What a difference ten months makes

The Democratic Party platform for 2006 was different from what is going on today. The cure is worse for our Country than the problems.

Phrases like “drain the swamp” and “end the culture of corruption” still come to mind. Like most citizens, all platforms are taken with a grain of salt, and many even agree Rahm Emanuel and other Democratic leaders probably let the Congressman Foley abuse go on until the timing of the information release could do the most damage to the Republicans. Many even accepted the “we support the troops” proclamation as having some element of truth suggesting National Interest was still important to the Democratic Party. And many could see the collective mainstream media wanted to elect Barack Obama as the next President, and most could live with this media intent.

What the Nation got was the wool pulled over our eyes. The more cynical will say it was all obvious from the start. The less cynical would say maybe, but sending a message to both national political parties was worth the chance, and the Nation lost. The “swamp” is deeper than ever, and the new “ethics” bill is a fig leaf for even worse corruption and abuse of the federal treasury.

The unwritten but cultural impacts are more disturbing. Hints began when the 2006 Congressional election results became a mandate for getting out of Iraq. Old fashioned Nazi-like propaganda techniques such as repeating often enough, first softly and then forcefully that there were no WMD’s, became accepted as fact. We “support the troops, but” mutated to a more anti-military tone where assaults on others opinions and integrity have entered an Alice in Wonderland quality, where even double standards go without reasonable challenge in the Democratic Party. The tone of all civil debates has gotten worse, much worse than 10 months ago. Previous restraints and self-discipline as to bad language and behavior have not been challenged within the culture. Rather the plain old fashioned reactionary use of intimidation and thought control have ascended as a method of imposing one’s political goal. The poisonous political atmosphere coming from the politics of personal destruction with all its ramifications has taken hold, as being normal, which it is not as an American trait.

Practical effects are disturbing, too. Speaker Pelosi orchestrated an anointment set of events extending over days. The basic responsibilities of politicians have been passed to their hired staffs, whose influence is even greater while their experience is not. The immigration debate in the Senate shows a great disconnect between the citizens and the politicians. The mainstream media has taken a more overt political tone and greater tolerance for the “fake but true” standard of reporting the news. Federal basics like guarding the borders, food and drug safety for humans and pets, import safety, maintenance of our bridges, and enforcement of our trade agreements suffer from lower priorities and funding, all the while we still borrow vast sums of money for “a bridge to nowhere”. Senator Reid’s financial problems are not even brought up by the Ethics Committee. Minor, but overt revolts, by cities sponsoring immigrant sanctuary sites have appeared.

So much for the Democratic Party “draining the swamp” and “ending the culture of corruption”. Things have gotten worse since they got the chance. This political party should not get another chance to pull the wool over our eyes. “Shaft me once, shame on them. Shaft me twice, shame on me”.