The mantra of conservatives in America is "government cannot do anything right." Conservatives say, "government is the problem." As a result, they want to "starve the beast." However, we must remember the words of our Founding Fathers. They created a Republic because they believed, while no government is perfect and man is corruptible, government must be accountable to the people. Government must represent us. In doing so, they believed government would protect our prosperity.
If we believe as our Founders, then saying "Government cannot do anything right" means "WE cannot do anything right." Saying government is the problem means "WE are the problem." If government really cannot do anything right and government is the problem, then it is our duty as American citizens to correct these problems or our experiment in self-government will fail.
Government is faltering, but not because our Founder's idea of self-government is inherently flawed. OUR government has been hijacked. Every representative of the people is under great pressure to accept financial help from special interest groups who wish to petition our government for costly favors.
(Corporate naming rights are already a way of life in sports stadia -- one has to wonder where the line is when it comes to higher education. - promoted by Joe Bodell)
I recently explored a fairly new building on the University of Minnesota campus. It covered a whole city block, and I was curious what departments were located there.
I entered and noticed these fancy letterings above several classrooms in the building: Deloitte. Classroom, Securian Classroom, Donaldson Classroom, 3M, Supervalu, Travelers, Wells Fargo, Int'l Dairy Queen, General Mills. Most were accompanied by their corporate logos. Then I noticed I was walking around in the Target Atrium. Upstairs were the U.S. Bank Recruiting Lounge and the Toro Learning Support Room.
Yes, I was in an expansion of the Business School from across the street, at least the second expansion in the last several years. The school was almost gobbling up the university.
Well into his fourth decade of song-crafting prowess, and his third of life as a household name, Bruce Springsteen now stands at the pinnacle of singer-songwriter achievement: first sharing a stage with the Father of American Folk Music at the We Are One Concert on the National Mall, then rocking out a set of blue-collar anthems a scant two weeks later at the Super Bowl.
The Boss has earned it. From his rebuff of Reagan's ham-fisted "Born in the U.S.A." co-opt, to his protest of Amadou Diallo's sanctioned murder by performing "41 Shots" in Madison Square Garden, Springsteen has made it clear that his is the music of the oppressed, the dissatisfied, the American underdog- making his misstep with Wal-Mart all the more confounding.
This December, Wake Up Wal-Mart is going all out with our annual Holiday Campaign to awaken America's largest retailer to its responsibilities. Here is a peek at our second TV ad for 2008's holiday season:
Titled Wal-Mart: America Just Can't Afford It Any Longer, the ad focuses on the hidden costs of shopping at Wal-Mart:
It seems Tim Pawlenty just can't control his mouth with the Republican National Convention coming to town and the Democratic Convention already in progress in Denver.
After reciting the threadbare GOP talking points about how disappointed they all are by Obama's selection of Biden, Pawlenty topped the list off with this ornament to stupidity (h/t Matt at Think Progress):
Pawlenty said he believed Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, would have been a better choice for Obama. "He's an outstanding leader and somebody who would better represent the mainstream of the country," Pawlenty said.
In other words, to hell with military regulations that prohibit active duty officers from campaigning for or holding partisan political office. To hell as well with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who wrote an open letter this spring reiterating the policy that "the U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times and in all ways".
Couldn't have said it much better myself. Pawlenty is perhaps the figure most hurt by Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate. With Obama's selection of someone with the foreign policy chops to bring the fight to John McCain's rhetorical doorstep, the comparison between Biden and Pawlenty's paltry experience in the national and international realms does not favor our dear Governor.
But Pawlenty wasn't done: it now sounds like he's making an explicit pitch to corporate executives and selling the RNC as a chance for direct contact with elected and appointed leaders in our federal government:
On the GOP side, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's written "talking points" at a fundraising luncheon for corporate CEOs promised "contact with influential government officials (Cabinet, President, next President)" during the convention in St. Paul.
"This is a real problem," said Mr. [Stephen] Weissman [of the Campaign Finance Institute]. "It's access, with gratitude."
Many corporations are willing to buy the access to John McCain, in exchange for the "gratitude" McCain is promising them in the future. McCain's tax plan gives America's 200 largest corporations $45 billion in tax breaks, including $4 billion to the top five oil companies and $2 billion to the top 10 health insurance companies.
...
[T]here are at least 159 lobbyists running the McCain campaign, fundraising, and shaping his policies. And at least 20 McCain staffers came "from a lobby shop or joined one after leaving the congressional payroll."
Granted, the ThinkProgress piece notes that Democrats have their corporate interests too, and they're definitely making noise at the DNC this week. But this kind of bald-faced influence-peddling from Pawlenty is unbecoming of someone whose supporters insist is the new face of the Republican Party. Getting excited for one of the two biggest political conventions of the quadrennium is one thing; revealing your party for what it really is for the sake of a few big checks is something else altogether.
