Andre's Executive Order

If you've been paying any attention to political news, which if you're reading this you do, you're probably pretty saturated with the continuous commentary on Rush Limbaugh and his attack on Georgetown University Law student Sandra Fluke. But before we let the topic completely go, there's one more piece worth examining. Despite reading countless articles about this, I found most analysis of HOW the scandal came about to be lacking. They focused on trying to make the arguments about the underlying issue, birth control, and did a poor job of examining the actual nature of the interchange between Rush, the public, his sponsors, and our collective psyche as the American people. But few if anyone examined the confluence of events that led to the scandal, even though that analysis answers a lot of questions about everything from Bill Maher to the question of partisanship and how this issue really transcends it. So what happened to Rush? We know what he said, but what did ...

Politics doesn't have to be dirty. In fact, it is most successful when it's not. This might come as a surprise to some, but the political process is actually most effective when shrewd negotiators attempt to find ways to advance their agenda while maintaining the ability to cooperate both with those in their own camp and those across the aisle. The most effective politicians around the world have been those who can further the cause they stand for and at the same time maintain the respect of those outside their camp and even earn praise from their opponents. But Americans generally see politics as a dark art and politicians as corrupt liars and backstabbers. This actually comes from a misunderstanding of the political process. Politics are about balancing an staggering number of diverse interests and opinions both those of your opponents and within your own party. It makes it very hard to make definitive promises or assurances. Example : I am a Democrat who wants to see e...