Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [Politics] Tom DeLay gives it up

[Nathan Odle <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Here is my take on our political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.

1)  Each party consists of a bunch of people who have gotten where they 
are by negotiating power with little respect for ethics, etc. 

2)  These power negotiations mean that any sense of loyalty beyond what 
it takes to get elected the next go-around has been left behind long ago.

3)  Because most of the public pays zero attention to what's actually 
going on in DC, the power negotiators can do pretty much whatever they 
want except on a few key issues.

4)  As a result of 1), 2), and 3) the actual beliefs of the individual 
politicians are fairly irrelevant as long as they stick together to 
maintain their power base.

5)  As a result of 1), 2), 3) and 4), we basically have two warring 
factions whose advertised beliefs are irrelevant, inasmuch as they exist 
only to distinguish themselves from the other side and therefore get 
more votes.

So basically, the American public is being taken for a ride, wherein 
they're fooled into thinking that they have power in the form of a vote, 
when in reality they're just deciding which power faction is going to be 
on top for a few years.  We're trained to cheer one side and boo 
another, when they're actually pretty much the same aside from a few key 
issues.

On the other hand, short of a revolution there's not much we can do 
about it so most just find it easiest to work within the system and hope 
it protects us in the big ways with military, medicine, etc.

-N



Mike Miller wrote:
> On Tue, 4 Apr 2006, Jonathan King wrote:
>
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_el_ho/delay
> >
> > Oddly enough, DeLay does not mention the fact that he's apparently on 
> > the verge of being indicted by the Feds, who have been picking off 
> > his close associates recently.  The frightening thing for the GOP 
> > here is that there are at least a half dozen other members of 
> > Congress who could be in legal trouble as well (not all directly 
> > connected to DeLay or Cunningham, although some are).  Meanwhile, 
> > there is also one Congressional crook that I know of in the 
> > Democratic Party: William Jefferson of Louisiana.
> >
> > The lesson I take from this is not that Republicans are more corrupt 
> > by nature, but that corrupt Republicans have been taking advantage of 
> > being in the party with all the power.
>
>
> You're getting closer to the truth.  The truth is that the Republican 
> party's stand on economic issues has made it a magnet for the greedy 
> and corrupt.  If you wanted to be close to very wealthy, very powerful 
> people, and gain more wealth and power for yourself, which party would 
> you join? It's a pretty obvious choice -- join the party that promises 
> more for the rich.  The Republican party became a magnet for the power 
> hungry and they have corrupted it so thoroughly that it is barely 
> recognizable anymore.
>
> I hope everyone has been enjoying my national debt graph:
>
> http://taxa.epi.umn.edu/~mbmiller/national_debt.png
>
> When the Republicans increase the national debt, where do you think 
> the money goes?  If you said "to rich people," you get full credit.  
> Can we get the money back?  Hell no.  It's gone and we're screwed.  
> But it's OK because we almost had a partial-birth abortion amendment 
> and I'll be raptured any minute now.
>
> Mike
>
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