Anybody else feeling depressed and discouraged about our political system right now?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

(Rant warning)

Normally, I'm a pretty optimistic person but, maybe because I'm spending a little too much time following politics right now (and perhaps I really need to take a break from it for a moment), I'm beginning to feel downright depressed and discouraged about the direction this country is headed following last November's ascendancy of the radical right wing fringe (packaged and sold to people as something called the "Tea Party") and the dark shroud they have begun pulling over so many of our states (including my own, to some extent) and our Congress.

This insane debt ceiling "debate" going on in DC is the most prominent example of why the lunatic fringe should NEVER be allowed to get into power in the first place but in nearly every state, us average citizens are under assault from a group of radical anti-democratic legislators seeking to impose their radical and distorted *vision* of America on the rest of us and are actively aided and abetted by a massive corporate media apparatus- accompanied by several loathsome hate radio propagandists- that spew their daily talking points uncritically and unchallenged and/or try to convince the rest of us that "both sides do it" and/or that this is just "politics as usual" (when it most certainly isn't). I thought that 2008 was pretty much the death knell for the radical right fringe that we had been suffering under for most of Bush's (P)residency but as it turns out, they still apparently had some "juice" left (or if you prefer, tea) and were able to take the lemons of their defeat and make lemonade in 2010- mostly by being obstructionist, dishonest, and manipulating most of the voting public into believing that they really cared about their needs and concerns.

I hope and pray that we will be able to remove most of these nuts from the levers of power in Congress and many state legislatures in 2012 but until then we liberal Democrats (and other "adult" politicians) have the seemingly impossible task of holding the line and preventing the crazies from doing too much damage, as well as ensuring that they can't simply rig the system so as to give them an unfair electoral advantage in perpetuity. I hope that what we are witnessing is, as Chris Rock once comedically suggested, the last throes of the GOP Tea Party or one last "smash n grab" by the plutocrats and that their madness will never be allowed to become permanently entrenched in our political culture.

I've never been one to say "give up". We've been through bad electoral cycles before, of course. 1994 was an awful election year for us but Clinton won a second term in 1996, we finally threw Republicans out of the majority in Congress in 2006, and we worked and organized hard to finally get another Democratic President elected in 2008, so I know that the shroud of the dark side can never stay drawn forever but right now things just look pretty damned dark to me.

Anybody else feeling the same way and how are you coping with it?

[NJMaverick]

The Republicans have looked like children this week

Rupert Murdock's evil empire is under serious attack

Jane Hamsher had a cyber melt down that has eliminated her credibility with anyone with an ounce of reason


Those are three very good things that happened this week and will all help our nation

[Proud Liberal Dem]

(07-16-2011 07:50 AM)NJMaverick Wrote:  The Republicans have looked like children this week

Rupert Murdock's evil empire is under serious attack

Jane Hamsher had a cyber melt down that has eliminated her credibility with anyone with an ounce of reason

Those are three very good things that happened this week and will all help our nation

Thanks for the pick me up.

I guess I have to agree that those are some good things to consider. I'm not saying that there aren't any good things to consider- just that there's not really enough of it and what I guess what I worry about most is not what we think but how the average person sees what is going on and becomes motivated to do something productive about it.

[Dimwitted Fool]

said democracy was doomed largely because people learn they can get politicians to give them stuff they never have to pay for.

Nothing in history seems to have proven him wrong so far.

But, the fight in Washington right now isn't so much about the deficit, or even next year's election-- it's about two fundamental views of government clashing. Since the beginning, we have been stumbling toward a mixed economy and a social conscience but slowed by a huge population that is libertarian at heart and has little or no use for government. The old Hamilton vs. Jefferson arguments have never stopped, and Jefferson's been winning lately.

Nobody has dared get to the heart of the differences. Perhaps some of the players don't realize it themselves, but the point of all this is ultimately what sort of country do we want to be.

So, having lived through this shit all my life, I expect little good to happen and will grudgingly accept two steps forward and one back, if only because i can't do much about it myself. I do get depressed when it's no steps forward and a few back, but we're not quite there yet.

[Born_A_Truman]

(07-16-2011 08:49 AM)Dimwitted Fool Wrote:  said democracy was doomed largely because people learn they can get politicians to give them stuff they never have to pay for.

Nothing in history seems to have proven him wrong so far.

But, the fight in Washington right now isn't so much about the deficit, or even next year's election-- it's about two fundamental views of government clashing. Since the beginning, we have been stumbling toward a mixed economy and a social conscience but slowed by a huge population that is libertarian at heart and has little or no use for government. The old Hamilton vs. Jefferson arguments have never stopped, and Jefferson's been winning lately.

Nobody has dared get to the heart of the differences. Perhaps some of the players don't realize it themselves, but the point of all this is ultimately what sort of country do we want to be.

So, having lived through this shit all my life, I expect little good to happen and will grudgingly accept two steps forward and one back, if only because i can't do much about it myself. I do get depressed when it's no steps forward and a few back, but we're not quite there yet.

Yes, and Obama is continually reminding Americans about what kind of country we are and want to be.

[Treestar]

I'm hanging in there, because the right is starting to really show their true colors - voters might finally get just how radical they are and forget the hot button social issues that the right uses to get people to vote against their own interests.

[azmouse]

The RW appears to falling apart after years in which it seemed everything went their way. I think we are just beginning to see the effects of President Obama on the DC political scene. For all that everyone, including the media, seems to slam him, he just keeps pushing back. I love it. He's definitely the smartest man in the room and I can't wait to see what he does in his second term.

[suzie]

(07-16-2011 10:43 AM)azmouse Wrote:  The RW appears to falling apart after years in which it seemed everything went their way. I think we are just beginning to see the effects of President Obama on the DC political scene. For all that everyone, including the media, seems to slam him, he just keeps pushing back. I love it. He's definitely the smartest man in the room and I can't wait to see what he does in his second term.

This!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

I just hope that the between now and 2012, the right wing motivates enough people to throw the nuts out of office.

[Ikonoklast]

You know Murdoch will be found to have been doing the same thing in this country as England.

The Republican Teabagger Party will soon be blown sky-fucking-high.

When it happens, drinks are on me...bring a friend.

[azmouse]

(07-16-2011 02:48 PM)Ikonoklast Wrote:  You know Murdoch will be found to have been doing the same thing in this country as England.

The Republican Teabagger Party will soon be blown sky-fucking-high.

When it happens, drinks are on me...bring a friend.

Drinks, huh? You sure about that? I suspect a lot of DFPers have hollow legs.

Here's to the happy day the teabaggers go away!

[Ikonoklast]

(07-16-2011 02:55 PM)azmouse Wrote:  

(07-16-2011 02:48 PM)Ikonoklast Wrote:  You know Murdoch will be found to have been doing the same thing in this country as England.

The Republican Teabagger Party will soon be blown sky-fucking-high.

When it happens, drinks are on me...bring a friend.

Drinks, huh? You sure about that? I suspect a lot of DFPers have hollow legs.

Here's to the happy day the teabaggers go away!

One of my sons works at a brew pub that makes a fabulous line of craft brews; the other works for a fairly famous regional brewery, and also brews his own ales and porters...trust me on this one, I got the brewed product side covered.

If you don't leave my place paralyzed, it's your own damn fault.

Beer is a religion at my house.

[jaxx]

(07-16-2011 02:48 PM)Ikonoklast Wrote:  You know Murdoch will be found to have been doing the same thing in this country as England.

The Republican Teabagger Party will soon be blown sky-fucking-high.

When it happens, drinks are on me...bring a friend.

And when the PL's defend Murdoch the circle will be complete. And I have no doubt they will.

[JoePhilly]

Not really ... the GOp's main goal is to get us to give up.

So we can't. Period.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

(07-16-2011 03:12 PM)JoePhilly Wrote:  Not really ... the GOp's main goal is to get us to give up.

So we can't. Period.

Good point. I'm just feeling a bit down about things right now. I'll pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again in a minute or two.

I've soooooooo got to remind myself to stay away from DU, DK, et. al right now. The defeatism of the PL is almost as toxic as that of the teabaggers.

[DFLforever]

Proud Liberal Dem - I know how you feel. This is a particularly troublesome time.
And solutions aren't readily available.

The GOP is trying to destroy the President and a tiny but loud element of the left is cheering them on.

But I'm a bit more hopeful this weekend. And I'm confident the President will prevail.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

(07-16-2011 09:48 PM)DFLforever Wrote:  Proud Liberal Dem - I know how you feel. This is a particularly troublesome time.
And solutions aren't readily available.

The GOP is trying to destroy the President and a tiny but loud element of the left is cheering them on.

But I'm a bit more hopeful this weekend. And I'm confident the President will prevail.

Thanks for the encouragement!