Going through a lot of old newspaper clippings and remembering what life used to be like.  Below is a facsimile of the type of letter I used to get in the Mayor's office....this one is recreated from memory but, with the exception of the actual subject matter which has been sanitized, it's typical of the correspondence I used to receive.

To Hizzhoner the mayer,

Congratulations on doing the worst job ever!!!!

It took me two hours to shovel the snow out of my driveway and then you sent your snowplows out and plowed me back in.  I almost broke my back shoveling out all the damned snow you dump on me.  You got no respect for the people who pay your paycheck. I hope they vote your sorry ass out.  God Bless America!

A Citizen.

Yes. The letters were usually hand-written and usually ending in some pseudo-patriotic epitaph....my favorite was "This USED to be America!"

back...sort of...

Haven't written here in a long, long time.

Deep State?....maybe....maybe not...

I feel compelled to comment on this essay written for Bill Moyer's Journal.  Here's the link to it.

The author seems to blame the country's ills and primarily the great inequality that presently exists on an underground cabal of elites who owe allegiance neither to Republicans nor Democrats but to a wholly separate subculture that exists exclusively around that area we have come to know simply as "THE BELTWAY".

It's a very long article and by the time I got through reading it I wasn't convinced that he was talking about the disease so much as he was talking about a symptom.  I really don't think there is a cabal of any sort hiding inside the Beltway.  I think they are the minions (a popular word these days, I know) of the 1% who purchase politicians, federal rules and regulations, laws and Supreme Court Justices as if they are investments upon which they expect a handsome return on investment.

I think this article, written by Thomas Frank is a much more useful prescription for the inequality trap.  It says that the change we seek must come from the bottom up.  We cannot count on our elected representatives to save us in the current state of affairs.   Moreover, we can't count on the academics to save us either.  In fact, he faults us liberals for our over-dependence on academics for charts, facts, figures and the purest academic principles to convince others that we are on the right track.  He says what we really need is some of that good, old-fashioned populist outrage that pulled us back from the brink in years and crisis' past.

I'm beginning to think he's right.

In What's the Matter with Kansas, the same author, Thomas Frank probed the depths of the problem and discovered that people voted freely against their own self-interest in Kansas because the right wing gave them a moral issue to stand upon when the political lines between the two parties became otherwise blurred.  We, as progressives or maybe neoliberals, won't use the word "class" to describe our current problems, but maybe we should...Frank thinks so....

In this context, Mike Lofgren's scholarly piece simply describes what Frank has been shouting from the rooftops since 2004.

It's time for some serious outrage.  Shouted in the public square in words even a Tea Partier can understand.

Publius

hehehehe

This blog site must be my "secret place"....I didn't even remember being here.

Just wrote a rather long tome on the other blog site this morning. I forgot that I opened that one up to the public and that anybody could read it. The stats said some people have been hitting it regularly but I have no idea if it's friend of foe....no idea at all....

The Pogo cartoon at the right pretty much sums up the true problem with democracy...and elections in general. We're too stupid for self-governance.

Update on Congressional Campaign

It's been over a month since the election and my favorite candidate to replace Dave Obey lost.

and she lost badly...

For two weeks before the election my mailbox was littered almost 4 times a week with some of the most vile, hateful anti-Lassa propaganda I have ever seen.
In addition, the local "tea-partiers" did a huge number on her locally....saddling her to Governor Doyle whom they claimed to be the "worst Governor EVAH! "

Accusing her of "betraying" Seniors...why? because she would not vow, if elected, to repeal "Obama Care"....(hint#1 "Obamacare" is a pejorative for health care reform, hint #2. The $500 Billion hospital subsidy that was taken out of medicare had NOTHING to do with the quality of care for Seniors.)

In short this election was one of the worst displays of public stampeding I have seen, heard or read about in the history books. It was more a sociology casebook study than a practice of good government. Hatreds were stoked...villains were created from former heroes ...it was unbelievable.

I look at the cast of characters that got elected on both the state and national level and I tremble. They are anti-intellectual, reactionary, and just plain evil.

I shudder to think.

Congressional campaign

Just got back from Maple Fallfest at Wildwood Park. Ran into the Democratic candidate for Congress from the 7th District, and old-acquaintance, Julie Lassa and her family there and got to talk for about 10 minutes.

Some people don't like Julie because she isn't forceful enough but I've always been quite pleased with her as our State Senator. She has slowly, cautiously, and even with calculation navigated her ways through the politically shark-infested waters of Madison to rise to leadership positions which gave her voice a megaphone loud enough to reach successful bill sponsoring.

Not all legislators reach that level.

No. I'm not going to name who I am talking about. Those who know me know damned well to whom I am referring.

Back to Julie....she's smart, there's no doubt about that. She's playing in the big leagues now and I hope she's Major League Quality to hold up to what's coming at her. I hope she makes it.

Hello,

This is a new venture for me and I'm happy to have the opportunity to speak my mind in anonymity: free from retaliation of my business associates and customers who have different beliefs than I. I have to hide that and listen to their senseless rants everyday without saying so much as one word in rebuttal. At least here I can say what needs to be said and nobody will know...because only a few of you know about this blog.

I'll start ranting shortly.

publius