american "democracy" is pathetic.

[Valley Oak]

I enjoyed the comments of one person on the spineless inaction of the Democratic Party (or the party of the jack-asses). The Donkeys were sent to Washington with a clear message from voters: end the war! The Donkeys are so stupid and spineless that they don't use the legal power at their disposal to do the job that americans have charged them with.

What a lousy country we live in. What a lousy democracy exists in this country. It has been completely purchased by wealthy conservatives and reactionaries. There is nothing that an ordinary american citizen can do. Americans don't know what real democracy is. The Europeans practice far better models of democracy than the ridiculous showcasing that is pawned off here in the states. The rich, the conservatives, the reactionaries, and the Repugnant Party lie about our system as if it were some kind of a democracy but thats' an absurd joke. Our nation, under dog, is a perverted, remote, twisted concept of "democracy" that is owned by the few, always has been, always will be.

Edward

Here is the opinion of one commentator:

Few men or women elected in our history-whether executive or legislative, state or national-have been sent into office with a mandate more obvious, nor instructions more clear: Get us out of Iraq.

Yet after six months of preparation and execution-half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this:

* The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president-if not the worst president, then easily the most selfish, in our history-who happily blackmails his own people, and uses his own military personnel as hostages to his asinine demand, that the Democrats "give the troops their money";

* The Democratic leadership has agreed to finance the deaths of Americans in a war that has only reduced the security of Americans;

* The Democratic leadership has given Mr. Bush all that he wanted, with the only caveat being, not merely meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but optional meaningless symbolism about benchmarks for the Iraqi government.

* The Democratic leadership has, in sum, claimed a compromise with the Administration, in which the only things truly compromised, are the trust of the voters, the ethics of the Democrats, and the lives of our brave, and doomed, friends, and family, in Iraq.

You, the men and women elected with the simplest of directions-Stop The War-have traded your strength, your bargaining position, and the uniform support of those who elected you… for a handful of magic beans.

[Tars]

Don't blame the pols so much; blame the "Jack-Ass" Democrats, greens, "independents" (otherwise known as chicken guano), etc. in the red states who didn't get out there & vote. If they'd elected a veto-proof non-GOP majority, the Democrat leaders in the House & Senate would've had something to work with.

We can blame politicians for a lot of things, but the failure of this most-recent Iraq funding bill to pass wasn't one of them. Or, if you must have complex situations somehow reduced to a completely simplistic issue, then blame the elephants.

I don't believe anyone is more frustrated with the current regime than am I. Part of the cause for that frustration is the knowledge that the current fractious situation in Congress, will continue at least until January 2009.

Anyone who has ever done committee work, or worked in any group requiring concensus, knows that it's pointless to waste time & emotional energy blaming the Democrats, who don't even have an actual majority in the Senate, and a marginal majority in the House. Use this situation as a cautionary tale to help coax timid & lazy "Jack-Ass" democrat voters to vote for the Democrat candidate in 2008. Matter of fact, best to work on all non GOPs.

Dark days indeed, but there is light...one & a half more years!

Tars

[Valley Oak]

Tars, thank you for your well thought out response.

Although you made several important points, the most critical issue you talked about is regarding the idea that Democrats are not in a position to do anything about the Iraq war funding. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As Dennis Kucinich makes clear in his interview by news agency "Democracy Now," the Democrats have all of the power they need in order to withdraw funding for the war. Kucinich makes clear that the Democrats, who do control the House of Representatives, simply should not generate any war funding bills at all! It's really that simple and the Democrats control all of the committees in the House right now, including the House Appropriations committees, not only for the war but for everything else in our society. The Democratically controlled committee responsible for submitting legislation should NOT offer any war funding legislation at all! Period. There is a fundamental misperception about the path that the Democrats should be taking because great the majority of americans don't understand how their own government works!

The simple strategy the Democrats should have used is: "Mr. President, if you don't sign this bill, you are not going to get another one! It's either this timetable bill or it's nothing at all."

Please click on the following link for the interview of Ohio House Representative Dennis Kucinich:
https://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/dem...sp&start=36:21

Thank you again,

Edward

[Tars]

Dems can force and "end" to the U.S. current immediate involvement in Iraq - but at what cost?

First, that'd just be like throwing gasoline on the bonfire of politics in the U.S. Shut things down, and expect nothing significant to get moved forward for four score of years at least! (remember the GOP congress of '94?) Instead, the Non-GOPs need to be the adults. Democrat congress-people are psychically disgusted by the world travesty brought on by this bunch of....

There's no adjective anyone can think of to express how bad this administration is!

Democrat senators & Representatives are as pissed & revolted as the rest of us. We're all so insanely frustrated by the abomination of our times, that we're tempted to just withdraw, and curl our country, the U.S. into a foetal ball 'til the bad goes away. But we just can't do that. In the end, we as a nation are responsible to fix Iraq. We can't blithely bank on the assumption that things in that country won't be worse without us there. If we get out. we need to eeeaze out, with the cooperation of other countries.

Sorry folks, We'll need to stay in Iraq for many years to come

...decades? But we must change the role of the U.S. there. We need to become a very generous contributor amongst a large group of nations. Sadly, there most likely won't be a significant change in the role and methods of the Neocon U.S. policies in Iraq until the current White House administration, as well as a healthy percentage of the Paleocon GOP congress-people, finally un-infests the U.S. government.

I firmly believe that over the next several months it will be increasingly evident to all that we are ever-more-rapidly moving toward a completely new, more humane administration/government to replace our current horrible national disgrace. I believe what the Democrat leaders say, when they say that, "there has been a change in the weather; the beginnings of a new way." It's a struggle at first, but I believe it will snowball. In a decade the U.S. will have made great strides to put the legacy of the Bush administration behind us.

Dang it, there I go getting all verbose again! Sheesh!

Tars