> I really want to track that one through people's minds. > > Is that tactic OK?
Here's the problem with politics - there are those who think it's about people, those who think it's about power, those who think it's all a game and those who pay absolutely no attention. Sadly, while the first of those is *supposed* to be true, the elected officials tend to act like it's the second, the media plays it like it's the third and the majority of the population fall into the last category. Is the tactic of throwing out bogus stories and sending them via blog posts or emails "OK"? I'll answer with an in-definitive maybe. Here's why: If I get an email like the one about Pelosi (which, BTW, I don't recall seeing until tonight) I process the message, check the validity of the contents and decide if it's worth including as content in my show. 80% of it is outright crap 5% of them are worst-case projections of what "could happen" if a particular law or amendment is passed 5% of them are scare-tactics that are too tinfoil-hattish not to see right off the bat 10% of them are actually valid statements Here's the thing - if every person that falls into that last category I listed before were to actually check out the validity of even the 20% that LOOK feasable, they would be forced out of their bling-infested American Idol/Survivor/Desperate Housewives vicarious lives and understand what's going on around them. Imagine what our political world would be like if 80% of the eligible public voted. > Disputes on actual legislation are AWESOME. _THAT_ is what we SHOULD be > doing. And the more light we bring into the actual legislative process, the > better I personally believe the legislation will be. There's a statement that I make on my show - most Americans have forgotten how their country runs. For example, the President can boast all he wants about providing funding but unless spending legislation passes the Congress, he's full of hot air. Also, the President can not enter into either a treaty or state of war with another country without Congressional approval. The game of Politics is, truly, the best game of plate balancing you've ever seen. On the one hand, a politician must keep the plates that are the constituents happy. This is done mainly by speeches and some trivial legislation. Another plate represents the lobby powers, still strong as ever, that keeps spinning by more legislation, some of it less than trivial. Yet another plate is the political party, in which most of the funding and all of the cross-support happens. With this plate, politicians can help each other out by spinning the plates of their friends. There are more plates but I think you get the picture. Sadly, most Americans don't get that game. Even those that follow politics don't realize just how much of a balancing game it is. Even though I am a conservative, I understand the need to remain civil when it comes to debates and exchanges... that's part of the reason that when things on this list break down to name-calling I'll either start making jokes, try to bring the conversation back to more civil ground or just walk away. As I've said in the past, it's not worth making my lisiopril work harder. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:301612 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
