Andre's Executive Order

The birther movement is finally over after Obama releases his long form birth certificate, giving the critics everything they wanted and have been demanding! As if. Not only have the birthers not thrown in the towel, but they have called fraud, doubted the document, and ramped up their demands as to what they need to see from this president to, in theory, legitimize him: college transcripts seem to be the next document du jour, but make no mistake, this too would be inadequate. Compare this situation to Bush v. Gore in 2004. The popular vote suggested and in fact was ultimately concluded to have made Gore the winner of the general election. Democrats were outraged at the supreme court decision that handed the presidency to Bush. However after the decision and the rage and the snarling, the vast majority of democrats dug in to accept the unfortunate reality that George W. Bush was their president. Six months after the ruling, the idea of protesting Bush on that grounds was considered mo...

Barack Obama said something in his speech that completely floored me. Obama said that Paul Ryan's budgetary plan for America wasn't just wrong for America, but it ended America as we know it. The reason it floored me was that it was a stark plain statement of exactly the conclusion I have been suggesting concerning the current Republican approach to politics for the last six months. Let's be clear about some facts up front. Corporations have made more profits last year than they have since the 1950s. Corporate CEO salary has gone up 27% in the last year alone. Median salary for American workers had steadily declined over the last three decades. Private sector job growth has, by comparison to profits, stalled. Despite record tax cuts in the last decade, predicted job creation has not materialized. We do still remember there was a stock crash, right? The whole sub prime mortgage thing. The economy was hemorrhaging jobs as Bush left office. Millions of jobs were gone before Ob...

What does it look like when a social organization, like a church, corporation, or political party, is fundamentally changed by a new interest? Let's assume that interest is one that might sing a similar tune to the existing choir, but is just different enough that it ultimately shifts the direction and purpose of the group to something novel. Would you know it if it happened to you? Chances are you wouldn't. At least not at first. Let's explore. First let's distinguish between two core components within the Republican party's membership (not the only divisions with, but the two important to this point). The corporatists represent big business. They are generally wealthy and because of that money and other resources they are the engine of Republican campaigns. Politics cost money, businesses have it, therefore these men and women representing private industry are generally the de facto leaders of the party. The second group is the average American conservative. This ...