I plead guilty to neglecting this blog recently.
A few of the reasons are here:
1. Sometimes I just get overwhelmed by the magnitude of scandals, dirty tricks, self-serving talking heads, and election coverage that treats it like a game or spectator sport. Bush and his gang lie with impunity, and right-wing water carriers are still lugging their bilge water.
2. Meanwhile my ADD addled brain is jumping from the holidays, to increased seasonal depression, to a new blog for the Concord Monitor Online's "blogsNH" that I'm about to start. Add to that an upstairs neighbor who walks like Frankenstein, shaking this 100 year old former hotel, a new management company for us who looks to be doing it on the cheap, and the second year of being without my dear old Dad and wanting to move back to Western Mass to be close to my mother who is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's.
When it gets really bad I remember my father's words of wisdom (not that he came up with this, but..) "This too shall pass", and one of his favorites "Smile a lot".
So that's what I'm trying to keep in mind this winter as I do my best to keep all the balls in the air. And if I drop one, rest assured that I'll bend down and pick it up, and toss it back up in the air with the rest as soon as I can.
Troubled times only make the good times that much sweeter to savor.
And remember to "Smile a lot".
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
How long has it been like this?
In our country we're supposed to be represented by politicians we choose locally to be our 'voice' in Washington DC. When did that end?
I don't recall any news advising us that what we want doesn't matter anymore. As far as I know our representatives still claim to listen to and represent our concerns, especially while they're running for office. But recent events prove otherwise.
Now I'm not referring to my own state of New Hampshire in this case, but the fact that 80% of Americans favored the passage of the recent "SCHIP" legislation that the president vetoed, that should have been overturned if the people's representatives truly represented their constituents.
The same holds true regarding many other issues. The "war"*, impeachment, domestic spying, retroactive immunity for Telcos, universal health care, and others where the majority of the American people aren't seeing their wishes translated into votes.
In so many ways it's like the 2006 elections and the mandate for change that was so evident never happened. The majority changed hands, and there was so much optimism that all the excesses, corruption, and back room deals were, if not over, substantially reduced.
We're seemingly left with nothing but the power to organize and attempt to replace them, but is that really a solution? There is so much institutional corruption inherent in the way the entire government works, especially these days that even fresh faces won't help. They're ineffective and repressed if they try to change the status quo, and the only way to get anywhere is to conform to the culture and the demands of the entrenched leaders.
I don't want to hear that it's always been like this, or that we don't understand how things work and that we have to trust them to do what's best. That's a huge load of bull.
Sure there are many valid considerations that go into legislation and oversight that most Americans don't usually think about or even know about, but that's not the point in this case. This failure to overturn the President's heartless veto directly contradicts of the clear wishes of the majority of the American public, and that's just plain wrong.
I send the political action emails to my state reps (that I write myself if given the option), and I get neat little form emails back thanking me for my thoughts, but does it do any good?
Are they effective? Sometimes I wonder, are they even read?
In this case it appears the answer is a resounding no!
And what does that teach people who are trying to be good citizens, trying to make a positive difference by letting their elected representatives know how they feel about certain issues?
Our "leader" says he issues vetoes "just to be relevant".
If that isn't the most asinine and irresponsible statement by a President of the United States in living memory I don't know what is**.
* It's called war, but I define loosely it as some form of military action against different adversaries where people are needlessly dying.
** And Bush has made many worthy of consideration.
I don't recall any news advising us that what we want doesn't matter anymore. As far as I know our representatives still claim to listen to and represent our concerns, especially while they're running for office. But recent events prove otherwise.
Now I'm not referring to my own state of New Hampshire in this case, but the fact that 80% of Americans favored the passage of the recent "SCHIP" legislation that the president vetoed, that should have been overturned if the people's representatives truly represented their constituents.
The same holds true regarding many other issues. The "war"*, impeachment, domestic spying, retroactive immunity for Telcos, universal health care, and others where the majority of the American people aren't seeing their wishes translated into votes.
In so many ways it's like the 2006 elections and the mandate for change that was so evident never happened. The majority changed hands, and there was so much optimism that all the excesses, corruption, and back room deals were, if not over, substantially reduced.
We're seemingly left with nothing but the power to organize and attempt to replace them, but is that really a solution? There is so much institutional corruption inherent in the way the entire government works, especially these days that even fresh faces won't help. They're ineffective and repressed if they try to change the status quo, and the only way to get anywhere is to conform to the culture and the demands of the entrenched leaders.
I don't want to hear that it's always been like this, or that we don't understand how things work and that we have to trust them to do what's best. That's a huge load of bull.
Sure there are many valid considerations that go into legislation and oversight that most Americans don't usually think about or even know about, but that's not the point in this case. This failure to overturn the President's heartless veto directly contradicts of the clear wishes of the majority of the American public, and that's just plain wrong.
I send the political action emails to my state reps (that I write myself if given the option), and I get neat little form emails back thanking me for my thoughts, but does it do any good?
Are they effective? Sometimes I wonder, are they even read?
In this case it appears the answer is a resounding no!
And what does that teach people who are trying to be good citizens, trying to make a positive difference by letting their elected representatives know how they feel about certain issues?
Our "leader" says he issues vetoes "just to be relevant".
If that isn't the most asinine and irresponsible statement by a President of the United States in living memory I don't know what is**.
* It's called war, but I define loosely it as some form of military action against different adversaries where people are needlessly dying.
** And Bush has made many worthy of consideration.
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