The Big Disconnect

On one level, American politics looks amazingly stable. President Obama’s approval rating is about 47 percent, and it hasn’t changed much in well over a year. Health care reform is mildly unpopular, and the public’s view hasn’t shifted much since before it was passed.

According to Pew Research Center polls, the public is evenly divided over which party can do a better job of handling foreign policy, the job situation, Social Security reform, health care reform and many other issues. It looks as if we’re back to the 50-50 stasis that has been the norm for the past few decades.

Moreover, the two parties are about to run utterly familiar political campaigns. The Democrats are going to promise to raise taxes on the rich to preserve the welfare state, just as they have since 1980. The Republicans are going to vow to cut taxes and introduce market mechanisms to reform the welfare state, just as they have since 1980.

Way to go US DEMS--- thanks (ass holes)

House Dems Reject Obama-GOP Tax Deal

The Senate appears headed toward approval of President Obama’s controversial fiscal deal with Republicans amidst an uproar by Democratic members of the House. This week, Obama agreed to extend the Bush-era tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and reduce the estate tax in return for a 13-month extension of jobless benefits and a handful of tax credits for low- and moderate-income Americans. According to the New York Times, at least a quarter of the tax savings under the deal will go to the wealthiest one percent of the population. The only group that will see its taxes increase are the nation’s lowest-paid workers. The Senate has scheduled a test vote on Monday after opening debate on the measure last night. Meanwhile in the House, the Democratic caucus passed a non-binding measure denouncing the tax deal. At the White House, President Obama urged lawmakers to drop their opposition.

President Obama: "The average American family will start 2011 knowing that there will be more money to pay the bills each month, more money to pay for tuition, more money to raise their children. But if this framework fails, the reverse is true. Americans would see it in smaller paychecks that would have the effect of fewer jobs. So as we meet here today to talk about one important facet of our economic strategy for the future, I urge members of Congress to move forward on this essential priority."

Senate GOP Blocks "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" Repeal, DREAM Act, 9/11 Settlement

The U.S. Senate has failed to advance a measure that would repeal the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." On Thursday, the Senate fell three votes short of advancing a military spending bill with a repeal provision attached. The vote raises the prospect that the ban will not be repealed before Republicans take over the House and weaken the Democrats’ Senate majority next month. In another vote, Republicans also blocked a measure to advance the DREAM Act, a provision that would grant undocumented young people a chance at citizenship. Republicans also blocked a measure to provide up to $7.4 billion to workers sickened during the cleanup at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks. The measure passed the House earlier this year.

Elections: The Day After (the need for radical thinking) - Election coke or pepsi?

November 2 is going to be a big day in our political lives.

But November 3 will be far more important.

On mid-term Election Day, voters will choose between candidates with different positions on health-care insurance, withdrawal from Afghanistan, and CO2 levels that drive global warming. The politicians we send to the legislatures and executive offices will make -- or avoid making -- important decisions. Our votes matter.

But Election Day is far from the most important moment in our political lives. The radical changes necessary to produce a just and sustainable society are not on the table for politicians in the Republican or Democratic parties, which means we citizens have to commit to ongoing radical political activity after the election.

Peddling politics in America

Midterm contributions soar to record levels in 2010, a sign that the US campaign finance system is tainted as ever.

Our country is in economic distress. Millions are out of work, and cutbacks in public services are pervasive at the city and state levels.

The 'great recession' is deep and could go deeper. Most families are tightening their belts and in some cases are at breaking point because their benefits have run out.

Money is hard to find, perhaps, for the people but, curiously, not for their political representatives - nominal public servants. Despite the fact that popularity for politicians, especially members of Congress, is at an all-time low, campaign contributions are at an all time high.

The Washington Post reports that House and Senate candidates are "on their way to surpassing $2 billion in spending for the first time … the equivalent of about $4 million for every congressional seat up for grabs".

The Rally to Restore Sanity

Poloticks: Scores of Stimulus Opponents Sought Money out of Public View

A new report from the Center for Public Integrity shows scores of Republicans and conservative Democrats who voted against the $787 billion stimulus subsequently wrote letters requesting funds for projects in a massive, behind-the-scenes letter-writing and phone-call campaign.

Those asking for money include Tea Party favorites like freshman Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former presidential candidates Ron Paul and John McCain, and Republican congressional leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana. Many Democratic leaders who had boasted they prevented lawmakers from inserting special spending requests in the stimulus law also engaged in the behind-the-scenes letter writing to secure funding afterward, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

The more you have ($) the more you get (votes)

GOP Gains Fundraising Advantage Ahead of Midterm Election

Newly disclosed campaign records show Republicans have benefited from a surge in campaign donations in recent months. The Wall Street Journalreports the Republican candidates in the ten closest Senate races raised $41 million in the third quarter, nearly three times as much as their Democratic candidate opponents. The difference was most striking in Nevada, where Republican Sharron Angle raised $14 million, seven times as much as her opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics reports outside groups, including some funded by secret donors, have spent $167 million so far in the 2010 election cycle. That’s up from about $70 million four years ago. A recent study of TV ad buys in September and early October found that outside groups were spending nine times as much on Republicans as Democrats

Former Corporate CEOs-Turned Politicians Spend Big In 2010 Races

JULIET WILLIAMS | 08/ 9/10 06:18 AM | 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the midst of one of the worst recessions in decades, a host of former corporate leaders are spending millions in their quest for elective office, using their personal wealth to push past the political machinery and their own lack of experience.

In California, billionaire former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman has bankrolled more than $91 million of the nearly $100 million her Republican quest for governor has cost so far. Her outsized spending has bought her some of the nation's best-known GOP strategists and chartered planes offering "white glove service." It's also helped her target traditionally Democratic voters.

Media- Lobby Complex

“The Media-Lobbying Complex”: Investigation Exposes Undisclosed Corporate Ties of Network Political Pundits


IF YOU HAVE THE TIME, WATCH.

Change we can not beleive in.

Now that some time has past since Obama's election it is time we take a second-gander at the "change we believe in" and exam the caliber of this change. An inspection, even a general one, would bring to light the trivial nature of this change--or complete lack-there-of change--that electoral politics offers. We may then be humbled to realize and admit to ourselves that electoral politics are neither a viable tactic nor solution for the "change we want" and the issues we face.

The Flobots, a rock/hip-hop band from Colorado, published a series of cartoons regarding issue of their choosing. One cartoon titled "Vote for Change" was an attempt to empower folks to vote for the 2008 elections and to remind the masses that they have a voice through their vote. Now, this common and overused approach-rhetoric of change is a nice thought; but does little in the reality of change, not historically not currently.

Voting, in and of itself, is not a negative or evil thing. The idea of voting is, in fact, a precious skeleton for a consensus democracy. The value of this realization and paradox is that our votes do matter, figuratively, but in the reality of the current political climate in the United States votes do not, actually, matter. It didn't matter in Copenhagen nor in Afghanistan, it did not matter in Health Care Reform nor in the Bail-Out. The avenue of voices, supposedly our ability to vote, is inexistent and thus voting is a voiceless endeavor; one that guarantees much of the same. The only votes that matter are the ones backed by bucks.

That said, I take offense to The Flobots cartoons touting voting as if it were the path to solution and holistic justice. There is a danger in thinking that voting matters, for it does nothing to challenge the power imbalance in the United States and breed contentment. (Bill Hicks offers some insight on this matter, please watch)

The Flobots, all in all, have some good undertones. The song "Same thing" that ironically gets at elements that were represented earlier:

Saying the same things over again
Repeatin’ the same slogans we don't know where we've been
We've been all over the globe on our government's funds
Leavin’ man, woman, and child dead bloody and numb
Saying the same things over again
Repeatin’ the same slogans we don't know where we've been
We've been overthrowing leaders with legitimate views
Democratically elected but we didn't approve....

the short-comings are disappointing in that even with this realization they and their listeners still seem, at least somewhat, fooled by the electoral process. The title of their album is "fight with tools" I hope that the band and their listeners pick better tools to fight with than the voting ballets. The current stakes are too grave, the power too imbalanced and the propaganda increasingly invasive, for us to think that voting and American politics will bring anything but the same status quo, not justice, not peace, not change. The idea of FIGHT WITH TOOLS is encouraging but we need to question what tools we are fighting with. The lyric that starts off "same thing" suggest a plotting of action" Somewhere between prayer and revolution, Between Jesus and Huey P. Newton". I would recommend considering a bit more Newton than Jesus style tactics, it is time for change it is time for us to get the power back, and not sit idly by. Singing peace songs and raising pickets’; while the world and its people are ripped apart and its people deemed second class citizens is not enough. Question your tactics. Feel the pressure. Challenge yourself. Challenge the Systems. Risk your comfort. Fight with Tools .No Justice No Peace.

National Day of action Against Electoral Politics.