that inheritance are on the books.

The comparisons of the wrongs of the left and the right (which are numerous, perpetual, and inevitable) are simply the pushing and pulling of the pistons that drive the “more machine” that make a small percentage of people at the tops of both parties, and their friends and families very, very rich and powerful.

The great trick (misdirection again) is that conventional wisdom leads you to believe (if you’re un-brainwashed/undecided) that one is right and one is wrong. That somehow one must be working against the American People and One is working for them. There really isn’t a poster that says “They’re both working for themselves and any benefits seen outside the party structure are purely co-incidental and/or are concessions to maintain standing” (We all guess) But then we’re told that not choosing is just like giving up, and no one wants to give up. It’s called the false choice fallacy (another marketing tool)

And yet people line up, smile like sheep and open their wallets, give kneejerk condemnation, give hypocritical defense, and fool themselves they’re the smart/right one because they chose getting punched in the face with a red glove over getting punched in the face with a blue glove.

*************

I used to be pretty Socially Liberal and Fiscally Conservative, but I realize lately I’d gladly give up a lot of ground on pretty much every issue in exchange for some real progress and stability that helps “The People” and not “The Politicians”.  Especially if I had a shred of hope that 75% of every dollar I spent wasn't going to waste or theft.

I guess I need to get into politic$$.

A Good Read.
Posted by Wayne on July 12, 2011 at 6:00 PM |
Where's it from? Me and some book store.

I recently bought a book based on the following criteria; I was leaving the B&N, I wanted out quick, and this book "looked good" and was on the shelf next to me. (I was pretty sure I had heard that the author was ok as well but that was a vague afterthought) The end result was that I bought Live Free or Die by John Ringo. Despite having the word "Ringo" in his name, this is really a good gritty read. I tore through it in about 3 nights. I usually read 1-2 chapters of a book a night before bed, with this book I couldn't stop reading. The writing and character interaction are very casual and I feel more like one of my friends is telling me this story than a fiction writer.

A good premise, some comedy elements, and you can overlook the huge plot holes that pretty much all sci-fi has, without feeling like you've been had.