And although the Democrats lost a filibuster proof majority, it changes nothing at the national level -- Democrats weren't using that super-majority advantage anyway. With a majority House and a 59 seat majority in the Senate, the Democrats still retain hegemonic power to set national policy. If they can't do it, the only reason is incompetence, and right now a synonym for incompetence spells something close to "Harry Reid."
I'm finding this almost surreal. I don't believe it's possible for bright people to be so blinkered and inept that they can't push through the legislation they want.
It would be like Labour in the UK in 1997 deciding that it couldn't do a damn thing unless all the Lib Dems agreed - not for any good procedural reason, but in the interests of some entirely imaginary vision of bipartisanship.
More cynically, it looks like kabuki. The point of the exercise is not to change anything much, while protesting otherwise.
For example, Obama can grandstand all he wants about shredding the banks now that he no longer has his super-majority, because he's - supposedly - no longer in a position to change anything.
Hands will be wrung and apologies will be made, but what can he do, the poor man?
When you're bought and paid for, finding that spine is easy.
I'm not even sure that someone like Grayson isn't just playing the game - grand-stand on dKos, and watch the cash roll in.
It's impossible to tell if there's anyone with any genuine progressive sincerity in the Senate any more.
j-u-s-t long enough to finish looting the husk of the economy, then they'll slap in some hard man to keep the peeps browbeaten and accepting their new reality.
horribly inevitable feel to this scenario, the fix is in, just as i saw in kerry's eyes when he rolled over and let bush the terrible hijack the election.
ignore the rhetoric, ignore the campaign fever, what's left? PTB stooge, that's what...
i hope to hell i'm 1000% wrong about this, nothing would give me more pleasure that to eat my chapeau, but my slender sliver of hope is shaved down to transparent. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
When the USSR self-destructed, some of us in the wild sociological community wondered how the US would satisfy the addiction to scapegoats, enemies---and it was US.War on drugs, war on crime. And look where that got us. But, in the interest of national unity, the US needs an external villain- now, more than ever.
Any nominations?
Beware lest YOU end up on the enemies list. Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
trotting out phantom osama is losing its fear market, but no fear they'll try and pin a target on someone.
the problem is they are outnumbered, and they know it, as they also know how their international star would tumble if they went all medieval more than they already do. only china imprisons more of its own!
they are painted into a corner, so they have to go through the motions, but if the abuse of the public goes too far, everyone knows there are enough hotheads to throw themselves into the front lines, and the mess would be the crappiest PR in the world, especially after the decades of sanctimony about human rights.
what if other countries boycotted the USA in protest at their internal brutality?
it could happen, if they choose the pariah path. what are they going to do, anklebracelet liberal grannies? of all the social environments for a violent coup and martial law, the USA would be far the messiest, when you consider the amount of hardware, and even a slice of the population that is so brainwashed that violence is the solution to all problems, (if not the summum bonum of human endeavour), that they will cheer it on from behind their tvs. they can't wait for the blood to flow.
i blame this on the moronic level of tv and junk food, but it's too late for diagnosis now, it's damage limitation time...
turning the kyber pass into an ashtray would only keep the peeps ra-ra-ing for a while. sooner or later they'll have to face the music, and locking up the nicest, friendliest, most constructive people in the community, just because they have dissent on their minds, will call for a complete re-engineering of what it means to be an american TM, involving airbrushing out all its founding fathers for a start, all its hoariest myths.
there aren't enough thugs to lock up everyone who 'thinks different', at a certain point the sheer absurdity will cause the public to disarm these budding nazis, for everyone's good. they can only go so far.
remember the whole world is watching now... we've got your backs. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
