Politicking

I had this argument with Wonder yesterday, and I keep having these arguments with people I love and respect but am often totally exasperated by, so for the sake of efficiency I'm just going to lay down a few things here so that I don't have to keep repeating them over and over and over.

1) I don't give a flying fuck what the rethuglikans are up to now. They are going to eat themselves. They have always been obstructionist assholes. Criticizing them for continuing to be assholes is a bit like being pissed off when pop stars wear skimpy clothing and lip synch. We all know they are assholes. Shooting fish in a barrel is both boring and pointless. The are in the minority. They don't matter politically. They are not the reason our president and congress suck. Stop using them as an excuse. It's just as bad as when rethuglikans blame 911 on Clinton. We're in power, we have to take responsibility for that.

2) Someone, anyone, tell me when we have enough Democratic support to enact Democratic policies, real ones, not relabled moderate rethuglikan ones. The Dems under Bush said we have to have a majority in Congress before we do anything. Then we had to have a majority in the Senate. Then we had to win the White House. Then we had to be filibuster proof. Then we had to deal with our own assholes. We have a majority everywhere. We have popular support according to the polls. Why do our policies look so much like compromises then? If anyone can tell me what the magic fucking pony line is for Dems acting like Dems, I will throw myself into it whole heartedly and work for it until my dying breath. But that line keeps moving.

What is the magic pony line? What is it? And why does our magic pony line have to be so much farther away then rethglikans magic ponyline?

3) Speaking of lines that keep moving, if Dems are way less likely to use a filibuster when they are in the minority, why don't we eliminate it? Now some would say that it's better to have the option, I suppose.

But..............

Let's spot the pattern, shall we?

Lieberman makes nicey nice with rethuglikans, doesn't lose a damn thing for it. He even backed McCain in the election. Doesn't lose a damn thing for it. Threatens to block health care reform, doesn't lose a damn thing for it. But healthcare reform moves decidedly closer to insurance company interests.

Stupak threatens healthcare reform, in exchange for his vote he gets the president to executively declare that lady parts have no business in government funded healthcare. Insurance companies now have it written into law that they don't, as a matter of fact they can't, cover certain aspects of women's healthcare. But there is nothing in the bill that says that insurance companies must lower women's premiums by such and such a percent to make up the difference of what they now will not be required to cover.

Nelson actually gets the anti-lady bits language into the bill.

These are all Democrats.

Dems don't go nuclear on the filibuster because it gives the party as a whole a way to cover the fact that they are the party of corporate welfare by letting the DINOs of the party move policy to the far right under threat. It is in their best interest to do so, and they get to maintain the illusion of being, you know, Democrats. There will always be some new excuse for why they can't do the right thing right now. The next places that the Dems will fail to be able to do the right things despite a majority and a big "win" on healthcare are: unemployment/labor and reform of banking and finance. Oh and watch out for Social Security to be put on the chopping block too. Social Security can only be killed by a Democrat, and we may just have the president to do it.

4) This brings me to the tittle of this post. I get the fucking politicking. I understand it completely. See above. Did you perhaps wonder why the Dems were being so squeamish about eliminating a tool that has been used against them more often than for them? Did you shake your head in wonder at how JOE FUCKING LIEBERMAN STILL HAS ANY SWAY. I didn't. I am not in awe of the game playing. To those who think I am ignoring it. Yep- because the process is so fucking obviously corrupt. Marveling over the minutia of the political machine is like thinking you can win a shell game and I don't waste my time on it. There is no way to win by picking either of the dominant parties. There are a few moments of actual progression from some of them sometimes, but even super progressive Dennis Kucinich voted for the healthcare bill.

5) I would never ever tell someone under some kind of oppression to suck it up in some way, for example by saying things like "yeah it really sucks that Obama signed the executive order, but it doesn't really change anything". I would never advise patience or calmness or use patronizing "I'm sorry your right to control your own body just got shit on but look on the bright sides". Nope. Not. Gonna. Happen. And I do not understand people who think it is okay to tell someone who is oppressed to be patient. I wouldn't do that. I'd say "fuck that shit, let's go fight that right now". And I have said that. Over and over. Next person who says something like that to me gets stabbed with a fork. Period. Human rights are not negotiable. Period. I'm not fucking kidding person who knows who they are. Not negotiable. Not okay.

6) While having this fight with Wonder about my "negativity" I said "It's like I'm fucking Noah and it's gonna flood and everyone keeps pointing to the sky where the sun has peaked out for a second from behind the clouds to show me just how wrong I am about this flood thing". 10 minutes later and it started to pour rain. I may or may not believe in a supreme being, but thank you universe for emphasizing my point. I also understand just a wee bit how climate scientists feel when faced with global warming deniers.


(FTR- Wonder and I are fine. We've been working our asses off this week and are both tired and bitchy and hurty which contributed to the argument.)