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The business cards are servicable, despite minor registration issues (my Samsung 1210 has some reservations about printing on the second side of once-printed cardstock and must be Persuaded). Given the choice between chinese-lacquer-red and grocery-bag-brown, the red was easier to get out of the stack... Handy Hint: an acrylic quilter's ruler and rollycutter (buy one just for using on paper BTW) make the cutting-up a snap.
So, on to why I deemed it prudent to have some business cards on hand yesterday...
I loathe politics. Nevertheless, the continuing fiasco of the 2000 presidential election and its "result" have shown me the necessity of forcing myself to take some interest. I live in Chicago, where I think there's actually a local ordinance against being a Republican, so over the past 2 1/2 years I have been examining the field of Democratic hopefuls, with understandable trepidation. "Shambles" is putting it politely; especially since September 11, most of the Democratic party seem to have been falling over one another to declare themselves in holy patriotic agreement with Glorious Leader. (Get a room, guys.) Herewith, my extremely biased analysis of the field for Aught-Four:
All of which is to say that yesterday, I bestirred myself to go down to the pier for the AFL-CIO gathering of the Democratic Nine, where supporters of the various candidates would be rallying. (And I had the same problem from the 'Antiques Roadshow' entry with the bus.) Kucinich and Edwards had small delegations present, and a Lieberman van went by, but our Dean-niks had mustered a crowd of 150. Mark Shields of PBS provided our Official Celebrity Point Of Interest, and from what I saw was being politely but roundly ignored, at least by the time I arrived. The crowd was very white, which may be an issue for Dean's candidacy and which efforts are being made to rectify.
We lined up in our rabble along the roadway funneling the AFO-CIO attendee buses and not a few hapless tourists and trolleys across the front of the pier and Made Joyful Noises at them as they passed, flyering them as appropriate. (Our permit didn't allow us onto the pier proper.) The main media presence were at the event itself, down the other end of the pier (and, I would argue, missing the real story for the trees), but we were being covered by a video crew from Germany -- as has been usual in this bizarro administration, you have to look to Europe for the news from America, it seems.
And, only a little late from the horrific traffic, the man himself came by shortly after six to shake hands and rally his troops, popping out of a van curbside and triggering a general stampede. I wound up stuck behind the video crew but did manage to get a handshake. (No, no Dead Zone theatrics to report, just a firm if distracted grip.) Dean was running late, but he did say a few words, and he seemed quite pleased to have drawn such a mob. Joe Trippi, his organizer, finally pried him away from us, and we dispersed peacefully.
I decided to walk back to the Red Line rather than endure the bus again. This was an odd experience, because as it happens I grew up in that neighborhood, back when it was real city and not this tourist simulacrum for rich ninnies that it's been gentrified into under the Young Daley. I have vivid memories of learning to ride my bike in the Kraft building parking lot, and all the abandoned railroad tracks snaking from the docksides into the Tribune's press department. Back then Streeterville was a postapocalyptic wasteland of fleeing industry and a few outliers of the impending residential invasion; I am just old enough, in fact, to remember the old Navy Pier, the decaying industrial hulk with its incongruous grand ballroom at the end and the strange storage areas lining it where one could occasionally catch a glimpse of a forlorn parade float behind the rotting doors. Jane Byrne started the process of rehabilitating the pier as a festival venue, but the main renovation under Young Daley happened while I was stuck elsewhere for a few years; the Ferris wheel still startles me.
Now the whole area is a playground for people with more money than sense. (Don't even ask what the Haagen-Dazs on the pier charges. Don't even ask.) "Luxury" rental units everywhere, and while I'm sure some of them are quite nice, when everything's billed as luxury what's the attraction anymore? Granted one of the nicer apartments we've lived in was a loft (a real loft, the converted-industry kind and not these newfangled faux constructed-as-loft-style lofts) right on the lake right there, but still I don't think you could pay me enough to live in that neighborhood as it exists today. No character anymore, just that Disneyfied simulation of character Americans seem increasingly willing to fall for. {grumpy-old-lady look}
And this, in a roundabout way, ties back into why I've decided to support the efforts of Howard Dean, at least until the Establishment has him killed (in my gloomier moments about an 80% chance I'd say); historically, when one sees a widening gap between a society's haves and have-nots, luxury apartments for some and ratholes for the rest, trouble follows. The Romans lost their Republic at least in part because a savvy politician was able to exploit the anger of the downtrodden masses; playing upon the fear among the upper classes of a peasant revolt to gain himself the Dictatorship, Julius Caesar broke the back of the Republican Senate's power, leaving Rome open to the subsequent manipulations of individual strongmen every bit as nasty as today's Husseins and Suhartos and Taylors. Could we be travelling down that road ourselves? The mind shrinks from the possibility, but democracy seems to be an inherently fragile form of government; all it takes is the indifference of the governed to allow all sorts of shenanigans to go unchecked, and shenanigans aplenty we seem to be suffering through in DC these days. Do you know what your congresscritter's been up to lately? How she's voting? Who he's lunching with? Where the reelection campaign has been getting its money from?
We know where George W Bush's reelection campaign has been getting its money from: $2000 at a time from a few select invitees.
We know where Howard Dean's campaign has been getting its money from: less than $100 at a time from lots of average citizens.
Which of these pictures looks more like democracy to you?
Next episode: it's Dean MeetUp time again...
So, on to why I deemed it prudent to have some business cards on hand yesterday...
I loathe politics. Nevertheless, the continuing fiasco of the 2000 presidential election and its "result" have shown me the necessity of forcing myself to take some interest. I live in Chicago, where I think there's actually a local ordinance against being a Republican, so over the past 2 1/2 years I have been examining the field of Democratic hopefuls, with understandable trepidation. "Shambles" is putting it politely; especially since September 11, most of the Democratic party seem to have been falling over one another to declare themselves in holy patriotic agreement with Glorious Leader. (Get a room, guys.) Herewith, my extremely biased analysis of the field for Aught-Four:
- The Reverend Al Sharpton / Ambassador Carol Mosely-Braun: AH-HA-HA, ha ha, whoo, sorry. Realistically speaking, neither will be allowed to be anything but a sideshow to the race; Sharpton's reputation is too colorful to let him anywhere near a position of official influence (besides, he's much more useful as a gadfly), while Mosely-Braun got run out of IL on a rail a few years back basically for being either deliberately incompetant or oblivious to issues she ought to have been on top of. (Remember, she got sent to New Zealand to get rid of her...)
- Sen. Bob Graham (FL): Who? And I've been following this, mind you. Prediction: must raise visibility drastically by fall or he's out.
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH): He has some good policy ideas, but the media will destroy his chances -- he's too ugly and nobody can spell "Kucinich". (OTOH, Rod Blagojevich did manage to overcome the name issue to land in the IL governor's mansion... although I notice that the consensus among the TV media seems to be that his name is "Glagoyevitz".)
- Rep. Richard Gephardt (MO): The "I grew up so poor my parents couldn't afford to buy me eyebrows" schtick is getting old. He's been trying for the top job for 20 years now and he's looking way past his sell-by date, policy-wise; if he doesn't adapt to the tremendous changes that have gone on in this country in the last generation, Bush would use him for toilet paper in the general election.
- Sen. Joe Lieberman (MA): I liked him as Gore's running mate, but that Joe seems to have been replaced by a Republicanized pod person. He has some name recognition, but I fear that his pro-war, pro-Administration biases, real or perceived, would make him a liability in the general election, because he's out of touch with the Democratic base. Also one worries that if the Israeli/Palestinian conflict gets even more out of hand, his religion might be used against him as a political or foreign-policy issue, either in the race, or worse, in office. Sad to say, I'd rather not see him as the nominee for the top spot at this time.
- Sen. John Edwards (NC, or is it SC? I always get those confused): Coming to the serious contenders now; Edwards could draw in the South, which is a concern with the last two (Yankees) on the list, but he's struggling to achieve decent levels of name-recognition. His youth and relative inexperience seem to be hampering his image. Plus he's got that 8x10-glossy "Sam Neill in the Omen movies" look to contend with; he's just turned 50, but he may not "look presidential" enough to get the media's attention. Policy-wise, he supported the war and is now trying to go back on that support, which may be the kiss of death for his chances with both factions of the party.
- Sen. John Kerry (MA): Well, he looks presidential. IE, he's an Old White Guy. The media have been making preliminary efforts to wreck his reputation, which signals some degree of fear that he's a contender. He's a veteran, which may help him with the anti-war Democrats because at least his stand was backed up by experience; he's also trying to backpedal about his support, which may or may not be used against him as waffling. I wouldn't mind seeing Kerry on the ticket if I have to; I think he could win, although I don't see his support base coming from more depth of conviction than "well, he'd do me well enough", which is a concern for motivating Dem turnout in the general election.
- (former) Gov. Howard Dean, M.D. (VT): What to say about Howard Dean? He's gone from "...and Howard Dean" to "Oh, @!#$$, he's actually serious!" in the media's eyes in some five months, and they are now trying to dismiss him as 'peaking too early' (newsflash, newsboys, when else is one supposed to begin building one's organization, the Friday before the general election?); I'm beginning to sense geniune naked terror from the Establishment about Dean's candidacy, and I watch their twisting and turning to downplay his momentum with a certain savage glee. What first caught my attention about Dean, in fact, was the very way that the media seemed to be going out of their way to ignore him. He's got the credentials: four of the last five presidents came from governor's mansions, not from DC like all the rest of this list does. My main concern is that he might be 'too smart' to appeal to an electorate that was willing to settle for what we've got now.
Dean opposed the war in Iraq on the grounds that it was the wrong war at the wrong time -- not, as the media might have it, because he's a pinko commie leftist who wants to surrender our blonde daughters to the tender mercies of the heathen Chinese. He thinks gun control should be at the discretion of the individual states' needs beyond a few federal oversight duties (hunting rifles are appropriate in rural Vermont, but not AK-47s for urban drug dealers). His health-care proposal is deliberately a modest start so that it would have a realistic chance of passing under current conditions. He wants to rebalance the damned budget, for god's sake -- does this sound like a "loony liberal" to you? If it does, you probably think Barry Goldwater was a Communist. Dean's correct, that he's the most centrist of the pack if centrism is really what the voters want; the trouble is that the dialogue has gotten wrenched so far to the right in this country that one is reduced to arguing degrees of absurdity instead of a complete spectrum of ideas.
His stand on abortion will probably get him into trouble, and he's the best candidate for getting himself right back out of it: he's a doctor, his wife's a doctor, and he takes the position, based on his experience in his former practice, that the decision should be between the woman and her doctor -- the church and the state have no business horning in on a fundamentally medical matter so long as the medical aspects are in compliance with appropriate health-related standards. Regarding the 'civil unions' act he signed as governor of Vermont, Dean sees it as a human rights issue (and see my entry of a few days ago under 'bloviation') -- the state's interest in marriage lies in contract enforcement, not in morals enforcement. Are we seeing a pattern here, President Jesus-Is-My-Favorite-Political-Role-Model...?
All of this, I realize, is going to be a hard sell in this country that prefers white-hat/black-hat symbolism over subtleties of analysis. "Fur'us 'r agin' us" Is much simpler to play over and over again as a soundbite, and it's always easier to appeal to the emotions of the electorate than to its intellect. But one of these days the bill is going to come due for our lack of thoughtfulness, and it's looking as if the reckoning is coming sooner rather than later; even some of the media gigglebots are starting to look nervous about the direction we've been going in the last couple years, and when the media scents blood in the water, you know what's coming next.
All of which is to say that yesterday, I bestirred myself to go down to the pier for the AFL-CIO gathering of the Democratic Nine, where supporters of the various candidates would be rallying. (And I had the same problem from the 'Antiques Roadshow' entry with the bus.) Kucinich and Edwards had small delegations present, and a Lieberman van went by, but our Dean-niks had mustered a crowd of 150. Mark Shields of PBS provided our Official Celebrity Point Of Interest, and from what I saw was being politely but roundly ignored, at least by the time I arrived. The crowd was very white, which may be an issue for Dean's candidacy and which efforts are being made to rectify.
We lined up in our rabble along the roadway funneling the AFO-CIO attendee buses and not a few hapless tourists and trolleys across the front of the pier and Made Joyful Noises at them as they passed, flyering them as appropriate. (Our permit didn't allow us onto the pier proper.) The main media presence were at the event itself, down the other end of the pier (and, I would argue, missing the real story for the trees), but we were being covered by a video crew from Germany -- as has been usual in this bizarro administration, you have to look to Europe for the news from America, it seems.
And, only a little late from the horrific traffic, the man himself came by shortly after six to shake hands and rally his troops, popping out of a van curbside and triggering a general stampede. I wound up stuck behind the video crew but did manage to get a handshake. (No, no Dead Zone theatrics to report, just a firm if distracted grip.) Dean was running late, but he did say a few words, and he seemed quite pleased to have drawn such a mob. Joe Trippi, his organizer, finally pried him away from us, and we dispersed peacefully.
I decided to walk back to the Red Line rather than endure the bus again. This was an odd experience, because as it happens I grew up in that neighborhood, back when it was real city and not this tourist simulacrum for rich ninnies that it's been gentrified into under the Young Daley. I have vivid memories of learning to ride my bike in the Kraft building parking lot, and all the abandoned railroad tracks snaking from the docksides into the Tribune's press department. Back then Streeterville was a postapocalyptic wasteland of fleeing industry and a few outliers of the impending residential invasion; I am just old enough, in fact, to remember the old Navy Pier, the decaying industrial hulk with its incongruous grand ballroom at the end and the strange storage areas lining it where one could occasionally catch a glimpse of a forlorn parade float behind the rotting doors. Jane Byrne started the process of rehabilitating the pier as a festival venue, but the main renovation under Young Daley happened while I was stuck elsewhere for a few years; the Ferris wheel still startles me.
Now the whole area is a playground for people with more money than sense. (Don't even ask what the Haagen-Dazs on the pier charges. Don't even ask.) "Luxury" rental units everywhere, and while I'm sure some of them are quite nice, when everything's billed as luxury what's the attraction anymore? Granted one of the nicer apartments we've lived in was a loft (a real loft, the converted-industry kind and not these newfangled faux constructed-as-loft-style lofts) right on the lake right there, but still I don't think you could pay me enough to live in that neighborhood as it exists today. No character anymore, just that Disneyfied simulation of character Americans seem increasingly willing to fall for. {grumpy-old-lady look}
And this, in a roundabout way, ties back into why I've decided to support the efforts of Howard Dean, at least until the Establishment has him killed (in my gloomier moments about an 80% chance I'd say); historically, when one sees a widening gap between a society's haves and have-nots, luxury apartments for some and ratholes for the rest, trouble follows. The Romans lost their Republic at least in part because a savvy politician was able to exploit the anger of the downtrodden masses; playing upon the fear among the upper classes of a peasant revolt to gain himself the Dictatorship, Julius Caesar broke the back of the Republican Senate's power, leaving Rome open to the subsequent manipulations of individual strongmen every bit as nasty as today's Husseins and Suhartos and Taylors. Could we be travelling down that road ourselves? The mind shrinks from the possibility, but democracy seems to be an inherently fragile form of government; all it takes is the indifference of the governed to allow all sorts of shenanigans to go unchecked, and shenanigans aplenty we seem to be suffering through in DC these days. Do you know what your congresscritter's been up to lately? How she's voting? Who he's lunching with? Where the reelection campaign has been getting its money from?
We know where George W Bush's reelection campaign has been getting its money from: $2000 at a time from a few select invitees.
We know where Howard Dean's campaign has been getting its money from: less than $100 at a time from lots of average citizens.
Which of these pictures looks more like democracy to you?
Next episode: it's Dean MeetUp time again...
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