LSJ Blogs: People's Politics

The Immigration Bugaboo

I like quotes. And I’m going to start with another one – again from Edmond Burke. “All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.”

 The issue here is compromise – a lost art in American government at all levels. That seems partly due to the quality of the people we elect to government positions these days. But, it is also due to the partisan gerrymandering that has helped polarize our political landscape. Regardless, compromise seems to be nearly extinct in this country. And, nowhere was that more apparent than in the failure of our government to produce some meaningful form of immigration legislation last year.

Wright Redux

We’ve all seen the countless reruns of Obama’s “spiritual mentor” and former Pastor Jeremiah Wright on TV.  We’ve heard Obama’s explanation that Wright was his Pastor, not his political advisor, and that he never heard any of the inflammatory statements or he would have either left the church or discussed the comments with Wright.  With the passage of a few weeks, what to make of the Wright/Obama situation?  Does Wright matter in the selection of either a primary winner or the President?

Global Warming Part II

The politics of global warming have sunk to a new low, as the Bush administration caved to expediency and ill-informed public pressure and now endorsed global warming as a threat.  A new bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush to mandate (effectively) the elimination of the incandescent bulb (IB) by 2014; its replacement will likely be the Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) which is the only real alternative available today.  Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology may be feasible by 2014, but that is anyone's guess.  This law is the next step in idiocy from Washington.

The Good We Could Do...

At the end of March, 2008 the total raised to date for the 2008 presidential campaign was over $800M. Estimates are that the campaign will cost each final nominee $500M once we are past the primary stage( http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp). Is that really possible? $1.8B spent on an election? That's $6 for each man, woman, and child in America.

Women's glass ceiling?

The topic of women reaching the highest level of the corporate world was broached the other night.  While the topic is not as entertaining as Jeffery’s recent posts, I think it is worthy of kicking around.  To me the topic breaks down into two distinct parts:  can women today reach the top, and are their decisions on the way more difficult than men’s in similar situations?

Bill Maher

I always like good comedy and probably like good, even decent, political satire more than most.  George Carlin, particularly in his earlier days before his act degenerated into a series of words you can’t say on television, Bill Cosby, Steven Colbert, Gary Trudeau, and a host of others lighten my day and make be laugh.  Bill Maher is supposedly a political satirist/comedian in the vein of some of the historic greats, but one of his last rants crossed the line into a reprehensible screed.

Ruminations

Jeffery was so cheerful I just had to write something, but didn’t have the brain power to write a long blog so this will just be random thoughts on a variety of topics.

I find it amusing that the more Obama and Clinton campaign, the less the public like either of them.  Who will be the democratic “White Knight” riding to the rescue at the convention?  McCain must be enjoying their escapades.

Electorate, voter drives and education

Jeffery recently commented that “it must be rough to live in a country where you feel so far superior to almost everyone else in it.”   At first I was amused, then offended, and then it got me thinking.  I trust JF was somewhat tongue in cheek and I certainly hold no animus for his gross misjudgment of the situation.  My wife keeps my ego well in check.

My thoughts ran to why we elect such ridiculous politicians as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  I’m not picking on the democrats this time; the republicans have their share of wastrels, but Pelosi and Reid are so egregiously bad it is stunning.  This led to the common, oft-repeated mantra that the more people we have voting the better is our Republic.  Everyone has heard the laments about low voter turnout and how bad it is; is it really?

Jimmy Carter and Hamas

In my continuing effort to be open, I have to confess to something of which I am deeply ashamed, I voted for Jimmy Carter.  I blame it on youthful idealism or the fact that he was a very good governor, but it was a horrible mistake regardless.

His recent attempt at being relevant is another example of his lunacy.  He seems to be a nice enough guy:  the Habitat for Humanity program is nice (doesn’t do a lot for a lot of people, but it does send a warm message that “we care”), and he established the Carter Center for to advance human rights and alleviate unnecessary human suffering (who can argue against either of those goals).  His multiple failings as a President have been covered ad nauseum; however, even worse, most of his actions as a past President are reprehensible.

Popularity contests

I’m puzzled why so many people look at polls to determine what direction the world is going.  I’m even more puzzled why people believe polls are the answer to the problems of the country or world.

If memory serves, there was a solid majority of politicians, if 77-23 (77% in favor) in the Senate and 296-133 (68% in favor) in the House, that favored going to war in Iraq.  By that logic, it was a good idea.  Now some of these fearless people say, despite their vote (they didn't think an Iraq War Resolution had anything to do with going to war in Iraq apparently), that they never thought war was a good idea and that we should cut and run now.  By this logic, leadership means we should follow the public opinion polls and leave when the going gets tough.