[MD] US democracy at work?

[David Thomas]

On 2/27/11 5:07 AM, "Andre Broersen" <andrebroersen at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was just stunned to see the happenings.
I don't know why you should be. Sounds like you have fallen prey to US
propaganda. Then again, so have we, so why shouldn't you?

>Perhaps those of you living in the US are used to these
> sorts of practices?

Yes in the US we live in a republic with a multi-level mishmash of
overlapping representative democracies. Lawmaking under these systems, even
in the best of times, is not pretty. (Sausage making is the oft used
metaphor) Economically we are not currently in the best of times. Imagine if
you will fifty separate Italy's all of whom to one degree or another had
been in an economic boom since shortly after WWII. During that boom
organizations public and private competed for workers with both wages and
more importantly now benefits. The beauty of competing with benefits is that
they were future commitments that didn't have to be fully funded when given.
These benefits all are, to some degree or another, government sanctioned
Ponzi schemes. The boom has ended and the bills for the benefits commitments
made to Baby-Boom workers both public and private are coming due. And we
don't have the money to pay them. The private sector has already to some
degree shed or reduced these commitments through bankruptcies now the public
sector(s) is trying to deal with the same problem.

But this in not "new" news. This problem has been known for at least 10 to
15 years at all levels of government and business. Very few have been
willing or able to deal with the problem. Now there is no choice but to deal
with it and it's a lose-lose situation for everybody.

Wisconsin in no different. The problem has been apparent for years and no
politician, individual or party, had been willing to deal with it. Prior to
the last election it finally got so bad that a group of Republicans won
governorship, house and senate majorities in a normally Democratic state by
running on a platform of promising to fix the problem. They now have the
power to make the necessary changes and those who's ox will be gored are
understandably unhappy. Not having the elected power to stop the changes the
opponents, mainly public employee unions, are striking, demonstrating, and
using other delaying tactics hoping to win some concessions, just like in
Italy.

The 15 senators who were "tricked" on the Senate floor are the same 15
senators who had used the "trick" of delaying the legislative process by
"hiding" out of state for several weeks and instigating the strikes.

What's new or unusual about "tit for tat" politics like this?

In Pirsig's reality the social pattern "politics" is not even aware that
intellectual patterns "ideas" exists.  Politics experienced make it very
difficult to argue with this claim. ;-)

Dave