Misguided Sticky-note sentiments:

If I am reading this right, I assume the "their" refers to Republicans and "conquer" refers to getting elected or winning a majority.

This is a somewhat understandable statement that is slightly misguided. There are two factions in Washington, and they are not Democrats and Republicans. They are: those whose actions are driven by the interests of the wealthy elite - moneyed interests who actively desire an American serfdom ruled by a tiny special class of powerful and privileged - and those whose actions serve the majority American public that does not exist in that tiny privileged minority.

That's it. Those are the two factions. One faction represents the overwhelming majority of political representatives in Washington regardless of their technical party affiliation. The other faction represents a tiny minority truly courageous pro-people representatives who are almost totally powerless and marginalized within the Washington corporocratic system.

The combined will of pro-ruling oligarchy politicians - (R) or (D) - is that the interests of wall street be permantely favored over the interests of main street. And that's what we should be talking about.

Instead, people talking about that, have to listen to lectures about how "we're divisive" and that plays right into their hands. People cannot afford to continue being that naive.




You can file this one under, "meaningless quips telling people with unpopular opinions to shut up without offering a rational response." I won't even get into the fact that there's next to no one offering "nothing but criticism" - its just that the alternatives they suggest are not well received by apologists for the ruling class interests or the political status quo.

Instead, I'll just point out that this statement makes no logical sense. Getting from offering "nothing but" criticism to causing or being responsible for a problem simply does not follow. A person might very actually point out everything wrong with a particular course of action and still have no idea what alternative action to take. All that's really being said with quips like this is simply, "I'm tired of downers, so shut up."



I partially agree with the sentiment, in that the problems that are rearing their ugly head through the course of this health care "debate" - exposing to real truths of washington politics and how completely detached it is from the interests or needs of the American people - those problems are much bigger than just Obama. So attacking one man on a more personal level while ignoring the full picture is no better than blindly cheering while a pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda slinks its way through Washington.

Change is up to us? Your right about that. What's step one? Getting ones head screwed on straight about what actually goes on in our political system, and getting it through ones head that it isn't about republicans vs. democratic divides alone. That's the superficial layer. On the superficial layer, you bet we might as well have democrats instead of republicans in seats of power if those are the only choices. There are strategic reason to vote to make that happen. But if we're going to get serious about real change - and I mean real, long term change - we have got to start seeing the deeper levels of national politics.

At a deeper level is the deep, extreme power and influence of money and privilege - this influence washes over most of our politicians. It washes over most Democrats (we've been reminded of this reality again with current events) and it washes over most Republicans. There are few exceptions, but there are exceptions. Until we find the guts to accept that moneyed and privileged interests of a super rich elite dominate and control most washington politicians and politics - even if we still make strategic choices to vote for democrats as better than a republican counterpart - then we can go exactly nowhere.

Acknowledging this basic truth about how warped our national poltics really are is essential to change. It's essential to alternative good ideas, its essential to moving a dialogue forward about how to break that strangelhold that is stifling actual small d democracy - how we can stop being unwitting pawns of corporate kings, how we can build a movement.

We must
accept
that a small
rich
minority
of
corporate
financial
and military industrial
interests
absolutely dominates
national politics
and that the majority
of all Washington politicians
across parties
across houses
or even in the white house
work for THEM
before they work for US.

Until we accept that, we will continue to remain screwed.


(Edited for formatting and to remove some sarcasm)

just kidding.

need to keep in mind that each stickie represents a donation to DU.

So quityerbitchin.

:shrug:

:toast:

:dem:

-Laelth

But I just went back and clicked add for it.

There are many here that defend Blue Dogs and Conservadems because they still view the Dem party as a whole is a big tip off.

K&R

...partly since corporate media reinforces the superficial level of politics as the totality of politics in Washington.

David Sirota from 2005



Looks like things haven't changed much ....

Very misguided sentiment there. If you like progress, thank a critic. Thank a complainer. Thank a "negative thinker." Before problems can be solved, people have to acknowledge their existence. That's the way it works.

If anyone should be blamed, it is ostriches who prefer to bury their heads in the sand or put on rose-colored glasses. They are the enablers who allow all sorts of problems to persist.

They are just sticky notes.

They are not just "sticky notes" - they are the wrongheaded, confused sentiment that keeps us stuck in neutral.

fund raising activity. No need to criticize IMO. There are plenty of threads to critique.

Sentiments are being discussed. They happened to appear as a sticky note. They could have appeared in some other form, and they often do.

The discussion is about the words being said, not the form in which they appeared.

No, even more than that, its about the need for a growing awareness of the obstacles we face. Nothing wrong with that.