Effecting Change

While trolling the web, I came across a post that interested me. The blogger felt that the “left” (Democrats) needed to build a unified base within congress to get “things” through. This is true. Progressives need to prioritize issues and create an agenda with concrete actions for our current systemic failures: financial, social, foreign policy, etc. However, there were two underlying issues that I felt needed highlighting. First, the Democratic Party is part of the problem.

In 2008, the country stood behind Obama for different reasons, the biggest was fear of another Republican in office. The Democrats mistakenly view this as a mandate to do what they want. And unfortunate for us, most Democrats are unprogressive, spineless, parasites that have participated in creating many of the problems we face today.

Second is our electoral process. I'm cynical of our two-party political system (in-depth rant coming soon!), its back room dealings, how money equates to votes, and how stifling it is to progressive voices; but also realize that to effect change help is needed from those within it.

We have bought ourselves 4 years; we must act now. We must seek out and promote insiders who have the outsider’s perspective we desire. There are a few Democrats who honestly encompass many viewpoints shared by those on the progressive left and it is up to us to stand behind them and demand their voices be heard. That won't happen until we disengage from the distracting bickering and narrowly-framed debates of critical issues all too common on corporate media and subsequently discussed on progressive blog sites.

Better Late Than Never?

"Among other things, the Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act would give the federal government the power to regulate cigarette ingredients ..."

An industry purposely poisoning its customers, immoral. The regulatory body protecting you complicit in this, criminal. It took our Congress 100 years to correct their mistake, but its better late than never!

When the FDA was created in 1906, nicotine was a regulated substance. Big Tobacco lobbied (read bribe) congress and exceptions were made for nicotine and cigarettes. For a century, Big Tobacco has added 600 ingredients to their products for decades, knowing that when burned a cigarette creates 4000 chemicals, many carcinogens. It wasn't until 1994 that a complete? list disclosed to the public. And even with industry cover-ups and government disregard of the facts, Americans have known that cigarettes were harmful. And as much as I would like to blame corrupt politicians and evil corporations, the brunt fall on us. We sat around and did nothing. We just accepted (ignored) the fact that cigarettes were killing us. I'm not advocating making smoking illegal, far from it. I'm disgusted we allowed an industry to poison our friends and family with 600 toxic chemicals, unregulated and legally!

This is my point. Politicians are our employees; they work for us. Its unacceptible that we continually allow them to lie, cause harm, and commit crimes; ultimately in our name! Its wonderful that we have finally corrected a 100 year old mistake. But how long will we allow continued poisoning of our water, land, air and bodies by dozens of other American industries?

Obama's New Beginning

I have read and re-read many times the President’s speech in Cairo. Naturally I wanted to discuss each section, tease out hidden meanings. But not today. It’s taken me a few days to formulate my thoughts, and I’ve decided to be positive. Why? Because I have allowed the negative-energy shit-storm called American politics to infect my soul; this is my holistic detox. So here it goes. As Whitney urged her Hillman dorm mates to do, “Relax.. Relate.. Release..”
The tone of his speech was hopeful.
That’s the best I can do. Sorry. After every read, my natural reflex is to cringe at each omission and nuanced falsity. I worry that listeners to this speech may have missed what I’ve read. My advice; before passing judgment on a much hyped speech, I recommend that you read it, for the words almost always betray feelings initially evoked. Just as sailors must beware the sirens song, so too must the world avoid hopeful words spoken from a lawyer’s forked-tongue.
The Cairo speech was about American foreign policy, area where most American’s are deficient, but the arena where the world’s problems will be addressed. And it is important to remember during these perilous times, that our president isn’t a visionary. He has no specific plans for change. Obama is a politician. A centrist American politician. And that’s how he must be viewed. And he won’t effect any changes unless we force him to.
Now that I’ve failed in my attempt at positivity, I’ll end with this. Obama’s the best president we’ve had in the oval office for several decades.