THE CIRCLE JERK and the TWEED RING
We can differ on opinions but we can also be civil about it. Something Washington hasn't learned yet. I carried a Republican Voter Registration Card for 48 years, yet I still voted split tickets, I voted for the person whom I felt could do the best job. Isn't that's why we have elections? The best person for the job, what a novel approach, instead of the "party line".
I guess I am called an Independent now, since I have a NPA card. "No Party affiliation", I find it's the party mentality thats evil.
OBSTRUCTIONISM
Both sides have been faced with corruption and obstruction and I must admit some are really doing well at it. When Congressman Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell get together for a media-op, I reach for the barf bag near my recliner. They are usually followed by Eric Cantor who Kumbayas the whole event with more useless rhetoric. Where did they find that idiot?
Why waste my time, just re-play the last session when you two got together because you will be repeating the same negative talking points and useless none credit worthy statements. When Boehner said they would be the party of NO, we didn't realize it meant the party of "NOthing because thats what they have to offer, have offered and capitulated with. The devil has bought their souls so many times, he requires cash payments.
Thats why I go back to Einstein, when I see things that I don't agree with, and I will do that here often enough for you to believe me. Basically his definition of insanity, "is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Thats fairly simple, to the point and makes sense to me.
People are getting tired of "NO" because thats the way an idiot thinks. We pay these people to represent us and work out solutions, not to stalemate a government and let the people suffer.
The other problem with No lately seems to be "NO TRUTH". It's not just a party of No, the truth is the victim here. Distortion, lies spearheaded by incompetents seemed to rise to a new level with the advent of the social media, the web and voices of bad choices like the Palin's and the Bachmans. Mostly lies and distortions, snips and snipes.
If we use the same political insight instead of the talent thats out there, we will achieve the same result. It's the Washington party mentality that leaks down through the system to the state and local levels. And all parties have the same problem, the choice as to whether the person is there to serve the people or to serve themselves because the stakes are so big. It's embedded in the system and nothing will get better unless we change the system. It appears our system is to serve the party and the politicians and not the people.
THE TWEED RING
For those who follow discounted rhetoric and in the case of President OBAMA, I always hear about the Chicago political machine, another dumb down statement, and that the President is a product of that machine.
OK Chicago, part of the Illinois State law Jusridiction has some fairly loose laws concerning campaign donations and how influence is peddled. But it is still within the law ansd if you obey the law, all have a fair shot at success.
Well pilgrim, they got it from somewhere, it was no different in NY, and probably modeled after Tammany Hall. In a piece by David Wiles and I wish you would read the entire article, I quote a few lines as I consider this some of the best writing on this matter. (www.albany.edu/~dkw42/tweed.html)
But to me whats most important is that the tenets of Tammany are literally the rules of today in politics. If you grab a few lines from the article, the politics of today are not new. Thats the whole enchilada, we might have the best political system in the world only if the players, the laws and the people are there live it, follow it and to protect it. We don't and as I always tell you, "the real answers are found if you follow the money".
TWEEDERS and TWITS
They made Chicago look like the Pope ran it compared to NY. Well today even that could be a problem. The Tweed Ring were outright thieves and Tammany Hall did have a series of reoccurring scandals. An estimated 75 to 200 million dollars were swindled from the City between 1865 and 1871. Tammany represented a form of organization that wedded the Democratic Party and the Society of St. Tammany.
The weave of city politics was the triangulation of the Mayor's office, the Democratic Party and the Social Club organization. The book, Plunkett of Tammany Hall was first published in 1963 and contains chapters like:
* "Honest and dishonest graft"
* "The curse of civil service reform"
* "Reciprocity in patronage"
* "Tammany leaders not bookworms"
* "Dangers of the dress suit in politics"
* "On the uses of money in politics"
* "Bosses preserve the nation"
* "Tammany the only lasting democracy."
Plunkett's formula for staying on top for seven decades of New York City rule was; " Tammany is the ocean, reform the waves, and there is a lot of unofficial patronage to ride out the storms if you know the ropes. Why don't reformers last in politics? Because they are amateurs and you must be a pro. Politicians do not have to steal to make a living because a crook is a fool and a politician can become a millionaire through 'honest graft.
"When we remember Ellis Island was in New York harbor (with the Statue of Liberty) and it is estimated that two fifths of the American population have relatives that were processed through that in migration site, the Plunkett "plain talk" starts to make sense.
"Think what the people of New York are. On half, more than one half, are of foreign birth. They do not speak our language, they do not know our laws, they are the raw material with which we have to build up the state....there is no denying the service that Tammany has rendered the Republic. There is no other organization for taking hold of untrained, friendless men and converting them into citizens. Who else in the city would do it? There is not a mugwump who would shake their hand.
"For that city context Plunkett advises those concerned with local governing; " Don't go to college and stuff your head with rubbish; get out with your neighbors and relatives and round up a few votes you can call your own. Study human nature and make government warm and personal."
For the way the political machine routinely operates, Plunkett states, "What reformers call 'machine' we call organization. In New York City the smallest unit is the election district committee, headed by a captain. The election districts overlap with the assembly districts headed by leaders who, in turn, constitute the county executive committee. Assembly leaders are elected in primaries and elect their own party chairmen."
When George Plunkett died in 1924 he was eulogized this way;" He understood that in politics honesty doesn't matter, efficiency doesn't matter, progressive vision doesn't matter. What does matter is the chance for a better job, a better price of wheat, better business conditions. Plunkett's legacy is to that practicality."