Love Him or Hate Him...

... but Mike Moore stands for the Citizen

From the first time I saw Roger & Me, I've been a Micheal Moore fan. Yes, he's bombastic. He's over the top. He's been known to distort. And without question, he's a polarizing rabble rouser.

In his heart though, Mike Moore loves the average American. And he's struggled mightily for decades now to show the rest of us what we often do not want to see. What exactly it means to our fellow citizens when their jobs are shipped off to foreign shores. How the myth meets reality when it comes to recruiting for our volunteer military. Why the middle class is disappearing and what it portends for us all.

Moore was interviewed by WAMU's Diane Rehm earlier this week. The entire interview is worth a listen. Do yourself a favor, just click the link and the "LISTEN" button in the upper left. And enjoy one of the few progressive voices allowed out there on the free airwaves we've given our nation's broadcasters.

Michael Moore | The Diane Rehm Show

All of this happened before....

... Will it happen again?

More than twenty years ago, Bill Moyers broadcast this truly amazing, thoughtful and angry critique of the Iran-Contra Affair, and the policy of official government secrecy that was instrumental in allowing that treason to occur.

It is as salient today as it was in 1987.

A theme that ran through the re-imagined TV series Battlestar Galactica was the phrase, "All of this has happened before. And all of will happen again." Indeed, when you see the same activities of the government, the same beliefs in untrammeled executive power, the inability of Congress to participate in controlling the course of our national destiny, you have to wonder if we are seeing is all happen again.

Today, our Congress has even less courage to try to find out what happened, despite knowing what we already know of the secret, unconstitutional and illegal covert activities undertaken by the Bush-Cheney Administration.

Take some time to watch this whole (90 minutes!!!) presentation. And consider. If we are ever able to right our ship of state, how will we prevent traitors to our Constitution like Ollie North from making it happen again?

The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, by Bill Moyers

(h/t The Exiled)

Health Care Reform ...

... is it to be???

In looking over some of what I wrote in the past year or so... or should I say in the few recent posts I made... seems that the health care reform debacle was a topic on my mind. It sure has made it to my Google "Shared Items" list a lot! Since I last wrote, both houses of Congress passed respective, internally conferenced and terribly flawed reform bills. In short, the GOP pretended to be in charge, had the various bills vastly compromised in the pursuit of "bipartisanship" and, like hookers when the dollars run out, left the johns sitting in the dark without even a kiss (or even the votes)!

Then again, given the pernicious influences of lobbyists (from the beginning!), big-time corporations and conflicted spouses, it is really hard to tell exactly who is the whore and who is the john during the entire health care reform process through the oh-so-dramatic Christmas Eve vote on the Senate floor. At this point, it seems the only people who are going to get screwed is everyone in this country who does not have health insurance now (legal citizens or not), those with modest employer-paid coverage (who are still bankrupted by a medical catastrophe), and, of course, the average taxpayer. Cui bono? Well, weep no tears for the fantastically wealthy who don't really need insurance anyways ("cadillac" plans or not) and will find a scummy ethically-challenged way out of any newly imposed taxes. Nor should one cry for the giant medical-drug-insurance corporations; they are already reaping outrageous fortunes for taking money, and guaranteeing profits by limiting payouts.

Naturally, John Stewart tells the sad saga in a much more compelling way than I could. Including the perfidious role our old friend "Droopy" has played.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The D.C.
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Of course, the existing health care "system" in the USA is an immensely complex, interconnected and sadly, profit-driven enterprise. It makes vast fortunes for a small number of Americans while delivering just about every possible health outcome. From stupendous life-saving emergency services, to equally miraculous life-extending surgeries and drugs, to stunning cosmetic makeovers and baby-making, our national health care system does it all. Yet somehow, it also lets some 4,000 Americans die each month because these people do not have the coverage necessary to partake in this wondrous "system."

Think about that. Four thousand a month! That's like September 11th every third week! And still our Congress serves up a melange of changes that will not fundamentally change the system that exists today (except perhaps to make every Citizen even more resentful of it).

Not so long ago, I discussed this whole health care issue with some friends. As part of that, I extolled the excellence of a couple of shows NPR's This American Life had done back in the fall. In the first (More Is Less), looked at why our country spends so much money on health care (because doctors are basically "pieceworkers"? Or because the patients demand unnecessary tests? Or because the hospital companies extort higher fees from the insurance companies?). It begins to flesh out for you, in a very easy to understand way (despite the David Frum cameo), just how multifaceted the health care "problem" actually is. The second show (Someone Else's Money) exposed the internal battles between big pharma and insurance companies (guess what, premiums go up to pay off pharma), the insanity of billing administration (and the overhead that must be paid), and the disgraceful dumping of insurance customers to protect the company itself (due to the cost-sharing predicament). Bill Moyers also did an episode called Money Drive Medicine which is well worth your time.

When you are done listening to these shows, you come away with the realization that complexity and unintended consequences is only part of the bigger problem -- and perhaps the result of what seems to truly be the problem. That is, the U.S. health care "system" is essentially ruled by three very large, monopolistic trusts (big hospital, big pharmaceutical and big insurance corporations). And, what is missing from any of the reform legislation awaiting conference in the Congress?? You guessed it -- regulation (or even busting) of these trusts.

Once again, everything old is new again. Unfortunately, unlike Teddy Roosevelt, our current President will not be taking up the mantle of trust buster -- he is much more of a McKinley it seems (does that make Rahm the new Mark Hanna?? he seems to fit the mold...)

So, is health care a "right" deserved by everyone?? Or is it a business, deserving its own freedom to generate profit?

This patriot pretty much comes down here: health care for everyone is a public good that requires public regulation. A utility so to speak. Everyone must have adequate health care to lead the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness bequeathed to us by our Founders. And, like having clean water or electricity, the "delivery system" is so expensive that it naturally tends toward monopolistic behavior which the forces of "free marketism" use to turn their customers into paupers if left unconstrained. Therefore, in the interests of all our good, health care "reform" should seek to push our present "system" towards the public-utility model. I will judge the merits of any final bill passed by Congress (this issue remains in doubt I think) based on the how much (or little) the reform does to move towards this model.

Barack Hoover Obama???

So writes Kevin Baker in the forthcoming issue (July 2009) of Harper's. Baker's essay speaks to the growing unease among many in the reality-based community that the Obama Administration simply is not going to live up to the lofty ideals and soaring rhetoric still on display. Its a great article and filled with some superb gems. For example:

Much like Herbert Hoover, Barack Obama is a man attempting to realize a stirring new vision of his society without cutting himself free from the dogmas of the past—without accepting the inevitable conflict. Like Hoover, he is bound to fail.

~~~~~~

The most appalling aspect of the present crisis has been the utter fecklessness of the American elite in failing to confront it. From both the private and public sectors, across the entire political spectrum, the lack of both will and new ideas has been stunning.

~~~~~~

Instead, we have seen a parade of aged [Democratic] satraps from vast, windy places stepping forward to tell us what is off the table. Every week, there is another Max Baucus of Montana, another Kent Conrad of North Dakota, another Ben Nelson of Nebraska, huffing and puffing and harrumphing that we had better forget about single-payer health care, a carbon tax, nationalizing the banks, funding for mass transit, closing tax loopholes for the rich. These are men with tiny constituencies who sat for decades in the Senate without doing or saying anything of note, who acquiesced shamelessly to the worst abuses of the Bush Administration and who come forward now to chide the president for not concentrating enough on reducing the budget deficit, or for “trying to do too much,” as if he were as old and as indolent as they are.

~~~~~~

Describing Congress as "a neighborhood where maybe half want a health clinic and the rest are holding out for grenade launchers and crystal meth," Baker warns against the current drift (or even a "subtle strategy to ensure that the White House retains the whip hand") that will "likely to commit him to one of Congress’s nebulous non-plans."

Baker also speaks directly to an opinion shared by many frustrated Americans:

"Obama will have to directly attack the fortified bastions of the newest “new class”—the makers of the paper economy in which he came of age—if he is to accomplish anything. These interests did not spend fifty years shipping the greatest industrial economy in the history of the world overseas only to be challenged by a newly empowered, green-economy working class. They did not spend much of the past two decades gobbling up previously public sectors such as health care, education, and transportation only to have to compete with a reinvigorated public sector. They mean, even now, to use the bailout to make the government their helpless junior partner, and if they can they will devour every federal dollar available to recoup their own losses, and thereby preclude the use of any monies for the rest of Barack Obama’s splendid vision... [he] should not deceive himself into thinking that such interest-group politics can be banished any more than can the cycles of Wall Street. It is not too late for him to change direction and seize the radical moment at hand. But for the moment, just like another very good man, Barack Obama is moving prudently, carefully, reasonably toward disaster."

Personally, if SP were the President today, he's attack those "fortified bastions" with a significant increase in the income (and wealth) taxes paid by the Top 1% of American earners; he'd also put back into place a steeply progressive inheritance tax to recycle accumulated wealth back into national uses.

Baker's article speaks well to the angst and growing disillusionment already setting in on the energized progressive base. Its a compelling and convincing comparison to the failure's of that last great wunderkind to lead the country at the cusp of revolutionary change. (Hoover's life story and accomplishments before his Presidency might have elevated him to the pantheon of American Greats had his inability to deal with the Great Depression not intevened.) And it does not inspire HOPE that the Obama Administration understands that it also stands on the cusp on revolutionary secular change today.

If you already subscribe to Harper's you can read the entire article on line now. If not, grab a copy of this issue from the newstand or your local public library.

Man is a Rope

"Since before we were even a country, two great horrors have haunted the subconscious of bourgeoisie America: Poverty and Scary Brown People. And to cope with our eternal, subcutaneous terrors, two, broad avenues are always open powers.

The first path demands reason; it calls to the “better angels of our nature” to be calm and to banish our fears of fear itself with a belief that citizens in a democracy governed by laws can rise to any occasion.

The second path – the path of the Pig People – eventually demands that belief in laws and men be overthrown. It demands that we wade into the reptilian muck with our conjure sticks to summon men who are more than men to defeat the demons."

Wow. Simply wow.

As they say, go read it all: Man is a rope

This is why Drifty was voted the "Best Individual Blogger" in 2008.

Thank you Driftglass.

Will They Ever Learn???

Digby sez:

"Someday Democrats will learn that they need to make their own case to the people instead of repackaging warmed over Republican rhetoric. It puts them 20 points behind at beginning of every play."

Well, as I observe this:
* the continued blocking of the likely new Senator from Minnesota;
* the failure to protect workers in this country;
* the dubious claims by 90-something white guys that an executive appointment to fill a Senate vacancy will not be honored (despite the 17th Amendment); and
* the failure to demand criminal investigations into the numerous crimes committed by the outgoing administration;

I have my doubts.

Democrats and Republicans... the 21st Century version of the Whigs and Know-Nothings...

When John Stewart Speaks...

... Congress should listen.

Of late, very few issues have infuriated me more than the ongoing "bail-outs" of various segments of the U.S. economy by our government.

Don't get me wrong, I am not some sort of "free-market" disciple or one who holds crazy beliefs on the Randian variety that the role of government in the economy is no role at all. That's just crazy talk!

Government must play a role in our economy. Critical elements of that role are protecting geographic area of economic activity (also known as national security), developing the "commons" where no single company dares to tread for fear of losing money (also known as infrastructure like roads, bridges, etc.) and supporting the citizens so they can participate and benefit (and sometimes be protected from) all that economic activity going on (this is promoting the general welfare).

To do all these things, government has to be funded (why we pay taxes), organized (this is where our Constitution comes in) and led (preferably in a manner agreeable to the majority of citizens as well as cognizant and protective of the minority who oppose the governments activities).

For the last several decades, however, these basic principles were corrupted, discarded, and simply not taught to younger generations. How else to explain the insanity observed when the citizens’ representatives deliver TRILLIONS of current and future tax revenue to the hands of financial swindlers while ignoring even the most basic duties of government?

Now that the financial ponzi scheme that was masquerading as the U.S. economy is imploding, the rush to the lifeboats by the well heeled has been unseemly and downright breathtaking. An objective observer may conclude that it is nothing short than outright theft by the moneyed interests from the last of the workers who actually create tangible, valuable products (and not simply leveraged paper transactions). So breathtaking in fact that when those who manufacture products, now crushed by the financial implosion, seek some assistance from the government that serves them as well, they’re told to forget it, their products suck anyways, they should throw themselves on the mercy of bankruptcy, or simply, we don't care about you. Our Congress and inept Administration today doesn’t care about you and is happy to throw you to the wolves.

Well, unless and until we figure it out that the United States actually has to once again make things of value, our economy is going to suffer and the number of citizens harmed by it will swell.

All of this is a long and rambling way to say you have to watch what America’s best “newscaster” and “pundit” had to say to Congress earlier this week.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

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Let me repeat: “Wall Street lost $7 trillion without selling anything -- at least when Detroit loses money, we get cars.”

Thank you John.