Sunday, February 24, 2008

COMEDY or TRAGEDY?

For those who feel, life is a tragedy. For those who think, life is a comedy.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

FOREIGN POLICY FIRST

Domestic issues.. inflation (value of the dollar), cost of oil products, outsourced jobs, recession, cost of war, illegal immigration... are in large part a consequence of a "Either you're with us or against us." foreign policy. The winner of the presidency will need a foreign policy that will put the domestic policy back on track. S/he will have to clearly show the electorate that both policies are inextricably intertwined.

WHOSE GOVERNMENT IS IT ANYWAY?

After six years of the abuses of power by a government... presidency, Senate, and House (not to mention the Supreme Court) ... controlled by a single political party, the Democrat nominee will ultimately have to convince the electorate that the Democrat Party can be trusted with that much power.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

THE ELECTORATE HAS HAD ALL IT CAN STAND

Super delegates… are they good or bad for democracy? Our democracy is only a work in progress. With the grand prize of incredible power, we can always count on the political parties, who took control of our government away from the electorate, to try to rig the game. For many decades, the parties relied on and took advantage of well over 50% of eligible voters’ belief in the “Just Ruler Principle” (Just Ruler says, “I don’t care who the ruler is or how s/he gets there as long as s/he is just.” It is fundamental to explain why so many citizens of non-democratic countries aren’t enthusiastic about installing a democracy.) Blend in data mining and a political party can identify and control its “base” and use its campaign funds to target a relatively small number of swing voters. The Republicans executed that strategy to perfection in 2000 and 2004.

But the unusually large turnout the midyear election of 2006 was repudiation of the Just Ruler Principle; thanks to the inept mistakes and abuses of power by the Bush Administration and the Republican controlled Congress. Many voters now realize that the system cannot be counted to produce a Just Ruler. Furthermore, the unprecedented turnout of this presidential campaign underscores how the Bush years have made the electorate abandon Just Ruler, with the consequence that the party leadership is having trouble controlling the outcome, i.e. McCain and Obama respectively. By god, we, the electorate, may actually be taking some control of the process away from the party hierarchy and we may be getting a little closer to the promise of democracy.