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Wed. Jun 21, 2006

State Of My Politics

I’ve only written about a half dozen articles in some way related to politics this year. Oh, I do read some of the day-to-day tit-for-tat over the latest perceived political outrage, the kind of stuff that makes the partisan political blogosphere spin and/or wobble. But I find it hard to get very worked up about even the most transgressive acts. That’s what happens when what was once an aberration becomes the norm.

It’s possible I’ll be a little more politically oriented come fall, this being an election year. Right now I think I epitomize the phrase “I used to be disgusted, but now I’m just amused.” Still, I thought I’d take an assessment of the State of My Politics.

I thought I’d do it in a sort of stream of consciousness, a series of little things that generate the overall buzzing tone. And we should start with an amusing illustrative point, before we move on to the disgust.

I was watching the most hilarious Colbert Report the other night, and he did an interview with a conservative US Representative from my state, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). And I really don’t understand how they get these guys to submit to these interviews. But it’s generally quite entertaining, in a painful sort of way.

After first admitting his status as statistical leader of our “do nothing Congress,” well, let the AJC Political Insider describe it:

Westmoreland, the sage of Coweta County, matched his deadpan against Colbert’s in a fake interview that ended with the question most feared by any politician who’s marched with Christian evangelicals: Name the Ten Commandments that you want to post in public buildings.

“You want me to name them all?” Westmoreland asked. “Don’t murder. Don’t lie. Don’t steal.”

And then blank. No more came to mind. The ultimate Republican anxiety dream.

We suspect his wife reminded him of at least one more when he got home. See it here.

Today, in Republican offices across America, thousands of staffers are paging through the Old Testament and laminating wallet-sized cards for their bosses.

I have to give Westmoreland credit for unintentionally making the best argument I’ve heard for posting the Ten Commandments in government buildings: so that bozos like him can have a daily reminder of what they are. Since tracking down the originals in Exodus is apparently asking too much.

Can I, on the spur of the moment, name all ten? No, but I’m not advocating placing them anywhere they aren’t already, either. If I was, I’d have done my homework. If’n I wuz smart an’ all.

It’s both illustrative and indicative. No shame that he’s introduced no legislation. Happy instead to point out that among his 434 peers, there’s one Democrat with the same notable record.

The contempt that has been shown for We The People is what has been notable this year. Every time we hear of new (or old) warrantless work by the NSA or the like, we’re told that we individual Americans have to accept these things, because “we’re at war.”

But when it comes to a search of the office of a member of Congress, under a proper court ordered warrant, then they rise up to claim immunity from enforcement of the laws under which the rest of us must suffer.

Warrants? Don’t need ‘em for you, can’t use ‘em on us.

Congress made a big deal of passing a law that was supposed to all but eliminate the option of torturing detainees. But when Bush added a “signing statement” that basically said he would ignore the law if it clashed with his own interpretation of the Constitution and executive powers (one of apparently some 700 times he’s done this), Congress meekly carries on with their business. As if they did something.

And then, in the case of Rep. William “Freezer” Jefferson, they claim they must uphold important Constitutional rights meant to place limits on Executive power?

After all this rolling over to executive power, $90,000 in cold hard cash bribery is where you pick your spot?

They tell us we have to be rock hard about seeking out terrorism, even if we think it infringes on our rights, and then they are absolutely flaccid about rooting out corruption in their own ranks.

Like I said, that level of contempt for the public is notable. And well noted, at least by me.

It’s the kind of contempt that you could only conceivably endure from someone exquisitely skilled at their job. And a “bottom line” appraisal shows quite the opposite.

Let’s skip over the ever changing haze of the “annual budget deficit” assessment, and go straight to the bottom line. That annual budget deficit piles up in a total national debt. It had just cracked $1 trillion when Reagan took office in 1980. When Clinton took office in 1992, it had grown to $4.4 trillion. Eight years later when Bush took office, it was $5.7 trillion.

Next year, seven years after Bush took office alongside a Republican Congress (remember your high school civics … when it comes to the federal budget, the President proposes, Congress disposes), seven years littered with a series of tax cuts, we are set to crack $10 trillion.

Essentially, we’ve been spending about 20% more than we’re taking in. Try that in your household for the next seven years and see where you end up. I know, we’ve had lots of unexpected security and defense expenditures since 9/11. But they account for less than half of this overage.

As just one example that sticks in my craw, we have the prescription drug program for seniors. I admit, I didn’t pay close attention when it was on the floor of Congress. I knew it would be an increase in government spending, but if it enables senior citizens to get their drugs for free, that’s an overage I’d support. That was my understanding of it. I do recall it was sold to us as a $400 billion program.

I also recall asking my Dad what he thought of it, after it had passed. He said, “yeah, great, if I live long enough for it to take effect.” I chuckled then. But it took effect Jan. 1, he spent January and February trying to get his coverage “unscrewed” and functional, and then in March he died.

Today, all I know is that we were sold a $400 billion program that they now tell us is going to cost more like $800 billion, and yet, my poor mother is having to pay $25 a month for a prescription drug policy for which the deadline for enrollment was May 15 … when she doesn’t have any prescriptions.

Please, don’t even try to explain this to me. I do not have the reserve brain power, and I think I already know everything I need to know. The government (i.e., you and I) is spending more for this new plan (twice as much as they sold us), my Mom is spending more for this new plan, and she’s not getting any drugs, but someone’s getting a lot more money. It’s baffling, even in Texas.

It’s just one more slap in a couple of years worth of hard lessons about our elected representatives’ priorities and competency. From Terri Schiavo to the reaction to Katrina to the handling of the Dubai Ports deal, Harriet Myers, Scooter Libby, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham … on and on and on … the polls show that folks are fairly fed up.

Been there. Done that. And moved on to a higher plane of disgusted amusement. Of course, the media doesn’t help when they do polls on who we will “vote against.” It reads like no one can get elected. But you know someone will. We tried that in 2000, did our damndest not to elect anybody at all. Look how that worked out.

But like I said, I’m trying to stick with the big picture. And in that view, American politics is like a big pendulum. It swings slowly, but heavily. And as the swing approaches its peak, you see those in the direction it has swung doing extreme things to try and push it another millimeter their way. But it always swings back, and usually crushes some of those “pushers” on the way.

Over the last five years or so, for sure, the pendulum has been swinging decidedly to the right. But whether you want to admit it out loud or not, we’ve all seen that pendulum’s momentum slow of late, and perhaps even pause as it begins the swing back the other way. In fact, a couple of those “pushers” pushed hard enough they’ve already lost their balance and fallen off the stage. More will follow.

You should hear the way they talk in Mississippi. I spent a lot of time there over the last three months or so, in a lot of circumstances, around a lot of people. And in that quite conservative state, there’s going to be a backlash this November. Count on it.

Of course, November is quite a ways off. Much could still happen. But in the House, Speaker Hastert has already made it clear there will be no immigration bill this year, and in the Senate they’ve almost managed to pass a Flag Burning Amendment. In other words, it will be an agenda of pandering, not solutions to real problems.

I don’t know about you, but if I had to bet money in Vegas, I’d bet on a continuing downward trend for DC Republicans through the summer and fall, no matter where they might work. I’d also bet on January bringing us [1] a Democratic House and [2] a lot more trips by Dick Cheney to cast deciding votes in a tightened Senate.

As for 2008, who knows? Oh, I know, there’s the Inevitability of Hillary, and near certain candidacy of John McCain. But really, let’s remember the 2004 campaign. At the beginning of election year, people were making jokes about John Kerry taking out a second mortgage to keep his pitifully hopeless campaign afloat, and Howard Dean was going to win 20 or 30 primaries, at least.

The most “conventional” thing you can say about “Conventional Wisdom” is that it’s usually wrong.

So what would I like to see in 2008? A two party civil war. Not with each other, within themselves. I think it’s wonderful that both parties will have no assumed incumbent as nominee, initiating a free for all to control each party.

I’m going to use the names of a few unlikely nominees to make my point. I’d like to see the Kucinich-Feingold side of the Democrats fight it out with the Biden-Lieberman wing. I’d want to see the Delay-Frist-Falwell followers fight it out with the Guliani-McCain side of the party. In short, I want to see the “core extremes” of each party duke it out once and for all with their moderate centrist counterparts.

I want each party to declare their spot, and define their preferred place in the spectrum. Because I have a feeling if they do, odds are the moderates and centrists in each party will lose. And that means there’s going to be plenty of leftovers to form a third party. And a significant chunk (say, 30%-35%) of disgusted Americans who feel they no longer have a political home, as I’ve felt for some time.

Which is, frankly, the best and only long-term hope I have for Democratic and Republican Parties as they exist today; that some others come along to show them where they’ve lost their way, and how it should be done. I don’t expect there to be any viable or even influential (as in, take 15% of the vote) third party candidate in 2008. But 2012? I think so.

But those are things over which I have no control. As for the limited things I can control, it’s pretty straightforward. I will find myself unable to vote for a Republican candidate even for local dogcatcher this November. Which isn’t exactly an endorsement of Democrats. But the Republican Party has had six years with near complete control of the executive and legislative branches (state and federal), and rather than push forward a conservative revolution, they have nearly completely betrayed basic conservative principles.

So I’m unable to vote for a party that no longer even represents a set of principles they claim they hold, even if I never fully held them myself, nor am I inclined to reward failure.

But locally, that put me in a very bad spot as a constituent of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (the above stand would force me to vote for her over a Republican). However, fate has lightened that load, as I was recently gerrymandered out of her district and into that of Rep. John Lewis.

The only proper expression I can offer is … aahhhhhhh.

And honestly, I think that change also allowed me to “back off” politics a bit. I feel less urgency, anyway. It is somewhat typical of standard American apathy to think “well, the only control I have comes every other November,” and otherwise ignore the mess. Which is likely what they want most, deep down.

But that’s pretty much where I’m at. The “State of My Politics.” I’m disgusted, so much so I attempt to pull amusement out of it now. So much so that I really don’t feel the need to know each excruciating detail of the latest foulup or scandal, as focusing on details implies that’s where the problem is.

It’s much much larger. It’s systemic. It’s binary. It results in acts that show the barely hidden contempt many in DC have for We The People. And that’s got to change.

But, to quote the Atlanta Rhythm Section, “I’m not gonna let it bother me tonight.” Because it’s not going to happen overnight. It will take years to undo this mess.