You all know what the popular definition of insanity is...

[Joe Fields]

It's doing the same failed act over and over again, always expecting better results.

How much longer are we, as an electorate going to continue playing in this thoroughly rigged game called politics? Why do we keep expecting different and better results?

Would you enter a poker game, knowing that the rest of the players seated at the table have conspired to clean you out of every last cent you brought?

If it wasn't clear to many of you before Obama became president, (in other words, if you thought that our Dem leaders weren't every bit as corrupt as the sons of Satan that ruled before him) then this last year of oh so painful to watch sausage making should leave no doubt among all of you that WE ABSOLUTELY DO NOT MATTER TO THE RULING CLASS!!!! (with one important exception, which is at campaign time, when they NEED our boots on the ground and armies of volunteers on the phone banks to spread their campaign lies (er, message).

This system is so corrupted, that NO amount of good thoughts, good will, or hard work for the candidate du jour is going to change it for the benefit of the masses.

Corporate money has flowed into the political system unfettered, for the most part. And now the Supreme Court, in its great folly, has literally opened the floodgates of corporate contributions.

This (todays SCOTUS decision)marks the end of any pretense of a civilized society, a once great superpower, whose mantra at one time was to help lift up those of us who are the less fortunate, those of us who have fallen, or are about to fall through the cracks.

There are approximately 40 million citizens at or below the poverty threshold. Unemployment is right at 17%. Roughly 45 million of us are without any form of health insurance. WE ARE SCREAMING FOR HELP, FOR SOME COMPASSION...

Our voices have been completely drowned out by corporate money and influence. What few true progressive leaders we have must feel like they are re-living the political version of the Alamo.
They are, for all intent and purpose irrelevant in this process. We have watched progressives, like Rep. Weiner get whipsawed about like a rag doll in the mouth of a pit bull.

This whole clumsily choreographed acquiescence to big business, whether it is the banking or insurance industries, should leave no doubt among even the most Pollyannish of us that it really makes no sense to keep playing this game.

Until this wholly corrupted system undergoes a complete overhaul, we are just jerking off into the wind and accomplishing little or nothing. There will be no substantial change. The powers that be will never permit it.

Some of you may be saying, "But it's the only game in town." It's true. It is the only game in town, but who says we have to play?

In my feeble little mind, there is only one real solution, and that is for a peaceful revolution. I have watched us lose our rights and our freedoms incrementally for years now. I have watched millions of jobs leave this country, tens of thousands at a time, knowing that most of those jobs will not come back. In short, I have seen the systematic destruction of the threads that hold the fabric of our society together, and we are unravelling like a poorly knitted sweater.

We were sold on hope and change, just like the old time snake oil salesmen used to sell to us.

My father had a saying: "Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it. Well, we're getting it, alright. We have only ourselves to blame, for not paying close attention, and for allowing ourselves to get caught up in the cult of personality, concerning political candidates.

I saw this coming down, well over a year ago, and warned against it, but was met with a wall of contempt and derision here. There is no one in Washington that is willing to save us, and so we must look to ourselves.

For what it's worth, (not much) I am sitting out this putrid game called politics. I won't spend another dime on yet another worthless candidate. I refuse to spend my time, my energy and my emotions on people who are bought and paid for, even before they take office, whose REAL interests and agenda are counter to mine. I will sit on my hands, come election time, and I wish all of you would do the same. To do otherwise is to only enable more bad behavior from our "leaders."

I wish I could make some of you realize that there is only one political party, the MONEY party, and you and I aren't invited. The SCOTUS decision today re-affirms this.

I just wonder what will happen first. Will we rise up and take back our country, or will our meek citizenry watch with horror as the poor get herded off to camps?

[ChrisMCV]

1. Love this post

I am so pissed at the powers that be I would follow anyone with just a few milligrams of integrity that wasn't a nutbag/black helicopter wierdo.

[tom_paine]

2. Now, now, the Aristocracy would never "herd anyone into camps".

That would be bad PR and Hitler, with his over-the-top "marketing" spolied that for anyone who wants to try it.

Not to worry, advertsing and marketing have taught us ALL about rebranding and it's Bush-CIA compatriot, Plausible Deniability.

Our Aristocracy, when it's ready to finish the job, will figure out a smart marketing gimmick o achieve the same results without going all ham-fisted and PR-unsophisticated like Hitler.

Maybe an American Idol-style marketing campaign to help get people to WANT to go to the Camps.

:rofl:

[Joe Fields]

4. yeah, tom, I didn't articulate that very well.

Of course we won't be "herded." lol

I imagine it will be much like you have laid out in your response. Marketing is sooooo sophisticated these days, that the poor will just disappear without notice.

[dmallind]

3. Your prime example refutes your premise

The basic idea here is just another "it doesn't matter who gets elected they are the same" rant. You flat out say Dem leaders are just as corrupt as Reps.

Then you cite an example of a SCOTUS decision made possible ONLY by that very idiocy. Do you really think that 5-4 vote would have happened if President Gore had nominated 2 of the 5 instead of Bush? Do you really think 536 of the tens of thousands of voters who enabled Nader's mendacious vanity campaign claiming, like you, that the two parties are just the same, would not have voted for Gore had Ralphie not wasted his and ourt time?

It is idiots who do not see a difference who made this vote possible.

[Joe Fields]

5. maybe you can explain to me then,

how we can control the Executive branch, dominate the legislative branch and still have the results we would have, if Bush were still in power....

That is, if it isn't as corrupt....

[dmallind]

7. I can't, because we don't., except for SCOTUS which is only losely connected to admin

Obama only sat one Justice, replacing a mainstream Dem with another. No change.

Now the real question is would Gore have nominated either Alito or Roberts? If you think so....you are nuts. If you think it wouldn't have made a difference to this vote....you are nuts.

The reason for the vote that bothers you is the idiocy of thinking who wins the presidency does not matter, but the chance for it to matter was in 2000, and it cannot be undone now unless a RW SCJ dies or resigns in Obam's terms.

[diane in sf]

6. Alan Grayson is working to inspire other pols to take money from we the people

and that's the direction I'm going. I say no to the DSCC, DNC etc and just support individual candidates who are progressive enough. If Howard Dean was running the DNC again I would reconsider my position.

If I had the power to instantly do it I'd get rid of the Senate and the Congressional College and corporate donations and install instant runoff voting. It's a pity we have a winner take all system instead of a proportional one--it threatens minorities like actual foaming right wingers with political extinction, which is why they cheat so vigorously.

[Festivito]

8. Our governance is insane. Saner heads might someday prevail.

The question is what form will it take.