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May. 24th, 2006
It's a Feature, not a Bug
May. 24th, 2006 02:34 pmI'm reading The K Street Gang. It's mostly about a trio of College Republican buddies whose names anybody with a passing familiarity with politics should recognize. Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, and Jack Abramoff. The other major player? A Mr. Tom Delay. It's by Matthew Continetti, a conservative activist/writer who worked for the Weekly Standard, which explains things like referring to Ronald Reagan as "the great man".
But it doesn't really matter who wrote it. True, the plots and conspiracies and corruption involved are still unfolding, but it's obvious from reading that this is nothing new, the endemic corruption of the entire Republican leadership and their fealty to lobbyists has been there all along. Parts of it read like a spy novel. Grover Norquist, anti-tax crusader running around in the African jungle with "freedom fighters"? Apparently it happened, back in the 80s.
Abramoff being paid millions of dollars to get Tom Delay and other leaders out to the US Territory of the Northern Marianas islands? All in order to protect the horrible working conditions and "guest worker" programs that the Northern Marianas could use to make clothes stamped with "MADE IN THE USA"? (Money, incidentally, that came from US grants to the islands). The corruption and scandals aren't some kind of accident, they're how these guys operated, from the very beginning. And that's not even touching on the "K Street Project" or the explosion of lobbyists or any of the rest.
Which, honestly, makes sense. If you really believe that government is the problem and doesn't ever help anyone, where's the harm in using it to enrich yourself and your buddies? The money was going to be wasted anyway, obviously. Right?
And in false equivalency news, you've got people who claim one Democratic congresscritter from Louisiana accepting bribes OBVIOUSLY means "both sides" are "just as bad". Hey, if they're corrupt, we're better off without them, I figure.
But it doesn't really matter who wrote it. True, the plots and conspiracies and corruption involved are still unfolding, but it's obvious from reading that this is nothing new, the endemic corruption of the entire Republican leadership and their fealty to lobbyists has been there all along. Parts of it read like a spy novel. Grover Norquist, anti-tax crusader running around in the African jungle with "freedom fighters"? Apparently it happened, back in the 80s.
Abramoff being paid millions of dollars to get Tom Delay and other leaders out to the US Territory of the Northern Marianas islands? All in order to protect the horrible working conditions and "guest worker" programs that the Northern Marianas could use to make clothes stamped with "MADE IN THE USA"? (Money, incidentally, that came from US grants to the islands). The corruption and scandals aren't some kind of accident, they're how these guys operated, from the very beginning. And that's not even touching on the "K Street Project" or the explosion of lobbyists or any of the rest.
Which, honestly, makes sense. If you really believe that government is the problem and doesn't ever help anyone, where's the harm in using it to enrich yourself and your buddies? The money was going to be wasted anyway, obviously. Right?
And in false equivalency news, you've got people who claim one Democratic congresscritter from Louisiana accepting bribes OBVIOUSLY means "both sides" are "just as bad". Hey, if they're corrupt, we're better off without them, I figure.
Apparently, I've had this LJ for two years now, as of 20:51:50 on 5/24/06. With, before this one, 1,111 posts on it. I wanted to write up some kind of profound long thing about this fact, but I can't even really think of any good description or interesting things to say. It's just kinda weird to realize it's been that long. Or that short, depending on how you look at it. Especially since this started out just as a way for me to keep track of the LJs of a couple of other friends. It hasn't stayed that, obviously. I don't want to post any toasts to X more years or anything like that, because I'm not sure I want to pin down how long (or not) I'll keep doing this. Two years is a lot longer than I'd planned, and a lot and very little has happened in that time. I could go back and look over my archives I guess, time capsules to my future self which is me now, I guess. Or maybe not. I've never had much attachment to history. At least mine.
All the Best Intentions
May. 24th, 2006 11:24 pmA secret I know.
Not all those who Fell Fell for Pride. Some Fell for Love, others for Duty. The Hosts of Heaven were legion and like the soldiers who followed them, many fought for comrades rather than cause, even in the ranks of angels. And neither were all those who stayed incarnations of goodness, except by definition. But the insurgent angels were cast all as one from the City.
But not all of those who Fell ever hit the ground.
They were shorn from all they'd known. And with nowhere waiting to welcome them, they made somewhere their own.
Not all those who Fell Fell for Pride. Some Fell for Love, others for Duty. The Hosts of Heaven were legion and like the soldiers who followed them, many fought for comrades rather than cause, even in the ranks of angels. And neither were all those who stayed incarnations of goodness, except by definition. But the insurgent angels were cast all as one from the City.
But not all of those who Fell ever hit the ground.
They were shorn from all they'd known. And with nowhere waiting to welcome them, they made somewhere their own.
