The Philadelphia Inquirer: New woe as jobless aid ends.
The NYTimes: Dividend Tax Cut: Winners and Losers. via Garret.
CommonDreams.org: Corporate Personhood Is Doomed (boy that title is a little too optimistic…). via Garret. via a great MetaFilter thread.
Democracy Unlimited: First Local Government in the United States Refuses to Recognize Corporate Claims to Civil Rights. via Garret.
The Founding Brothers struggled with where to draw the line between Federal and State governance. They probably couldn’t foresee the rise of Corporations competing with the Federal government and States for rights. It’s an evolution that’s been slow and subtle over the last 100 years or so. Probably due from our transformation from a farming to an industrial economy. Simple generalizations slamming Republicans won’t do. But if the Dems want a platform – I’m with Garret – this is it. They won’t go for it however. No one bites the hand that feeds them.
And hey – if you didn’t catch the drift – go check out Garret’s site. He’s knocking on a door I’d like to see opened up by other webloggers. Common you Dem webloggers… this is what you should be talking about.
“Simple generalizations slamming Republicans won’t do.”
Following on what you’ve said of problems devolving power to state and local level, there’s something I really like in that statement. As a foreigner, of course, I can generalize all I want but, coming from a Democrat, generalizations wouldn’t wash.
The GOP has always been the party of Big Money and makes no bones about it. Why should it? It’s success has been in quietly ‘buying out’ the Democrats who now count on the same money for their livelihood. It was a quiet domestic coup that took place over three or four decades and it’s given the GOP unfettered power – domestically and internationally. [Not even Republicans are ‘all for it’. Your post on the FDA allowing false disclosure on foodstuffs is a case in point. I’m sure such practices will aggrieve many.]
If the GOP wants effective opposition [and, to a degree, I believe it’s almost trying to create one] it will only be satisfied when Democrats get off their hypocritical high horses and start paying their way, whether at local, state, or federal level. When this happens, U.S. politics will take off with a bang and the patient [the U.S. body politic] will make a full recovery.
You’re absolutely right Mike. In order for this to be truely taken on – people are going to have to find new ways of funding campaigns.