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The Neolibertarian NetworkSoothsaying
I’m now predicting that the House will be won by the Democrats. Assume, for a moment, that I don’t care much. As Rich Lowrey writes today:
The fundamental problem congressional Republicans are experiencing now is that they have almost no moral capital left after the last two years. Again and again, when given the choice to reform their practices or do little or nothing, they always picked the latter. On travel, on Abramoff, on earmarking—you name it. The impression they always gave was that the integrity of the institution and the public interest had to take a back-seat to their own convenience. They wanted to squeak by this year on gerrymandering, negative ads, and money, and just might have succeeded—had nothing more gone wrong. Well, now it has and people feel confirmed in what they always suspected about this Congress—that it is unable to police its own practices and is full of people who don’t follow the same rules as the rest of us. This is deadly. So, in one sense, the best way to have coped with the fall-out of the Foley scandal would have been long before the Foley scandal ever broke, when all the other scandals were breaking. Then, congressional Republicans would have had some reserve of credibility to fall back on. Now they have very little.
Indeed. Top that with all of the other things antithetical to historical GOP ideals – small government, federalism, etc. and we have a party that stands for little but power. But these things seem to shift from party to party over time – think Rostenkowski.
So, in the words of the Queen of Hearts, off with their heads. It’s so unfortunate they blew it and, like so many Democrats that bemoaned how the Clinton administration turned out, one only can wonder “what might have been” had these self-serving narcissists really been in the business of governance.
There is, of course, the argument by Democrats that theirs is the party to steer the mammoth ship of government into the port of redemption. From the vantage point of this old curmudgeon, having watched the ebb and flow of government malfeasance for more decades than I care to recount, I think that’s either wishful thinking or naivety. Maybe, coming out of the gate, good intentions will suppress the inevitable germs of careerism and the seduction of power. I doubt it though and history is on my side in that doubt.
What the GOP’s failure portends is perhaps even more dire for the hopes of valuable political discourse and, ala Dick Nixon, the “rat fuc_ing” will continue. John Conyers will launch impeachment proceedings, Barney Frank will do his best to pull funding from not only the Iraq fiasco but many other military items for which the need reasonable people can disagree. Nancy Pelosi will stand up bill after bill that will necessarily force George Bush to finally put to use his veto pen, the name calling and political vitriol will continue as S.O.P causing the increasingly disturbing behavior of Americans knowing more about Howie Mandell’s Deal or No Deal than anything of real importance in the political debate – like entitlement reform as one little example.
The president may well be impeached but the Senate, even if lost to the Dems, won’t have the votes to convict. We’ll piss away a butt-load of money in the process and the grounds for political retribution will (again) increase – rightly or wrongly – so politicians can spend the next legislative session looking in the rear view mirror reminding us of what who did to whom rather than paying attention to things that affect Americans.
I will embrace the gridlock from the standpoint that it will slow the obscene growth of government for a while. In the grand scheme of history though it will be rather ephemeral and I suffer a personal despair that we might not be able to pull the brakes due to inertia of “the government is the solution” mindset of all those who deny the law of unintended consequences.
I am increasingly hostile toward modern politics and its hypocrisy. Here in the Montana blogoshpere the left is busy insuring that every misleading statement by the right is labeled a “lie.” If only they would take off their partisan blinders and realize that their people, even the reasonably good ones, employ the same half-assed misleading sound bite approach to duping the populace as do their counterparts. What bothers me most is the brash certitude of their opinions, the “fuck-you” attitude they bear and the dismissal that complex issues have several reasonable sides in a debate. Not that there aren’t conservative factions that have the same shortcomings (and at least one that reaches for new depths of shallowness), but there are noticeably less of them. But it is, I suppose, a right of passage for political adolescents to think they see the way of redemption – not having the hindsight to understand that so many previous redemptive moves screw the exact people they think they will help. I guess that’s the benefit of being “long in the tooth” – we have first hand experience in the law of unintended consequences as the government imposes one “good idea” after another that often tends to either prolong the pain if not actually make it worse. There are exceptions of course.
I’m considering quitting this blog, or at least the political parts of it, for a host of reasons – primarily that it serves not much more that an exercise in mental self-gratification. Most people who read blogs are closed minded and look only for information that bolsters their already firmly held convictions. The conflict for me is that I too think there are ideas worth advancing – but one has to wonder if anyone is listening. I know I have a pretty regular group of readers but I also know that most of them come here for amusement rather than food for thought.
Maybe it’s time to step back and disengage. Maybe it’s time to drift off into the land of art, craft and literature – where the real lessons of society live and are free for the taking. I won’t let the door hit me on the ass. Comes a time when one must admit that the partisans have won – both sides of them. You’ve finally driven me to the point where I dislike the discussion and even tend to think, at times, I dislike you. What does that portend for those who are not politically informed? I shudder at the damage you are doing. I only hope that all of us take responsibility for our part in ruining the debate.
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Well said, my friend. Well said. Another five weeks or so and I’ll feel more comfortable saying what’s been on my mind for the past 18 months or so…
David;
I couldn’t agree with you more, on much of what you are saying.
As for the Congressional Republicans, off with their heads. The Democrats can and should take both houses, despite themselves. This year, all it takes to win is to say that you are not a Republican.
At the end of the day, both parties only really stand for winning and keeping power. A pox on both houses.
As for the blog, I hope that you continue. You give me a great deal to think about, and not just the bland talking points and nasty bickering characterized by many “political” blogs. I am throwing a stone from a glass house; the small-minded partisan bickering is part of the reason that TSJ only really talks about local issues.
Aaron
Good post, David. LITW v WRIM a blogosphere not make. You’d be suprised how well received you are, and you certainly just made many salient points in this post alone. Montana’s political blogoshere needs our poet… Jeff
“Here in the Montana blogoshpere the left is busy insuring that every misleading statement by the right is labeled a “lie.†If only they would take off their partisan blinders and realize that their people, even the reasonably good ones, employ the same half-assed misleading sound bite approach to duping the populace as do their counterparts”
How am I supposed to keep hating you when you post gems like that?
Dave,
I’ve only been reading Montana Blogs for about a year, but yours is on the top of my bookmark list. I can sympathize with your frustration, but I would implore you to continue, as there are so few lucid and compelling political blogs in the state that reflect your point of view. Your departure would leave quite a hole in in this small community. I think the humility in your statement regarding why people come here should be reigned in for just a moment. There are knuckleheads out there whose minds will not be changed by what is said here, and they will continue to reply with their standard vulgarities. Disregard them; they are irrelevant. There are thinking people out there who do appreciate what you do, and unfortunately for you we don’t voice our point of view very often to counter the jaded view you have of the nature of your readers. You certainly make me think, and that is the highest compliment I can give any blog.
Like I just said on my own site, “What TMM said.”
You’ve long been one of my favorites, and your voice is too valuable to lose; at least in my book.
I mean, hells bells, we survived Tony.
Yeah, at times I’ve got a “fuck you” mentality, like when you repeatedly divine the motives of me and my “ilk.” Honestly, Dave, repeatedly ascribing everything I do to partisan politics gets damn old and when it comes to something like habeas corpus, I take it very personally that you would accuse me of using the issue for political reasons.
Want to know why I delinked you? It’s because you’re as rash, quick to assume, and judgmental as the rest of us, but you somehow think you’re different and above us.
Blogs are a first draft writing space. They get nasty because first thoughts are often nasty. They’re unthinking because initial thoughts are rarely fully formed.
But, yeah, I’m going to have some “fuck you” moments. All of us do. I don’t apologize for that.
If it walks like a duck…
and
You’re a hypocrite.
We all are. That’s my point.
We’ve discovered a new low in the rationalization of a double-standard.
As to who will control house and senate come this January, it will be, in my opinion, Republicans. Too much of the vote is counted now by corporations run by Republican partisans to let that opportunity slip by. As I predicted over at our hacky mindless partisan blog, , control of the Senate will likely be 54/45/1 Republicans.. House is a little harder to call, but the same people are counting the votes.
As to whether you should continue blogging, the disdain you have for ordinary partisans is telling. You really ought to call this place “The View Looking Down My Nose.”
I really don’t think that the Democrats have figured out how to win back the House or Senate, but if they do it won’t be the end of the world. These things go in cycles, and voters need to see who the liberals really are once in a while.
I wouldn’t blame you for stopping the politics.
As David Crisp has pointed out before, there is no money in it, and it takes time.
After the election is over I intend to spend most of my time over at Downtown Billings, since I really care about our town more than State politics.
Budge: I hate to see you go. You were never much of a thinker or a writer, but it was fun watching you suffer.
“I mean, hells bells, we survived Tony.
”
So far…..
Dave, come to the dark side of apathy, cash out, fuck them all, hedonism is the rule of the day…
from the deck of s/v “Stella Blue”….
I dont miss a thing watching from the sidelines…
Tony!
We gotta get together. Have lunch. Catch up.
I’m not headed that way any time soon, but keep some enchiladas warm for me, will ya?
Yeah, lunch, I have been wanting to give you some intelligence for some time. Ever get down to Mexico, look me up.
Im on the boat, big flag hanging from the spreader…says “Fuck the US”.