After reading the article titled "Democrats take swipes at Scott" in today's Palm Beach Post (Sunday, Oct 30, 2011), by George Bennett, I was reminded of a few meetings and events I attended in the past, and few few notes I made on them.
I met Mr. Mark Alan Seigel at a meeting of the Democratic Executive committee earlier this year. I attended the meeting mostly out of a burning desire to ensure reasonable voices were being heard in these meetings. Though I did nearly become a delegate, I chose to remain independent due to my perception of the limitations being a delegate would bring.
I am not a registered democrat because the national democratic party wooed me with their slick political agility. I am a registered democrat because I agree to the premise by which most of the members of the party view problems and values.
This premise seems rooted in the idea that every voice should be included (no matter how difficult a political opinion their inclusion may produce). And, since I believe that all humans are equal in worth/value/opinion/etc... the appeal appears obvious to me.
The article mentioned above contains a quote from Republican Party of Florida Chairman Larry Curry, who alluded to Democratic "control of the House and Senate," with an assertion that the party squandered it's time in power.
To take the bait on that line is to follow done a well-worn path of realpolitik that serves to take focus off of the real problems being created by men in the name of "the people."
Due to the Filibuster, no party has controlled the Senate without 60 senators in agreement, and, unlike Republicans, Democrats don't always vote together the same. Party loyalty doesn't prevent representatives from including themselves in the conversation of politics with the interest of their constituents in consideration (drawing no intentional comparisons).
I agree with Democratic party chairman Rod Smith, that Rick Scott is giving dems a heap of help with his policies and ever present background issues, but I also believe the party should do more to highlight the strawman that is this "Democrats controlled the House and Senate" argument, and remove it as a political football going forward.
The accomplishments of this country in the last 2 years are fairly impressive given where we were as the horrid 2008 bled economic tragedy into 1st quarter 2009. The stat that gripped me in late 2008 was the second month of 500,000+ jobs lost (almost exactly 3 years ago to date, Oct, 2008), and the visualization of the collapse of a system of production and distribution. From Nov, 2008 to Mar, 2009 the US economy lost an average of over 750,000 jobs a month (source), which made many many more people sit up and take notice.
President Obama, in early 2009, said that our economy would fall short by $1Trillion in demand by the spring of 2010. We settled on ~$850Billion in economic stimulus and another ~$400Billion in omnibus spending on internal projects and infrastructure, which effectively stopped the 2008 bleeding.
The measures to bring our economy back from the brink of total collapse, though, did not fix the problems created by years of weak government and deregulation... not to mention 2 wars held in such close fiscal check that Billions of taxpayer dollars were literally given away, or "went missing."
The irony, of course, is that the party "in charge" while all of this was happening absolutely opposed all the measures to address the grievous delapidation in our economic structure and regulatory framework, and do to this day.
I hope that many more people, at least in Florida, are starting to sense a similar view of our recent history, and I'd bet they know the futility of trying to hold tightly to the previous world order, who's very nature requires one group annihilate another every few decades. And these people will not want to see national parties arguing over who got everything right or wrong, and who is most to blame for the global shift in economic balance.
We are here now. We can't go back to 1998-99, and we still need to manage the greatest nation on the planet... the fairest portion of the Earth... like responsible adults.
The Republican talking point of restoring some lost values as the means of bringing back the prosperity of a dead system lack appeal for those interested in paving the way for the future. The focus of our debate should lie in this resolution and beyond.
I met Mr. Mark Alan Seigel at a meeting of the Democratic Executive committee earlier this year. I attended the meeting mostly out of a burning desire to ensure reasonable voices were being heard in these meetings. Though I did nearly become a delegate, I chose to remain independent due to my perception of the limitations being a delegate would bring.
I am not a registered democrat because the national democratic party wooed me with their slick political agility. I am a registered democrat because I agree to the premise by which most of the members of the party view problems and values.
This premise seems rooted in the idea that every voice should be included (no matter how difficult a political opinion their inclusion may produce). And, since I believe that all humans are equal in worth/value/opinion/etc... the appeal appears obvious to me.
The article mentioned above contains a quote from Republican Party of Florida Chairman Larry Curry, who alluded to Democratic "control of the House and Senate," with an assertion that the party squandered it's time in power.
To take the bait on that line is to follow done a well-worn path of realpolitik that serves to take focus off of the real problems being created by men in the name of "the people."
Due to the Filibuster, no party has controlled the Senate without 60 senators in agreement, and, unlike Republicans, Democrats don't always vote together the same. Party loyalty doesn't prevent representatives from including themselves in the conversation of politics with the interest of their constituents in consideration (drawing no intentional comparisons).
I agree with Democratic party chairman Rod Smith, that Rick Scott is giving dems a heap of help with his policies and ever present background issues, but I also believe the party should do more to highlight the strawman that is this "Democrats controlled the House and Senate" argument, and remove it as a political football going forward.
The accomplishments of this country in the last 2 years are fairly impressive given where we were as the horrid 2008 bled economic tragedy into 1st quarter 2009. The stat that gripped me in late 2008 was the second month of 500,000+ jobs lost (almost exactly 3 years ago to date, Oct, 2008), and the visualization of the collapse of a system of production and distribution. From Nov, 2008 to Mar, 2009 the US economy lost an average of over 750,000 jobs a month (source), which made many many more people sit up and take notice.
President Obama, in early 2009, said that our economy would fall short by $1Trillion in demand by the spring of 2010. We settled on ~$850Billion in economic stimulus and another ~$400Billion in omnibus spending on internal projects and infrastructure, which effectively stopped the 2008 bleeding.
The measures to bring our economy back from the brink of total collapse, though, did not fix the problems created by years of weak government and deregulation... not to mention 2 wars held in such close fiscal check that Billions of taxpayer dollars were literally given away, or "went missing."
The irony, of course, is that the party "in charge" while all of this was happening absolutely opposed all the measures to address the grievous delapidation in our economic structure and regulatory framework, and do to this day.
I hope that many more people, at least in Florida, are starting to sense a similar view of our recent history, and I'd bet they know the futility of trying to hold tightly to the previous world order, who's very nature requires one group annihilate another every few decades. And these people will not want to see national parties arguing over who got everything right or wrong, and who is most to blame for the global shift in economic balance.
We are here now. We can't go back to 1998-99, and we still need to manage the greatest nation on the planet... the fairest portion of the Earth... like responsible adults.
The Republican talking point of restoring some lost values as the means of bringing back the prosperity of a dead system lack appeal for those interested in paving the way for the future. The focus of our debate should lie in this resolution and beyond.
