The last month or so hasn't been very good for me as a blogger...I feel like I've lost the will to write, and what has always been very easy for me (writing) suddenly became very hard.
I was mulling over why this weekend, deciding what to do, and kind of came to a conclusion about why, at least.
It's just massively depressing.
While few Democratic bloggers are big fans of mine, I have always at core been a Democrat. I really did believe that a new President, who followed the dicta of openness and who put down the partisan cudgels might be able to make desperately-needed change happen in Washington.
I really did believe that my leaders in Sacramento would wake up as the car approached the edge of the cliff and turn us away.
And I was naive on both counts - first, for believing that Obama meant what he said, or that the clowns sitting in the California Legislature were capable of change.
I really didn't want to write anything about this, because it just seemed - whiny and unhappy.
But my more-mainstream-liberal friend Kevin Drum broke the ice for me today...
...rejecting the eminently qualified and reasonable Maldonado for the inconsequential job of lieutenant governor - apparently because Dems were unwilling to allow a Hispanic Republican to gain a higher profile - was both stupid and loathsome. And making the repeal of Prop 11 [the antigerrymandering proposition - AL] their highest priority is - well, let's just go with stupid and loathsome again. These guys aren't really worth a trip to the thesaurus.I feel like I'm watching all my worst predictions come true...the hollowing out of the US job markets and economy...the political and business elites ignoring the impending crises in order to cling (bitterly) to power and advantage...the reinforced 'iron rice bowl' of rent-seeking by public sector employees, politicians, and corporations - all seeking to mutually reinforce their positions on the backs of the rest of us.
The depth of California's political suckitude is hard to fathom. It's like a contest from hell, where both parties try to outdo each other in sleaze and contemptibility. Republicans have a pretty big lead, but it's not insurmountable. Apparently Democrats are out to prove it.
It's going to stop. It'll stop when we finally gather the political will to do something about it, or else it will stop when it simply can't go on any further and crashed to the ground. I'd prefer the former...
We are led by good people who are trapped within a system that transforms them into the 'stupid and loathesome.' We need to fix that...
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