The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Ramona's picture

    So It Happened And It Was Bad. No Quitting Now.

    By Ramona on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 3:11pm | Politics

    It's been almost a week since the mid-term elections and you may or may not have noticed that this space has been empty.  Deserted.  Lights out.  Nobody home.

    It wasn't because I'm chicken to express how I feel about what happened last Tuesday.  That's not it.   I kept trying, but I honestly had nothing coherent to say about it.  I wrote an entire blog post on Wednesday morning and almost hit the "Publish" button before I realized that it was nothing but one big whine.  A total waste of time.  We didn't just lose an election, we lost in such a devastating, humiliating slam-dunk of a rout, I felt as if I have been physically beaten.  I couldn't catch my breath, it hurt so bad.  The only thing I could think to do was to lay low and do nothing.

    It worked out that there were other things going on in my life that distracted me enough so that going off the deep end wasn't an option.  For the first two days I deliberately stayed away from the blame games, the prognosticating, the clueless reporting of the results--as if it wasn't the worst thing in the world that the Republicans skunked us.  All across the country.  The undeserving bastards SKUNKED US!!!!

    But, okay. 

    I was not the only one to take the loss personally.  A whole lot of cussin' going on out there.  And blaming.  Mostly at the Democrats who apparently let this happen, either by choosing bad candidates, by running hopelessly out-of-touch campaigns, or by being pseudo-Democrats who pretended they cared but didn't feel the need to actually go out and vote. 

    For once it wasn't Obama's fault, it was the fault of the Democrats who moved away from Obama in order to have a chance at winning in Obama-hostile states.  Unless you believe it was Obama's fault for not giving those Dems reason enough to want to include him in their quest, as representatives of his party, to win a seat on the Democratic side.

    There is plenty of blame to go around and all of the principals deserve a portion of the flak, but the bottom line is that the Republicans are now in charge of everything but the executive branch of our government, and the big unknown is how the executive branch will handle it.  The truth is, President Obama doesn't follow a predictable path.  He doesn't even follow a Party path.  He is the epitome of the Big Unknown.  Will he now suddenly become our 21st Century FDR?  I wish.  But no, he won't.

    Will the Republicans suddenly come to their senses and realize they have two years to attempt to fix the damage they've already done, hoping that by 2016 we'll forget that they're the enemy and give them a chance at owning the entire government?  No to the first part but yes to the last.

    I want to quit.  I'm tired and mad and demoralized and hurt.  But it's like voting.  If I stay at home deciding my vote won't count, it won't.  If  I decide my voice won't count, it won't.  My singular voice doesn't count, but if I add it to the thousands of others who can't and won't give up now, we might just make a difference.

    It's the hopeless optimists the Republicans have to fear.  We've always been their undoing.

     

    (Cross-posted at Ramona's Voices)

    Topics: 
    Politics

    Comments

    Well we whine and then we say 'cheese'.

    ha

    It was state politics that got to me, frankly since I already knew we were all going to die.

    I mean the repubs in Wisconsin and Kansas just destroyed their own economies while butchering the members of the middle class that receive government checks!

    So we put up a new face, we attempt to look positive and we live to fight another day.

    I blame it all on 'turn-out'.

    We live in a culture that relies on advertisements and the Kocks won over their potential customers.

    Think about how much Viagra they could have sold with all those bucks?

    LET US PRAY.


    by Richard Day on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 5:20pm

    Richard, I think it was state politics that did me in, too.  Here in Michigan the Republicans won everything but Carl Levin's senate seat.  Gary Peters is as liberal as I am and still won, even in an election where NO Democrats won anything.  So that means some Republican voters had to vote for him.  I don't get it.

    The pundits said we had a weak gubernatorial candidate in Mark Schauer but that's not true.  He would have made a fine governor and he did everything he could do to get his name out there.  He knocked on thousands of doors, held town hall meetings in every county in the state--and, contrary to what those same pundits kept repeating--had a message that should have resonated in a state with so many people hurting because of bad policy.

    It could have been the turn-out but if the economy doesn't motivate Michigan voters I don't know what ever will.  Sad.


    by Ramona on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:04pm

     

    Yeah, this one hurt.     I think we are all scrabbling to find a new direction ..

     

    haiku:  They say that I am
    hopelessly optimistic ...
    I just hope they're right.

     

     

     

     

     


    by MrSmith1 on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 6:20pm

    Oh, Mr. Smith, that is perfect!  Perfect.  It should be a meme and it should go viral.  I LOVE it.


    by Ramona on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:05pm

    Isn't he gooooooooooooood. ha


    by Richard Day on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:56pm

    I agree,  it is good.


    by Resistance on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:07pm

    it was the fault of the Democrats who moved away from Obama in order to have a chance at winning in Obama-hostile states.

    Moved away? Hell they ran away from him; they had heard an earful from their base

    (Not Obama's base) and they needed to distance themselves from him. 

    Imagine a base that says "we would trust and support you, but not him"

    Ashamed to admit, they had voted for him in the first place. Especially,after the fiasco by Kathleen Sebelius who oversaw the role out of Obamacare; with all of its uncertainty.

    (Officially, CGI was awarded a $93 million contract for the healthcare.gov job.)

    Helping to make the Obama administration look inept. 

    The voters asking, "where were you Senator" "Do you support Obama"? 


    by Resistance on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:06pm

    Can't wait to hear all the good things the Republicans have done.  I'll bet you're excited now, huh?  Go ahead.  Start your list.  Any time.


    by Ramona on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:07pm

    Not really, Haven't I been saying the whole exercise of Democracy in America is rigged. 

    A two party system that has failed the people, but hasn't failed to deliver for the corporatists.

    Are you still excited of seeing a brighter future under the present system?  

    “I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.”
    ― Eugene V. Debs

    tags: aristocracy, capitalism, feudalism, 

    inequality, justice, labor, poverty, wealth


    by Resistance on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:22pm

    A two party system that has failed the people, but hasn't failed to deliver for the corporatists.

     

    OK, then.  I'm sure we're all well prepared for your realistically achievable alternative, so maybe it's time for you to actually propose something concrete, rather than yammer from the sidelines.


    by Austin Train on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 9:03pm

    .


    by Resistance on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 11:26pm

    I suspect you are not really interested in my thoughts on 

    realistically achievable alternative,

    I wouldn't expect you to understand my alternative, I might as well speak to a dog and expect the same result.

    The problem with Kool Aid drinkers is they think everyone else, should drink the Kool Aid that blinds.

    Is it vanity or the ignorance?

    Here's an interesting thought for others to consider. 

    “I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. … Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.” 
    ― John Adams, The Letters of John and Abigail Adams 


    by Resistance on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 2:05pm

    Despite your overblown self-importance, Least, you do yourself no favor.

    And repeating yourself simply shows you to be inept at the very act of posting in the bargain.

    Were you to speak to a dog, he would no doubt pity you for your foolishness while loathing you for your arrogance.  And he'd be far too charitable in both.

    I asked you a direct question.

    Clearly you have no interest in responding.

    Since you will no doubt complain again that I am exercising "hate speech" I will feel free to recap my summation of you from earlier as a crap-flinging provocateur.

    You merely amplify it with every comment you make.

    Now go cry to Papa Michael.


    by Austin Train on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 3:55pm

    You are clearly disturbed.

    Crap-flinging provocateur? 


    by Resistance on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 11:57pm

      Oh my my... Still at it ... Eh?

    Have you taken a look at yourself lately?

     

    ~OGD~

    .


    by oldenGoldenDecoy on Wed, 11/12/2014 - 3:14am

    Make up a list of qualifications candidates must meet to be considered for office.

    Place qualified candidates names in a hat.

    Draw name of winner.

     

     


    by EmmaZahn on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 6:17pm

    Hey Mona, we can argue about who is to blame forever, but I don't think it's productive. The question is how to do better next time. Logically, there are two options: 1) persuade more liberals to vote; 2) persuade more voters to be liberal.

    In the last election, Democrats worked very hard on 1 without much to show for it. We have ignored 2 for much too long. Instead of waiting for the base to grow (millennials, latinos, etc.), Democrats must grow the base. That means articulating ideas that can attract and mobilize a broader range of Americans.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:50pm

    I think it's a myth that Democrats didn't articulate ideas.  They worked their asses off in Michigan trying to unseat Snyder and the Republican-dominated legislature, and they did it with concrete ideas about how to make government work more effectively, more humanely.  Thousands of Democrats went out knocking on doors, holding meetings, discussing issues, trying to convince voters that their plan was the right one and it could work. 

    Everywhere they went, they thought they had it.  They thought they got through.  And maybe they did, but they couldn't get out the vote.  They didn't have the money for signs, brochures, TV and newspaper ads like the Republicans did.  They didn't do everything perfectly, of course, but nobody who worked as hard as they did could believe they could lose so badly.  But they did.


    by Ramona on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 8:05pm

    People are tired of the empty promises.

    For a brief moment in 2008, the People set aside their feelings of cynicism; they wanted to believe in HOPE; but that too proved to be an illusion and the people were not surprised to hear the same old tired excuses of WHY it didn’t work

    Cynicism is an attitude or state of mind characterized by a general distrust of others' motives believing that humans are selfish by nature, ruled by emotion, and heavily influenced by the same primitive instincts that helped humans survive in the wild before agriculture and civilization became established.[1] A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in the human species or people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic perceives as vain, unobtainable, or ultimately meaningless and therefore deserving of ridicule or admonishment. It is a form of jaded prudence, and other times, realistic criticism or skepticism. The term originally derives from the ancient Greek philosophers, the Cynics, who rejected all conventions, whether of religion, manners, housing, dress, or decency, instead advocating the pursuit of virtue in accordance with a simple and idealistic way of life.  Cynicism (contemporary)

    For me it’s the” WAY” I put hope in.  It’s a simple life,  where the people live by principles.

    Skepticism, doubt, distrust, mistrust, suspicion, disbelief; pessimism, negativity, world-weariness, disenchantment


    by Resistance on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 8:58pm

    It could be all the money that is sloshing through the election cycle and the constant year around campaigns.  It never seems to stop. The middle class is turning their backs to it.  Koch money filtered down to the local level in buckets full in my area. 


    by trkingmomoe on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 8:59pm

    What were the ideas? Here in NYC, I heard little from Cuomo or anyone else. I went to the polls from a sense of civic duty, not with any enthusiasm.


    by Michael Wolraich on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 9:59pm

    Agreed.  It was pathetic.  Cuomo said and did as little as possible, and his Republican opponent must have decided to spend all his time and money upstate.  Cuomo's ads, and there didn't seem to be very many of them, were mostly reminding voters that he had a woman as a running mate, and that evidently, she's a nice person ... and a woman. 

     

     


    by MrSmith1 on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 11:03pm

    Josh's diagnosis of a national dearth of progressive ideas:

    The great political reality of our time is that Democrats don't know (and nobody else does either) how to get wage growth and productivity growth or economic growth lines back into sync...But you cannot make middle class wage growth and wealth inequality the center of your politics unless you have a set of policies which credibly claims some real shot at addressing the problem.

    A very compelling but disturbing piece. I'll post it in the news links for discussion.


    by Michael Wolraich on Thu, 11/13/2014 - 4:01pm

    A lot of work was done in these states.  In Florida there was a increase in minority turn out.  We also have voter suppression.  Crist ran embracing Obama's accomplishments and ran as a populist.  So not all arguments apply to all states.  The turn out in spite of the effort of minority voters in urban areas the turn out was the lowest in Florida since 1942 when we were at war that we couldn't seem to win any real battles during the first year.  Maybe we should look back at the 1942 election and why the low turn out?  I was actually surprised to here about low turn out during the war.   

     

     


    by trkingmomoe on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 8:41pm

    Let us face the matter squarely 

    as a commercial people should,                                                                                                   we have had no end of  a lesson,                                                                                                                                         it will do us no end of good

     

    Kipling, I think.

    In fact my guess is we did nothing wrong. A fairly large chunk of the population was out of work for a fairly large part of the last six years and they didn't like it .And wanted to show they didn't like it.

    Easy for us to say that was irrational, That Alan Greenspan and George Bush were steering the ship on to the rocks.. But Joe Lunchpail blames the guy who was in office the day he clocked out for the last time and went home to stare out the window or at the unpaid bills.

    Now that's ancient history. Joe's got that out of his system and maybe  even feeling a little guilty. What we've  got to do is just  keep on keep'in on. Don't spin our wheels fixing things that ain't broke ..             

    When in danger  

     or in doubt   

    run in circles

    scream and shout........................................

    Or negotiate a trade deal. Same thing.

     


    by Flavius on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 9:05am

    Steering the ship onto the rocks....

    This is easy, I hereby render unto Flavius (some strange Roman Historian) the Dayly Line of the Day for this here Dagblog Site, given to all of him from all of me. hahahah

    ​This line is just precious, damn!

    THE MASTERS OF WAR SHALL ALWAYS LEAD OUR SHIP ONTO THE ROCKS:

     

     


    by Richard Day on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 2:24am

    I'm honored.

    Is there any money in it?

    F


    by Flavius on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 9:06am

    Capitalist?​ wink


    by Resistance on Tue, 11/11/2014 - 1:29pm

    Pro Bono Publica!


    by Richard Day on Wed, 11/12/2014 - 4:24pm

    A


    by Richard Day on Wed, 11/12/2014 - 4:24pm