That's an interesting thing Ed and Harry, I thought for a long time that the politics of my family and my state prior to 1965 was Democrat but now I'm not so sure. I certainly don't agree with the way that Obama has handled some things. I'm not sure as Harry is, that the Dutch had the answer given the information. Frankly I don't have access to that although I do have friends and relatives in the oil business. I would think that the Dutch system with the levees in New Orleans, in principle, would be far superior to what we have but America won't tax itself and raise funds for big projects or infrastructure. What is not usually said about the Depression is that it was a good excuse to solve many infrastructure problems through public works. This Obama clan built on Wall Street is far from that kind of practical thinking. No big ideals or ideas there. It doesn't help that the bedbugs in the system are lying about Obama's politics either. But I'm not so sure that my politics are American either. The people from my home state years ago had the same beliefs about the fairness of secular government and equality between groups that I share, however that has changed at home and mainly it's because Oklahoma is no longer an Indian state. I'm finding my beliefs about life, art and politics to be Cherokee rather than Democratic or Republican.
I'm more concerned with what works and with the greater good of the country than whether David Koch has another rifle from a famous Western Marshall or Indian. Governments have to have time to settle and people have to give them that time. Especially when you have term limits that guarantees an amateur every eight years. When I served in Washington for six years and watched administration changes, even a sophisticated, experienced politician like Richard Nixon made a mess of the first couple of years of his Presidency. Bill Clinton knew the game inside out from serving in Washington circles from a teenager. Even LBJ, made a mess with the Civil Rights Act and set the stage for the rise of the Republican Party in the South. It was all about expedience. Reagan nearly killed the Arts in America in his first couple of years. I apologize to the list for making these local political statements. I don't know much about your countries when you do the same either. But the principle of expediency and blaming a built in flaw of the system on whether having a viable vibrant government is good or not, also seems wrong to me. If blame were the case I would get rid of the private sector. I see many more flaws in a system that separates people, encourages toxicity and greed and that wants to turn the school system and education into the same. I would call that borderline evil. Let's go back to bedbugs for a minute. I know a couple of guys who work in that "industry." The potential for abuse is almost unlimited. You can spread the bugs. You can train the dog to point on command whether they are there or not. You can ride the public transit and salt it creating work. The potential is amazing. Or consider the medical profession that depends not on people staying well and working but on people getting sick. So what do you do? You get the society to demand that they go to work unless they are nearly dying. That way, a doctor's visit is not only assured but many, many more as well as they spred their little joys around. And on and on. So do we have global warming or cooling? Does it matter? Isn't the problem, figuring out how to survive? Making fun of people who point out one or the other seems strange. And then there are the skin cancers from the ozone depletion, good for business, and all of that bottled water since we plan to frack the natural gas and ruin the water supply. What is it about the private market and Wall Street that ultimately IS good? So what do you do? First of all you lower expectations. Get rid of the art and the beauty. Then you can go from there. Harry says it's a problem of a system and that his works better. But is he salting the subways? Is Carl Rove? David Koch and his Cato buddies? Harry's system, as near as I can tell when he doesn't do the "All desires are unlimited hokum", is not so different from mine on land use. At least that's what some other Georgists have said. It may be something like my traditional system but under my system there are also problems given the contemporary society. Isn't identification of the most natural and balanced ideal the first thing? What constitutes a good life? Do you live to work or work to live? Do you live to eat or eat to live? And you go from there. Starting like you already know the answer is BAD teaching if you are a teacher. You explore the turf with the student and know who you are. You have an opinion but if you are a teacher then you have to enter the universe of the student to make sure the order and timing of you work is correct or you're just making a mess. If you do that like a proselytizer then you will probably have them kick you off their list. Not only that, it's bad English since this is writing and there is no context to fill in the inferences. PS. The NYTimes does article about Democrats and lobbyists on a regular basis and have from the beginning of the Obama administration. I went to the movie "Fair Game" last night. I would recommend it. That people are surprised speaks to have much the failure of Art and Religion in America has been. REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2010 5:24 PM To: [email protected]; RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Where is democracy going? Haven't seen one yet, Harry. But given that there are a lot of Democrat politicians, one might expect one. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: Harry Pollard <mailto:[email protected]> To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 5:02 PM Subject: Re: [Futurework] Where is democracy going? I wonder, Ed, if the Times will also do a piece on the money collected by the Democrats? Harry From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2010 6:50 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Where is democracy going? Articles like the following, from today's NYTimes, raise the question whether, increasingly, there is much difference between politicians and lobbyists. Like, who are the candidates that accept large contributions from the wealthy and from corporate interests really working for? Ed _____ November 12, 2010 Looking to 2012, Republicans Vie for Big Donors By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/michael_luo/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> MICHAEL LUO <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/mitt_romney/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> Mitt Romney is not running for president, yet. But a handful of big donors have each contributed in the realm of $100,000, or more, to Mr. Romney this year through a network of state political action committees he has set up that enable him to avoid federal campaign finance limits. Through a similar arrangement, the Minnesota governor and a potential 2012 contender, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/tim_pawlenty/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> Tim Pawlenty, collected $60,000 in late September from a Texas home builder, <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/us/politics/22perry.html> Bob J. Perry, one of the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republi can_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Republican Party's largest donors, and his wife, Doylene, and has taken sizable contributions from a slew of others. The money, which has gone to the politicians' "leadership PACs," is not allowed to be used to fuel a presidential run, but it often acts as seed money to help raise a potential candidate's national profile and provide financing to other politicians who can help him later. The contributions can also build an infrastructure of staff, offices and donors that can be later transformed into a full-fledged campaign, but this kind of spending also carries the potential of tripping over campaign finance laws. The outsize contributions are possible because while donations to federal PACs are limited to $5,000, many state-based entities have no such limits. Some can also take donations from corporations and unions, which federal PACs cannot directly do. The generous giving to the state PACs is just one aspect of the 2012 money race, which is well under way. In recent months, many of the candidates-in-waiting have been actively cultivating the kinds of major donors needed to finance expensive presidential bids. Mr. Romney has been by far the most assertive, according to interviews with a half-dozen top Republican fund-raisers, already pushing for commitments from major donors should he formally decide to run. Over the summer, Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, invited top bundlers of campaign checks from key states to his vacation home in New Hampshire on several occasions to help firm up their commitments. Mr. Romney has already lined up an array of prominent supporters, including a billionaire, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/david_h_koch/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> David Koch, who has donated heavily to conservative causes over the years, and <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/politics/05donate.html> Robert Wood Johnson IV, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets and one of the party's most coveted fund-raisers. Mr. Pawlenty has also been putting together a financial apparatus. On Monday and Tuesday evening, for instance, he met with top fund-raisers who flew to Minneapolis to listen to a briefing on his record as governor. Those were the latest in a series of such meetings that began in September, according to William Strong, a vice chairman at Morgan Stanley who has spearheaded fund-raising for Mr. Pawlenty's political action committee, Freedom First. Over the last year, Mr. Pawlenty has been methodically courting fund-raisers in get-acquainted, "friend-raiser" sessions and is now moving to deepen those relationships with a potential eye on 2012, Mr. Strong said. Noticeably absent from the wooing for the most part has been the former Gov. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/sarah_palin/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> Sarah Palin of Alaska, Republican fund-raisers said. She has raised large sums for her federal political action committee, Sarah PAC, this year - exceeded only by Mr. Romney - but largely through small-dollar contributions. There have been some notable occasions where Ms. Palin has also engaged in the kind of glad-handing with major donors that typically precedes a presidential run. In early October, for example, she had dinner with a contingent of prominent Republican donors, political figures and others in West Palm Beach, Fla., for an event organized by Christopher Ruddy, head of the conservative magazine and Web site <http://www.newsmax.com/> Newsmax. "I saw it as a combination of conservative opinion leaders and some of the leading fund-raisers in Florida and some others across the country and having Governor Palin give sort of a dress rehearsal for what it would be like if she got in the race," said Brian Ballard, a lobbyist who was the Florida finance chairman for the presidential campaign of Senator <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/john_mccain/in dex.html?inline=nyt-per> John McCain of Arizona and was among the attendees. Even with all of the jockeying, Republican fund-raisers and operatives said that commitments for 2012 seem to be unfolding at a slower pace than the last presidential cycle, because so much uncertainty remained over who would actually run. "People are shopping," said Kirk Blalock, a partner at the Washington lobbying firm, Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock, who was a top fund-raiser for the McCain campaign. "People aren't buying yet." Many donors are awaiting decisions by potential 2012 candidates like Gov. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/haley_barbour/ index.html?inline=nyt-per> Haley Barbour of Mississippi, who has been collecting giant checks in his capacity as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, which <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/us/politics/17donate.html> raised record amounts this year. The relationships he forged with deep-pocketed donors could double as useful building blocks for a presidential run. There is also Gov. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/mitchell_e_jr_ daniels/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Mitch Daniels of Indiana. He has said he will wait until the end of his state's legislative session in April to make a decision, but he has held fund-raisers in recent months for his state-based leadership PAC, Aiming Higher, in Chicago, Washington and New York. He did four fund-raising events in New York alone. Senator <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/john_r_thune/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> John Thune of South Dakota, who is also contemplating entering the 2012 fray, has been sounding out top fund-raisers as well. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/newt_gingrich/ index.html?inline=nyt-per> Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, is one of the biggest variables. Mr. Gingrich has not been openly buttonholing major donors for a presidential bid, fund-raisers said. Nevertheless, all the work he has been doing for his policy center, American Solutions, generating large contributions (the group is permitted to take in donations of unlimited size) and building donor lists, could form a strong financial foundation for a run. Top fund-raisers said they had observed relatively little effort so far on the part of former Gov. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/mike_huckabee/ index.html?inline=nyt-per> Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, whose leadership PAC fund-raising has trailed that of Mr. Romney, Ms. Palin and Mr. Pawlenty, to cozy up to major donors. His supporters, however, point out that his strength has always been more at the grass-roots level. Even with all of the uncertainty, some large donors have already made sizable investments with those who could wind up as presidential candidates. Mr. Barbour has banked several $25,000 contributions in recent months from Mississippi corporations, like Anderson Companies, a construction firm, and Ergon, which is involved in petroleum products, through Haley's Leadership PAC, a committee he set up in Georgia, where there are few campaign finance restrictions. Richard Marriott, the hotel executive, and his wife, Donna, have together given Mr. Romney $225,000 this year mainly through the state-based affiliates of his federal PAC, Free and Strong America, in Alabama, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Other major Romney contributors include Edward Conard, a former executive with Mr. Romney at Bain Capital, who donated $100,000, and Hushang Ansary, a Texas <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleu m-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> oil-and-gas investor and former Iran finance minister, who contributed $95,000. The network of state PACs Mr. Romney has set up seems intended to give him leverage in some important early-voting states but also to take advantage of permissive campaign finance rules. Alabama, Iowa, and Michigan, for example, do not cap contributions to these kinds of PACs. _____ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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