The scary liberal agenda

So I just happened to be tuning in today to NPR when former congressman Vin Weber came on and used the insufferable phrase "liberal agenda." My first reaction to this goes as follows: Everything you say after using this new, horrible phrase will be taken with not only a grain of salt but a massive eye roll.

You see, people who don't like "Liberals," which is to speak that this is somehow like having a disease, think that using a truly not scary term is a way to get their point across. It's not. I mean, the only feelings it conjures is that they don't want me to look at their own agenda.

Now, I understand that, you know, fear is a good driver to get your way. It makes us go to work or get annual check ups or appreciate that which we have in this world. But, when it comes to politics, it should be outlawed to pretend like your opponent is a bad guy, because they are usually not.

And, considering that most experts would agree, the present version of the American leftist popular politician is far from liberal. In fact, they are more like diet conservative. Will the constant shift to the right wing of politics, it has been said that even Conservative folk hero Ronald Reagan wouldn't pass for a conservative in this day and age. Clinton and Obama are centrists, if anything.

True Liberals are few and far between in the current administration and government. They are too afraid to be to the left because, at one point, the word "liberal" became synonymous with anti-American, which it isn't. And don't assume Democrats are leftists, because they have to pander to the populous just as much as their Republican neighbors.

I am all for socialism, a leftist policy, because, frankly, the world is too modern and things are too messed up without it. We need to take care of one another, especially with the understanding that shit happens and some people want to run roughshod over their neighbor. As I tell people, I believe to be a Republican is to love America and hate Americans.

The agenda of the right wing of any society is to pretend like self-sacrifice and selfish behavior are one in the same. It is to pretend that, if all was privatized and regulations voided that the world would be a veritable Shangri-La. Not so much. The moment we do not have social safety nets or guaranteed education, the least of us would whither from the world or, in other parts of the world, turn to villainy. Look at Somalia, look at Calcutta. Look at places where workers are exploited, where rape is used as a weapon of war. This kind of "freedom" is un-American. But that is what happens when a new line is drawn daily, pushing the person's back to the wall. You will eventually fight back or be killed.

America should, by all accounts, be better than it has become. It shouldn't be a place where the "haves" make the rules. Often times they aren't even right, just covering their own asses. And the saddest part is, for money, for access and prestige, the values of ones fellow human is compromised, a bullhorn given to the loudest shouters, the message of "you should be afraid of those that actually care" trampled upon, in the name of a not so free market.

The scariest part is that people, average humans with advantages not known by the masses, turn into characters, betraying their shared convictions so as to be seen, to be popular or to make the almighty dollar. Meanwhile well-meaning people, assuming that favor will be given to them in the future, give them the keys to kingdom.

If the "Liberal Agenda" is to make sure my fellow Americans get what they need, I am all for it. And maybe those that are being labeled should stop pretending it doesn't hurt them, because it does. When they are out of a job or watching all they worked for get trampled upon in the name of keeping the "Haves" happy, then they will truly realize they had the power all along, to grab the bullhorn and tell the talking heads to shut the hell up.

Franken Rally: Herding the sheeple

This morning I am sitting inside of a coffee shop in St. Louis Park, awaiting the arrival of one Mr. Al Franken, candidate for U.S. Senate. Outside there are throngs of people awaiting a stump speech that, I am sure, will make them applaud and cheer and have just a great time.

When I got here there were several people in Franken T-shirts and holding Franken signs. Now the patio of the coffee shop is filled with Franken supporters.

While I am a supporter of Franken, in that I am likely to vote for him and read his books, I am feeling like the whole rally is full of the converted just wanting to touch the candidate. Or they are people that want to touch fame.

My aunt may or may not have coined the phrase "sheeple." It is what she calls people who blindly follow who will ever show them the way. If you are able to force sway on these folks, you could get a lot done.

I am a follower in so far that I want things done on my behalf but things that benefit society as a whole, not just a select few. If a politician can get things done for all then I am in full support. This is the ideal of the Democratic Party that I want. The Republicans, well, it's all for one and none for you, unless you have deep pockets.

Most of the people who are here right now look to be those that just want to be next to famous people. Sure it will also bring in their votes, if they do bother to vote, but it will also give them that sense of importance that they seem so desperate to have in their lives.

This election season I am not putting on bumper stickers or yard signs or really do anything other than talk about the issues as I know them. That's what a voter should be doing, not blindly waving their banners. Just watch the Daily Show and see a media member rip them apart. Those that blindly follow go over the cliff. I, for one, don't want to be with them.

So, as the rally goes on and we hear the rhetoric, that which we force our candidates to spout in the information age, it is to do our own homework, learn about what is important to us, and forget about rallies. They only preach to the choir of sheeple.

Why you are paying more at the pump: My reasoning

Over $4 a gallon for regular unleaded gas. Pretty scaring, considering that, at $2, we freaked out. Now it is doubled in 5 years.

But there is something the media doesn't talk about and it makes me somewhat angry (I try not to get too irate or I get heartburn). It's the last Bush screwing.

I read the news every day. I see how much a barrel of oil costs, watch what we pay at the pump and how much gas we are consuming. The news states that we are driving less and consuming less and buying better fuel-mileage vehicles. Should be driving down prices, right?

The opposite happens and it drives us crazy because we want to be able to travel at ease, not be consumed by the cost of just getting away.

My theory is based on what I have learned and my logic and reason center. I think that we are getting screwed because of both the price of non-innovation that our car companies spent the last century doing. With the commercials selling us cars and trucks based on how many cups we can hold, where we can store things and how many DVD players we can have, they never talked about how much more efficient the engines were getting or even showing me the concept car with the newest engine that gets 100 miles to the gallon. Why? It can't be because we wouldn't eat them up like potato chips. It's because, like our society, everything is disposable and you and I would stop buying more if things lasted.

We are also being hoodwinked by, in our fear of paying too much for gas, the Bush administration wants to give his buddies in the oil industry carte blanche to go find more inventory at the expense of our environment and our pocketbooks.

Did you know that the oil in the Artic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWAR) would never be used in the U.S.? The oil would actually be sold to foreign entities because of the cost to ship it down to us. It would not help us directly.

The fact of the matter is that the holiday for oil companies is coming to an end. When the president leaves office, all of those favors will disappear. Hopefully we will all learn how to live with high gas prices but we will also be able to afford it once he's gone because, well, I feel a sea change coming. I think we will no longer live in the same constant state of fear.

That or I am moving to the moon.

Our political process

Ah the media. Owned by corporations and giving us what they think we want, what we don't necessarily need, and doing it to make a buck or two. They have struck again and, like most other times, they create their own drama.

This past week we saw Barrack Obama raked over the coals again for making a comment that, frankly, some people, not all, don't agree with. He unfortunately used phrasing that made him appear to be an elitist, pointing to our love of fear and how Pennsylvanians could vote based on their love of guns and God.

Now, don't get me wrong, I hate the idea that voting, the one thing we truly get a say with (take with grain of salt) is based on arbitrary things like your views on religion and firearms but that's the kind of America we live in.

But to not address the issue of why we vote is to not get to the true nature of electing people. When driven by fear, we get presidents like George W. Bush. Playing off the fear that our personal safety is always at stake, we could, hopefully not, elect John McCain. Is that what we want?

Politicians wield a whole lot of power. They can affect commerce, infrastructure and a whole of people's lives. If they so choose, they could get you or I an opportunity to have jobs in our community or put us on the front line of the war.

But what people base their decisions on can be far too complex to give the right, not necessarily the most popular, the job of governance. Some argue that we should have to be informed to vote. Others argue that we should just keep everything exactly the same way.

I would say that we should amp up the qualifications to be a candidate, therefore negating the need to be an informed voter. We could make it so that anyone wanting to be a politico has to have a license to be so. They could have to take a series of courses and exams and get certified to be in government. That way, when it comes to running for office, we know that this person isn't just trying to get into power to get into power.

Right now we are given all stripes of people in power. Most come from being lawyers and businesspeople. The rare few are physicians or actors (really?) and it runs like a popularity contest. But if all had to have the same qualifications then we could be guaranteed that they had all, at minimum, read the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Of course, that would take me out of the running but, then again, would you vote for an atheist, non-gun-owning liberal? Don't think so.

Peace.

Culpability

When you do something, anything, you need to responsible for the outcome of these action. What you do, as much as you say, can have affects long after the words leave your lips or your hands leave that button.

But, as an outside observer of the current state of politics in America, I can only see a lack of responsibility in the halls of government, at least from those who are most visible.

I am using the ideas of culpability and accountability as my battle cry for this political season. Do you what you say you will and don't forget to govern all, not just those you wish. Politicians seem to forget this, living in a bubble that the lowest common denominator become lost in the rhetoric and pep rallies that are currently driving us toward the November elections.

Don't believe me? The politicians speak to change, acting as if, by saying it more and more, it will actually happen. But what changes? Where do those bottom dwellers get their fair shake? And, if they intend to get our votes, hear our voices, will they live up to the ideals set out by the definition of being in a democratic society?

In my travels and through my life, I listen to those voices that I both agree and disagree with. There are those that live a life that is fulfilling and those that pretend to. Often, because of what I have observed, I can see through facades. It's not as if their are intentionally misleading, it is that they are fooling themselves.

A good example is the naive acts of the uninformed. There are those, the majority of voters, that base their decisions on arbitrary pieces of information: Skin color, sex, social status. They strive to understand the controlled messages put out by candidates, not realizing it is mostly snake oil. Promises are made, not kept, and the voter, those who hold faith that their voice was heard, are left without that which they voted for.

I find it interesting that, while we wage war in Iraq, it is not the Republicans that hold themselves to scrutiny over the bad decisions made by their leadership. And yet the Democrats, pretending to want to stop it, don't pull the plug when they have the power to do so. Meanwhile lives, livelihood and future consequences are so simple to rectify that someone like me, an educated, working-class citizen could solve it in a moment.

The term "politics as usual" will be around long after November. The cumulative affect of what went into process decades ago has turned our country into a big turd. While we want to believe all is well, we don't see that the land of the free is sold and we have all become tourists.

so, come November, and later January 20th, 2009, I won't be holding my breath or wringing my hands. I realize the reality is that culpability and accountability are just words critics of the body politic can use to sell books and create conversations at the coffee shops. It's too bad there is no true revolutionaries left in America. And, if there were, the government is way to powerful and complex to actually make a difference... Man, life's a bitch.

Peace.