On the subject of Blue Dogs... Another Long Rant

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

Maybe we need to clear one thing up before we go any farther. The subject of this post is not a matter of ideology. It's not a matter of conservatism versus liberalism. It's not a matter of who's been doing what to who under what rosebush in who's back yard for the last fifty years or whatever.

It's simply a post about politicians putting personal gain ahead serving the best interests of ALL of the the people and trying to PASS IT OFF as some kind of battle between ideologies. That's all I'm saying. Don't try to analyze it, don't bother trying to parse it, don't read things into it that aren't said for the sake of "setting me straight" on issues that haven't been raised in the first place.

As I said in the other thread, people expect the Republicans... long recognized as the party of "big business" ( an awful lot can hide in that simple little descriptive phrase)... to try to obstruct of anything that doesn't serve the interests of the major industries or "sectors" that control the GDP these days. It's what you should expect when you elect a Republican in the first place, it's simply what they do.

I may... and do... disagree vehemently with virtually all of the stances that many Republicans in general take on many issues but this is tempered by the fact that I, having been one of them for a while, don't expect anything else from them and in that, they live up to my expectations.

But they DO share one thing with many of the their colleagues on the other side of the aisle... a love of huge campaign contributions and other perks that allow them to live like rock stars... that big business is wont to use in making damned sure things go THEIR way in Washington and not ours.

You can look at all the screaming and posturing about President Obama's birthplace, his middle name, flag lapel pins, and even some real issues like the "added" cost of reforming health care, the defense of the profiteering by energy and insurance companies... all of it. And when you blow away the smoke and drain off all the extraneous bullshit you're left with one totally inescapable conclusion: It's all about the money and it's ALWAYS all about the money. And money doesn't care whether you have an R or a D after your name.

We all know that the three biggest economic issues facing this country today are health care, energy and actions by the financial sector and you have only to look at the campaign contribution records to your local Boss Hogg to see why nothing of any benefit to the citizens at large ever gets done bout the obvious abuses, corruption and graft that are rampant in all those industries' dealings with "our" government.

As I said, I expect it from Republicans... they make no bones that they serve only those with enough bucks to pay their price for their services and the only time you ever see anything remotely resembling any kind of populism out of any of them is at election time. The rest of the time they make it plain that they either don't give a damn what you think or are genuinely too stupid to realize that you DO think. In that, they're at least predictable.

But Democrats... man you've got to grab yourself a whole big old sack of whoa when it comes to these guys. Can it be that the Democrats AREN'T entirely what they've always pretended to be (or what the Republicans told us they all were)? Can it be that not all of them are all that willing to stand with the people and base their decisions on what's good for the country instead of what's good for Wall Street?

The answer of course, is a resounding YES! It can be and IS exactly that. Face it folks, rich Democrats are going to guard their riches and their "entitlement" to even more riches at the expense of the rest of us with just as much jealous fervor as their Republican counterparts. That's especially true of the good old boys and girls who've been around a while and know enough to do their major feeding at the same trough the Republicans do.

Which brings us to the actual subject of this rant, the Blue dogs. Republicans like to call them "Conservative Democrats" when they've done something to undermine any kind of reform that would benefit the people over the slugs that make up our nobility... like right now during the debate on health care issues. You'll see them deviate from that line a bit at election time of course, when they try to pretend that "Conservative Democrat" is some kind of a super oxymoron but hey, that's just playing the old game, right?

I really don't know when the term "conservative" came to be applied only to those who take big money from huge corporations and rich Wall Street parasites for making sure that said corporations and parasites are free to literally rob the rest of the country blind without oversight or any other form of interference by our so called government "for the people". But somewhere along the line, that has become the ipso facto definition of "conservative" so I tend to go with it, mainly because it draws a distinction between Blue Dogs and those Democrats who still have some scruples left. It also places the use of the term to describe Dems who have sold out just like heir conservative brethren at least somewhere in the realm accuracy by virtue of usage, if nothing else.

The Center for Public Integrity... which I'm sure is often labeled by "conservatives" of all stripes as just another bunch of DFHs... has an interesting read this morning that explains pretty much where the Blue Dogs are coming from and perhaps... more importantly... where they're going and why they're going there. And unless you're one of the die hard lunatic twenty percenters in the fringes of the Republican fold, it's a pretty good indication of why the Republicans do some of the things they do also. That twenty percent... well... never mind.

The article, Blue Dogs Fill Their Bowls with Cash breaks it down so that even a dumb country boy like me could understand it. for example:

Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 461

The civil rights act and vietnam caused things to flip between much of both parties.

I didn't think the blue dogs were that much still around, I guessed wrong. There were some liberal republicans but those are quite rare.

There's also a difference between social and economic issues. Where I am I'd say both parties are mostly liberal on social issues but not so much on economic. Since gay marriaged passed years ago it's a dead issue. Anyone running on the idea of repealing it would be viewed as a joke and get no support. People have moved past it at this point.

Also is that in many reguards parties might agree to accomplish the same thing but in different ways.

Joined: 06 Jul 2003 Posts: 8380 Location: Central CA

None of which has any effect on the fact that there is nobody in "our" government that actually represents ME... which for some strange reason is an extremely important thing to ME.

We have people representing Wall Street, the big banks, the insurance industry, the energy companies, the war profiteers, the defense companies, the doctors, the lawyers and the Indian chiefs and any other group with the money to pay fat assed lobbyists big bucks to pay fat assed politicians big bucks to make sure they've extracted every last nickel they've declared themselves entitled to... but there ain't a swinging Richard among the whole sorry lot of them... at any level of government... that represents ME... the most important person in the world to ME.

Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 556

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

Actually the more I've studied on Ron Paul the more I beleive he really is "for the people". I'm not keen on some of his personal views, but he doesn't want to Impose his personal views on me. He's been consistant with his messages since he was first elected to office back in the 70's. I like the look of the Austrian Economics, but then economics is something I've really just started to learn about these last two years. I'm not thrilled with all their propoganda but I do beleive in the constitution and I beleive that's what they truly are fighting for., Our rights. Those powers not expressly given to the federal gov. in the constitution are reserved to the states and the people.

Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 461

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