politics

It sounds very much like there is a storm a-brewin’ designed to start cutting into Social Security. I helped fight this off back in 2005, and it’s a real pity to see the same basic bullpucky return under Prez. Obama. Cutting Social Security is both unnecessary and cruel.

For the reasoned economic analysis, keep up with Dr. Krugman.

For a more colorful take, you can’t do much better than George Carlin:

Atrios on Obama’s economy captures the essence of what I find so dispiriting:

The point isn’t that there was some magic obvious solution, the point is that the problem was bigger than they imagined and, frankly, recovery noises from the administration started to remind me of Bush era noises about how things were always improving in Iraq.

Team Obama appears to have taken all the wrong lessons from team Bush. They pursue the limp magical-thinking type propaganda — “clap louder!” — couched as DC-centric conventional wisdom (which is itself morally and intellectually bankrupt), without apparently even contemplating the virtues of a Cheney-esque will to power.

They also play politics very poorly, much more poorly than the Clintons.

I find myself in odd moments beginning to wish we’d nominated Hillary.

Music Please:

I haven't written much about politics in the past... year or so, mainly because it's been such an unqualified bummer. I read Krugman and Duncan and check up with my friend the subcommondante on a daily, and pretty much count myself in their camp on most issues. If you want to stay in the know, you could do a lot worse.

But this caught my eye and excited some comment, well, because it highlights the total batshit insanity angle of what's going on out there, and in doing so sheds some maybe pretty good light on what exactly makes the whole political situation so depressing. I could not help but remark.

So, the leading Republican candidate for Governor of Colorado thinks that having a free bike program in the city of Denver is the first step towards one world government:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community."

"This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed," Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor's efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes "that's exactly the attitude they want you to have."

"This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.

This is insanity.

First of all, any intellectually honest conservative who bothers to think of the actual mechanics of things rather than, as they say in the industry, "the optics", which is to say appearances, they would realizing that bicycling has enormous trans-partisan appeal. It is an expression of self-reliance and personal responsibility: human power. It makes you (literally) stronger. It is a rational effing economic decision.

Second of all, even though I love me some one-world government having free bikes around is, if anything, a sop to bike-theves.

Finally... really? "This is bigger than what it looks like?" Like, really? Because biking seems to have the appearance of something hippyish, it's a paranoiac punching bag for this guy. That's really how they roll at the gubernatorial level these days.

And, I'm happy to be wrong, but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts there won't be a full-throated counter-offensive from his Democratic opponent. This is the "depressing" part so well illuminated by the aforementioned bullshit insanity. Because the general trend among Democrats has been to tremble and cringe in the face of this Precious Bodily Fluids psychobabble.

I mean, the frackin' Obama Administration (and the NAACP, for extra bonus points) wet their collective pants at the release of an obviously doctored video from a well-known total hack with a history of doctoring video for political haymaking.

The problem is that the people who I will end up voting for, and ostensibly support, have no ability, facility or willingness to "punch back" against crazy insane lie-driven maniac passion coming from the contemporary tea-bagging GOP. And this is just completely spiritually crushing to a guy like me.

I mean, serously. My guy was rocking "I want my country back" seven years ago, and we ain't got none of the things we wanted done yet.

And what's more there so little willingness to tell these people they're insane, hateful, idiotic morons, to stand up to such obvious logical and moral wrongness and just say, "shut up." They can't even laugh, which is what paranoid delusional hacks often deserve. No. They're afraid that some kind of "Real America" that they have no concept of, which dines at an imaginary Applebee's salad bar (honestly, David Brooks is such a fracking toolbag) and unsure of their own values — being, mostly, totally clueless sold-out coc*suckers themselves — that they sort of cower in fear of what appears to he heartfelt, if deranged, sentiment. Weak sauce.

And possibly worse, in our own quadrant, failure through worshiping the status quo goes unpunished. There is no meritocracy. By all means give your "Green Collar Jobs" guy the shaft, but there's no willingness to, like, rattle anyone on the Economic team, or take any new action, in spite of manifest failure. In particular I loath the lard-assed alleged egg-heads who can't see any possible way to do something about 10% unemployment — honestly screw Larry Summers and his half-assed brain-magic; I know his type coming and going and smart guys who make dumb decisions but get you to go along with them because they're "smart guys" deserve to end up one place: the GD curb; let that soft-handed member of The Committie To Save The World (honestly, frack all those guys) get a real goddamn job for once — but were sure johnny-on-the-spot when it came to downsizing and corralling the stimulus last winter.

Why don't you go back to managing Harvard's endowment, Larry? Oh yeah, because you ran it into the ground, you stupid fracking worthless hack.

So yes, this is why I don't write about politics much. I find arguments that Team Obama has "done a lot" to be pretty unconvincing. The only possible exception is putative (and I stress, putative) beachhead gains made by Health Care reform, but otherwise it's all been technocratic mumbojumbo around the edges, and very little that, you know, actualy works. Which is what people care about, after all, and rightly so.

And that's what happens when I don't write about politics for a while. It builds up a bit. Currently don't have any bright ideas other than to try and fete people like Alan Grayson (ably Rasputined by the inestimable stollerizer) and try and point out the obvious. Honestly I don't blame the GOP here; they're following a natural course. I blame the Democrats (and Obama in particular, though I'm not really surprised) for:

1. Kowtowing to morons when they get het up about whatever.
2. Simultaneously making a real fetish out of throwing your left-wing allies under the bus.
3. Big-picture sitting back and taking the long view that enduring demographics and their oppositions incompetence means they don't have to work that hard to counteract reactionary ideology.
4. Having no apparent clue how to play the game of politics, or exercise political power.

We are running "the dumbest socialism ever". I leave you in the hands of Larry Lessig:

I’ve been slowly making my way through First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, which I picked up while browsing the Strand back in the spring and then purchased as a supplemental counterweight to the delightfully light/fun Shantaram. Žižek isn’t really breezy, but he’s certainly brilliant, and more importantly willing to ask pretty hard questions.

The book is part dissection of the contemporary neoliberal status quo ideology, and part argument to revive the idea of (haunting music) Communism. It’s already delivered a few gems, such as this explanation of the uselessness of the modern Leftist opposition:

In the good old days of Really Existing Socialism, a joke popular among dissidents was used to illustrate the futility of their protests. In the fifteenth century, when Russia was occupied by Mongols, a peasant and his wife were walking along a dusty country road; a Mongol warrior on a horse stopped at their side and told the peasant he would now proceed to rape his wife; he then added, “But since there’s a lot of dust on the ground, you must hold my testicles while I rape your wife, so that they will not get dirty!” Once the Mongol had done the deed and ridden away, the peasant started laughing and jumping with joy. His surprise wife asked, “How can you be jumping with joy when I was just brutally raped in your presence?” The farmer answered: “But I got him! His balls are covered with dust!”

A lot of the rest is somewhat remedial for anyone with a critical eye for the world: how a “kinder” — or more recently “greener” — capitalist status quo has taken hold and is recycling its opposition into its own system, etc. The interesting piece to me is not this critique, but the argumentation to seriously (re)consider the Marxist alternative.

Žižek argues that the financial collapse was the final end of “Captialism” as a meaningful thing, and that emerging post-financial-collapse iteration of the World Order — big industry bailouts, a more culturally sensitive consumerism, enough social safety net to keep people complacent but not to really redistribute wealth — is really a sort of corrupt consumerist/cronyist Socialism, still rife with inequality and on a collision course with ecological catastrophe, and of course suppressing the still-present specter of Communism.

I don’t buy all of his arguments. Some are just wrong — for instance the contention that recent famines are indicative of insufficient food production, when in fact modern famines have emerged within an abundance of resources; the problems being distribution and ownership. Others feel like a bit of a reach — appeals to post-humanism, fear of genetic manipulation, generally appolcalyptic thinking. However, the main thrust is undeniable:

• This 21st century post-capitalist elite-supporting socialism may be socialistic, but it’s still primarily oriented around property and the preservation of existing holdings.
• As a result, vast and immoral inequality of life-chances looks set to persist through the coming decades.

• And of course nothing meaningful is being done to address any of the planetary-scale issues which, if they break in a bad/sudden way, will cause the inequality to rapidly escalate into a dystopian world so polarized and divided we can hardly imagine it today.

The last third of the book, which is what I’m still reading, explores the emancipatory notion of Communism as a way of freeing ourselves from this fate. Maybe there will be some aha! moment at the end, but I somewhat doubt it. Still, it’s got me thinking.

At this time, I feel it’s an appropriate time to peer into the cultural consciousness via Star Trek and some wonderful people from Iceland. First, Picard:

And now, Iceland:

The Best Party, whose members include a who’s who of Iceland’s punk rock scene, formed a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (despite Mr. Gnarr’s suspicion that party leaders had assigned an underling to watch “The Wire” and take notes). With that, Mr. Gnarr took office last week, hoping to serve out a full, four-year term, and the new government granted free admission to swimming pools for everyone under 18. Its plans include turning Reykjavik, with its plentiful supply of geothermal energy, into a hub for electric cars.

Their campaign video gives a good taste of the vibe:

It reminds me of Jim Henson and the muppets somehow. Comic, but also earnest. I like it.

Now my own position is ticklish. As was pointed out by a feisty old relative last fall in the midst of a debate about Health Care Reform, “You’re in business for yourself. You’re a capitalist, right?” In some ways, yes, though I more or less agree with Žižek’s thesis that “Capitalism” has lost all but a tribal/totemic meaning. Though, I think that’s how the question was posed, as a sort of cold-war “with us or against us” formulation, which I think is totally dated, but c’est la vie.

Anyhow, I’m certainly an entrepreneur, and a businessman of sorts — I’m with the invaders, no use in trying to hide that; but at the same time I disagree with some of the things they are doing. I would ultimately prefer to live in a more equitable world less oriented around material things, one with more of a sense of whimsy, exploration, and fun; a world where we might actually reach the stars rather than successively raping one another down in the dirt.

On that path I don’t believe we can eschew economic self-determination or the competition it implies. Nobody really believes that command economies are coming back, but neither are we at any “end of history.” There’s got to be a better way to run things, both pragmatically in terms of creating wealth more efficiently, and morally in terms of distributing it equitably. My guess is without compelling and radical ideas which aggressively challenge the status quo in a progressive way — as opposed to the virulent reactionary opposition we see popping up on the Right — we’ll end up with a bunch of bland technocratic hand-waving, until of course that fails at which point the reactionary forces won’t hesitate to fill the gap.

The most compelling moment for me in the Best Party video was where Gnarr proclaims, And, and we won’t accept mediocrity, because we want The Best. Another world may be possible, but hope is not a plan.

As per Žižek, those who believe in this possibility — whether they’re Communists or not — must begin again at the beginning, and continue to try: “Try again, fail again, fail better.” This is the only way progress is ever made.

How does this sound?

“The state should not tear down the apples from the tree of economics. What the government should do is help grow our apple orchard, develop our economic environment.”

That’s Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, aka shift manager for Boss Putin.

The question I have is why does the President of Russia (in translation, even) seem to have a better grasp of post-free-market-fetish economic rhetoric than our own progressives? I mean, it’ll be really unfortunate if the Left in the US doesn’t come to articulate a competent vision alternative vision to the current “world order.” Though maybe not all that surprising.

I got handed a voter guide from The League at the 24th and Mission Bart today. Gave me a warm and fuzzy. Love this stuff:

How crazy is San Francisco politics? We're endorsing Gavin Newsom, a guy who blocked us on twitter! We disagree with Gavin a lot. He talks a good game at being progressive, but most of the time he's on the "big money" side of crucial local issues: selling out Bayview/Hunters Point to Lennar, siding with PG&E against public power, etc. His policy of reporting immigrant youth to ICE before they've been convicted of any crimes is horrible. But when you take him out of SF and compare him to the usual hacks who run for office statewide, Gav looks pretty good. He supports reforming Prop 13 and is semi-serious about addressing climate change. His opponent in the primary is Janice Hahn. Her politics seem pretty good, but we don't think she's ready for prime time. She's gotten by on her family name and just doesn't have the experience.

Pssst! Here's a poorly kept secret: the main reason we want Gavin to become Lt. Governor is because if he wins, the Board of Supervisors gets to pick his replacement, and we're hoping that would mean that we'd finally get a Mayor we could be excited about! Some of us are afraid this could backfire on us: Gavin goes on to become Governor or Senator and uses his clout to support candidates and policies that we don't like. Hmm. It's a tough call.

And then there's the comedy. Here's a real ad:

And then this:

Good times...

Spent this past week at this little get-together called Drupalcon. I’ve done a poor job in general explaining what this “Drupal” is to my non-nerd quadrant of friends, and it’s a pretty long story with a lot of angles and beautiful idiosyncrasies. And also now kind of a big deal on these old internets. Like, 3000 people showing up for a conference we organized, with major sponsorships from technology heavyweights and a presentation from the White House.

Yeah.

The first wave of my professional life was very startup-oriented. Silicon Alley from ’98 to ’01. I never made any money of course, but as a 19 to 22 year old kid it was amazing experience both on technical and business fronts. The second wave was all about politics, but definitely had that scrappy startup kind of vibe, bootstrapping an insurgent campaign and then getting the non-profit equivalent of venture financing to try out some totally unproven ideas, including building a professional space around Drupal and participating in the dot-org boom. After that I took some time off and freelanced, then started a company. While starting ones own company is an integral part of being an entrepreneur for real-real, the first few years of this were a lot of hard learning curve for me, and to be honest it was a lot harder than I thought.

Now, exhausted from an excessively busy week and battling a devilish low-grade cold, I still feel like, once again, the buzz is back. It’s a new wave. I’m back to sleeping six hours a night and waking up jazzed.

And with this new momentum, I want to follow it up in my personal space, get healthy generally and re-initiate “Operation Get Very Hot.” My pre-professional background in the theater gave me a decent base physique, and more importantly a deep and lasting appreciation for the connection between mind, body and soul. I’m a confirmed believer in mystically ecstatic states and peak performance, and for me the base for all this is the physicality. I am, at my very best, an acrobat of the heart.

However, to be honest the past few years I’ve been sort of wasting away. Fits and starts in the gym, but more sitting on my ass (at work and at home) than anything else, eating great food and drinking tasty tasty beers. It’s immediately pleasurable and I don’t plan to deny myself any of that, but I’m really starting to notice how the infrastructure of my being is in decline.

This goes beyond simple gutfat and buttsag — some of which, let’s face it, is probably inevitable — and more to things like flexibility, stamina, posture, and how I respond to stress. Five days of conferencing shouldn’t have made my back hurt so badly. I shouldn’t had a cough that lasts six months. I should have more energy and zeal over the long haul, and not just the nervous spikey energy that comes from high pressure and big potential.

I’m a lucky son of a bitch, and if I’m going to make the most out of all this good fortune that means starting to take better care of myself in general. In a few weeks I’ll be turning 31, and where I wind up in a decade depends on choices I make now. It’s time again to take the initiative, push forward on several fronts in a dazzling display of personal synergy and virtuosic coordination.

I’ve been tracking these efforts for a while. It’s going to shake things up. A lot.

Fun times ahead.

I’m wearing this fly new hoodie I got from the artist who did that “Act Like Ya Know” poster that I liked. Rage is not revolution, but it might be a precourser.

I think it’s important to recognize that when we talk about political extremism in Estados Unidos, the far Right is much larger, organized, well funded and (critically) well armed and prepared to shed blood compared to the Left. They are a strong movement which has embraced increasingly violent and eliminationist rhetoric, especially with regards to Muslims in the wake of 9/11.

It’s been years since eco-radicals even burned down a lumber-yard — which is ultimately just property crime — but anti-choice radicals still kill doctors and “militia” members (or anti-tax hardliners) blow up buildings in protest of what they perceive to be tyranny.

The political right has been fueled by fear and anger for decades. The chickens are coming home to roost.

Just as much as I find myself cringing whenever politicians use phrases like “Main Street” and “Special Interests,” it’s worth noting that people outside the mainstream — my own people, so to speak — have just as many sucktastic language tics.

At the moment I’m reading The Army of the Republic, which was right there next to the just-finished Chronic City in the “Hip Lit” section of the U of O bookstore when I swooped in a couple weeks ago. Downshifting from Letham’s prose is rough, but Stuart Archer Cohen’s subject matter — domestic terrorist/patriots vs. water privatizers — is right up my Red Dawn alley. It’s a fun read so far.

However, it’s reminding me that it’s just as irksome to read leftist cliches about taking it to the streets and whatnot. Even the more radical dialogue can make me wince. The revival we want to see is going to take a new language, purged of these cliches and their anti-meaning. Paging Dr. Lakoff...

Although, it could be closer than we think. Maybe I’m just an old softie, but this still gets me:

And I wish to god that someone would stick all of Perot’s stuff on youtube for posterity. There’s a huge amount to learn from what he was able to do:

And finally, if you made it this far, you are Steppin’ Razor.