Sunday, March 05, 2006
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RANDOM ACTS OF CONCIOUSNESS
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Would you make someone the Commisioner of Baseball if he hated baseball? Would you put someone who hates science fiction in charge of programming the Sci Fi Channel? If you were an employer, would want to hire someone whose enthusiastic about working for you, or hire someone who dreads the idea of working for you?
Why then, would you elect someone to a office who hates government?
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Denial Policy with Relish
I was thinking about the current presidential administration and the previous administration, and about honesty.
Let's review. Clinton would engage in the flat out lie,or in information omittance. Bush (and the Republicans) merely attack those who question him (them), He (they) will distort facts, or just plain out lie.
Let's see if you can figure out how the Bush admin deceives with the following parody: (We'll create a hypothetical scenario of President Bush (or any Bush official or representative) and a team of reporters.)
"President Bush, did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"I did not put relish on my hot dog."
"We didn't ask about relish, Mr. President, we asked if you put ketchup on your hot dog."
"You know, there are people in this country who just hate relish on a hot dog. I repeat. I didn't put relish on the hot dog."
"Again, Mr. President, did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"There are people in this country who do not believe that some condiments deserve equal attention. There are people in this country who think that relish does not deserve equal time with other condiments. Relish can be enjoyed just like other condiments like ketchup and mustard."
"We were just trying to get to the point of the matter, Mr. President. Did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"I've already answered that question. I've said everything I'm going to say on the matter. Next question."
Just to be fair, let's review the previous President's style.
"President Clinton, did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"I did not have ketchup relations with my hot dog."
"Mr. President, we've found mustard stains on your tie, what can you say about that?"
"I had an innapropriate relationship with mustard and my hot dog. I'm not proud of the fact."
Why is it we Americans are tolerating this level of dishonesty from our politicians?
Certainly, we don't want to be lied to. We don't want to be treated like children, and kept in the dark about important matters of state. I understand wanting to sugar coat information, or to create a positive spin on a bad thing, but these politicians work for us, the people.
The absolute level of disconnect between the Republicans and the people has gotten to a critical level. If we keep electing them, we will not live in a free society for much longer. Isn't it time we began to think about what's good for the country, and in turn what's best for us?
If the Democrats want to win elections, they got to bring the debate back to their side of the table. Granted, they're facing a media that is absolutely shunning them at this moment, which makes it hard to get your viewpoint across. Dems must phrase debates that don't fall into the Republican court. Don't let the Republicans dominate the argument, or let them change the subject to a wedge issue.
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Dealing with the Wedge...
I was thinking that one could use the Bush admin policy of changing the subject to work against them.
Take abortion.
If a Democrat is being questioned about abortion, turn the argument against the questioner.
"Mrs. Jones, what is your stance on abortion?"
"Well, Bobby. Although I feel abortion is an important issue, it is not a bread and butter issue. By bread and butter issue, I mean an issue that deals with the day to day living of Americans. Issues like job security, job availability, health care costs, education, civic infrastructure, and the health of the economy."
"But what about abortion, Mrs. Jones?"
"Let's look at the statistics. Abortion is drastically on the decline. The number of abortions being performed annually continues to drop. Compare abortion rates from the 80's to the present day. It's on the decline. People are finding other options besides abortion. How does that compare to issues like people who earn a decent living losing their jobs to outsourcing? If we can take care of people's livelihood, the issue of abortion becomes moot."
Here's the crux of the argument: put the focus on what is important in society. Put the emphasis on what is more important. Is making abortion illegal more important than ensuring that families have good jobs, can live in good homes and safe communities, and to provide quality education for their children, and to have access to quality affordable health care?
Take any wedge issue the Republicans toss out, and flip it back to the bread and butter issues. That's what Democrats are mostly concerned with, Republicans are interested in dominance and control, not in governing.
Take the above argument, and put in gay marriage, gay adoption, or any other fringe type issues the Republicans toss up. Make the Republicans come to the table and deal with real issues. They lose every time.
Go on the offensive.
Take fiscal responsibility. Republicans are terrible with running the government. Does it make sense to drastically impair the federal government (or state governments) to the point where it can't do its job? That's not responsible, that's treason. Think about it. The policy of borrow and spend is reckless. The federal debt lies over $8 trillion now, and its mounting quickly. Nobody wants to pay taxes, but this debt is going to come due at some point, and the American tax payer is going to have to pay the price. It's going to be steep, and the biggest problem is that most of the deficit spending was wasteful spending.
Republicans like to borrow and spend, and then drastically waste what they spend money on. Ineffective, inefficient, and reckless, that's Republican fiscal policy, and if you look at the foreign policy it matches their domestic policy.
That being said, look at the Kerry campaign. He campaigned in a bubble. He needed to face Bush head on, throw out all the facts about how rotten the Bush admin has been, and why he would have been a better candidate. Granted, the Bush admin used every dirty trick they could, and sadly they won. (I guess when you cheat, you'll win, but you'll get a hollow victory.) Kerry took the high ground at a time, when he needed to roll up his sleeves and take Bush to task. He didn't, and that's why he lost. If he had taken Bush to task, he would be president today.
It's not the job of Americans to aquiesce to power. It's our job to question it, and keep it in check. Considering Bush's current approval rating is below 40%, its evident that Bush's presidency and his campaign was merely smoke and mirrors, and not one of integrity, honesty, or what is best for the country. I'm hearing voter's remorse over voting for Bush, let's hope that carries to the polls in '06. If we can get the Dems to take back the house, Bush will become a better president, in the sense that he's now going to have to be accountable for his actions.
----
Battlestar Galactica - The flaw of the characters in BSG: How do you blindly and foolishly keep loving someone who you know will kill you or kill the people you know? Absurd behavior in characters is fine in a comedy, but it weakens a drama. At some point, this show is going to go down an absurd route, and I will stop watching it. It's hovering right at the edge of absurdity.
RANDOM ACTS OF CONCIOUSNESS
---
Would you make someone the Commisioner of Baseball if he hated baseball? Would you put someone who hates science fiction in charge of programming the Sci Fi Channel? If you were an employer, would want to hire someone whose enthusiastic about working for you, or hire someone who dreads the idea of working for you?
Why then, would you elect someone to a office who hates government?
---
Denial Policy with Relish
I was thinking about the current presidential administration and the previous administration, and about honesty.
Let's review. Clinton would engage in the flat out lie,or in information omittance. Bush (and the Republicans) merely attack those who question him (them), He (they) will distort facts, or just plain out lie.
Let's see if you can figure out how the Bush admin deceives with the following parody: (We'll create a hypothetical scenario of President Bush (or any Bush official or representative) and a team of reporters.)
"President Bush, did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"I did not put relish on my hot dog."
"We didn't ask about relish, Mr. President, we asked if you put ketchup on your hot dog."
"You know, there are people in this country who just hate relish on a hot dog. I repeat. I didn't put relish on the hot dog."
"Again, Mr. President, did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"There are people in this country who do not believe that some condiments deserve equal attention. There are people in this country who think that relish does not deserve equal time with other condiments. Relish can be enjoyed just like other condiments like ketchup and mustard."
"We were just trying to get to the point of the matter, Mr. President. Did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"I've already answered that question. I've said everything I'm going to say on the matter. Next question."
Just to be fair, let's review the previous President's style.
"President Clinton, did you put ketchup on your hot dog?"
"I did not have ketchup relations with my hot dog."
"Mr. President, we've found mustard stains on your tie, what can you say about that?"
"I had an innapropriate relationship with mustard and my hot dog. I'm not proud of the fact."
Why is it we Americans are tolerating this level of dishonesty from our politicians?
Certainly, we don't want to be lied to. We don't want to be treated like children, and kept in the dark about important matters of state. I understand wanting to sugar coat information, or to create a positive spin on a bad thing, but these politicians work for us, the people.
The absolute level of disconnect between the Republicans and the people has gotten to a critical level. If we keep electing them, we will not live in a free society for much longer. Isn't it time we began to think about what's good for the country, and in turn what's best for us?
If the Democrats want to win elections, they got to bring the debate back to their side of the table. Granted, they're facing a media that is absolutely shunning them at this moment, which makes it hard to get your viewpoint across. Dems must phrase debates that don't fall into the Republican court. Don't let the Republicans dominate the argument, or let them change the subject to a wedge issue.
---
Dealing with the Wedge...
I was thinking that one could use the Bush admin policy of changing the subject to work against them.
Take abortion.
If a Democrat is being questioned about abortion, turn the argument against the questioner.
"Mrs. Jones, what is your stance on abortion?"
"Well, Bobby. Although I feel abortion is an important issue, it is not a bread and butter issue. By bread and butter issue, I mean an issue that deals with the day to day living of Americans. Issues like job security, job availability, health care costs, education, civic infrastructure, and the health of the economy."
"But what about abortion, Mrs. Jones?"
"Let's look at the statistics. Abortion is drastically on the decline. The number of abortions being performed annually continues to drop. Compare abortion rates from the 80's to the present day. It's on the decline. People are finding other options besides abortion. How does that compare to issues like people who earn a decent living losing their jobs to outsourcing? If we can take care of people's livelihood, the issue of abortion becomes moot."
Here's the crux of the argument: put the focus on what is important in society. Put the emphasis on what is more important. Is making abortion illegal more important than ensuring that families have good jobs, can live in good homes and safe communities, and to provide quality education for their children, and to have access to quality affordable health care?
Take any wedge issue the Republicans toss out, and flip it back to the bread and butter issues. That's what Democrats are mostly concerned with, Republicans are interested in dominance and control, not in governing.
Take the above argument, and put in gay marriage, gay adoption, or any other fringe type issues the Republicans toss up. Make the Republicans come to the table and deal with real issues. They lose every time.
Go on the offensive.
Take fiscal responsibility. Republicans are terrible with running the government. Does it make sense to drastically impair the federal government (or state governments) to the point where it can't do its job? That's not responsible, that's treason. Think about it. The policy of borrow and spend is reckless. The federal debt lies over $8 trillion now, and its mounting quickly. Nobody wants to pay taxes, but this debt is going to come due at some point, and the American tax payer is going to have to pay the price. It's going to be steep, and the biggest problem is that most of the deficit spending was wasteful spending.
Republicans like to borrow and spend, and then drastically waste what they spend money on. Ineffective, inefficient, and reckless, that's Republican fiscal policy, and if you look at the foreign policy it matches their domestic policy.
That being said, look at the Kerry campaign. He campaigned in a bubble. He needed to face Bush head on, throw out all the facts about how rotten the Bush admin has been, and why he would have been a better candidate. Granted, the Bush admin used every dirty trick they could, and sadly they won. (I guess when you cheat, you'll win, but you'll get a hollow victory.) Kerry took the high ground at a time, when he needed to roll up his sleeves and take Bush to task. He didn't, and that's why he lost. If he had taken Bush to task, he would be president today.
It's not the job of Americans to aquiesce to power. It's our job to question it, and keep it in check. Considering Bush's current approval rating is below 40%, its evident that Bush's presidency and his campaign was merely smoke and mirrors, and not one of integrity, honesty, or what is best for the country. I'm hearing voter's remorse over voting for Bush, let's hope that carries to the polls in '06. If we can get the Dems to take back the house, Bush will become a better president, in the sense that he's now going to have to be accountable for his actions.
----
Battlestar Galactica - The flaw of the characters in BSG: How do you blindly and foolishly keep loving someone who you know will kill you or kill the people you know? Absurd behavior in characters is fine in a comedy, but it weakens a drama. At some point, this show is going to go down an absurd route, and I will stop watching it. It's hovering right at the edge of absurdity.
