Yesterday, I read an article that explained that the real reason why it is so difficult to find a Wii was due to the weak dollar.  Another thing to blame Bush and the neo-cons for (as well as Clinton, the other Bush, and Reagan).  I should have known.

I saw an interesting article a couple of days ago about how Obama is using the internet in his campaign. Basically, it went on to say that we will eventually have a system in place where the internet will allow regular citizens to be directly involved in the governing process. My first reaction was “Thats pretty cool, could it be used to organize social movements?” While I still think that this is a relevant question, its not the one that I want to talk about today.

One of the big issues in progressive social movements is increasing democracy, as our current system of simply choosing from an extremely limited pool of candidates to make decisions for you is not terribly democratic. Giving citizens direct access to the governing process via the internet would be a huge step forward, but I do not think that it would be enough to eliminate the need for progressive social movements and grass-roots organizations, not by a long shot.

The first issue would simply be how much power people are given through any new system. What happens if the politicians don’t like what the people are saying? Right now we are in a war that the majority of the population opposes, and Cheney’s response is “So?” Its not like they don’t know what people want with the current system, the problem is that they simply don’t care. Without power, any system of citizen’s involvement is just a show.

The second issue would be actually getting a lot of people involved. Although I personally believe that if people feel that their opinion counts, they will become involved (I don’t think that the majority of people are lazy or stupid, I think that they don’t vote because they have no faith in the electoral system to actually change things), what happens if they don’t? What if you only get a few thousand people using the system, and they are all just lobbying for a single issue? If they are taken to be representative of the populace as a whole, chances are that you have actually made things worse.

The third issue that comes to mind is that of overload. Basically, the government is a sprawling, byzantine institution at this point in history, and expecting people to keep up with its inner workings in order to positively contribute may be asking for a bit much. Although I imagine that this would probably be solved by self-selection (i.e. – people getting involved with what they are interested in), it is still something to consider.

Finally, there are a lot of racist, sexist, bigoted attitudes out there, and although I have no doubt that will continue on into the foreseeable future. There need to be advocates for the progressive viewpoints. People need to hear the other side of things, and to have the opportunity to get involved directly, nothing is going to change that any time soon.

While reading an article today about how vicious the race for the Democratic nomination is getting, I began to wonder if the Democrats are nearing a crisis point.  What do I mean by Crisis?  Simply put, when the party is so deeply divided that it will have to split.

The problem with the Democrats is that they have at their core two conflicting interests.  The first is to help the citizen, the little guy (hence they are the party of unions, minorities, pro-choice, etc.), think Kucinich.  The second is to help the corporations, who are their main financial backers.  This two-faced quality is what allows the Democrats to hijack social movements and then bury them, basically telling people that all they need to do is vote Kerry/Clinton/whoever into office, and it will get results.  On the other hand, this is a situation that cannot last, the two prevailing forces will eventually succeed in pulling the party apart.

So why now?  Simply put, you have two people fighting for the lead who represent opposing interests.  On one hand, you have Clinton, who is so conservative that she might as well just run as a Republican.  On the other hand, you have Obama,  who is perceived to be farther to the left (or at least more liberal).  Although many are saying that Clinton has very little chance of winning the nomination, it is also likely that she will drag this out beyond all reason, further deepening the division in the Democratic party.  If it gets bad enough, there could be a split.

As much as I would love to see that happen (as it would create opportunity for a third party, such as the greens), I don’t think that it will happen just yet.  One crucial ingredient is missing, and that is mass involvement on the part of the people.  Right now, the corporate influence is overpowering the populists, and so instead of splitting, the party will continue to be dragged to the right.  However, as the war stretches on and the economy worsens, movements will continue to grow stronger.  When you have the people demanding that they move to the left, and corporations demanding that they have to move to the right, something will have to give.

I’m no fan of the Democrats (in general they are so close to the Republicans that there is virtually no difference), but if I had to choose one, there’s a good chance it would be Kucinich.  That being said, go read this comic.

Welcome!  We are live, although in a shambling undead sort of way.  Let me lay out what this site is going to be, though, while I have your attention.  Basically, this will be a hub of leftist news, opinions, and commentaries brought to you by myself (Tom) and Kevin (who will be joining us shortly).  Feel free to comment on anything and everything here, as we plan to comment on everything everywhere else (OK, not really, but I couldn’t resist)