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 ...

I am a liberal. I am that fellow that a certain part of rural America thinks is out to get them. I am a member of that group that Fox News tells it's viewers hates American wants to hand this nation over to the Europeans, the Marxists, the Russians, the Chinese and the Atheists. I am a liberal and this is the core of what I believe. I believe in the American individual. I believe that every individual is born with a certain abilities that could make America stronger and deserves the chance to thrive. However we live in a country of unequal opportunity where circumstance and situation often define whether or not that potential will ever have a chance to grow. When individuals are mired in poverty or violence or ignorance we all lose the benefit of their gifts. I believe it is our duty as Americans to establish structures to prevent individuals from regularly falling so far away form their potential that they become anchors on the best of us instead of assets to all of us. I believe ...

In today's world, we've lost the ability to be meaningfully critical about our politicians. I don’t mean that we've lost our ability to CRITICIZE them – far from it; We make a celebration out of criticizing political officials and our government. What I mean is that we have lost the ability to look at the actions of a politician and to compare those results to what we voted for and what we were promised. We have a hard time holding the specific person we put into office accountable for their decisions and policies. The tendency, today, is to line up on party or candidate lines and to do everything and anything we can do defend or attack a specific politician no matter what they do. Critically evaluating patterns in politics is how one achieves clarity. As officials make choices, you look at the information you have like jigsaw puzzle pieces handed to you day by day. You then look at the explanations provided by those political leaders as an assertion of the puzzle will look...

Corporatism. I've realized in talking to my conservative friends over the last few weeks that not many people understand what I mean when I use this word. Liberals as a whole tend to express ire over what they see as unjust exemption of corporation from taxation while conservatives argue that taxing business ultimately slows economic growth and job creation. But neither of these stances has anything to do with corporatism. Corporatism is the use of our political system to leverage business against us. It is a hostile takeover of our country that makes us believe we're working on something together while we effectively clear the path for the export of the country's resources and wealth. Before I begin, I understand that what I'm about to say can be jarring. It sounds downright conspiratorial at first particularly if you are a party loyalist. We never really want to take a hard look at the possibility that we're being used, and to follow the rise of corporatism you h...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Scott Walker's intentions, presuming no underlying plans, are admirable. In fact, my first impression of the prank call played on the Governor was the stark realization that he genuinely believes in what he's doing. However the methods he has chosen to enact this agenda have overshadowed those goals and sent Wisconsin down a destructive road. Here's how we got where we are in short. The Budget Repair Bill was introduced with the heavy taint of deception: Assembly Democrats being given no warning for the 144 page document that would be dropped in their laps for a same day vote on its introduction. The plan was to rush sweeping changes to government employment through the Legislature in five days to avoid backlash from the unions. Wisconsin Republicans legislators didn't come to the legislative process to create a law fixing the budget, it was already written. Instead they were essentially told in advance how the process ...