I've collected a little grab bag of American political campaign secrets that they don't want you to know, and I've spilled the beans. Little folks like you shouldn't know garbage like this.
We'll start out with one of the jokes of the week. Bill Maher made a funny about the possibility of an Obama October Surprise (OOS!) where he announces that he's going to decriminalize marijuana. From someone who's as big a dope smoker as Bill Maher with a $1,000,000 donation to the Obama campaign you might think the guy's entitled to a little juice, but he is. So we can assume that this rumor came from a semi-reliable source.
Mr. Obama is a cold thinking machine. He treats his cabinet members like pets or freshmen students getting into his constitutional law class at the UC. No warmth there, and everything is done on a strict cost-benefit analysis. They say that after a while every president reveals his own psychosis which is called "leadership style." As they say. Write a letter to the Pope.
I read an interesting analysis as to why the conservatives are ten yards from the finish time by the time the liberals get their pants on. The author said that the cons act like a disciplined army, while the libs are a herd of cats. A classic case in point is the Citizens United kerfuffle. Now we all agree that this is possibly the worst Supreme Court decision since Dred Scott. (Don't worry. Another decision of Satan is coming out PDQ on Obamacare.) But I digress.
People on the left may be getting frustrated about the lack of progress on the left on this issue. But my wonk detective hat has revealed serious reasons why action against Citizens United is a no go right now. And boys, and girls -- I'm talking to you lefties. It appears as if the ACLU thinks Citizens United is jake with them. I'll bet you didn't know that, but it's true. Not even that -- but Move On, We The People/Move 2 Amend, and Common Cause all have three different positions on Citizens United. Sheesh!
If we were the con boys, the left would have gathered the suits all together in a smoke free room and have the wonks hash out the policy differences so that the army could take its marching orders. I know that I appear to be a violent radical when I say this, but if the left is going to stay competitive with the right -- we're all due into the shop for a head job. Our minds need a slight midcourse correction, if you get what I mean.
Lastly, I've got to talk about what all this bullshit knowledge inside me head means to me. And this is a message going out to conservatives here. I read a letter to the editor today which I will paraphrase:
What's with this BS coming from Paul Krugman? I, like read his shit and I don't understand it. And then like the libs, they all talk about how wonderful he is, and I say, "WTF????" I guess I must be stupid. LMFAOROG.
I love when conservatives talk all dirty like that to me. OK Brainiac. You know more about economics than a Nobel Prize Winner in economics???
Earth to conservatives. Take your head back to the shop for immediate repair. You have a serious malfunction there. Have you ever heard of reality -- as opposed to $(%&!!?!?! magical thinking? If you succeed in ruling the entire world through your control of the US government -- wouldn't it be better to use hard facts instead of magic ideology? Don't solve policy issues by waving magic bones at us. Bad answer.
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I wish I was a member so I could resign.
Next item: I can't get bent out of shape, at this point, that different leaders on the left are recommending different strategies. But we, the people on the left cannot sit on our butts until our fractious 'leaders' get their act together.
The Move to Amend strategy is a good one--it gets the PEOPLE on record saying "Money is not speech, and corporations are not people. FIX THIS." With about 40 hours' work by about five people, we got our town board to pass a resolution telling our Congressional delegation and state legislative representatives that our town wants an amendment. This is an issue on which 71% of Republican agree, for crying out loud, with even a higher percentages among sensible people. Do it in your town ASAP. Don't wait for someone to give you the power; take it.
"If we were the con boys, (WE ARE) the left would have gathered the suits (WE DON'T NEED NO F***ING SUITS) all together in a smoke free room and have the wonks hash out the policy differences so that the army could take its marching orders. (WE DON'T NEED NO F***ING ORDERS.)
Action to overturn Citizens United is NOT a "no go" right now. Read the link in the last paragraph of my comment above, and get busy doing the same in your city, town, or village.
Krugman makes more sense to me than almost anyone currently writing. He keeps saying stuff very similar to the stuff I say, the difference being that he actually knows what he's talking about whereas I'm basically faking it.
I'm trying to figure out how to misunderstand Krugman. He writes very clearly.
Of course, what would I know? I tried to make a single fairly straightforward point on OS a bunch of times and eventually got so frustrated I attempted to post the damned thing in Pidgin, at which point most people Still didn't get it.
Very simply, as regards your overall point: The GOP tends to be centralized. We tend not to be. Centralized is less democratic but a much easier way to fundraise. Unfortunately, the consequences of fundraising like that are on the way to killing our country.
I think that was because Obama favored a stimulus when many didn't. The trouble isn't, in that respect, what Obama did so much as that he didn't go far enough.
(1) Conservatives are genetically predisposed to follow the leader -- even if it's over a cliff.
(2) Conservatives generally have more money to buy obedience.
(3) Conservatives are far more likely to be True-Believers -- for proof one need only lobserve who makes up the vast majority of literalist Kindergarten Kristians.
(4) On average, Conservatives are not nearly so bright as Liberals -- indeed the more education a person has, the more likely they are to be Liberal. This might seem contradictory in regard to being more organized, but that's only if you've never compared the desk of a corporate executive to that of a Liberal college professor.
(5) Conservatives are more easily herded because they don't see all the potential problems related to a proposed course of action. In short, ignorance truly is bliss when if comes to getting someone in line.
(6) Conservatives don't tolerate dissent well, while Liberals seem to enjoy the debate at least as much as the resolution.
(7) Conservatives get their information from Fux News, so they don't have to deal with things like facts or inconvenient truths.
(8) It's much easier to be organized when you only see things in black and white.
(9) Conservatives have selective amnesia and lower standards, and thus will get in line today behind someone they despised yesterday.
(10) Conservatives take no prisoners, and they eat their dead and wounded.
Conservatives will be annoyed (or worse) at these generalizations, but the arguments they make to refute them will only reinforce their validity.