I was born in 1947 .........

[Stinky The Clown]

...... and for at least a while, I am pretty sure I lived in a functioning democracy.

I no longer think that. We are ruled, effectively, by a very small cadre of the powerful. What appears to be our government is really more akin to the Globetrotters and the Generals. Every era has its hero. The only difference is that the two sides trade uniforms every few years. Runt, Hawk, Meadowlark and Curley are played by such notables as Jack, Dick, Lyndon, Ronnie, George, Bill and Barack. The masses cheer and all is well as we choose a new American Idol.




It is more subtle, George.




More subtle than you ever imagined.

[Brickbat]

1. Every once in awhile a bucket of confetti gets dumped and we think we've made progress.

But no one's wet.

God, I love extended metaphor.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

2. I was born in 1951 and am now very sure I haven't lived in a functioning democracy since 1963.

I've been a life long Democrat and now feel very dirty.

[flyarm]

23. Same here! and the more I scrub myself, the more I feel I have to scrub and can't get the grime off

me..check this out.....really makes me ill! beyond ill!

Born 1951..and i Think Democracy ended when Kennedy was killed..it was the shadow government ..my dad would always say that..he would say..Shadow gov, and the mafia....and it was covered
up with the help of Arlen Specter..and now people want me to cheer for Specter..damn my dad and mom hated him with every inch of themselves..
I am glad they have passed on..in a way..and don't have to see people calling that prick a democrat! And they don't have to see these phony assed
democrats calling that prick a democrat. My dad would have come unglued...in more ways than one.

Remember all those votes I fought for in my state..well..The dems pissed all over my vote and all those people I fought for ..and their votes.

check it out!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


James Roosevelt, who was chair of the Rules and Bylaws Committee that decided to dock Michigan and Florida half of their
delegates and award 4 of the delegates Clinton won in Michigan to Obama, as well as all of the uncommitted delegates,
is the CEO of a health insurance company – Tufts Healthcare. Okay? Got that? The guy who made sure that Obama had the necessary
to delegates to win the nomination – even to the point of assigning delegates another candidate won to him arbitrarily –
is the CEO of a health insurance firm.
And what Roosevelt wants in a health insurance reform, is a reform that relies entirely upon private insurers.
He does not want a public option. He wants a plan like Massachusetts has
: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/04/09/healthcare_lets_build_on_what_we_know/

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

do some googling..you will find lots on James Roosevelt, Jr. and the DNC Ways and Means committee on the delegate decisions in Michigan and Florida..
http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=James+Roosevelt%2C+who+was+chair+of+the+Rules+and+Bylaws+Committee+that+decided+to+dock+Michigan+and+Florida+half+of+their+delegates+and+award+4+of+the+delegates+Clinton+won+in+Michigan+to+Obama&page=2&nt=SG2&oreq=66ea2dd1351a45ce9c7de9133d8c39d8&s_it=keyword_rollover

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.tuftshealthplan.com/visitors/visitors.php?sec=about_us&content=senior_management_group

Senior Management Group
Our mission is to set the standard for outstanding quality health care, service, and value. Our dedication to excellence makes us one of the leading health plans in the nation. Meet our senior management group.

James Roosevelt, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer


es Roosevelt, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Roosevelt joined Tufts Health Plan in 1999 as senior vice president and general counsel and held that position until June 2005, when he became president and chief executive officer. As the general counsel, he presided over the legal department and the company's compliance, privacy and government relations functions.

Before joining Tufts Health Plan, Mr. Roosevelt was the associate commissioner for Retirement Policy for the Social Security Administration in Washington, D.C. He has also served as chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Democratic Party and as co-chair of the Rules and By-laws Committee of the Democratic National Committee, for which he currently serves on the Change Commission. Mr. Roosevelt spent 10 years as partner at Choate, Hall and Stewart in Boston. He is past chairman of the board of trustees for the Massachusetts Hospital Association, past president of the American Health Lawyers Association and past chairman of the board of trustees for Mount Auburn Hospital. Currently, Mr. Roosevelt serves as chairman of the board of directors for Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, and as a member of the board of directors and co-chair of the policy committee at America’s Health Insurance Plans. He is a member of the Massachusetts Heath Care Quality and Cost Council and the board of directors for the Rhode Island Quality Institute. Mr. Roosevelt is also a board member at Emmanuel College and the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center, and is co-chair of the board of directors for the Tufts Health Care Institute. In November 2008, President-elect Barack Obama appointed Mr. Roosevelt to his transition team to co-chair a review of the Social Security Administration.

Mr. Roosevelt received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his A.B. with honors in government from Harvard College. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03.aspx

The DNC weighs in on Michigan

Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 10:40 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Democrats

From NBC's Mark Murray

DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee co-chairs Alexis Herman and James Roosevelt issued the following memo to members of the committee:

"We have recently been asked whether the legislation as proposed by Michigan would fit within the framework of the National Party’s Delegate Selection Rules. Our review of this legislation indicates that it would, in fact, fit within the framework of the Rules if, it were, passed by the state legislature and used by the Michigan State Democratic Party as the basis of drafting a formal Delegate Selection Plan. If a formal Delegate Selection Plan is received we will convene a meeting of the RBC to consider such a Plan."

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. Nice research and links. Many thanks.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

36. Wow! This is a Must Read dear fly, it deserves its own thread.

And fly! :hi: :hug: :loveya:

[southernyankeebelle]

29. Am 62 and I agree with you. When Kennedy was shot our lives changed forever. I no

longer believed we would things would ever be the same again. Then watergate and when Reagan took over that was it for me. Clinton was a republican lite and I thought Obama would be our new way. I mean I wasn't hero worshipping but just thought we would get back to the way things were. But the sad thing it hasn't yet. I am still hopeful..

[t0dd]

3. I was born in 1987 .........

and I've never lived in a functioning democracy. But a functioning corporate oligarchy? Yep.

My country, 'tis of thee--Sweet land of corporatocracy! :patriot:

[cali]

4. Mmmm. yes indeedy. the days of McCarthyism and Jim Crow

how some do romanticize the past.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Both are gone

What's your point?

Romanticizing the past?

Nope, none of that in this thread.

You just have this need to chase clowns.

[liberation]

21. Funny, I thought McCarthyism and Jim Crow were dealt with during that time...

... the patriot act has lasted far longer than the witch hunts McCarthy conduced. And BTW what happened to Sen. McCarthy? I missed when the Dems of the time rushed to make sure people "looked to the future and stopped worrying their pretty little minds" with that asshole. I am not claiming things were perfect, but at least there was a framework for the left and the right to carry a relatively proper debate. Whereas now there is basically only center-right and far-right carrying such a debate, and such lack of ideological diversity is fairly damaging for any supposedly "working" democracy. As we're observing during the past few decades.


So if we're going to discuss historical context, let's do so. I found it fascinating you were complaining about "cherry picking" the past, with your very own cherry pick and out of context retort.

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. And BTW what happened to Sen. McCarthy?

He famously over-reached, was censured/condemned by the Senate, his career was ruined, he was ignored by Senate members, and to no one's surprise he was found to have "the Irish disease":
"McCarthy's biographers agree that he was a changed man after the censure; declining both physically and emotionally, he became a "pale ghost of his former self" in the words of Fred J. Cook.<101> It was reported that McCarthy suffered from cirrhosis of the liver and was frequently hospitalized for alcoholism. Numerous eyewitnesses, including Senate aide George Reedy and journalist Tom Wicker, have reported finding him alarmingly drunk in the Senate. "
He died in 1957, essentially a broken man who never reclaimed the spotlight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy#Censure_and_the_Watkins_Committee

I am reading a bio of him, btw, mostly for the background information of the people and events of that time.

[sad sally]

5. as one born in 1947 too, I think that small powerful cadre rule

not only the fake USA democracy but the whole world. We're just one set of pawns on a very large chessboard, waiting to see what the next move will be. Fearful of making any waves, fearful of disturbing the status quo, wishing a "true" hero would appear and clean the cobwebs from our exiled minds...

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Dunno, the more I read of TRUE history, the more I am convinced

the game has been rigged for a lot longer than the last 60 some years of my life.

But the rigging has moved from the deep shadows to the forefront more rapidly
these last few years, I think "they" are confident the level of dumbing down is sufficient for the masks to be removed.

[johnlucas]

31. Ding Ding Ding! You are correct, madam!

This corruption goes all the way back to the time when one man thought to elevate himself above another. It's before the era of kings.
It's an ancient problem not a modern one.

John Lucas

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. I agree the basis of the problem seems to be age old greed.

The question at hand is when did USA jump the rails?

Actually, the answer is not as important as is the perception inherent in the question.
More and more people, by asking the questions, are saying they now see we HAVE lost any pretense of democracy.
THAT is a start, don't ya think?

[Cleita]

8. I think it began with Nixon, the slow dismantling of our safeguards from

evolving into a corporate, fascist society that only pays lip service to democracy. When was the last time we were able to get the attention of our elected officials? It seems once they are elected after promising us what we want to hear, they totally ignore all our requests and protests.

[napi21]

10. It began with Reagan killing the ATC Unions, then the repeal of

Glass Steigel, the refusal to enforce corporate monopolies, and finally allowing banks & stock trading corps to merge.

[retread]

17. It began with Christopher Columbus. n/t

[havocmom]

11. 'Globetrotters and the Generals' A perfect metaphor and illustration

Sadly, one which is lost on too many.

Good job, Stinky. Been looking for a way to sum up my firm conviction that the two parties are just the circus while the group that employs both parties goes about re-creating the dark ages of mankind.

[madrchsod]

12. so was i.....

[Mike 03]

13. This seems a bit nuts. NT

[Andy823]

14. I was born if 1951

I have seen a lot in that time, ups, downs, good times, and bad times. I made about $2.00 hour out of high school, got a little better job the next year and drafted into the army in 1971 where I made a whopping $100 a month. I worked my way up after I left the army and now my wife and I own our own business. Am I happy about everything? No. Am I gong to complain and give up on any hope things will change? Hell no! I have found over the years that things may look pretty bad, but they get better. We have to live with the ups and downs, but we should never give up hope that someday things will get better for us. Maybe not as good as we want it to be, but better than what we had.

I know many here aren't pleased with president Obama because things haven't worked out the way they wanted them to. I would love to have a real UHC system, but anyone who thinks that could be done all at once instead of in steps is not living in the real world! Sure the current health care bill isn't the greatest, but it's a start, granted a small start, but even the might oak tree starts as a small seed and then grows. If we can get a starting point to build on, we have a good chance of getting to a "real" UHC system someday. If we get nothing out of this and the bill does not pass, then we get nothing period!

Will I be pissed off if we get nothing? Damn right, but I won't give up.

[bridgit]

15. I was born in 68', and have always thought America was setup by & for wealthy property owners...

Wealthy white property owners - not to put too fine a point on it - that only offered up 'democracy' in response to the oppression of the British Crown they felt so labored beneath - a Crown that sent them there to begin with. Women couldn't vote slaves couldn't vote and so on, with large swatches of disenfranchised and many of them still discounted to this day; and the rabble were seldom if ever allowed to participate fully unless they had been hired as goons & thugs on either or all sides

Once 'the founders' went off to Europe to kiss ass and beg for money and guns (cause silver tea cups, snuff boxes, tobacco and colonial chairs simply weren't enough to finance their plans) and began to try to out embroider & gold filigree the French (a dauntless task without doubt) with all the loft about inalienable rights & freedoms America's democracy was cast to become too fluffy/so fluffy & ethereal anyone could game it and win elections by accusing someone of having a Jamaican born mother and so at least 1/2 black and unfit for higher office whether true or no...

There's your American democracy: a sham notion that refuses to be born into the daylight that's the way it was setup http://www.indopedia.org/Alexander_Hamilton.html

[retread]

18. Well said! n/t

[johnlucas]

32. Somebody else understands

The "Founding Fathers" ain't MY daddy, I tell ya what.

This whole country is just an elaborate mythology like all the others.
John Lucas

[Individualist]

16. I'm four years older than you and agree with you.

[tom_paine]

19. Bingo. n/t

[housewolf]

20. I remember telling my dad, oh, about 18 yrs ago or so

that I thought his generation, those born in the 1920's, had seen the best days of America. 'Course they had the depression and the dust bowl to deal with, but they were in their full powers from WW2 into the 1980's - 1990's. Somehow I knew, almost 20 years ago, that it wasn't gonna get any better.

I'm just a couple years behind you, Stinky... I think that yes, there WAS a functioning democracy during our earlier years. I'm not sure when we lost it...

[Wizard777]

22. I was born in 1931. The people of today don't know what a real democracy is.

Also if FDR had any of the advanced knowledge of the pearl harbor bombing that Bush had on 9/11. Even as much as America loved him. He would have been dragged from the white house and hanged from the nearest tree. Congress even investigated what FDR knew about the bombing before it happened to see if he allowed the bombing to drag us into WWII. There was just so much about Iraq that reminded me of the run up to WWII. America wanted nothing to do with any war. We were still smarting from WWI. But FDR wanted that war in the worst kind of way. But the investigation exonerated him.

[MineralMan]

24. I was born in 1945.

In the little town in California where I lived, black people were not allowed to even be in that town after dark, on pain of arrest.

Today, it is 2010. We have a black President of The United States. I rest my case.

[Ardent15]

26. Purely symbolic.

What our current President is actually doing is of no help to anyone other than the ruling elites.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. 1944. My faith in "democracy" died in Chicago '68 and was buried at Kent State.

[HarveyDarkey]

27. 1949 here, it's always been a plutochracy

despite the prevalent mythology

[Odin2005]

28. When Fascism came to America it came wearing the flag and carrying a cross.

[NYC_SKP]

30. Superbowl, YAY!!!! SUVs to tow my boat, woo hoo!!! Starbucks and Krispy Kream!

Bread and circuses.