48% of the problem is the Democratic Party

Post Reply New Topic

I've recently typed a thread about the depravity of the austerity era the United States is about to enter. And while I focused (polemically) on the Republican Party, in part because of how much I despise the distorted way they've framed the jobs debate and in part because of how hypocritical the organization is, I think it goes without saying that the Democrats have contributed to this disasterous state of affairs.

When even a segment of millionaires and billionaires is telling Obama that tax cuts for them aren't a good idea right now, with massive majorities of the populace supportive of taxation on the rich, this obscence wasting of a large chunk of money that could be used to finance the public sector is inexcusable.

Obama is much weaker than the former leadership of the House Democrats and the current leader of the Senate Democrats (and that's generally the more conservative chamber). Obama's fetish for bipartisanship has sunk a party that's already capitulated over the past thirty years into new, historic lows.

Progressive policies which most Americans (whether they label themselves "liberal", "moderate", or "conservative") support, like the Public Option or a more targeted stimulus bill, have been thrown down the toilet by the Capitulator in Chief.

Yet this isn't just about (political) Executive Dysfunction. Many Blue Dog and DLC Democrats were given enormous sway in Obama's administration, one even tasked with writing critical provisions of the Health Insurance Reform package. Some, like Evan Bayh, had gross conflicts of interest in this (Evan Bayh's wife was served on the boards of numerous pharmaceutical and insurance companies).

To US progressives - GET OUT THERE!! ! Open Left has done some preliminary work on what it would take to win in a Democratic Primary. And start re-mobilizing the youth.

I don't think anything is going to improve politically until things get much much worse. It seams the goal of the Tea Party is to turn the clock back to 1929. Might as well repeal Social Security and Medicare and let the riots begin.

...and the rest (52%) of the problem is the Republican Party. Same crap, different pile.

Unfortunately, it's either voluntary austerity or involuntary austerity at this point. Voluntary austerity is a b**ch. INvoluntary austerity, OTOH, is a mutha. For some clue as to where the US might be headed, look at Argentina. That's called "spending yourself into the poorhouse". The US is about to go into the poorhouse, and it will probably be a permanent resident. In some way, this was made inevitable by the constant pump priming by Greenspan. There's no more money. At ALL. We spent it already on wars and a housing boom that was illusionary. Kon is right, 50% of the problem is the Democrats, and 50% is the Republicans. Same sh*t different day. Both parties are the party of greed.

Yeah, but Argentina didn't have shedloads of weapons. Argentina couldn't even whip the UK.

The US government can do with its military as it pleases.

[quote="marshall"]I don't think anything is going to improve politically until things get much much worse. It seams the goal of the Tea Party is to turn the clock back to 1929. Might as well repeal Social Security and Medicare and let the riots begin.[/quote

The naive nostalgia and Constitutional originalism of these people gives me chills.
The irony, of course, is that the Constitution was a triumph of the Federalists over the Anti-Federalists; if they really wanted to hate on the federal government and be originalists to the hilt, they would be worshiping the Articles of Confederation, not the Constitution.