THE REAL POLITIK ISSUE: VOLUME 106, ISSUE 127
MAKES YOU WANNA HOLLER
by Malik Isasis
It appears the Democratic Party has learned one thing in particular from eight years of President Bush’s foot on their throats: make failure appear like winning. After having started negotiating the health care debate at a disadvantage (taking Medicare-for-all off the table), to a watered down, Public Option, to expanded Medicare for some, to nothing, President Obama and his Administration, along with the Democratic Party are selling their cowardice and lack of vision on health care as a once-in-a-generation accomplishment—for what seems like a political gimmick to check off an empty campaign promise. One thing is for sure, it seems we are back where we started from, hundreds of billions for two wars, and occupations, and cowardly Democrats, and thuggish Republicans putting war and corporate interests before the people’s.
The speed in which the Democrats turned on their backs to corporate interests is the very ingredient that will see the Democrats lose it all again, and maybe earn their rightful place in politics, under the fat belly of the Republicans who seem to fuck them whether they are in power, or not.
Republicans are the corporate players, with corporate conglomerates calling plays like a coach on the sideline. The beaten-wife syndrome Democrats have evolved to react to political slurs the Republican use to pass or stop progressive policies. There are even a few outliers of corporate Democrats, who called themselves conservative, but there is nothing conservative about them, nor their Republican brethren. Republicans and Democrats, two sides of the same coin, a mutual dysfunction that has brought a systemic breakdown in governance because the only thing that matters in the lizard-brain of an American politician is the maintenance of power.
TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK
I have noticed a disturbing trend with President Obama over the months. Republicans and their political operatives have called him everything from a socialist, to a voodoo witch doctor; a Republican Congressman even called him a liar before the country and the world during his Presidential Address. He turned his cheek, and said nothing, only that his critics motives were not based in racism. When asked about Kanye West’s antics at the MTV Awards, he referred to West as a “jackass”. The Republicans since his inauguration have been trying to smother his presidency in its crib, yet he continues to reach out.
When the Black Caucus speaks out, liberal groups and former governor of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, his Administration slap back, and hard—what could only be to curry favor with the corporate media and the Right wing.
This is the type of reactionary response that is needed when Republicans Attack, however, it seems President Obama is only willing to slap back liberals, because he understands they have no corporate influence.
Back to the Health Care
Malcolm X once said that if you stab a man in the back with a nine-inch knife, and pull it out two inches, you can’t call that progress. Calling what is likely to pass the Congress, reform, is absurd since most of us will have no other choice if we are being hosed by our current health care provider. They pulled the knife out a couple of inches and expect us to jump up and down, when the act of stabbing us in the back was the cause of the wound.
In 2003 I attended a lecture by Princeton Professor, Cornell West. West said something profound. He said that we no longer have leaders who would die for us. Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa who would not only die for their cause but would die for their people. These people are an example of leaders who were able to transcend to the next level of consciousness, the enlighten state of consciousness. Today our leaders lack sacrifice, they much prefer that others sacrifice for their political gain. It is personal gain over political responsibility.
We don’t expect much from the people we elect, and they in turn don’t expect much from us. It is not a decay of leadership. Our leadership is a symptom of our failure, our lack of critical thinking, our ability to be easily frightened, easily manipulated and managed by superficial distractions, and easily misinformed. Our politicians seem stuck in a Sisyphean loop of destruction, moral corruption, and narcissism, with no end in sight, assured by our being entertained to death by the ongoing saga of Tiger Woods and his many paramours.
MAKES YOU WANNA HOLLER
by Malik Isasis
It appears the Democratic Party has learned one thing in particular from eight years of President Bush’s foot on their throats: make failure appear like winning. After having started negotiating the health care debate at a disadvantage (taking Medicare-for-all off the table), to a watered down, Public Option, to expanded Medicare for some, to nothing, President Obama and his Administration, along with the Democratic Party are selling their cowardice and lack of vision on health care as a once-in-a-generation accomplishment—for what seems like a political gimmick to check off an empty campaign promise. One thing is for sure, it seems we are back where we started from, hundreds of billions for two wars, and occupations, and cowardly Democrats, and thuggish Republicans putting war and corporate interests before the people’s.
The speed in which the Democrats turned on their backs to corporate interests is the very ingredient that will see the Democrats lose it all again, and maybe earn their rightful place in politics, under the fat belly of the Republicans who seem to fuck them whether they are in power, or not.
Republicans are the corporate players, with corporate conglomerates calling plays like a coach on the sideline. The beaten-wife syndrome Democrats have evolved to react to political slurs the Republican use to pass or stop progressive policies. There are even a few outliers of corporate Democrats, who called themselves conservative, but there is nothing conservative about them, nor their Republican brethren. Republicans and Democrats, two sides of the same coin, a mutual dysfunction that has brought a systemic breakdown in governance because the only thing that matters in the lizard-brain of an American politician is the maintenance of power.
TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK
I have noticed a disturbing trend with President Obama over the months. Republicans and their political operatives have called him everything from a socialist, to a voodoo witch doctor; a Republican Congressman even called him a liar before the country and the world during his Presidential Address. He turned his cheek, and said nothing, only that his critics motives were not based in racism. When asked about Kanye West’s antics at the MTV Awards, he referred to West as a “jackass”. The Republicans since his inauguration have been trying to smother his presidency in its crib, yet he continues to reach out.
When the Black Caucus speaks out, liberal groups and former governor of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, his Administration slap back, and hard—what could only be to curry favor with the corporate media and the Right wing.
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This is the type of reactionary response that is needed when Republicans Attack, however, it seems President Obama is only willing to slap back liberals, because he understands they have no corporate influence.
Back to the Health Care
Malcolm X once said that if you stab a man in the back with a nine-inch knife, and pull it out two inches, you can’t call that progress. Calling what is likely to pass the Congress, reform, is absurd since most of us will have no other choice if we are being hosed by our current health care provider. They pulled the knife out a couple of inches and expect us to jump up and down, when the act of stabbing us in the back was the cause of the wound.
In 2003 I attended a lecture by Princeton Professor, Cornell West. West said something profound. He said that we no longer have leaders who would die for us. Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa who would not only die for their cause but would die for their people. These people are an example of leaders who were able to transcend to the next level of consciousness, the enlighten state of consciousness. Today our leaders lack sacrifice, they much prefer that others sacrifice for their political gain. It is personal gain over political responsibility.
We don’t expect much from the people we elect, and they in turn don’t expect much from us. It is not a decay of leadership. Our leadership is a symptom of our failure, our lack of critical thinking, our ability to be easily frightened, easily manipulated and managed by superficial distractions, and easily misinformed. Our politicians seem stuck in a Sisyphean loop of destruction, moral corruption, and narcissism, with no end in sight, assured by our being entertained to death by the ongoing saga of Tiger Woods and his many paramours.
posted by Malik Isasis at
1:20 AM
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