Musings over wake and bake: We have met the enemy and he is us
“A Republic if you can keep it”
Our Government is what we make it. (“We” being the American electorate) It’s a really simple thing: There are more of us than there are kock brothers and goldman sachs employees. Way more. We could have any of Bernie’s policies easily. We could renew funding for Arts and Schools and Social Services, and have any other Progressive “pipe dream” if we elected people who represented our interests. Instead, our representatives in Government tell us that policies favored by bipartisan majorities are impossible or radical, not because they are, but because the people who own those reps, and, thus, those reps, don’t want those things. Why do we have such a Government? We elect them. Why? There has been some research and writing done on the subject…
One thing that should be too illogical to succeed is the idea of getting elected into Government by proclaiming that Government doesn’t work and should be basically shitcanned. The Actor President quipped about the scariest words being “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help”. (Of course, when he said those same words to Wall St. and the Death Industry, far from being scary, it was music to their $alaries and their Golden Fucking Parachutes) Still, somehow, enough people buy into this BS to keep these grifters afloat.
The gop knows that the more people vote, the worse they do, and they act accordingly. The dems make noises like they object, then hope nobody looks very closely at what they actually do.
All very good reasons to make voting automatic, easy, and Compulsory. All excellent reasons to make learning Civics and Critical Thinking mandatory. Begin teaching children in grade school that Voting is their Duty as a Citizen, something they should look forward to and take pride in. Then they should learn that it’s also their Duty to Know Who They’re Voting For and WHY.
Comments
Discussing politics and religion
should be mandatory and not verboten. People care more about the banalaties of everyday life than the politics that shape it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
People sweat the problems and ignore the causes
Discussing politics and religion in these times can be a problem: in both cases you make kind of an assumption that either the person agrees with you, or that they are swayable. These things have been made into points of contention, deliberately and needlessly. In becoming so, they've been stripped of their meaning and intention, and made into just another means of dividing people and setting them against each other, to keep them distracted and focusing where they can't harm the all important SQ.
I like to talk politics
I actually did a lot of support for local city Democrats and helping them get elected. That was through donations and events to raise awareness. Mostly, we're trying to fix the city's infrastructure because we think it will help long term business. Working locally is a lot more fun too because you get to see Sanders and Hillary people mixing it up toward common goals.
this is what it should mean to talk politics
...To work together with people for the common good on a local and larger level. It's been made into something to shout about, to draw battle lines over. It's used to stir up resentment and defend the indefensible. It should be about seeing to the general welfare and making sure everybody's included, not enshrining the privileges of a few and defending them from the many.
"Our Government is what we make it."
... and our government makes the 'rules of the road' under which we all live.
Case in point:
In Germany the national law for corporate charters (for companies over a set size) requires that one half of the Board of Director's seats must be filled by rank-and-file employees.
In America rank-and-file employee must fight just for the "right of assembly" and the right to collectively represent their own interests, because of ... reasons.
I remember in undergrad that my fav PolSci prof summed up "after WWII we sent people to Germany to help them rebuild, and reform their government, and we basically told them, 'Winner-take-all systems suck, you want to use Proportional Representation' ..."
(Apparently they also all figured out, workers having a say in their own lives, in the corporations where they spend most of their lives, would be nice ...)
A long time ago the Queen granted corporate charters ... In America, corporations grant Congressional and Presidential Charters (/snark)
But my point is, you are right. (But thinking about these things is work ... doing something about it is even harder ;->) Cheers