tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post4098875443647157336..comments2023-11-22T01:14:54.298-08:00Comments on amor mundi: "People Are Stupid"Dale Carricohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-8812634875678795402010-01-25T10:01:07.568-08:002010-01-25T10:01:07.568-08:00We are not in a position to whether or not we live...We are not in a position to whether or not we live in the beginning of a great progressive era -- we are in the belly of the beast. Take a look at the fits and starts that characterized what we take to be "The Progressive Era," historically, or read a good detailed history of the first two terms of FDR or the years just prior and during LBJ's term. Nothing ever was what we "know" it was.<br /><br />I find almost as distasteful as the Naked Scotty Brown interlude the fact that so many seemed to think this was "Ted Kennedy's Seat." Massachusetts elects Republican governors all the time -- just because Republicans call it Taxachusetts doesn't mean it's actually a forever guaranteed Fighting Liberal Oasis -- I honestly don't know why Democrats feel compelled to accept Republican narrative and spin on literally every imaginable thing. Even now they allow Sarah Palin and Mitch McConnell to quack about how Democrats "aren't listening to the American People" even as majorities of the American people express their clear and loud outrage at the failures to give them what they actually voted for, in part because Republicans aren't listening to any but a miniscule minority of greedy rich people and a noisy scrum of racist-christianist wingnuts.<br /><br />There's arrogance all around, not least but certainly not most to be seen among Democratic Establishment types. It's infuriating and demoralizing, but the more I study history the more I also see it was also so, and yet things still move convulsively forward. Here's hoping it happens in time to meet some of our actually unprecedented challenges, especially the environmental ones.Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-63202700761544723482010-01-25T07:33:39.389-08:002010-01-25T07:33:39.389-08:00Fourth, I think it matters most of all that Congre...<em>Fourth, I think it matters most of all that Congress is full of millionaires representing millions of non-millionaires, and also that America more generally is full of privileged people who have been insulated by their privilege from the actual consequences of their actions.</em><br /><br />Right on. I agree that this, perhaps more than anything, is the reason why the government doesn't represent the people's interest, and why wealthy people continue to make bad decisions for all of us.<br /><br />However, in times like these, when a Republican wins a senate seat in Massachusetts, it's important to introspect on our own arrogance and supposed knowledge of governance, both in terms of 1) what ideally constitutes the best form of governance and social policy, and 2) what practically obtains as governance, and what sorts of trade offs must be made to achieve sub-optimal but realistic goals.<br /><br />Obama winning the presidency and the Democrats holding a large majority were not the beginning of a great progressive era -- as we see now. It's simply inevitable that Republicans will control the federal government again someday, sooner or later. We have to play the hand that we we're dealt, not the one we wish we had. Keep that in mind when Democrats don't support the health reform that you want, or don't push the progressive agendas that you want.adminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01020701980607126113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-43183097928674462010-01-23T17:49:49.051-08:002010-01-23T17:49:49.051-08:00Didn't mean anything by the quotes, I'm ju...Didn't mean anything by the quotes, I'm just weirdly conscious of anonymity pseudonymity naming blogging conventions at the moment... thanks for the conversation, d, er "d"Dale Carricohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811055279887722298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5956838.post-89274962576556831302010-01-23T17:31:18.958-08:002010-01-23T17:31:18.958-08:00Thank you for responding so thoroughly to my comme...Thank you for responding so thoroughly to my comment... It's shocking how language seems to use US more than it seems like we are using language - taking time to think about things more, I would have not used the word stupidity in this context (my emotions probably got the better of me - and I was tempted into making things more reductionist than they actually are, which, funnily enough, is itself a kind of stupidity...)<br /><br />You make four excellent points that revolve around a principle we all need to keep reminding ourselves the truth of: societal problems are usually the result of larger structural issues and power relationships rather than individual 'moral/intellectual failures'. It's always easier to point the finger at a person rather than at an abstract structural dynamic, so I'd like to blame people's stupidity rather than all the factors that you mentioned in this post, just as people now would like to blame Obama that they still haven't found a job rather than looking at the long-term economic trends as well as the fact that the American government is not a monarchy. <br /><br />Just a minor note - you probably have a reason for this, but I wonder why you put my name in quotation marks (or inverted commas). It's my first name, so it makes me feel kind of odd to see it written like that. I also have a link to my blog, which also has my name on it, so I would hope that I am not seen in the same way as those other anonymous comment people...Jackiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11778115312295750379noreply@blogger.com