Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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October 1, 2007 11:28 AM
The Definition of Insanity
Someone (either Ben Franklin or Albert Einstein) once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Yet, congressional Democrats want American voters to subscribe to this very form of insanity when it comes to the Iraq War.
On Bill Maher's HBO show this weekend, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) first pushed the Innocent Bystander Fable, then, when cornered, said the only way to end the war is to elect more Democrats and a Democratic president.
Now think about that for just a second. We elected Democrats in 2006 to end the war. They are now taking to the television airwaves to brag about their refusal to use the power they have to end the war - the constitutional power of the purse. And yet, we are expected to believe the real way to end the war is to elect more Democrats. Why should anyone believe simply electing more Democrats is going to end the war? Where is there any proof that that would help end the war? Or do Democratic leaders think we are so stupid and so insane that we will believe this self-serving line of reasoning without any shred of evidence? This is the definition of political insanity: Electing the same candidates over and over and over again and expecting different results.
Getting more Democrats in Congress would probably mean a better chance to pass progressive legislation. But as it relates specifically to the Iraq War, Democrats have the power to end the war right now if they wanted to. They just don't want to take the political risk to do so - and there's no reason to think that with more Democrats they would be any more inclined to take those risks in the future (Remember - Richard Nixon campaigned in 1968 on a promise to end the war - and he only followed through many years later). The only way they are going to end the war is if they are forced to end the war, under threat of being thrown out of office. And to argue otherwise is to be blinded by Partisan War Syndrome.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
I think you're wrong, David. They won't end the war if they feel threatened with being thrown out of office.
Like the neocons and Republicans, they think they can always rally the base around women's rights, racial equality, etcetera.
The gamble for high stakes payoffs through schoozing corporate lobbyists and military contracts is just too mouthwatering to be resisted.
It's only by ACTUALLY THROWING THEM OUT OF OFFICE that we are going to end this war, and the next one, too!
That's "schmoozing."
Dems came VERY close last spring.
Then, with the "prospect" of more Republican support this fall, Dems blinked.
With looming Iraq spending bills, Dems can still grow a pair.
Waiting for Hillary's election is mindless and cowardly. Besides signaling her support for attacks on Iran, she'll be proving her "toughness" as the first female prez.
Saw Real Time, too. B. Maher, etc. let Rahm slither away into focus group tested "but we need those better armed Humvees". Very sad.
Flotron9 wrote:
They won't end the war if they feel threatened with being thrown out of office.
Bingo! for a politico being threatened with being thrown out of office is about the only way to get their attention nowadays.
Letters don't work nor do protests and t-shirts.
Its about the only option we have left. The problem is the democratic blogosphere and outfits like Move-on would rather play patty cake with the fuckers instead on whacking them on their nuts.
This is the proverbial ball buster to comment on. I agree with both David and flotron9 although flotron 9 sounds like a new form of water soluble plutonium. Ahem. If we follow 9's suggestion, we will of a certainty be insane because the GOP will get our vote by default. It seems like a Nadaresk argument. Flotron is right on spot again about why we cannot pressure the dems. From the standpoint of David, we are also insane to think we can pressure the dems into doing our will and he offers no solution to this paradox. We are not even on the public's radar, as I read the media. That's why we are marginalized by them. There is no doubt, that pressure is the way to go, so David is right, but let's get real, we don't apparently have this option, so he is realistically wrong. How to overcome progressive blackout from the public debate seems the real question. How about it David. How about finding a way for somebody to live on those Sunday morning talking head shows or getting one of the candidates to take up our cause, way publicly? How about Richardson who needs a boost? He seems grounded better than anyone else. He really wants to end the war the way it should be ended. Has anyone approached any one? Or is everybody just trying to dream a winner?
The following is by Fred Reed and sums up the situation quite well:
Today the United States is politically and socially constipated. Nothing moves, or at least not in a desirable direction. Crooks, frauds, revivalists, the over-empowered under-brained, believers and mouth-breathers and unabashed lunatics—all of these have so firmly gummed up the gears that improvement founders. Someone seems to have poured glue into the political kaleidoscope. Little point exists in curmudgeing at the bastards.
A few examples to make a point: The schools are terrible, we know they are terrible, we have known it for decades, and yet they only get worse. The universities [have] become dumbed-down propaganda chutes, and we know it, yet they only get worse. The War on Drugs is an ineffective farce continued for the benefit of drug lords, and we know it, yet we continue. The racial situation is both grim and stagnant. We have no military enemies, yet spend ever more on “defense.” None of these foolishnesses can be changed. If they could be, by now they would have been.
A train wreck once started goes to completion.
And the policeman cometh. He cannot, I think, be stopped. The abolitions of the Bill of Rights, the ever increasing surveillance, the diminished recourse of citizens against the government—these are not business as usual. They have happened before, in bits and pieces, but now they become respectable. The CIA has always tortured people and the FBI has always engaged in illegal phone-tapping and political persecution. Yet in the past they didn’t want to be caught because consequences might follow. These are now federal policy, openly admitted. The government keeps records of the books you read in the airport. This is something different.
And it can’t be stopped. Actually it is wild and fun when viewed as entertainment. What a show: The United States is close to one-man rule. Congress is complicit, the Supreme Court a nursing home. No serious opposition exists. If Bush leaves office in 2008, the incoming president will continue the trends of today. The effects begin to show. People grow ever more docile, accustomed to intimidation, to searches without cause.
...We no longer have the sense of shame that once made exposure of misdeeds effective. The spying will not stop. There is no will to stop it, and the technology improves. Nor will we see a return to the semi-constitutional government of old. It means nothing to most people, yet, and by the time it does mean something, it will be too late.
Perhaps tyranny is the natural order of things for our species? Not because of the tyrants, but because the rest of us can't organize to keep them in line? Perhaps The Enlightenment was just a blip, soon to be written out of history, which is, of course, written by the tyrants? Note that I don't have any answers.
qaltc, thanks. Very few authors ever look at the long term trends. Most go by 6 years at best thereby giving the KILLtons and the RAYGUNs total leeway. Don't forget that it was the FBI and CIA that protected, funded, trained, and armed Osama bin Laden and still do protect most similar terrorist groups these days. At the same time America's freedoms are being tossed out the window regardless of who's in power. No wonder America LOSES the oxymoronic "war on terror" VERY BADLY.
By the way, Fred Reed may want to discuss about the way we Americans are so childishly goaded into spending like there's no tomorrow even in the MIDDLE OF A CRISIS.
By the way, Fred Reed may want to discuss about the way we Americans so childishly spend like there's no tomorrow even in the MIDDLE OF A CRISIS. The propaganda on the government, media, etc ... that "spending drives the economy" has got to STOP. The only reason anything's "cheap" anymore is this country is borrowing money off central Asian banks like there's no tomorrow whether we're talking about those fucking ipods or even the wars themselves. I'd say the train wreck is 80% complete and will likely be 200% by 2020 if we're "lucky".
These shit heads just voted to give Bush the ability to launch his attack upon IRAN, Iraq is yesterdays war..
Iraq was just the pre-game show for the big event..
Armageddon "bring it on.."
Yeehaa..we're totally fucked now..!
I've been saying that we need to get rid of the Republi-lites who are damaging the Democratic party the way the neo-cons have destroyed the Republicans, for a while now.
Hillary is the Queen of the Republi-lites. She is one of the Democrats who has to go.
She isn't proving that she is tough, she is proving that she is just another K-street minion.
By the way, Fred Reed may want to discuss about the way we Americans so childishly spend like there's no tomorrow even in the MIDDLE OF A CRISIS
Fred writes about a lot of things his website is:
www.fredoneverything.net
We spend like no tommorow because we are consumers not citizens. Madison Avenue gives the marching orders today. Most people no longer care about the Constitution, Bill of Rights or whether we're at war in some 3rd world hell hole. Americans as a whole are too dumbed down and docile to be concerned with such abstractions. All they care about is beer, sports, junk food, porn, bling worship, getting the latest flatscreen TV,IPOD and a humongous motorized cod-piece(SUV).
Hell most Americans still can't find Iraq on a map or tell you what langauges are spoken their and what religous sects compose the Iraqi state. Most Americans revel in their ignorance of the world.
This ignorance even extends to our high ranking elected officials.
And forget about getting these sorts of people to read a book or anything beyond the sports page in a newspaper.
BTW if you want to scare yourself watch Jay Leno "Jay Walking" where he asks people basic questions about the world and our country. The level of ignorance out there is astounding.
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