so what's worse if you are a Republican - higher tax rates or increased collections for closing loopholes? Both raise more funds for government!

REBLOG 5 hard truths progressives must face about Obama

5 hard truths progressives must face about Obama

REBLOG: Obama’s second term: Can liberals trust the president?

Continuing a Matt Stoller trifecta, I add this post-script: Liberals can no more trust President Obama then movement conservatives (it turned out) could trust George W. Bush. Instead, we have to vocally hold his feet to the fire to make sure that the best liberal policies of the last 60 or 70 years are not given away in a vein attempt to coerce much needed tax code changes that lead to increased revenue for the government (to fund existing program not anything really new).  So let's start the second four years with a more critical eye and open mouths.

Obama’s second term: Can liberals trust the president?

REBLOG Why is the left defending Obama?

One of the primary reasons I posted Matt Stoller's earlier piece here is that, as a LIberal Progressive (with libertarian tendencies) I happen to agree with him - electing Barack Obama may indeed be better for America then Mitt Romney, but not because Barack Obama is a liberal progressive President.  And yet, in the public rebuttal, Stoller seems to have been subjected by so-called Liberal Commentators to the name calling, strawmen, and ad hominem attacks that we normally see reserved for use by Republicans against Democrats.  Still, the question is asked - Why is the left defending Obama?

It is remarkable to see the level to which Obama defenders have sunk. Let’s start with a basic problem – why is Obama in a tight race? Mitt Romney is more caricature than candidate, a horrifically cartoonish plutocrat whose campaign is staffed by people that allow secret tapings of obviously offensive statements. The Republican base finds Romney uninspiring, and Romney has been unable to provide one good reason to choose him except that he is not the incumbent. Yet, Barack Obama is in a dog fight with this clown. Why? It isn’t because a few critics are writing articles in places like Salon. The answer, if you look at the data, is thatBarack Obama has been a terrible President and an enemy to progressives. Unemployment is high. American household income since the recovery started in 2009 has dropped 5%. Poverty has increased substantially. Home equity – the main store of wealth for the middle class – has dropped by $5-7 trillion, in contrast to the increase in financial asset values held by Obama’s friends and donors. And this was done explicitly through Obama’s policies.

REBLOG: The progressive case against Obama

One of the toughest parts of being a really left leaning liberal these days is my Party of Record nominated, and managed to elect a right leaning centerist the last time out.  No matter what other Progressives and Democrats say, Mr. OBama dies NOT have a record of Change We Can Believe in (unless you like extra-judicial killings).  So who do I vote for on election day - especially given my long standing policy of critique of the President both here and on Facebook?  Matt Stolle offers a series of "you really need to read these" reasons for NOT voting Democratic if you are a progressive in his piece in Salon titled " The progressive case against Obama."

We need to build a different model of politics, one in which people who want a different society are willing to actually bargain and back up their threats, rather than just aesthetically argue for shifts around the margin. The good news is that the changes we need to make are entirely doable. It will cost about $100 trillion over 20 years to move our world to an entirely sustainable energy system, and the net worth of the global top 1 percent is $103 trillion. We can do this. And the moments to let us make the changes we need are coming. There is endless good we can do, if enough of us are willing to show the courage that exists within every human being instead of the malevolence and desire for conformity that also exists within every heart.
Systems that can’t go on, don’t. The political elites, as much as they kick the can down the road, know this. The question we need to ask ourselves is, do we?

REBLOG Six fixes for American democracy

It may be naive to think that these six fixes will ever be put forward after this election, or any other election.    That said, if we see the way forward, and choose as a nation to reject it, what does that ultimately say about our character?

Six fixes for American democracy

REBLOG - The man behind the voter fraud myth

I have been seriously, and heinously, amazed at all the work Republicans have done the last two years to disenfranchise Americans in order to get, and keep power.  But the central question I have always had is WHY? Well The man behind the voter fraud myth may well have the answers.