One Blue Note More
I realize looking over my posts that I have written more often than I intended about coping with conservatism. The "Blue Notes" were intended to be happily assertive thoughts concerning progressive policies, but the "blue" clearly has overtones of depression about the political environment as well as the Democratic platform.Despite any and all natural proclivity to be hopeful and optimistic, living in a world of hate speech is debilitating. You can get really tired of facing the public day in and day out, especially when you are continually overwhelmed by the desperate need of single parents and their children; older adults too young for Medicare but not too old for cancer or other major disease; young people who have fled horrific family situations before gaining the skills to be self-sufficient. And all the while, as you try to find sources of support, you keep hearing: "they just need to get a job."
Although many politicians and lawyers (often the same thing) view words as game pieces, it isn't so. Words have consequences. People internalize the horrible things they hear, and they believe every word issued by Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. They build their life view accordingly, and they hate accordingly.
Which is why Senator Joe Lieberman must not be allowed the chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. We have had enough of "leadership" that tosses loaded phrases out like Mardi Gras candy, without regard as to who is getting trampled as people fight for the loot.
Sen. Bayh says we can't afford an embittered Lieberman, because he might then vote contrary to all his professed, heart-felt beliefs in a Democratic domestic policy. This, in my opinion, is one more reason to take that gavel away. If he can toss aside everything he believes in because Senators held him accountable for fanning the flames of intolerance for Democratic candidates for President and Senate, then he is not the man we need in a position requiring judgment and intellect.
To her credit, Hillary did not let her clearly deep-felt grief at losing the primary campaign stop her from assisting the campaign that most obviously represented her value system. If Joe can't do that, and it appears he cannot, then Joe should go.
posted by Lenore Wilson @ 10:12 AM
2 Comments:
I agree completely! That committee covers so much of our domestic policy in one way or another. I don't trust Joe to judge fairly or to act with dispatch when needed. That "say it ain't so Joe" phrase that Palin used in the debates would almost work here with a slight change! "Say it ain't Joe!"
You certainly have a point. It is some times very difficult not to throw something at my television when I hear some of these people talking.
When Reagan used Oregon as a test for his new "jobs program" it created a community of families living in cardboard boxes under the bridges almost overnight. Then he had the nerve to announce how successful the program had been in reducing the numbers of people receiving public assistance. It wasn't a success, they just made rules that were impossible to follow and just kicked people off.
That kind of stuff has always infuriated me. They announce money being spent on various programs to help people but then hide the grant information so it is impossible to find out how to get the money or make it so complicated the target recipients can't figure out how to take advantage of it.
The example that got the most press was subsidized day care for single working mothers in California. The state got the money but very few knew about it. At the end of the year the unspent funds went back to the Feds and it was announced that adequate assistance was already in place because most women didn't apply for the funds. Women didn't fail to apply because they didn't need the help but because they didn't know about it.
Every time they discuss cutting spending to make up for budget short falls the first thing on the chopping block are social service programs which are already a minuscule portion of the budget. Back to happy thoughts. Perhaps the new administration will make a difference.
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