Great news, and great analysis. Now if we could only get rid of Schumer and Jeffries! Neither one meets the moment. We need fighters, while the party tries to survive within this existing framework of a quasi-government/kakistocracy!
Although with Schumer, he’s another one who will support Israel with impunity and is useless. We need to put Netanyahu on a leash—if not in prison wirh Trump! IMHO…:)
This is good in a very minor sense I guess, but expecting the US to change its stripes in any significant way based on whether a somewhat more progressive Dem is elected or not is missing the fact that the whole system stinks and must be thrown out wholesale! Yes, the US is that rotten. The Dems are the more effective evil, as the great Glen Ford liked to point out, because they talk a good game while I'm actuality doing pretty much exactly what the Republicans do. Tinkering around the edges of the US political system will do nothing of any significance except give the ILLUSION of change, pushing REAL change further and further away into the distance. And that's the exact opposite of what we need.
Spot on, sir. I have vague memories (read extreme sarcasm) of people celebrating the election of The Great Progressive, aka John Fetterman. I was drawn and quartered during the primary season by telling people that Fetterman was a fraud. I couldn’t believe the number of people who were naive enough to believe this nepo baby was a Man of the People because he wore ratty gym clothes, but here we are.
Quoting my father from ca. 1961, “All politicians are crooks”.
How, exactly, are we to rid ourselves of the system then? I agree, it’s gotta go and it’s rotten to the core. But tinkering around the edges is how you build momentum for change. Guys like Ro Khanna are pushing to get rid of Citizens United. Great start! People are watching what Mamdani is cooking in the most important city in this country. Things are happening.
Having a constitutional convention, getting rid of the Electoral College, getting rid of the Senate, expanding the House and capping SCOTUS terms, rewriting the 2d and 25th Amendments are not unpopular ideas, as is taxing billionaires of existence. The bigger the vision the better. US really cannot go on trying to govern itself with a 18th c. document.
What was particularly comic about Mills saying she couldn't find any donors was that she had just taken a stand on the side of having more data centers. Like, those people who own data centers don't want her voting in the Senate? They suddenly are unwilling to pour money into campaigns to stop a politician like Platner? Not to mention the weapons industry and the "forever wars" fan club, all of whom hate Platner, and they have money to burn. Anyway, legacy media (if they aren't going to ask logical questions after politicians issue obviously false statements) might have embarrassed themselves less had they reported that Mills *claimed* to not have the financial resources to continue. But enough about these losers. I don't expect Collins to go down as quietly as Mills has, and she will have plenty of money to spend.
Heard Platner speak about specific events during FDR years, his work as Chair of the local planning board. He is a reader an organizer and did a gig for the State Dept after attending GW. He talked about creating public policy and noting when it is not working.
Bottom line is good values. Imagine Platner in the Senate w Bernie, Abdul El Sayed, and others.
Was it Mark Twain, or perhaps Ronald Reagan who stated that "diapers and politicians must be changed often, and for the same reasons".
Very few are the politicians (or Supreme Court Judges, from what I heard recently about Supreme Court Justice Robert) who don't become corrupted by the system: easy money, temptations to cut corners and enrich oneself, lobbyists running loose in the highest halls of Government trying to sway your opinion of legislation. The system makes it nearly impossible because it runs on money and power more than ideas.
Primaries do not really help when a candidate wants to prove himself, or herself to his chosen Party. They regurgitate one of the 2 sets of tired ideas in vogue at the time. To get money to run, they have to adopt the set of ideas of their Party. Very few dissentions are allowed, so we tend to end up with the most extreme, almost caricatural, representations of each Party.
1/ Booting lobbyists out could help some, but they'd just meet more discretely..
2/ Their finances should be an open book, but few would survive the scrutiny, I suspect.
3/ Time, can be a good palliative to corruption: With a shorter career, they can't get cosy with corrupting influences, get in the "scratch my back I'll scratch yours", mode.
But that is not entirely satisfactory either : you may end up throwing away folks who have a real talent if you time them out
4/ That leaves a strong, multipartisan ethics board, some kind of "Internal affairs bureau" for politicians. The Police have theirs, and they can do a good job.
Funny thing is I don't think Platner could beat Bernie Sanders in a head to head match up in a primary. Platner deserves some credit for not coasting on his youth or running an ageist campaign against Mills. He talked about old ideas, rather than old women -- and how could he have done otherwise when Elizabeth Warren gave him such a gift with her endorsement at a crucial moment?
100% agree. Extraordinary rebuke of the gerentocracy. The only issue is that Platner is likely going to lose in the general because he's a Nazi. (No, I don't buy his excuses. Neither do many others.)
Luckily, if the famine comes, and along with it, heat and food rationing, you'll be able to put an end to not only elder politicians but all the rest of us troublesome boomers. We had all better be prepared, because I can feel the cull a coming. Which side will you be on?
This headline has me absolutely 😂
Thank you Ken - excellent post
First there was Mamdani… Then there was Platner… I smell a tide turning.
Great news, and great analysis. Now if we could only get rid of Schumer and Jeffries! Neither one meets the moment. We need fighters, while the party tries to survive within this existing framework of a quasi-government/kakistocracy!
Although with Schumer, he’s another one who will support Israel with impunity and is useless. We need to put Netanyahu on a leash—if not in prison wirh Trump! IMHO…:)
The choices are… a gerontocrat or a guy with a totenkopf tattoo on his chest. This country is so unbelievably cooked
This is good in a very minor sense I guess, but expecting the US to change its stripes in any significant way based on whether a somewhat more progressive Dem is elected or not is missing the fact that the whole system stinks and must be thrown out wholesale! Yes, the US is that rotten. The Dems are the more effective evil, as the great Glen Ford liked to point out, because they talk a good game while I'm actuality doing pretty much exactly what the Republicans do. Tinkering around the edges of the US political system will do nothing of any significance except give the ILLUSION of change, pushing REAL change further and further away into the distance. And that's the exact opposite of what we need.
Spot on, sir. I have vague memories (read extreme sarcasm) of people celebrating the election of The Great Progressive, aka John Fetterman. I was drawn and quartered during the primary season by telling people that Fetterman was a fraud. I couldn’t believe the number of people who were naive enough to believe this nepo baby was a Man of the People because he wore ratty gym clothes, but here we are.
Quoting my father from ca. 1961, “All politicians are crooks”.
How, exactly, are we to rid ourselves of the system then? I agree, it’s gotta go and it’s rotten to the core. But tinkering around the edges is how you build momentum for change. Guys like Ro Khanna are pushing to get rid of Citizens United. Great start! People are watching what Mamdani is cooking in the most important city in this country. Things are happening.
I have never seen evidence that tinkering around the edges is how you bring on a revolution. But if you have, please share.
Having a constitutional convention, getting rid of the Electoral College, getting rid of the Senate, expanding the House and capping SCOTUS terms, rewriting the 2d and 25th Amendments are not unpopular ideas, as is taxing billionaires of existence. The bigger the vision the better. US really cannot go on trying to govern itself with a 18th c. document.
Flipping the Senate is crucial to removing Trump from office.
This is how we fix it
https://sites.google.com/view/rings-network/theory-of-change
4.8 to 1.5 = 3.2 to 1 but still Graham blew her out of the water
What was particularly comic about Mills saying she couldn't find any donors was that she had just taken a stand on the side of having more data centers. Like, those people who own data centers don't want her voting in the Senate? They suddenly are unwilling to pour money into campaigns to stop a politician like Platner? Not to mention the weapons industry and the "forever wars" fan club, all of whom hate Platner, and they have money to burn. Anyway, legacy media (if they aren't going to ask logical questions after politicians issue obviously false statements) might have embarrassed themselves less had they reported that Mills *claimed* to not have the financial resources to continue. But enough about these losers. I don't expect Collins to go down as quietly as Mills has, and she will have plenty of money to spend.
Heard Platner speak about specific events during FDR years, his work as Chair of the local planning board. He is a reader an organizer and did a gig for the State Dept after attending GW. He talked about creating public policy and noting when it is not working.
Bottom line is good values. Imagine Platner in the Senate w Bernie, Abdul El Sayed, and others.
Was it Mark Twain, or perhaps Ronald Reagan who stated that "diapers and politicians must be changed often, and for the same reasons".
Very few are the politicians (or Supreme Court Judges, from what I heard recently about Supreme Court Justice Robert) who don't become corrupted by the system: easy money, temptations to cut corners and enrich oneself, lobbyists running loose in the highest halls of Government trying to sway your opinion of legislation. The system makes it nearly impossible because it runs on money and power more than ideas.
Primaries do not really help when a candidate wants to prove himself, or herself to his chosen Party. They regurgitate one of the 2 sets of tired ideas in vogue at the time. To get money to run, they have to adopt the set of ideas of their Party. Very few dissentions are allowed, so we tend to end up with the most extreme, almost caricatural, representations of each Party.
1/ Booting lobbyists out could help some, but they'd just meet more discretely..
2/ Their finances should be an open book, but few would survive the scrutiny, I suspect.
3/ Time, can be a good palliative to corruption: With a shorter career, they can't get cosy with corrupting influences, get in the "scratch my back I'll scratch yours", mode.
But that is not entirely satisfactory either : you may end up throwing away folks who have a real talent if you time them out
4/ That leaves a strong, multipartisan ethics board, some kind of "Internal affairs bureau" for politicians. The Police have theirs, and they can do a good job.
But I won't hold my breath...
A victory for Ken. He kicked the walker out from under this troll and still there are more aged criminals to retire.
It was the (be nice!) below the pic that got me...
Is the weekend at Bernie's era is ending?
Funny thing is I don't think Platner could beat Bernie Sanders in a head to head match up in a primary. Platner deserves some credit for not coasting on his youth or running an ageist campaign against Mills. He talked about old ideas, rather than old women -- and how could he have done otherwise when Elizabeth Warren gave him such a gift with her endorsement at a crucial moment?
100% agree. Extraordinary rebuke of the gerentocracy. The only issue is that Platner is likely going to lose in the general because he's a Nazi. (No, I don't buy his excuses. Neither do many others.)
Luckily, if the famine comes, and along with it, heat and food rationing, you'll be able to put an end to not only elder politicians but all the rest of us troublesome boomers. We had all better be prepared, because I can feel the cull a coming. Which side will you be on?