so why do I vote Democratic?

This isn’t an explanation why; it’s an honest (if hyperbolic) self-entreaty. What exactly does having a Democratic-controlled Congress give us? We haven’t seen any real pushback on Bush’s unitary executive claims. We haven’t gotten any movement on addressing civil liberty abuses and curbs. We can’t seem to get any bills out to control war spending or bring our troops home. We still have “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and gay Arabic linguists continue to be thrown out of the armed services. The list goes on and on and on…

What do we get instead?

A Senate resolution, passed by a 72 to 25 vote, condemning the free speech of MoveOn.org, for its (admittedly perhaps somewhat over-the-top) advertisement that ran in the New York Times attacking Gen. Petraeus. (Buried in a Washington Post story noting that an anti-war bill was blocked by nearly the same margins.)

The time and taxpayer money that the Senate just wasted on making non-binding resolutions that would police ad content—first amendment, anyone?—makes about as much sense as the time and taxpayer money the State of Minnesota wastes in assigning policemen to sit for hours on end in public restrooms, waiting for sexual advances. MoveOn? I say, rather, “Move on, already! Enough of this bullshit, Senators!”

I am so totally disgusted by the lot of ‘em.

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2 Comments

There's very little difference between either side of the aisle anymore, because none of them are there to actually accomplish anything other than re-election. It's a classic bureaucracy, where the government turns away from actually governing and instead becomes a huge organization devoted to nothing other than maintaining itself.
People ride into office promising to make change, to clean things up, to shake up government... and then immediately begin changing their positions or doing whatever is politically expedient to keep their seat safe.
I think everyone is disgusted by it now, and yet they keep falling for the promises of change.

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This page contains a single entry by thom published on September 20, 2007 12:58 PM.

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Thom Watson was born in a "pro-America" part of the country but then grew up to become a gay, liberal, Harvard-educated atheist living in northern California. He has come to terms with the fact that this pretty much disqualifies him from ever holding public office.

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