Screw The Center

This isn’t the kind of story that I find very interesting. As the United States sinks farther into inevitable decline, the comings and goings of individual politicans seems increasingly irrelevant. They are the mediocre stewards of a hopelessly corrupt and broken system that is self-sustaining. They do nothing but give us the illusion of democracy, the illusion that we have some influence over events.

So why am I commenting on it then? Because I am sick to f***ing death of politicians whining about partisanship. It’s total BS, man. Now, I’m not a big fan of Democrats. There are a few that I’d like to see tarred and feathered. The blue dogs are corporate pond scum, and Chuck Schumer reminds me of nothing so much as a bipedal rat minus the integrity. And Lieberman. Oh, God. The man oozes sanctimony like an infected scab oozes pus. The thought of him truly makes me lose my appetite. I’m not joking.

But let’s be fair. If you were an alien from another planet sent to examine the American political system, I think you’d quickly conclude that there is one political party that is principally responsible for most of the nasty partisanship in Washington, one party that is ruthlessely, stupidly obstructionist and whose leaders openly state that their only concern is making Obama a one-term president. Obama bends over backwards to compromise with those gremlins and they pay him back with scorn and disrespect. Anyway, the retiring Olympia Snowe is the latest critic of excessive partisanship:

“As I enter a new chapter, I see a vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us. It is time for change in the way we govern, and I believe there are unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate. I intend to help give voice to my fellow citizens who believe, as I do, that we must return to an era of civility in government driven by a common purpose to fulfill the promise that is unique to America.”

To hell with the so-called “center.” The center today is farther right than Nixon. Calls for bipartisanship are usually just code for “tax cuts for the rich” or cutting social spending — you know, coming together to make “hard choices.” It’s bogus.

If you’re going to lament partisanship, name names. Name political parties. To just float the word partisanship implies that Democrats are equally culpable for the problem. They aren’t. They just aren’t (not, of course, that they’re off the hook for other things. I’m merely suggesting that they deserve to burn in a slighter higher hell than the Republicans).

In fact, this is just a form of partisan mendacity, pulling the safe, soft, mind-deadeningly orthodox “both sides do it” routine when in fact both sides don’t do it, at least not to the same verminous degree.