Comments on: Creating the Illusion of Progress and Integrity http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/ An Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:14:10 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: runasim http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-131199 runasim Sat, 24 May 2008 04:38:48 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-131199 What this election is demonstrating, unfortuanelty, is that the elecotrate only want to vote the bums out of offiive who belong to the opposition party. Not many voters would be willing to stand on principle if it meant dimishing their candidate's chances. <br>The only way to stop the cycles is to get special intereest money out of political campaigns, <br><br>The earmarks for projects that benefit constituencies are more idifficult to tackle, because that's what politicians are elected to do: look out for their home base. Some of that has to be tolerated, I think, but transparency has to be an antidote.<br><br>The transparency the Democrats promised has been delivered only in baby steps.<br>They have been thwarted by the GOP at avery step, but a number of them also, have been far from enthusiasstic about reforms. No one is ready to give up the cash cows or the gimmicks by which the trail of influence can be camouflaged. <br><br>Maybe we need a march on Wshington about this along the lines of anti-war protests. What this election is demonstrating, unfortuanelty, is that the elecotrate only want to vote the bums out of offiive who belong to the opposition party. Not many voters would be willing to stand on principle if it meant dimishing their candidate's chances.
The only way to stop the cycles is to get special intereest money out of political campaigns,

The earmarks for projects that benefit constituencies are more idifficult to tackle, because that's what politicians are elected to do: look out for their home base. Some of that has to be tolerated, I think, but transparency has to be an antidote.

The transparency the Democrats promised has been delivered only in baby steps.
They have been thwarted by the GOP at avery step, but a number of them also, have been far from enthusiasstic about reforms. No one is ready to give up the cash cows or the gimmicks by which the trail of influence can be camouflaged.

Maybe we need a march on Wshington about this along the lines of anti-war protests.

]]> By: jchem http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-131185 jchem Fri, 23 May 2008 20:21:27 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-131185 "Vote the jerks out of office."<br><br>I think that's the best piece of advice that anyone could offer. I just wonder if there are still just enough people who will blindly vote for someone of their party that some of these clowns might actually slip by... “Vote the jerks out of office.”

I think that's the best piece of advice that anyone could offer. I just wonder if there are still just enough people who will blindly vote for someone of their party that some of these clowns might actually slip by…

]]> By: ChrisWWW http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-131184 ChrisWWW Fri, 23 May 2008 20:10:01 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-131184 woops... woops…

]]> By: ChrisWWW http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-131175 ChrisWWW Fri, 23 May 2008 19:04:20 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-131175 On a related note (h/t Andrew Sullivan) by Patrick Ruffini:<br><blockquote>In the minority, our job is to 1) make the majority’s life miserable, grinding the House and Senate floors to a halt, and building a narrative of the Democrats as broken and incompetent, and 2) offer big, bold alternatives to this mess like the Contract did in 1994. </blockquote> On a related note (h/t Andrew Sullivan) by Patrick Ruffini:
In the minority, our job is to 1) make the majority’s life miserable, grinding the House and Senate floors to a halt, and building a narrative of the Democrats as broken and incompetent, and 2) offer big, bold alternatives to this mess like the Contract did in 1994.

]]> By: ChrisWWW http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-131170 ChrisWWW Fri, 23 May 2008 18:12:30 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-131170 Vote the jerks out of office. Vote the jerks out of office.

]]> By: Slamfu http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-131169 Slamfu Fri, 23 May 2008 18:10:57 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-131169 Standard GOP operating procedure. Don't actually fix the issue, just rework people's perception of the issue while you continue to fleece the public. Standard GOP operating procedure. Don't actually fix the issue, just rework people's perception of the issue while you continue to fleece the public.

]]> By: Progress by McConnell « Greg Prince’s Blog http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-112522 Progress by McConnell « Greg Prince’s Blog Fri, 23 May 2008 17:29:59 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-112522 [...] hat tip: TMV [...] [...] hat tip: TMV [...]

]]> By: Creating the Illusion of Progress and Integrity | Politics in America http://themoderatevoice.com/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/comment-page-1/#comment-112521 Creating the Illusion of Progress and Integrity | Politics in America Fri, 23 May 2008 17:25:49 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/political-philosophy/19867/creating-the-illusion-of-progress-and-integrity/#comment-112521 [...] The Ethereal Voice wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“At Sunlight, when we learned that Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was convening a task force to address the issue of earmarks, we knew [...] [...] The Ethereal Voice wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt“At Sunlight, when we learned that Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was convening a task force to address the issue of earmarks, we knew [...]

]]>