A Disappointing 2007. Will 2008 Be Any Better?

Today closes out the year 2007.  Sigh...

I had such high hopes for this year.  Just a few months earlier the American people had voted to give the Democrats control of both houses of Congress and a strong mandate for change.  Everyone was excited about the  new sheriffs in town, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

What we actually got was Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dummer.  But we didn't know that at the time.

After six nightmarish years of every kind of political abuse possible, I was so damn relieved knowing Democrats in America finally had a voice again.  The year began with the assumption that the most egregious abuses would soon be ending and some of the earlier abuses would be exposed, and that those responsible would be held accountable.  We knew it wouldn't be easy, but I believed the Democrats, buoyed by the knowledge that the majority of Americans were behind them, would prevail a much of the time.

That was not to be.

As the year went along I began to feel like the kid whose estranged father keeps promising to spend time with him weekend after weekend, but never shows up.  At first the excuses sound plausible, but over time the kid begins to realize his father is really a weak, scared loser.  Eventually the kid catches on that relying on his father will only bring pain.

That's how my year went.  At first the Democratic failures in Congress were accompanied by plausible excuses, accompanied by new promises of action, but as failure followed failure, it began to dawn on me that the Democratic leadership was actually weak, spineless, and compromised by money.  It was a painful lesson.

Here is where I am as 2007 comes to an end:

1. George Bush is the most self-centered, narcissistic adult-adolescent on this planet.  He may also be a sociopath. (According to Wikipedia, a sociopath, or Antisocial personality disorder (APD), is a mental disorder whose "essential feature ... is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others ... Considered essential features of the disorder are deceit and manipulation.")

(1a. The Democrat's refusal to consider impeaching Bush and Cheney will haunt us for the rest of our lives.)

2. Corporatists and their lobby groups own our politicians to a greater extent than most of us imagine.

3. The vast majority of politicians at the federal level care far more about their careers than they care about the public good.

4. The corporate-owned media has been compromised and is painfully inadequate to keep the government and politicians reasonably honest.

5. The MSM pundits are narcissistic and inbred.  They are highly paid, and very impressed with themselves and the company they keep.  They are never challenged and they are never held accountable for their work.  They not only have no contact with the working class poor and residents of the inner cities, and they do everything they can to avoid contact.

6. Most Democratic politicians at the federal level dislike and fear their liberal base, much as the Republicans despise and fear the evangelicals.  The Republicans and the MSM have worked long and hard to convince Democrats that liberals are dangerous loonies and that the voters will turn them out if they give in to our demands.

7.  Much as we don't want to hear it, in the short run we must accept the fact that the Democratic Party is hostile to our positions.  We must work to keep the pressure on them because if we put enough pressure on enough of our elected officials, we can make some progress, but we must always keep in mind that - regardless of what they say - most of them are not on our side.

8.  The only way to overcome the influence of the corporatists and their money on politicians is massive voter anger.  The more successful the corporatists are in implementing their agenda of a plutocratic oligarchy, the more voter anger it will generate.  Oligarchies do not work in states with a free press and open, fair elections*, so voter anger is the most effective means of thwarting the corporatists at this time.  So far the corporatists have been able to divert voter's anger towards terrorists, secularists, and immigrants, but this can only work for so long before the voters catch on.
* Yes, I'm aware that our press and recent elections leave a lot to be desired.

What can we expect in the coming year?

Our country is engaged in a huge struggle between a powerful, well-funded, but badly flawed coalition of Republicans, corporatists, MSM, and bought-off Democrats, versus angry, fed-up voters, liberal activists, some principled conservatives and a handful of good journalists.

The corporatist coalition burst onto the scene in 1994, certain of their superiority and righteousness.  Their number one goal was to destroy the Democratic Party and set up a one-party system that would then work to implement their plutocratic oligarchy.  Instead of a well oiled machine of hard working, dedicated experts who knew how to implement a new political system and make it work, their coalition was comprised of greedy, corrupt, arrogant, lizards, with more hubris than brains, and finally all their spinning plates have started started wobbling badly and their efforts to keep them spinning is getting tougher by the month.

The ruling coalition still has tremendous power and influence. The question is, will that power hold up for another year?  Voter anger is growing.  Liberal activists and bloggers are learning what works and what doesn't, and our audience is growing.  We are learning not to give money to the Democratic Party but to support individual politicians who share our concerns.  We see the Republican Party is on the verge of splintering (note all the RW pundits writing about how crass it is for Huckabee to include his Christian faith in his campaigning. They are getting scared).  If Huckabee gets the nomination, we could see Michael Bloomberg throw his hat in the ring as an independent.  There's also a good chance Ron Paul will run, too.

2008 may be a replay of 2007 or it could be the year when the entire corporatist coalition crumbles.  The economy could play a big part in this.  Given the ineptness of our Democratic leadership, if the coalition does in fact crumble in 2008, it will most like be of their own doing rather than as a result of any show of strength by our Democratic leaders.  I think 2008 will be more interesting (and less disappointing) than 2007.

On a personal level I want to thank all 7.3 of you, my readers, and wish you all a happy and recession-free 2008!

--Trakker

Comments

[Oregon Pundit]

This is an excellent analysis—and well written. I like your list, although I think point #3 about politicians and their careers has always been the case. Nothing new about that! Your other observations on the list are on point for 2007. In a nutshell, those of us who are upset with the status quo need to put the pressure on our elected officials. It is a neverending obligation. We can’t expect Pelosi or Reed or anyone else to do the right thing without pressure from us out here in Smallville, because left alone they won’t do the right thing. They will do [see point #3].

I would like to say a couple of things. First, about impeachment. Yelling and screaming about impeachment without doing the necessary investigative work that Waxman and Conyers are doing is a waste of time. Nixon was forced to resign once the House Judiciary Committee finished its investigation and took a vote. The House had the goods on Nixon—but they had to do the difficult and time-consuming investigative work before Nixon would budge. That is what Waxman is doing so well. He is creating monster files on a number of key issues. Like a good prosecutor, he is building a strong case for impeachment. Waxman is a national treasure, but unless Conyers holds impeachment hearings on Dick Cheney—which Pelosi and Hoyer oppose—nothing will happen. What to do? Hold Conyer’s feet to the fire. Don’t let Pelosi and Hoyer talk him out of it.

(We really need to remove Dick Cheney from office as soon as possible!)

Second, if you don’t like the Democratic leadership, get better Democrats. Remember, Pelosi and Reed obtained their positions when the Dems were still in the minority. I know Reed was Daschle’s sidekick; I don’t remember the details about Pelosi. Maybe they are not the right people. If they won’t do the work we want them to do, get rid of them at the earliest opportunity. No one is entitled to hold a job forever.

Finally, after the Goldwater debacle in 1964, some Republicans decided they needed to build a new political party that differed from the Eisenhower-Rockefeller flavor. Hence, the Southern Strategy and the right-wing think tanks (there were no right-wing think tanks before, as I recall). Give the Republicans credit: they knew it was a long-range strategy, but they kept at it and pushed it over the top in 1994. Now, of course, it’s sad the Republicans have these wrong-headed ideas about the economy and race and religion, but that is beside the point. We Democrats need to adopt a similar long-range party-building strategy. A lot of passionate people in the blogosphere (you included) are already working on that. But it is going to take time and a lot of patience.

[Trakker]

Thanks for your comment. Yes, patience. Good advice, but hard to accept when you believe everything that makes America special has been trampled by one political party, and the other political party doesn't seem to notice or care.

We must first get rid of those Democrats who don't seem troubled by the usurping of our rights. What impressed me about the Republicans in the early 70s, they were outraged at what their own President had done and told him to hit the road. Can you imagine that happening today? That's why I included point #3 above.

I also feel pretty sure that as long as Reid (especially) and Pelosi in charge, impeachment is a dead issue. Pelosi will allow some Representatives to throw red meet to us liberals with petitions and all to keep us energized for the coming election, but there's not a whisper of a chance she will let it happen. Pelosi and Reid are convinced impeachment in an election year would be viewed by the voters as a political move to demonize the Republican party for political gain. Certainly that's what the Republicans would claim, and they are pretty good at using stuff like that against the us. The time to impeach was last year. Just another failure in a list of many...

Maybe we'll get lucky and the Republicans will self-distruct all by themselves this year, eh?

[Trakker]

I should have added that I still strongly support Impeachment hearings, regardless of the effect it might have on some voters. If nothing else maybe future historians will add a footnote in their analysis of this troubled period to report that many Americans were outspoken in the demands for Congress to initiate impeachment hearings.