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It comes with a caveat. To succeed he must return to his liberal roots. The ones he ran on in 2008 and before. I often hear newcomers praise Matt Denn and in the same breath curse Jack Markell. They probably do not know that at one time they were like butt-buddies in philosophy and direction. Both early supporters of Blue Water Wind over the evil Delmarva Power. (only 8 years ago). Both were against the Death Penalty. Both were for extending rights to Gays. Both were for helping the little guy. Both were against Charters. And both were against man made Global warming, and those corporate extremists who made it happen. Both were pro-business but it had to be ethical business. neither supported being for business so it could continue its unethical business practices…. Both were pro-FOIA, opening government to the scrutiny of its citizenry. Both were against Thurm Adams and his desk drawer veto.
it’s funny when newcomers try to take the current Markell back through his role as Treasurer as proof of his evil ways. For he wasn’t evil back then at all. He was a champion for reform, so much so that he challenged and won the governorship over the Democratic Party’s pre-chosen candidate, John Carney, who was seen as less the progressive.
It’s funny what a few years can do.
But Markell’s track record puts him in very good position to be a leading progressive candidate if he were to try. What better argument against Conservative counter punches could be made than this?
When I was governor and ran a state, I tried exactly what you propose…and it didn’t work.. What would have worked better would have been this: and then list progressive policy….
Still skeptical? Try these then make up your own…..
“When I was governor I tried cutting back on state spending by attempting to cut to my state employees salaries by 8% and my legislature held it to a 2% decrease. One would think that such a streamlining of expense would decrease taxation and cause businesses to move in and create growth. Instead, as the state’s largest employer those cuts had a 1.6% multiplier aggravating the economic damage. Fewer revenues then expected were generated the next year because it hurt those who lived on those earning government salaries as well. With hindsight, the proper approach would have been to keep them the salaries continuous, and to apply a tax on the top echelon who survived the depression rather well, and use that new revenue as the funding for the existing government…. As the economy improved, taxes could be lightened… That would have worked faster than the conservative approach I took.”
When I was governor I pushed Common Core hard. I led the nation in its implementation, though held off on being the first to use the test. I still believe some things in Common Core are good for society but with hindsight, I would divorce Common Core tests from being used as the sole ranking of teachers and schools. We found that no matter how hard we pushed accelerated learning, that having one standard set high for all, was defeating. A lower standard set for all works better because there is some realistic chance for all to achieve it. Those on the bottom CAN become proficient with lots of hard work. We found that even our best teachers in our worst schools still gave us the worst scores in our state. We found that mediocre teachers in our best classes still had the best scores. In essence we found no correlation between test scores and quality of teaching. All test scores do we found, is measure the quality of prenatal and infant care. With hindsight, I would say that to do well for our students, all of our students, we need to focus mostly on increasing the human element of education, and particularly in schools of high risk, where the poverty level is over 50% of the student body, we must guarantee an 11:1 student/teacher ratio, insist that it happens and willingly pay for its expense.
When I was governor I tried wooing companies into my state with bribes. I offered no taxes. state loans. even support fees tacked to citizens electricity bills. This was done primarily to develop jobs which were much needed in my state. With hindsight I would have focused more on making sure economic demand remained high instead of trying to get new business to come in. If the demand had stayed at pre-depression levels, jobs would have stayed and remained Instead we gambles on a few temporary jobs involving construction and then when they evaporated we were left continuing to pay the costs, which even today drag down the economy.
When I was governor, we had a automobile plant close up and a possible buyer for it needing some money up front to purchase it. We helped them but they went bankrupt. We lost our loans which we thought were guaranteed to be refunded from sale of its assets. Turns out corporate raiders were ahead of us in line. That points out a discrepancy in law needing adjusted. There is no way private investors putting up money at risk, fully knowing the risk, get first dibs of return over a government who puts up the people’s money to benefit its people. That was just plain wrong and an inexperienced candidate will fall into the same trap as did I. I know ahead of time it does not work.
When I was governor I tried to put in a toxic power plane in the middle of our college town. i thought that any reason to create jobs was reason enough. We tried very hard to engineer the town council and the electorate in order to get proper votes and we succeeded there. However the university walked away from the deal and the deal died. With hindsight, I would not put in a dirty power plant just for jobs. Oil, gas, and coal are done. There are always other options and anything that destroys the atmosphere and our climate, though helpful in the short run, cost far more in the long run than other cleaner alternatives. In truth we misjudged the sophistication of our electorate and their ability to counter our claims with scientific fact, which turned the population against us. The answer I can tell you to America’s future energy is in pursuing the clean energy options and by increasing their efficiency, we lower the cost per kilowatt. Any other way just does not work.
When I was governor I tried getting rid of our Port which is run by the state, by selling it to a private company Kinder Morgan. i thought we had negotiated a very good deal guaranteeing wages at current level for 3 years, and keeping everyone employed the same length of time. However, anytime one privatizes something that is state owned, it is an economic loss to the surrounding area. Private companies hire less than state because they run more efficiently. However, that also means less income and less tax pours into the city. With hindsight, I have learned that privatization is good if the public receives a benefit from better efficiency. But that it is bad, if the service being privatized is something that belongs to all, or requires constant upkeep and maintenance, in which case state ownership is better than private. When our state legislature passed legislation making them the final arbiter of decision, my client pulled out of the deal and the port is doing fine still under state control. I’m here to tell you that privatization of public works only benefits those who buy the operation at a low cost…. There is a reason they were originally state run and that is they are there to serve you first.
When I was governor i tried to weaken our environmental policy in order to bring in jobs. Some companies were used to not having to comply to environmental regulations and they were the only ones who seemed interested in our properties. So we catered to them. We were able to hide most environmental problems and get approval by most local governments. But with hindsight, I would argue now for the other extreme. Protect the environment at all costs. We can always pass on jobs. They are temporal; they rise and fall. But damage to the environment is almost generational, lasting as long as humans are alive. There are always new jobs being created; every day something new is created. But environmental damage is very harmful and lasts a long, long time, It continues doing its damage long after whatever company that caused it has folded and those jobs are now three states away…. I have learned by being governor that the most important thing we have is our environment and that never should we let temporary jobs blind us to the loss of many future jobs because of our polluted lifestyle..
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As a Presidential candidate these arguments would be hard to bust with theoreticals. Nothing works as well as saying I tried that, it doesn’t work. it would also focus the argument on policy instead of personal traits, something our media is scared to do.
The combination of a sharp younger looking candidate saying the right things people are dying to hear, would do well for our current governor if he ran as a liberal in 2016… And if he rigged the Delaware primary to be on January 2nd, ahead of all others, he would be the leader for a while with three delegates.
I know many are skeptical. But seeing Markell in action readily shows he can be presidential material. but only if he runs now, and only if he uses his mistakes to burst the bubbles always painted for Democrats by their Republican opponents. He plays a room well. He only gets in trouble by those outside the room who don’t appreciate what he is doing. If he just return to his own roots, and ditch the pro-business persona he has taken on, he could go far, possibly being offered the Vice Presidency on a winning ticket if he just would be more liberal.
The very reasons his detractors are calling for his head, would make him a great leader if he was only on the right side of the issues for a change…..
Across our landscape there are very few pivotal landslide elections. When they happen they create a new dominant party for a long time…
I can only think of four… FDR’s first two terms and Ronald Reagan’s two terms. Both set in motion a new philosophy and new institutions to enforce the continuation of that policy long after their respective deaths…
(Clinton’s 2nd term would almost qualify but its effect was squandered on Monica Lewinsky… Doubt that? And you just told me you are not from the South, Great Plains, or the mountainous West.) ..
Here are maps of what we are talking about…..
The philosophy espoused by those of the heavily blue maps lasted from 1933 to 2001. A nice span of 68 years… The philosophy espoused by those in the heavily red maps, overlaps a little, but most would say it is the primary driver of most policy today, which give it a lifetime stretching from 1981 to today… A lifespan so far of 33 years…
Today, we are consistently divided…..
Which kind of explains our current Federal government, now doesn’t it? Actually it has never been more clear…
For your life to get better, we have to stop supporting equal government… Where both sides are balanced and nothing ever, gets down… Currently in the House, there are radical new changes that will forever change America as we know it… It can’t get passed the Senate …
Currently in the Senate, there are radical new changes that will forever change America as we know it… It can’t get passed the House….
2014 will be a pivotal year for several reasons.
A) There is no cap on how much can be spent.
B) Voter turnout is consistently low. So advertising will be the worst ever, meaning every vote that switches carries more weight. Every voter who gives up in disgust, and does not vote, gives up that much more of a percentage on deciding the total vote…
C) Wealth will outspend the poor this year. Wealth has the money; 80% of the population is unable to write a check to either political party….
D) Both parties’ policies are streamlined into clear agendas. One party (with money) is for policies that help the 1% do better and pay for them by hurting the 99%… The other party is for policies that help the 99% do better, and pays for them by hurting the top 1%….
E) Because of the politics of doing business, all those media outlets in charge of telling you the news and sometimes the truth, cannot in good conscious, tell you the truth anymore… They simply can’t risk getting pushed off the buying spree…..
You have to choose who to help: the rich or poor, and you have to vote, no matter what obstacles they throw up in your way…. you must remember that those obstacles are there for a reason, and will remain there until we get either an all blue, or all red America showing up in Wikipedia on election day.. Because those obstacles are there solely to protect the losing parties advantage in an effort to keep America from going all blue…
This raising of the cap also means, that if you are a CEO planning an ad campaign that will be kicking off from late August through a holiday December… your ads won’t register with audiences until the day after election… Save your advertising money. There is no way you can compete for airtime against someone who will pay any price to get his ad on the air… Save your money…
My personal experience is that over the past two elections, the non political people I know mentally tuned out of ads… Ads no longer work. What does work is the personal connection of talking to real people… There were almost no campaign ad buys in 1932 or 1936. And there were campaign limits on money spent in both 1980 and 1984…. Primarily both those sweeping groups of elections were decided upon word of mouth….
I used to get mad at conservative talk shows, until I realized there were only the same 5 people calling in… Out of 3 million people… Were they shills? I don’t know but their voice prints were consistent. Occasionally someone thinking the talk show was real would call in, but it was rare…
Fight apathy. This is where you come in… If you read this, you probably will look at the ads too… Your job is to interpret the ads to all you know as nothing more than billionaires blowing smoke out of their orifices like they are lavishing in a Bangkok bordello. These ads don’t correspond to real life. People don’t hate their neighbor because they have an Obama or Romney sticker on their care… 99% of us say… “Oh, whatever” .. “Who gives a shit? Hey! Can you tell me where you bought your truck?”
The point is that all those red states are not all red deep inside… There are a lot of blues there too, at least 30% in the most red, and often in populous states, up to 49%…. Human beings living in those states have a lot more clout than some clever ad that simply makes up stuff around a table and then pretends it it true, using actors, and trying to crush the airwaves with massive volume before the fact-checkers get the messages out calling it all bunk..
It is We, The People versus They The Billionaires. It is a game of Monopoly in its final rounds and we only own a monopoly on the yellow squares on the back side… Our only hope left is that we get to shuffle the stack the Chance cards every time we vote… And if you don’t want to go through this all over again in two more years, with more unlimited funding in 2016, you need to make sure that despite $4 billion being spent this mid term election, it does zero good to the Koch’s or anyone else…
If we can get a Blue House, we will have a blue Senate, and we can move forward with a blue president…. it’s almost worth dying for.
It’s all about word of mouth… And be nice… Republicans aren’t bad people anymore than Democrats, and when you talk to them realize you probably look as weird to them, a they do looking right back at you. And trust me, if you read the news and blogs you would already know that the majority of Republicans are looking for something new. They just don’t know what. And should you need a shot of hope? Cast your eye on these electoral maps which are of the elections just before the ones above when the massive tidal waves made their landfall…..
Things can change quickly when everyone individually just gets fed up that things are not going their way… At 99%, the numbers are in our favor…
But it is all about you. Now get out and start talking. Tell the truth… Be nice.
I wonder if we could get 2 million to show up for a march in DC against billionaires buying out our elections? We could, but it would take some work, but that would be a very effective message against an unmatched $4 billion being spent to prevent democracy.
Our message would be real, with real people. Their’s as fake as Mr. Ed….. (that is who David Koch looks like I think; compare the chins)…
The predominant face of the poor is white.
Economic insecurity among whites is said to be more common than is shown in the government’s poverty data, engulfing over 76 percent of white adults by the time they turn 60..
Economic insecurity approaching 76%….. How does this end the middle class designation?
Let us review what is the middle class. It is the class in the middle… Start and stop points and change depending on who want to show what, but for the most part, the middle class would have a center point around the 50% margin… Hence: middle class….
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sort of what you’d expect… the area above the poverty line and just below the rich……But based on current data now released from the Census Bureau, (and this is no secret to people in public schools) over 80% of America has been at or below poverty levels in its lifetime… It really doesn’t matter when. You could be financially stable through your whole life and then get termed at age 60. The effect is the same. You could face 50% age group unemployment right out of college and use odd jobs and part time jobs to stay alive. The effect is the same. The mark today is that 80% face economic insecurity. Can we just call that poor? Isn’t that the definition of poor? Someone who doesn’t have enough to be secure in today’s society?
Therefore if we take the middle of those from where the poor end at 80%, then we get a middle class graphic looking like this:
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% XXX
This is the official version of today’s America rendered by the US Census bureau…. Times have changed…
Compare that to where it was under Bill Clinton in 1999 before Republicans took over….
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
No offense to my Republican friends but this (which sad to say is exactly what I predicted in 2000), is what you get when you don’t tax progressively. We now have only 2 classes; The 1% and the 99%.
The fix? Is to tax the top 1% who can well afford even a purely theoretical 100% taxation without hardship, and use that money for jobs…. Just jobs. More government contracts. This is America’s quick answer… and it must be decided in this election 2014 that we will take it. Against all odds, we need both chambers in Democrats’ hands., not for Democrats, but for America. It’s the only way is to defeat Republicanism… We are not talking individual candidates. We are talking about a philosophy that stresses the lazy poor 80% must continue to suffer even more to pay for the one percent’s excesses, and not as it should be, … the other way around…
So 5 years later, how are we looking?
“I believe there are millions of dollars of waste and inefficiency to eliminate from government. We will find it.”
What do you think? Knowing the details of school budgets I’d say we found it, with some help from a recession that sort of forced our hand a little.
That means cutting back on many government functions and services
Yep, that happened.
I see beyond the gray clouds, to a brighter Delaware.
Clouds were gray today; all day.
A Delaware where every child can grow to his or her full potential. Where every worker has the opportunity to earn as much as possible. Where every family has the health care, housing, and heat they need to live a decent life.
As far as fulfilling the minimum, Delaware is one of the best in the US.
A Delaware that is the best place in the world to go to school, to raise a family, and to start a business.
Not there yet because we are not taxing enough. Our infrastructure looks poor and rundown compared to our neighbors who tax at higher rates and make sure tax dollars get spent into their economies.
We want to start by using the anticipated federal stimulus money not just to build short-term jobs but to create future growth in energy infrastructure and a greener economy,,
Although not green, both Bloom Boxes and the Delaware City refinery are up and running now, in part to the stimulus money.
The basis for that economy is education, and we must make Delaware’s education system the best in the world. We currently rank near the top in the nation for education spending per student. It’s time we rank in the top for education results for students.
Reminder: scores went backwards this past year.
We will spend smarter. We will demand accountability from top to bottom. We will retain, recruit, and train the best teachers in America – and we will reward them for carrying out the most valuable job in Delaware. We will demand the performance, promote the innovation, and provide the flexibility to make every school in this state great.
TFA? Really?
By creating a 21st-century workforce development system that trains workers for the jobs employers need, we will make the term “Delaware workforce” a high-quality credential that employers trust.
See above: Educational scores went backwards.
We will expand our efforts to promote entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and asset-building. The ultimate goal of all these innovations will be to promote people-centered, community-based development that makes virtually every individual an economic resource rather than a financial responsibility.
Don’t think we are there yet.
Our commitment to supporting Delaware families will not waver. We will work with the federal government to finally bring affordable health care to every Delawarean.
This is happening as I speak.
We will develop a Public Safety Plan to keep every street in Delaware safe.
Needs to become your first priority. Far more than education.
And we will start by opening up state government itself: I pledge that my administration will be more transparent and accountable than any that have come before.
What do you think?
Some might call this agenda ambitious. Some might even call it “audacious.” But audacity is exactly what this day demands. To brave the raging storm, to dare upon the roiling sea, and still to reach for the further shore: My fellow Delawareans, that is our challenge. That is our charge. That is our task. And this is our time.
Since the turnover of staff beginning in 2013, the Governor has become cautious and now plays things safe. The ambition, audaciousness, and audacity he extolled back then, is burnt out now.
When the torch was passed to a new generation – and, against great odds, like those before them they carried it higher. Let us be that people. Let us be remembered as that generation. Let us seize these times.
Still waiting.
I have a running joke with my conservative buddies who bristle every time I bring it up… Most likely because they know it’s true.
They cite small things to try and paint a different picture, but every president has those small things he has to overcome. Washington, Lincoln, there is no exception, except maybe Calvin Coolidge who thought the Chief Executive should do absolutely nothing. If those little tweaks weren’t there, we probably wouldn’t need an executive branch. So when Conservatives cite the screw up of the Insurance Sign up computer system as a blemish, I ask them to compare that in scope to see if it is on the same level, as selling weapons to our arch-enemy, and funding an insurgency that Congress forbade giving money too, because the American People didn’t want it.
That of course, is their hero who stooped so low.
If one just takes economics the greats have to be these… Obama, Clinton, Reagan, Roosevelt….
Roosevelt is sketchy. His legacy is that he built up legislation protecting the American Middle Class to last for decades, However during his actual term they were either out of work, or fighting a war overseas.
Reagan is best known for reversing his conservative plan and raising lots of taxes along with Tip O’Neil. That tax raise boosted the economy and got him re-elected with a landslide, so he was able to cut taxes in his latter term, which led to the recession later inherited by the first Bush.
Clinton is best known for his longest running economic expansion in the history of the United States. He is also best know for creating something no American every thought they would see in their lifetime: A Federal Surplus. These two accomplishments put him very near the top.
Finally Obama. Inherited Roosevelt’s mess, the same one Franklin faced in ’32, and in two years, had most of America back on its feet. Roosevelt took 9 years. Of course Roosevelt was acting blind; this president could learn from history and what didn’t work, he could simply not do. He did this despite a depression similar in scope to the Great Depression, but because quick action was enacted, it was able to be revived soon enough to only be classified as a Recession. A pretty amazing feat.
Over 5 years, there has been a positive increase in the number of private sector jobs every month… There has never been a month we lost jobs. No other president, not even Clinton can boast a record like that… Every month we’ve added private sector jobs. A fact with which we’ve gotten so comfortable, the stock market drops if the number of new jobs is not as much as the new jobs created the month before….
Since no other president as ever accomplished this, this would certainly put Obama up for the nomination as the best president ever….
Now consider this…. What other President do we know of … who when he came in … Had their opponent Senate Minority Leader stand up in front of his caucus, and with a ring of reporters, say… “We have only one goal, To make this a one term president….. “
And then…..
had that SAME person acquiesce to a deal of un-conditional surrender, that got their party “absolutely nothing“.
From “making this a one time president” to … “getting absolutely nothing...”
Surely this is the greatest president in our lifetimes…
The now famous high stepping Wal*Mart video mentions that point….
Now, the meme of bashing Wal*mart and fast foods has gotten a little blaze and to be honest, when I first saw the flash mob at Walmart on the national sites, as a person with little time, I passed.
But on Delaware Liberal, I opened it in another tab, and was listening to it as background and all of a sudden….. it stopped for a half second and then…
“Hold It! Did You Know? It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
The answer in my head was … “no, i didn’t…”
The second answer was… “of course I did.” which made me more intrigued by my original answer. Why on earth did I think it was bad for these people to interrupt business as usual to demonstrate for something affecting I think, one person?
As this “wow moment” started to dawn on me, I realized I’d been brainwashed’… Over time. it had really happened. My gut, had been over-ruling my head…. it’s a business. They should call the police. They should fire everyone involved… Demonstrations are really ineffective blowing off of steam…
“Hold It! Did You Know? It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
How many others out there would say “no” … How many others out there really don’t know it is their right to form a union? That anyone can form a union? It is legally protected.
Oh, they can threaten to fire you if you join… And they can fire you….
But if they do… you can sue… and even better, under current law, you can sue them and win. Win big!
You can make them pay you for all back wages you lost. So finacially it is just like you were working but having the entire time off.
You can make them pay all your damages, including late fees on bills you couldn’t pay because the illegally fired you. You can make them pay interest on all loans you took out to live on, even if they came from family. If you Dad gives you a loan at 1000% interest, they have to pay that… and to your Mom, your brothers, your sisters, your aunts, and uncles… Your whole family and friends can get rich off them because they fired you for forming a union!
“Hold It! Did You Know? It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
The business may respond to the legal judgment , “Screw you , we are closing”. But if they close they will still have to pay you for all the damage they cause you because they fired you for forming a union… You still win! And win BIG!
“Hold It! Did You Know? It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
How is it that our newspapers don’t remind us of this. How is it that Unions are painted to be the bad guys, because they make a business lose money? Why isn’t the business painted as the bad guy, for stealing potential earnings out of each and every employee working for them…
Some may think forcing a union on a business is unfair. Racist states often use this argument. Why should White owned businesses pay more for black people’s labor? That is why ALEC (in Delaware associated with Patty Blevins) was invented: to protect White Businesses’ interests. And still unfortunately, in some states, there were enough white people still agreeing that black people as well as to those whites who associate with them, should be paid inferior wages,so much so that with ALEC’s help, enough votes were mustered to pass state anti-union laws..
But historically there were laws that once said: slavery was legal. Despite bad law, morally it was still everyone’s right to be free….
“Hold It! Did You Know? It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
It is your right to form a union. Existing law is crystal clear. Why was this decided? What is the moral argument behind it?
Simple. You have to eat. Bottom line. If someone says I have to pay you $6.00 an hour because I’m not making enough money, and you can’t get money anywhere else, you work for $6.00 and hour. If he counters that he can only pay $5.00 an hour, and you can’t make money anywhere else, you will do his bidding for $5.00 an hour. Why not $4 then? Why not $3 then? Why not $2 then? Why not $1 then? Why not .25 cents then?
You have to eat.
There is no bargaining chip in your favor… Your employer if legally allowed, would pay the lowest rate possible to still have employees. When there are more employees than positions, wages could drop very low…. because you have to eat.
America went through the Great Depression primarily because of this… Even business leaders realized from that experience that by making their employees so poor, no one was buying the products they were making…
And so they agreed: “If we make our employers have disposable income, they can buy our products and we can again make money”. So the legal basis was almost unanimously approved by both businesses and labor, to make the right to strike just that. a basic human right protected by the full force of the law… Simply because paying workers higher wages is good for increasing overall demand. and that is what drives economies forward.
“Hold It! Did You Know? It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
Basically, a union is the answer to this counter argument: “why should you, the investors, get all the money off our labor, and we get none?” Admittedly both of us should get something decent from our arrangement….
And there you go. America did do very well… that is, until our media became influenced by investors (who now own them btw) and started painting unions as a scourage… Missing from all press coverage, was the simple fact that one has to act scouragingly when bargaining with fellow scourages… Sort of like not realizing that your hero prize fighter has to hurt people. It’s necessary to stay in the ring…
So I encourage all reading this to now begin talking up unions in your workplace… Because if you get fired for any reason afterwards, you can blame it on the legal right to form a union…. it is like a wonderful vacation in which you still will get paid, probably even more than if you’d put up with the bosses crap the whole damn time….!
Now… you know! It Is Your Right To Form A Union!”
Yeah.
It really is your “right.” and it is protected by law. Now, go get them tigers!
We are a tired generation… We grew up with ‘Nam. Which ever side we were on during the battle here in America over that police action, or war, looking back after it was done, …. we all knew it was wrong….
After that we thought all war was wrong, and unfortunately took some of that angst out on those who least deserved it: those coming back from the steamy jungles of hell…..
Against our will a certain president soon sent Marines into Beirut; what happened then reinforced our belief that an American war was unjustifiable and that all other means must be utilized to prevent American war from ever happening again…. Against our will, we propped up a Nicaragua dictator against some rebels. Against our will, we sold arms to Iran to use for paying for our support for that Nicaragua dictator, since a Congress elected by the American people, flatly said no to supporting him in Nicaragua… We found a way to do it anyway….
I remember Senator Rudman, (R-NH) saying at the hearing while addressing Oliver North,… “The American people have the RIGHT to be wrong.”
Oliver North had been insisting that even when Americans flatly say NO, one still must do what one deems is necessary, that whatever one deems necessary, is the highest moral truth. “Sometimes one has to go above the law!” was actually said by the defense at this hearing. Only one good thing came out of those hearings: we all were introduced to Fawn Hall.
But then… The Brits quickly regained the Faulklands. Then came Grenada, which went off without a hitch. Then Panama, which was successful and almost painless. Then came General Schwartzkopf. The 4th largest army in the world, was routed in hours, and in days, had been completely mopped up. Then came the Balkans. We were on a roll. We’d finally nailed down the successful formula of how to win in battle.
Today we say Iraq is a failure. But that was so not so just after the invasion. Inside Baghdad, the pulling down of Saddam’s statue, the victory of capturing Saddam, the ability of us to hand out billions of American dollars, initially gave this campaign the luster of looking like another success story…
Until we tried to steal their oil. The standard global rate of dividing oil revenues is that the US gets a 20% cut for the development, and Iraq would get to keep 80% because it is after all, their resource. That is how we deal with Nigeria.
But Brenner announced that we’d flip that to pay for the war, and that Iraq would be allowed to keep 20% because we liked them so much, and we’d only, by our good graces, take 80% of the revenues. 24 hours after letting that cat out of the bag, the first IED went off under a US military vehicle… Before week was out, the total was in the hundreds.
The luster was gone. We were an invading army, something we have not called ourselves since WWII. We always saw ourselves as the policeman who leaves as soon as order is restored…
Afghanistan likewise, got worse. Then Pakistan. Then Yemen. On the diplomatic front instead of doing no harm, .. we could do no good. Then Libya costs us an ambassador who was running guns through Turkey. He shouldn’t have been there; it should have been a low level staffer with security clearance.
This baby boomer generation knows that war is wrong. We know from experience. The only time it can be employed successfully, is a) when the whole world is united behind you, b) you go in and get out, and c) you have a structure that stays in place long after you are gone.
The only time it goes badly… is every other scenario.
Which brings us to Syria. Syria has no importance to anyone. (They couldn’t even defend the militarily advantageous Golan Heights in ’67!) Which is why we let the Russians have them.
People are going to die in Syria if a): Assad wins, b): the rebels win, or c): no one wins. The only thing changing upon this wars outcome, is which side will be massacred at war’s end. Hence the battle for survival over there now.
So by having the US intervene or not, we are choosing which side gets to kill the other after the hostilities die down.
The weakest argument for going in still left with standing, is that they used chemical weapons. In WWI, the British, French, and Germans all used chemical weapons. Are chemical weapons really worse than being burned alive? Or asphyxiated as a bomb blast sucks all the oxygen out of your lungs and the room? Or a milk jug sized piece of jagged metal shrapnel ripping and leaving a hole through your body? Or a mine being stepped on? I’m trying to think why chemical weapons are so much worse, except for the fact that we’ve been told” they are so much worse”?
A causality is a causality.
We understand “why” some say we should go into Syria. Because if we do not respond to chemical weapons in a big way, someone else will become confident and use theirs. There is only one way to keep the genie inside the bottle, and that is to never leave a opening for it to escape….
We also understand “why” one of our beloved School districts had a policy that suspended, and expelled those who brought weapons to school! Not just guns, but knives too. After all, the argument for punishing Syria, applies to soon-to-become high school felons too.
But, there came a time when the response generated by a policy, actually became the crime, You remember the little boy expelled who brought a cake to school, and his grandmother thoughtfully sent a knife knowing teachers usually don’t have utensils in their classrooms. The teacher actually cut the cake, served it, thinking nothing of it.. it was someone higher up, reviewing the situation, who said, “wait, that can be interpreted as a breach of regulations. Let’s make an example out of this little boy”. He was suspended and could have been expelled, except it eventually became news and public outcry was solidly on his side. The policy makers were laughed out of town.
Which is why, if you are making this decision, you need to stall. Acting quickly and decisively is equivalent to acting on rumor and innuendo. So what if Syria lied and shot the gas cannisters off?
Does a military strike create enough excellent good will to neutralize this bad act?
Ironically what is best for the US in this situation, is for Assad to stay in power, to have a zealous change in heart, to work closely with the USA to get his economy working, to becoming a partner in that region with the US, and to signing a treaty with Israel, as did the Egyptians many, many years ago…
What is worse for us, is if the jihadists win, push out the moderates and take over the reform movement (they always do), then go to war with Israel, Jordan and Turkey. Making ourselves into the evil empire will only create more explosions everywhere, flare-ups which would not have occurred had we taken the Jedi way, and used the “Force” in our possession, to make events on the ground turn our way and happen in our favor….
Realistically such a rosy scenario probably can’t happen; but if it did, were this to come about, there would be no doubt: Obama would be lauded as the best president we’d ever see in our lifetimes. The cost of failure is so low that it just might be worth the try.
The second point… which all us Viet-namers will well remember, is that you may win every engagement you participate in Syria, but you won’t win the war at home, and that… will suck all your energy away from all the good you plan to do before 2016.
It broke LBJ. It broke Bush II. Don’t let it break you….
This was taken from a piece explaining why there is no Liberal Media, despite many troll’s exertion that there is.
There is managerial comfort in allowing the Electoral College to continue. It forces accountability. Each state is accountable for their votes… If something goes wrong, we can pinpoint the location rather quickly, and follow up with criminal actions….
Here is how it works. People working in a state usually have a feel for how things are going. Usually it turns out just the way they feel. With the current Electoral College system in place, each state must account for all it’s votes, in order to designate to whom those electoral votes shall go.
if they go to the wrong person, heads look up real quick. How can that be? Let’s look at the totals. Ahhh, here is the anomaly. This precinct. Why, there are more votes than voters registered there.
We can pinpoint the mistake, because everyone is accountable for their piece…
That is how we found out that Ohio’s total in 2004, was sent to the Republicans IT division, and then sent back to Ohio, declaring Bush the winner there over Kerry… We had accountability, and people looking…
Now, imagine the alternative. Ron Paul wins the presidency on a write-in campaign.. There is no electoral college. There is no accountability. There is no paper trail.. Just the totals on the computer screen. How can that be? Without individual states looking or recording their results, how do you prove the popular vote to be just exactly what is being reported?
Where in the United States did it happen? Who made the mistake if it was one, maybe someone shifting a decimal point? If so, in what state? What county? What precinct? What ward? … Is that national vote total, for real?
Without the electoral college there is no credibility. We are essentially the Ukraine. Paul Ryan is going to be the new president, oops, a mistake, no it is Harry Reid who will be our new president, oh, darn, no it is now Mitch McConnell… What? now it is Joe Biden? For real?
Of course the argument will arise, that our national election process will continue the same, states will still be accountable… To some extent they will. But in one’s life, say at work, how much care and concern and effort, do you really put into a project that no one is going to even look at? My guess, not much? You will instead put that time and effort into the one that shows up on your bosses desk.. Don’t feel disappointed. It is human nature.
Politics is sometimes rather bitter. In a heated contest, if there were no referees, would the legitimacy of the games outcome have credibility? If the score was lopsided, perhaps. But if it was decided by one point, and calls that normally would have been outlawed by a referee took place, then the losing team is not going to accept the verdict. It is human nature.
The Electoral College acts like a referee. Yes, sometimes referee’s do make bad calls. Often though, they make good ones. The question we need to ask ourselves, is whether, if we have a heated contest, can we afford to have no referees watching the proceedings?
No.
A 501 support group, sponsoring the the elimination of the electoral college, publicly derided Senator Katz for his not voting yes to remove the Electoral College. It was in Market Watch on Thursday, and the News Journal on Sunday.
The reason Senator Katz did not vote for pushing forward with the popular vote bill, is that he thinks it is wrong.
And I agree with him.
Everyone hates the electoral college at some point in their life, yet it has weathered over 700 Constitutional Amendments to get rid of it.
The NPV ( National Popular Vote) compact, is a method to get around this problem without changing the constitution….
Is this Constitutional? Will it muster court challenges? The Constitution gives states the method of determining how their electoral votes are cast. Bypassing that process without an amendment, should, be deemed unconstitutional…. After all you are changing years of Constitutional practice, without, even a legislative vote….
Furthermore, states not part of the Compact, would then be excluded from the electoral process. The decision on who would be president would be made only by those states who’d signed the compact.
The electoral college, was originally enacted, because not everyone trusted the country bumpkins with the powers of voting. Hell, you could buy a vote with moonshine… Enough moonshine, a crook gets into government… The electoral college prevented that. (There is nothing in the original Constitution that says Electoral delegates even have to vote the same way as did their state’s constituents.
And most importantly, the Electoral College protects the rights of states.
For example roughly 390,000 Delawareans voted in 2008, our last presidential election. Delaware has 3 electoral votes. As most of the readers here know, 390,000 is .001 of our nation’s population. In percent, Delaware voters make up .1% of the population. In a tight election, those 3 votes have some meaning. Mathematically, we have .5% influence in the electoral college. That is five times more clout, as the spinners would say…
Lastly, the electoral college provides clarity. We have had close elections before. In fact, the Bush/Gore race is one of recent memory, and probably the reason we are debating it now. The electoral college provides a clear line of who won. We have to have that. We all lived through a pretender in the White House for 8 years. But there was a system that we could follow, and say by the rules enacted, George Bush should be president….
Now imaging if we had an election that was only 10,000 votes off? How would you decide if the underdog challenged that figure, where those 10,000 votes were? There are votes misplaced in every election, even in Delaware. Mistakes get made (Paradee/Thornberg come to mind)… How can you go through an entire country’s voting system, and make sure every vote is legitimate?
At least with the electoral college, you have decisiveness.
Katz is right for not allowing this compact to go forward. It is ill thought, and has never been tested.
The electoral college is the rule by which we’ve always played.. If you’re going to change the rules, why not change football, why not change baseball, why not change hockey? Let’s just change the rules when our team doesn’t win…
Exactly.. Losers always hate the electoral college, especially if they won the popular vote. Winners never see a problem with it…
It is, what it is… Katz should be commended. Tom D’Amore, Co-Chairman of Support Popular Vote should be ridiculed and humiliated, and perhaps tried for treason.
kavips 