Decision Theory for Progressives

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Anyone telling me that there are no differences between GOP and DEM had best prove it! The government's own stats prove that every Democratic President since WWII (possibly since 1900) has better GDP and job growth than ANY GOP president. Those are perhaps the most significant, the most important differences between the two parties. Certainly --without GDP growth, without the creation of new jobs, the economy will collapse in short order. If there were no other differences between the parties, these alone are sufficient to justify never, ever voting GOP. Unless, of course, you are a robber baron member of the ruling 1 percent.

In Texas, there is yet another strikingly significant difference between Gopps and Democrats: EDUCATION. Every Democratic governor in TX has enjoyed higher rankings and it was under Bush Jr ( as Governor) that Texas beat out the likes of Mississippi et al for dead last in high school graduations. As high school graduations declined, crime --not surprisingly --rose! Who benefits? Simply --the corporate sponsors of the GOP who own the 'privatized' prisons. There may be no better way to launder a payoff.

The GOP benefits in yet another way: an uninformed and/or semi-literate population is sure to be fooled by GOP propaganda. A population that does not read must rely upon the electronic media for information. Conveniently, right wing regimes have 'de-regulated' the media, allowing its consolidation into fewer and fewer huge corporations. Just as conveniently for the GOP, an ideological right-wing court has decreed that 'corporations', in fact, just legal abstractions, are to be considered 'real people' in the eyes of the 'law'.

In Texas, the fortunes of the Bush crime family rose as education, quality of life and air quality declined. This is another cause and effect from which only the GOP and its crooked sponsors benefit. A corollary: as Bush family fortunes increased so did crime, poverty and unemployment.

If you wish to be informed you must ask: why is that the case? Dismissing that verifiable fact with a PC platitude like: "...there are no differences between the parties' is a convenient cop out, an excuse not to think, a ruse designed to absolve the GOP. It's a 'childhood' defense: "...but Harry did it too, teach!" But did he?

Have the Democrats, in Texas, ever dared to pull off such an overt and heinous crime? Indeed --no! In fact, it is often joked that Democrat crimes (if there were any) benefited the people. The folk wisdom --'he may be a crook but he's our crook' --was and is still often said of Democrats and their constituency: the people! It is NOT said of the GOP. The GOP is no one's crook but that of huge corporations and the corporate money-brokers, i.e, K-street pimps...uh...shills.

Any Democrat chosen at random beats ANY gop re: the environment. Additionally, you will find more effective opposition to 'corporate personhood' among Dems than among Gopps if any opposition among GOPPS whatsoever! The GOP, by and large, defend the recent SCOTUS decision which does what even God nor the Wizard of Oz could do --it bestowed upon corporations, mere legal abstractions, 'personhood'! What other miracles await us? I had feared to ask!

A Bullshit Decision

Every intelligent person most certainly knows that SCOTUS blew it with 'corporate personhood'! But when I say that Antonin Scalia may not know, I am being generous. I may be giving him a benefit of doubt that he neither earned nor deserved! If he knows better and rules otherwise, he is just a common crook! Bertolt Brecht could not have described Scalia better than his terse summation of crookery:

"A man who does not know the truth is just an idiot but a man who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a crook!"

Scalia either drools in public like most GOP morons ---OR he knows 'corporate personhood' is utter crap and lies about it. He doesn't care one way or the other! He long ago sold his soul. He's a lost cause, a hard case, a closed file! Scalia is a crook. To sum up: Scalia is either a moron or he is a crook! The only remaining option is that Scalia is both a crook and an idiot.

Perhaps GDP growth, jobs and economic opportunity are unimportant to you. If that is the case, vote GOP! You will not regret it. The GOP --since WWII --has not excelled in either. Perhaps, corporate personhood is just fine with you. Perhaps you can live with the fact that the GOP is the enemy of edcuation. If you're OK with all of the above --fine! Vote GOP! But don't call yourself a 'progressive'.

You get ONE vote!

Who says that by voting you should expect to change the world? We consider 'voting' a right and so it is! But it is a right that must be exercised if it is to have any meaning at all. If, for example, you have the right to vote but fail to exercise it, the outcome is the same if you had not had the vote to begin with. Ergo: not voting is a vote for anything that is anti-Democracy! Not voting is only an option for those who can live with a dictatorship; not voting is an option only if you're OK with idiots telling you what to do, think or say. Not voting is an option only if you think GOP crimes are just fine!

It is narcissistic, perhaps neurotic and most certainly immature to expect everyone you vote for to be precisely what you want. There are no guarantees that any election will please all the people all the time. To believe otherwise is immature, self-indulgent.

At last --the root of the word DEMOCRACY is 'demos'--Greek for 'people'. You have 'a' vote among many. You are not a dictator. But --history will support the warning that a people so self-absorbed that they will not vote for the best possible result but --rather --waits until a 'dream team' is beamed down to them from on high --is done for. I don't recall anyone promising anyone a Utopia.

---

---