The Ideology of no ideology
On Friday, columnist David Brooks informed readers that Barack
Obama’s picks “are not ideological.” The incoming president’s
key economic advisers “are moderate and thoughtful Democrats,”
while Hillary Clinton’s foreign-policy views “are hardheaded and
pragmatic.”
On Saturday, the New York Times front page reported that the president-elect’s choices for secretaries of State and Treasury “suggest that Mr. Obama is planning to govern from the center-right of his party, surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues.”
On Monday, hours before Obama’s formal announcement of his economic team, USA Today explained that he is forming a Cabinet with “records that display more pragmatism than ideology.”
The ideology of no ideology is nifty. No matter how tilted in favor of powerful interests, it can be a deft way to keep touting policy agendas as common-sense pragmatism -- virtuous enough to draw opposition only from ideologues.
Meanwhile, the end of ideology among policymakers is about as imminent as the end of history.
On Saturday, the New York Times front page reported that the president-elect’s choices for secretaries of State and Treasury “suggest that Mr. Obama is planning to govern from the center-right of his party, surrounding himself with pragmatists rather than ideologues.”
On Monday, hours before Obama’s formal announcement of his economic team, USA Today explained that he is forming a Cabinet with “records that display more pragmatism than ideology.”
The ideology of no ideology is nifty. No matter how tilted in favor of powerful interests, it can be a deft way to keep touting policy agendas as common-sense pragmatism -- virtuous enough to draw opposition only from ideologues.
Meanwhile, the end of ideology among policymakers is about as imminent as the end of history.
Stacks of dead presidents or flesh and blood companions?
Robert Turnbull: I guess I’ll start with a rather mundane question. How are you?
Jason Miller: I just looked at some horrific photos of extremely sick and emaciated people who suffer from a drug-resistant strain of TB and AIDS, so I’m feeling blessed because I’m relatively healthy and able to employ my personal strengths to carry out my purpose on Earth.
RT: What is that you consider your purpose on Earth to be?
JM: It’s multi-faceted and complex, but if I distill it to its essence and put it succinctly, my primary purpose on Earth is to strive for two causes: animal liberation and socialism.
I realize that socialism is a loaded word, particularly in our benighted land here in the US. But as we talk you’ll get a better sense of what I mean when I talk about socialism, which I use as a bit of a catch-all term to describe a more logical and just way of interacting socially, politically and economically.
RT: What do you say to socialism’s critics who argue that it has failed each time it’s been tried and that it’s utopian in nature, and therefore impossible to implement?
Jason Miller: I just looked at some horrific photos of extremely sick and emaciated people who suffer from a drug-resistant strain of TB and AIDS, so I’m feeling blessed because I’m relatively healthy and able to employ my personal strengths to carry out my purpose on Earth.
RT: What is that you consider your purpose on Earth to be?
JM: It’s multi-faceted and complex, but if I distill it to its essence and put it succinctly, my primary purpose on Earth is to strive for two causes: animal liberation and socialism.
I realize that socialism is a loaded word, particularly in our benighted land here in the US. But as we talk you’ll get a better sense of what I mean when I talk about socialism, which I use as a bit of a catch-all term to describe a more logical and just way of interacting socially, politically and economically.
RT: What do you say to socialism’s critics who argue that it has failed each time it’s been tried and that it’s utopian in nature, and therefore impossible to implement?
History IS SCREAMING
Nobody opines sagely anymore that the races will never get along, calmly ladling conventional certainties over the earnest idealism of civil-rights activists. But we live in a world so permeated with militarized fear of demagogic leaders and rogue states that nuclear deterrence retains enough of the default credibility it had during the Cold War, as the opposite of utopian naïveté, that common sense is still on the defensive.
No matter that some of the most prominent old Cold Warriors have lost their faith in nuclear weapons, and grasp that us vs. them security concepts are disastrously counterproductive in today’s more complex, more nationally porous global reality, and have downgraded that era’s most notorious acronym — M.A.D., as in Mutually Assured Destruction — to just plain mad.
“U.S. leadership will be required to take the world to the next stage . . .”
Let those words reverberate, as we ponder their seriousness: “. . . to a solid consensus for reversing reliance on nuclear weapons . . . and ultimately ending them as a threat to the world. . . . (which) is now on the precipice of a new and dangerous nuclear era.”
No matter that some of the most prominent old Cold Warriors have lost their faith in nuclear weapons, and grasp that us vs. them security concepts are disastrously counterproductive in today’s more complex, more nationally porous global reality, and have downgraded that era’s most notorious acronym — M.A.D., as in Mutually Assured Destruction — to just plain mad.
“U.S. leadership will be required to take the world to the next stage . . .”
Let those words reverberate, as we ponder their seriousness: “. . . to a solid consensus for reversing reliance on nuclear weapons . . . and ultimately ending them as a threat to the world. . . . (which) is now on the precipice of a new and dangerous nuclear era.”
Will Obama-mania lead us to Solartopia? YES WE WILL!
A Solartopian, Green-Powered Earth.
YES WE CAN!
A solution to global warming.
YES WE CAN!
The birth of a world economy built totally and entirely on renewable energy and increased efficiency.
YES WE CAN!
The permanent burial of King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).
YES WE CAN!
A stake through the heart (if it had one) of a nuke power industry defined by 50 years of proven failure.
YES WE CAN!
The end of fossil fuels (and fools).
YES WE CAN!
Reviving and reinventing a mass transit system murdered 1920-1950 by King CONG's General Motors and Standard Oil.
YES WE CAN!
Rebirthing Detroit as a clean, lean, green machine with union labor making carbon free cars and the New Solartopian mass transit network we really need.
YES WE CAN!
Transforming the corporation from an entity with human rights but no human responsibilities to the other way around.
YES WE CAN!
Re-making the American banking and finance system to lock its investments into a sustainable future rather than one designed solely to enrich its chief executives.
YES WE CAN!
A solution to global warming.
YES WE CAN!
The birth of a world economy built totally and entirely on renewable energy and increased efficiency.
YES WE CAN!
The permanent burial of King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas).
YES WE CAN!
A stake through the heart (if it had one) of a nuke power industry defined by 50 years of proven failure.
YES WE CAN!
The end of fossil fuels (and fools).
YES WE CAN!
Reviving and reinventing a mass transit system murdered 1920-1950 by King CONG's General Motors and Standard Oil.
YES WE CAN!
Rebirthing Detroit as a clean, lean, green machine with union labor making carbon free cars and the New Solartopian mass transit network we really need.
YES WE CAN!
Transforming the corporation from an entity with human rights but no human responsibilities to the other way around.
YES WE CAN!
Re-making the American banking and finance system to lock its investments into a sustainable future rather than one designed solely to enrich its chief executives.
The GOP attack on democracy continues in Ohio
The Ohio Republican Party has escalated its attacks on democracy on two key fronts.
It's trying to steal a hotly contested Congressional seat. And it's moving to restrict voting rights for coming elections.
In the bitterly embattled House race in central Ohio's 15th Congressional District, Republican State Senator Steve Stivers has a slight lead over Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy.
Two years ago, Kilroy essentially defeated the previous incumbent, fourth-ranked House Republican Deborah Pryce. In an extremely tight race, a wide range of dubious voter eliminations and manipulated vote counts stole what appears to have been a clear victory from Kilroy. The GOP's infamous J. Kenneth Blackwell was still Ohio's Secretary of State. The Democrats declined to take him on, and the seat remained in Republican hands.
This year Ohio's Secretary of State is Democrat Jennifer Brunner. It would appear Kilroy has won again.
It's trying to steal a hotly contested Congressional seat. And it's moving to restrict voting rights for coming elections.
In the bitterly embattled House race in central Ohio's 15th Congressional District, Republican State Senator Steve Stivers has a slight lead over Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy.
Two years ago, Kilroy essentially defeated the previous incumbent, fourth-ranked House Republican Deborah Pryce. In an extremely tight race, a wide range of dubious voter eliminations and manipulated vote counts stole what appears to have been a clear victory from Kilroy. The GOP's infamous J. Kenneth Blackwell was still Ohio's Secretary of State. The Democrats declined to take him on, and the seat remained in Republican hands.
This year Ohio's Secretary of State is Democrat Jennifer Brunner. It would appear Kilroy has won again.
Election protection in Ohio (and America) isn't over
As the sun sets on Bush 2, it is clear that a very thin line of electoral protection preserved Barack Obama's victory in Ohio---and the nation.
And it's no accident the vote count battle for a Columbus-area Congressional seat still rages.
The GOP's 2008 electoral strategy again emphasized massive voter disenfranchisement and rigging the electronic vote count. The twin tactics very nearly gave Ohio to McCain/Palin, and threatened to set precedents capable of winning them the national election.
Prior to the 2004 vote, Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell stripped some 308,000 Ohio citizens from the registration rolls in heavily Democratic districts. This mass disenfranchisement alone may have accounted for the 118,000-plus official margin that gave George W. Bush a second term in the White House.
After the 2004 vote, Blackwell disenfranchised another 170,000 voters in heavily Democratic Franklin County (Columbus).
And it's no accident the vote count battle for a Columbus-area Congressional seat still rages.
The GOP's 2008 electoral strategy again emphasized massive voter disenfranchisement and rigging the electronic vote count. The twin tactics very nearly gave Ohio to McCain/Palin, and threatened to set precedents capable of winning them the national election.
Prior to the 2004 vote, Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell stripped some 308,000 Ohio citizens from the registration rolls in heavily Democratic districts. This mass disenfranchisement alone may have accounted for the 118,000-plus official margin that gave George W. Bush a second term in the White House.
After the 2004 vote, Blackwell disenfranchised another 170,000 voters in heavily Democratic Franklin County (Columbus).
Scooter politics
My second day on the scooter I was a little too sure of myself.
My other bike, after all, is an aging V-twin 750cc Yamaha Virago (currently in need of repairs I can't afford) so how mean could a little 150cc scoot be? I twisted the throttle too fast in a parking lot and learned in an instant that my new eco-friendly ride has more pep than I realized, and doesn't turn as tightly as a motorcycle. Zooming right toward a parked car - a nice one - I had to drop the bike intentionally to avoid hitting it.
Both my new bike and my old ego emerged bruised, but luckily no serious injury to either.
To American motorists accustomed to the relative safety of gigantic SUVs and sedans, scootering is a dangerous proposition: The money you save on gas, maintenance, purchase price and insurance can dissipate in an instant with one bad move - yours, the other guy's or an act of Goddess.
My other bike, after all, is an aging V-twin 750cc Yamaha Virago (currently in need of repairs I can't afford) so how mean could a little 150cc scoot be? I twisted the throttle too fast in a parking lot and learned in an instant that my new eco-friendly ride has more pep than I realized, and doesn't turn as tightly as a motorcycle. Zooming right toward a parked car - a nice one - I had to drop the bike intentionally to avoid hitting it.
Both my new bike and my old ego emerged bruised, but luckily no serious injury to either.
To American motorists accustomed to the relative safety of gigantic SUVs and sedans, scootering is a dangerous proposition: The money you save on gas, maintenance, purchase price and insurance can dissipate in an instant with one bad move - yours, the other guy's or an act of Goddess.