Salon's Lind nails it: Nobody represents the American People.

[Erose999]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/07/lind_american_people

< article >
The disconnect between the actions of the government and public opinion is the central fact of American politics today. It doesn’t seem to matter whether liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans are in power. Only minor, marginal reforms ever take place. The basic outlines of American economic policy and foreign policy remain the same, even as Congress and the White House change hands. The changes promised by progressive Democrats and Tea Party Republicans are quickly discarded after the elections.

The changes that do take place are often the opposite of those that majorities of Americans want. Most Americans want Social Security to be strengthened and American manufacturing protected. But the conversation among elites inside the Beltway-New York bubble is about cutting Social Security and more one-sided "free trade" deals with mercantilist nations that, unlike the U.S., protect and promote their domestic industries.

Many Americans have come to the conclusion that nobody represents them in Washington anymore. They are right.

< / article >

So yeah, the capitalist class has succeed at throwing the rest of us under the bus. Your $10 donation and hour spent canvassing is of little value to the politicians in the age of big donations from the Gates/Buffett/Koch set as well as attack ads, 24 hour cable news, and Citizens United. The political process is centralized to operate around the elites and therefore it will operate to benefit their agenda.

[meegbear]

1. That's a good article ...K&R

[Jakes Progress]

2. K&R Lind does indeed nail it.

[whatchamacallit]

3. If Obama represents the "Liberal Democrat" side of their equation

They got that part wrong.

[spin]

4. Perhaps we could set up a liberal version of the Tea Party.

We could find some liberals who are not willing to kiss the ass of the big corporations and would fight for the average person like the Democratic Party I grew up with in the 50s and 60s.

I had hoped that Obama was the President that would return our party to what it once was.

[kctim]

8. If you look at the numbers

liberals ARE the Democratic Partys version of the Tea Party.

[spin]

13. Good point. (n/t)

[Erose999]

15. I think thats the point, national leaders will fail us every time. Obama, Stewart, et. al

The only way we will effect real change is to become more grassroots. Maybe by building smaller local groups and then converging those at the regional Democratic Party meetings. And we should definitely be engaging our representatives at the town hall meetings, regardless of party and grilling them about Citizens United, etc.

I am going to be sure to catch my local teabagger congressman the next time he does a town hall and hopefully get a question or two in. I'd like to see if he can look me in the eye and say he isn't shilling for BP or Koch Bros. or Big Pharma.

[spin]

16. The Tea Party may represent the Big Corporations ...

I really have no idea as I know no tea baggers and have never attended one of their meetings. If the corporations were responsible for setting up this party they are far more devious than I gave them credit for. Hell, they already own most of the Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

What did impress me is that a small number of conservatives were able to create a powerful grass roots organization that has shaken up the Republican Party.

With all the dissatisfaction in our own party, we should be able to do the same. We might be able to create a more responsive Democratic Party that delivers on its promises to its voters for a change.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Example of how the 'Tea Party' is representing the rich, not those who turn up to their rallies

There's another article on Salon: Tea Partiers gripe at the tax cut deal. Oh, I thought on seeing the headline, a bit of buyer's remorse from the voters who thought they were electing people to 'cut the deficit'. But no, it turns out the griping is not about the cost of the tax cut for the rich 2%; it's about the far smaller cost of extending unemployment benefits. And the "Tea Partiers" are Michele Bloody Bachmann and similar representatives, who say not a word about the cost of the tax cut for the rich. The deficit is only a problem to them when it involves any benefit going to the non-rich.

I'm not sure the Republican Party has been shaken up at all.

[spin]

24. Much will depend on what happens in the next two years ...

the Tea party may fade away or get absorbed into the Republican Party. It could also gain in strength and in the primaries for the next elections throw out the more liberal Republicans and replace them with conservative tea baggers.

It should be interesting to watch.

[Erose999]

26. The Tea Party will fade away once Obama's presidency is over. Theres really only one issue that

motivates the Teabaggers I know. They just have a general distrust of Obama because they have been led to believe he's a Marxist Socialist Kenyan Usurper with a fake birth certificate. Pretty much anything Obama does is gonna be wrong to them because to them he represents "the other". Once we get another male/white/Christian in office these peoples anger and outrage will suddenly and mysteriously disappear.

[myrna minx]

5. This is why I've been so haunted and depressed as of late.

It's horrible to wake up and realize that it's all a sham, no matter who is in power. :-(

I feel so betrayed and have lost my trust in the democratic system.

[Still Waters]

27. I feel the same way. A kick to the stomach every damn day.

[alsame]

6. K&R. It seems that there's only been one big Ruling Party since 1980. nt

[BadgerKid]

7. Ah, perhaps George Carlin's club.

And you and I aren't in it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. And, they wonder why 40% of the people no longer bother to vote.

[stillwaiting]

10. I really don't think they wonder. I feel like they are THRILLED that is the reality.

And I feel like they know pretty well the why of it as well. It seems intentional from my perspective at this point.

Get the populace to tune out and not pay attention. That way they can do whatever they want (which they clearly are doing currently).

[spin]

17. I know a lot of people who don't vote because they say it makes no difference ...

and I find it hard to argue with them.

[Davis_X_Machina]

11. Mind how you pick your friends. Lind's been pushing...

...a 'national liberalism' since Up from Conservatism almost 20 years ago that's indistinguishable from the kind of Third-Way-ism that people on here otherwise deplore. His 'Vietnam, a Necessary War' is a good place to start.

[Uncle Joe]

12. This is a good article.

We should not idealize the mass membership movements of the past. The old party machines were notoriously corrupt. Unions were often racist and in league with organized crime. And local civic organizations were often snobbish and clique-ridden.

The point is that the existence of these mass membership organizations, along with dues-paying charitable organizations, served as transmission belts bringing demands and values up from ordinary people in local communities to politicians and policymakers at the state and local level. These institutions complemented elections and made electoral democracy work.

Maybe we can evolve to something better.

Thanks for the thread, Erose.

[ladjf]

14. As far as I can tell, there is only a handful of Dems trying to help

the American people. nt

[spin]

18. If we want to, we can change this.

We can vote those who do not represent us out of office and replace them with Democrats who do listen to us.

Anyone, Republican, Democrat or Independent, who puts the Big Corporations in front of the people who elected him, doesn't deserve to be in office.

If the people we elect to replace the sell outs fail, we just replace them too.

[Moondog]

19. It was ever thus. I don't think the founders ever envisioned political office as being a career.

[chimpymustgo]

28. Exactly. Citizen legislators, all walks of life. Wow.

[Laelth]

20. k&r for the sad truth. n/t

-Laelth

[Chimichurri]

22. We have become a corporatocracy and they're not even pretending to hide

it any longer.

[DearAbby]

23. Sigh

the illusion of choice, the illusion of freedom.

[katty]

25. BINGO! thanks for telling the truth on this!

[dreamnightwind]

29. K & R

I dunno about Lind, buyer beware, but other than a couple of false equivalencies (left is no better than right, and our groups are no less astroturf - sounds like false equivalence to me), this is an excellent article that speaks an important truth.

[CanonRay]

30. "Liberal" Democrats have not had power since 1965

I would not call what is in Congress today "Liberal" in any way, shape or form. It's center, right, far right, and too crazy to talk to.

[MindPilot]

31. I came to that conclusion several years ago.

This is just more confirmation that politics is now just a spectator sport.

[blindpig]

32. So what are we going to do about it?

Politics of the masses, of the street, is our only option, numbers is all we got.