It is no wonder so many Americans are cynical about politics. You have our political leaders openly admit the reason the two parties should work together is so they can get away with conspiring against the will of the people, and most of the pundits clap loudly, calling this strategy for undermining the principles of democracy “courageous.”

Throw the bums out!

We should start changing the names of every public building that bears the name of a corporation or a crooked politician. Take down the corporate logos. Quit wearing clothes with their names and logos.

How can the assistant director of the grand Kabuki/bunraku play not know what the outcomes are?

It’s not all negative. If they do something good together that the people like they cant use it against the other side or to distinguish a positive difference.

Look at this – the elites are so fucking cocky that they just publicly say that they work together as an establishment protection racket to subvert the power of the electorate to make changes. So open, so brazen, that the only explanation is that they are 100% confident in their ability to manage the system.

And as long as we keep voting Democratic, they’re right. MattewJ posted a no confidence vote diary yesterday that encouraged us to get as many people as possible to vote for anyone but a D or R. I’m afraid this is the only sort of electoral activism that will make any difference – the difference being that we can at least have a chance at starting the process of throwing that snowball down the hill by showing everybody that we don’t need the Democrats or the Republicans. Voting for either of the legacy parties will just give us more than the same.

And when we’re not voting, we should be building an unapologetic social movement that directly challenges the right of the bourgeoisie elite to even exist. Natch.

Let the Democratic establishment failure faction flaming begin.

Actions you can take: “People Of NYC vs. Koch Brothers” (by Robert Greenwald, May 13, 2011)

… most of the pundits clap loudly, calling this strategy for undermining the principles of democracy “courageous.”

Of course. The stenographers are just doing their highly paid hack job, which amounts to being the “Greek Chorus” in the Kabuki Show (if I can be forgiven for mixing drama formats).

Que todos se vayan!

We need a nonviolent revolution and we need it now.

We need at least a million people with another million on the way in NYC clogging Wall Street so no one can get in or out and another million with another million on the way in Washington, DC clogging the Capitol, White House, Supreme Court, and the Pentagon so no one get in or out. We sit and wait as more and more people keep arriving and joining us until all of the scumbags resign and leave.

We need to force the issue because nothing else is going to work.

We have to expect that we will be shelled and many of us will die, but our strength is in numbers and we will win in the end because the men and women who are ordered to kill us will not kill 3.6 billion people. They will turn on their masters first.

All Hail to our own Jasmine Revolution!

these fuckers would make Machiavelli blush.

Jon, your analysis is absolutely spot-on (as usual, but still: most excellent here).

If he thinks they can pass their “grand bargain” and it won’t affect them in the next election, he is wrong. Maybe they will not get attacked by the other side, but there is a lot of anti-incumbent sentiment it will fuel.

His greasy pic is enough to make one gag…So sad.

This system was invented when major communication between “players” was delivered on horseback.
After industrial, transportation, communication, computing and now networking revolutions, the damage these crooks can do in 4 or 6 years has become infinite. Money that flows through DC 24/7-365 determines who is even up for a vote, and only offers choices that represent IT not us.
Our political system is not legitimate. Thinking we can combat corporate influence by touching icons on screens in privatized voting booths, as the puppet in the WH has shown, is fallacious.
What will it take before voters in this country wake up to the disintegration of America?

Tweedledum and Tweedledee
March, 2000

“The two parties are fossils,” says Nader. “Years ago, they were rooted in communities. They canvassed neighborhoods. They had grassroots appeal. But no more.” Referring to Democrats and Republicans as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Nader says that the parties have basically become a single entity, distinguished only by different corporate sponsors. Though citizen groups and individual thinkers have generated a huge mass of articulate ideas and solutions to the problems this country faces, no one in power is giving them the attention they deserve. The truth is, says Nader, that our government has been torn away from the people by the rising influence of big business over the past 20 years.

Some people (African-Americans in this case) had Obama and the Dems figured out long ago.

Black Agenda Report, May 7, 2008
Running to the Right: Barack Obama and the DLC Strategy

DLC endorsement is the gold standard of political reliability for Wall Street, Big Energy, Big Pharma, insurance, the airlines and more. Though candidates normally undergo extensive questioning and interviews before DLC endorsement, Obama insisted the blessing of these corporate special interests had been bestowed on him without these formalities and without his advance knowledge, and formally disassociated himself from the DLC. But like Hillary Clinton, and every front running Democrat since Michale Dukakis in 1988, Barack Obama’s campaign has adopted the classic right wing DLC strategy.
[snip]
When he does speak, it won’t be good news. Republicans are sure to escalate their demands, insisting that Barack Obama denounce a list of black and progressive organizations, activities, beliefs and individuals to retain his share of their base. And as long as Obama is wedded to the DLC strategy, he will eagerly comply.

If there was an actual mass-based progressive movement in the US, operating on the ground and independent of political parties and campaigns, it might have a prayer of holding Barack Obama accountable. But there isn’t.

Good lord, and Mitch is one of their floaters?

Of course they do: Every election is all about what they’ve done.

I wrote my D senator recently and ask one question: Why are the democrats letting the republicans set the agenda? I received a form letter back that said that he had to serve all his constituents, which is a slightly different form of bipartisanship. Not only does bipartisanship subvert accountability, but on the D side it also relieves the pols of having to uphold any pesky values. Whatever else you can say about the cons, they have their values and they stick with them come hell or high water.