Booman Tribune ~ Comments ~ So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed

Proud member of

The Liberal Blog Network

a FeedBurner Network

Advertise in The Liberal Blog Network

Subscribe to this network

Gift Cards * New Arrivals

NOTE: Overstock bests Amazon's prices and is "blue."

THE BOOKS WITH "BUZZ":
______________

Learn the real story behind the WMD in Iraq:

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism
by Ron Suskind

Read Barack Obama's vision for America:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

DaveW recommends:

I Am a Strange Loop
by Douglas Hofstadter

Need some laughs?

I Am America (and So Can You!)
by Stephen Colbert

rae recommends:

Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
by Morris Berman.

On BooMan’s shelf:

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End
by Peter W. Galbraith

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Crash" * Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards * Only $11.79 at Overstock * 2006 SAG Winner, Best Ensemble

Check out
Powell's new section:
NEW FAVORITES
Selected new arrivals at 30% off

Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.

Download Sleeper Cell on iTunes

(Better than "24") Download Weeds on iTunes

(Hilarious 1/2-hour adult comedy starring Mary-Louise Parker) Download Late Nite with Conan O'Brien on iTunes

Download South Park on iTunes

James Hunter - People Gonna Talk:

Great Deals
----- * ^ * -----

Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")

Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)

Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)

"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen

The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review

BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual
$79.95 * Sale: $59.95

Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan

Green Press Initiative
----- * ^ * -----

Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review

Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey

1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus

Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"

Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)

The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids
by Madeline Levine

Save 35-70% on
name brand clothing,
footwear, and outdoor gear
at SierraTradingPost.com
:

We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris. (Selection (MP3) excerpted from "The Skin.")

Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:

So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed | 33 comments (33 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed (none / 1)

If representative government is so good, maybe we oughta try it. Our system primarily represents money, not citizens. It is further corrupted by overtly anti-democratic obstructions like the electoral college, gerrymandering, the two-party oligarchy, and the totally unrepresentative makeup of the Senate -- not to mention the more subtle corruptions like media access and dysfunctional campaign/electoral setups.

At a more philosophical level, you assert without evidence that "an orderly system of change" is de facto an unmixed blessing. Depends on how much change you think is essential. At best, history seems to show that our system is better described as "an orderly system for minimal change". We'll see whether the system this time reverses the very real, and little-resisted, destruction of fundamental liberty in this country. If what we get is a half-step back to the 90s, we may have to get back into the mindset of the unrepresentative revolutionaries that founded this nation.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

by DaveW on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 01:05:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed (none / 0)

The American system is intentionally conservative. That's why the Senate was created the way it was, originally without direct elections and with only a third of the body accountable in each election.

You may dislike the system but it is doing what it was designed to do. There are plenty of unstable parliamentary systems (most famously, Italy) that are dysfunctional because they lack stability and consistency in the law.

America moves slowly and resists radical change for a reason. The Founders thought the best system of government was a balance between the passion of the people and the informed consent of a landed elite.

It may take us longer to change things but it is also harder to knock us severely off-course. The Bush administration has been the first true test of our system since Nixon. So far, the system has failed. But the self-correcting part is coming. We'll see how far the spirit of reform will go.

by BooMan on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 01:12:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed (none / 0)

I'm well aware of what the system is designed for: essentially to ensure rule by rich white men. At which it has succeeded remarkably well.

If you want to just assume that adequate self-correction is coming, that's certainly your privilege. IMO, Clinton and a Dem congress failed miserably to achieve the needed change. We still suffer and decline as a result of the Reaganism that continues to infect both parties. With Reaganism, America moved fast and there was no effective resistance to radical change. Unlike the New Deal or the Great Society, this was accomplished in the absence of any important crisis. I think the past quarter century tells us that the current political system is fully as dysfunctional as Italy's or any other parliamentary system you care to bring up. The difference is the amount of national wealth we've had available to postpone the consequnces of the radicalism we bought into. That huge bank account is largely squandered now, so we'll see how well the system corrects without the cushion.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

by DaveW on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 02:15:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed (none / 0)

A couple of thoughts:

Unlike the New Deal or the Great Society, this [the Reagan Revolution] was accomplished in the absence of any important crisis.

At the time there was a perception of crisis, of America at the edge of a cliff, due to the combination of high inflation, high unemployment, OPEC flexing its muscle, high urban crime, "declining morals" and a world split between two nuclear powers capable of blowing the whole thing to smithereens. Even the president was on TV talking of "American Malaise." In other words, a time ripe for radical change.

I think the past quarter century tells us that the current political system is fully as dysfunctional as Italy's or any other parliamentary system you care to bring up.

It seems to me the problem is not an Italian-style impetuously-changing dysfunctionality but a USSR-style sclerotic system incapable of changing to meet the current challenges we face (like the need to fight climate change, provide health care to the population, develop alternative energy sources, etc.). And if nature tells us anything, it is that what cannot change, dies.

Ecological collapse is already happening. Your resentment of the word doesn't change the fact that it is occurring.

by Knoxville Progressive (green_planet_2000 (at) yahoo (dot) com) on Fri Jul 25th, 2008 at 10:20:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

So the Public is Stupid and Ill-Informed | 33 comments (33 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

. Home
. About
. Contact
. Advertise
. FAQ
. Search

Username:
Password:

. Make a new account
. Reset password

Recommended Diaries

Shiver Me Neocons
by Jeff Huber - Dec 4
6 comments

Great White Junta
by Jeff Huber - Dec 1
15 comments

What's the establishment got against Howard Dean?
by northcountry - Dec 3
11 comments

A 'controversial' consensus
by heathlander - Dec 2
3 comments

Me and my son, a Shministim
by shergald - Dec 3
1 comment

Obama commits to Middle East peace
by shergald - Dec 2
10 comments

Memo To David Paterson: Liz Krueger For U.S. Senate
by Intrepid Liberal Journal - Dec 2
2 comments

Recommended World Diaries

A 'controversial' consensus
by heathlander (GB) - Dec 2
3 comments

Recent Diaries

actors likely to strike within next few weeks
by skippybkroo - Dec 4
1 comment

Lawmakers Target Individual Voters, While Failing to Address ...
by Project Vote - Dec 4

Lawmakers Target Individual Voters, While Failing to Address ...
by Project Vote - Dec 4

Big 3 Bailout?
by btchakir - Dec 4

Shiver Me Neocons
by Jeff Huber - Dec 4
6 comments

CSPAN ain't scratching the itch.
by stormbear - Dec 3

Me and my son, a Shministim
by shergald - Dec 3
1 comment

What's the establishment got against Howard Dean?
by northcountry - Dec 3
11 comments

A 'controversial' consensus
by heathlander - Dec 2
3 comments

Memo To David Paterson: Liz Krueger For U.S. Senate
by Intrepid Liberal Journal - Dec 2
2 comments

Obama commits to Middle East peace
by shergald - Dec 2
10 comments

The Recession is Real!
by btchakir - Dec 1

George W. Bush Belongs In Prison
by statusquobuster - Dec 1
1 comment

Confidence is high...
by btchakir - Dec 1

Great White Junta
by Jeff Huber - Dec 1
15 comments

TARIFFS: The Smoot-Hawley Fairy Tale
by unlawflcombatnt - Nov 30
2 comments

Saturday Painting Palooza Vol.173
by boran2 - Nov 29
5 comments

Breaking the Bailout
by danps - Nov 29
1 comment

I got yer Thanksgiving. Right HERE!!!
by Arthur Gilroy - Nov 28
6 comments

Libya sends 3,000 tons of aid to Gaza SHIP TURNED BACK
by shergald - Nov 28
8 comments

More Diaries...

Booman Tribune Homepage
admin@boomantribune.com
powered by Scoop

More blogs about Blogs at Technorati.