I just turned on the TV and caught this impressive bit of the Rachel Maddow program. Among the things that count for something special happening for the first time under the Chiron-Neptune conjunction, or a slight expansion on that, seeing the light, here we have a great example. I understand the element of fraud in the alleged Democratic/Republican dichotomy (both ‘sides’ are sold out to the same banks and corporations), but at other times this split was at least minimally functional. At the moment, the nature of the game has changed. Rachel has mapped it out nicely in this piece from her Tuesday night broadcast, which is about 10 minutes long and may give you a case of ageda (that’s Sicilian for nervous stomach) — as well it should.
I don’t know Rachel personally, though she provided me with her chart data. One thing I can tell you from watching her is that this is someone who is not just a journalist; it is clear (to me) that she went or goes to therapy and takes the process seriously. You can actually see her growth process in motion, in the way she shapes her ideas and in her conception of maturity. Her birthday is April 1 and I will do her chart for you (and for her) closer to that date.
I love Rachel. I wish there were more of her!
The problem I see with telling the Democrats to just go it alone (“you have the majority…”) is that there are enough Republicans in drag pretending to be Dems that it isn’t really a Democratic majority.
I’d like to see the President take a few more shots at calling out the uber-hypocrites among the Pubs. He’s a lawyer; he should be able to put together a pretty good and clearly articulated case. It wouldn’t sway someone who operates solely on fear-based beliefs, but it might reach those folks who are in the process of waking up.
Eric, I’ve been thinking a bit about “personal responsibility.” I think it presupposes a person and a value system, with some degree of integrity. I also think that there are many, many people who don’t trust themselves on *anything*. They don’t feel their personal power. It’s been fragmented and beaten by the continuous assaults coming from institutions, culture, advertising, politics, religions, you name it. They may react like frightened kittens or provoked lions. Or like zombies, numbing (drinking & drugging) themselves to death.
Sarah, you’re not the only one gobsmacked. Many of us Americans have been feeling this way for a long time, and it has only gotten worse in the past year. This planetary phase has been great for poking holes through the veil of denial. Alas, there’s so much, that it is and will continue to be painful.
But hey, didn’t someone back in the ’60’s sing, “Waking up is hard to do…”
Cynthia M.
Part of what is going on is a sink or swim mentality on the part of the Republicans, as career guys. They lost big in 2008 and whatever the Dems supposedly stand for, this was more than symbolic: it was a sign of progress that the American public elected someone with brainwave activity and no reptilian DNA. Since the Repubs market themselves as the party of ‘non progress’ — they advertise regression as a product, they campaign against women’s rights and reproductive rights and gay rights, Palin advises Obama to bomb Iran so he increases his popularity rating, and so on — that is scary to them: that people might wake up, at all.
The differences between the parties are not as big as it seems (and we are stuck in a two-party system that is very dangerous, since no compromises are possible when it gets polarized like this) — when there is a competitive situation, a Coke vs Pepsi situation, then somehow there has to be a distinction created between the two camps or ‘products’ and that difference is currently what is being exploited for the sake of these guys getting re-elected. Newt has to get on the Jon Stewart show and claim that Obama is a ‘radical’ for doing all the same stuff that Bush did (stimulus, hold terrorist trials in US courts rather than military tribunals, etc.)
The game the Repubs are playing is: make Obama look as bad as possible, while looking as good as possible themselves (in their home district, hence, all the big checks), get re-elected and keep playing the game.
They know as well as anyone that we live in a time of nearly total delusion (while some people are getting the vibe of Chi-Nep and waking up) and so they can cash in on those delusions by doing things like plying on fear, old timey values like hatred and racism, and good old being a slick politician and coming off smelling like a rose. This, at the same time that some people, some sectors of society, are struggling to wake up and intending to do so.
None of this would get them anywhere if people got hip to their game, and were willing to take personal responsibility; but then SUNY New Paltz would not be able to leave the dioxin dorms open if just five or 10 people cared (out of 1,300 residents of those dorms).
For those outside the United States wondering why this should matter, we are in the time of the fate of the Earth. What happens in the U.S. influences the rest of the world, and we do export our dysfunctional politics in many, many different forms.
Further, what happens outside can influence the ways that people in the U.S. think and so if you’re in a country and your local political scene is even vaguely interesting, please tell the story here. Well-developed comments can become full blog posts; I just need a solid opinion and a factual basis in a few articles linked from the UK, Euro or Oz press. We need to use the Internet for international communication and so pass back and forth the example of where social consciousness needs to move.
It takes very few of us to influence the whole game.
From a UK perspective, that is an incredibly enlightening and refreshing piece of journalism; and from a very personal perspective, I am gobsmacked by what seems to be the state of US politics today. Dumbfounded.