Negative Externalities

Shortcuts are not in and of themselves a bad thing. We rightly trust sources of information because who has the time or resources to latch onto all that our informed consent requires? It's the usurpation of those kinds of shortcuts against which we must guard.

Saying "both sides do it" has become, all too often, a provider of cover. Although there is a sliver of a grain of a morsel of truth to that notion, borrowing from Orwell: some sides do it more than others. And limiting the infinihedron of political positions to merely two sides is surely a "tell" in that regard, regardless of its prevalence. It provides disproportionate cover to the darkest forces within our constitutionally secured self-government.

Small wonder George Washington was the last president not under the umbrella of one political party or another. Though not actually in The Constitution, political parties have achieved the status of national tradition nonetheless.

The lesson of 2000, beyond the electoral shenanigans of Jeb!'s Florida, is that limiting ourselves to two major parties provides the greatest opportunity for triumph to both. We are not coalition builders; we are winners, taking all. Sure if you add the Nader vote to the Gore vote you get something way better than a Bush administration, but you need to file that one away with Boehner's candies and nuts.

Turn Out the Lights - Rick Perry's Over

Making America Grate Again

Critical means discerning, right?

Only Chevron has Techroline. There's always a new Tide.

We're as gullible as the girl in every Cheatin' Johnny movie they ever made and crushed to learn that there is misdirection, obfuscation, prevarication, bluffing, slandering, misinforming, exaggeration, fabrication and lying in the service of capturing our one most precious possession: our vote. The most generous thing one can say about the media writ large is they are running out of time to claim unwitting co-conspirator status in the dumbing down of our politics. The lengths to which they go to secure their nakedly coveted access can sour that generosity quickly. (If you're in the mood for a bit of long form writing on the subject of CIA manipulation of information in the much ballyhooed free press, Global Research has posted a 50 point outline with sources duly noted for each one.)

Like wondering where the yellow went, or admitting right up front that diarrhea makes everyone squeamish so it's safe to now say diarrhea in between Ed Sullivan, so let's talk about diarrhea now that we can, the practice of politics is kith and kin, anode and cathode, systole and diastole, Homer and Jethro, realist and pragmatist, white and rice bound to the infectious lingo of the hidden persuaders.

A supporter, a month or so back, began a focus group response about why she liked Donald Trump (he's one of us, etc.) with "[A]side from the money issue..."

What's All This Fuss About Anger Babies?

“Do you have a better term? You give me a better term and I’ll use it." - Jeb!