But the Nixon era was a time in which leading figures in both parties were capable of speaking rationally about policy, and in which policy decisions weren’t as warped by corporate cash as they are now. America is a better country in many ways than it was 35 years ago, but our political system’s ability to deal with real problems has been degraded to such an extent that I sometimes wonder whether the country is still governable.
I’m not saying that reformers should give up. They do, however, have to realize what they’re up against. There was a lot of talk last year about how Barack Obama would be a “transformational” president — but true transformation, it turns out, requires a lot more than electing one telegenic leader. Actually turning this country around is going to take years of siege warfare against deeply entrenched interests, defending a deeply dysfunctional political system.
Well, the country isn't being governed right now.
It's being ruled.
NOTE I'm not sure about either "seige warfare" or "years." I'd argue that blight takes over much faster in a garden with shallow roots, and the roots of Versailles
are anything but deep right now. Call me Polyanna!
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The HMO started with
Nixon also, so 'Oops' is appropriate. But turning the thing around might be easier than any of us realize, and might be started by taking back, or starting another means of getting our points out there, the 'media' as determined by the number of people who listen, and agree.
Yeah, but Krugman starts the column with
pinning blame on the "crazy" followers of the right wing, as though that's the root of the problem. The problem isn't the "crazies". It's the perfectly sane people who divide the little guys by pinning them against each other, while they both work for the have-a-lots.
The liberty of democracy is not safe if people tolerate growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism.---FDR
Fuck the political system
If we abandon the current system we'll have a chance. So long as we continue to hold onto it, particularly the "less evil Dems", we will be stuck to the current systems allowable outcomes. I'm cynical toward the system and have given up completely on the Democrats *within the current system*, but I'm actually optimistic. I talk to too many reasonable and truly compassionate people to believe that we must stick to the current system. Obama won because he lied about being a reformer, just like Bush lied about the same thing eight years previously. Now that he's president, many are reverting back to working within the current system. That's what the Village
wants--and NEEDS--not what the people want. Its too bad lefties use a handful of crazy birthers to paint the entire country as stupid. They aren't. They just feel powerless.
Only tyrants rig elections.
But what do you mean by abandon?
Would it merely be enough to replace the principal actors in our government, or would our national charter have to be entirely rewritten?
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness