Halx, I think it is clear that I think your boards are great; just as you said, there are no ads, no popups, no annoying flash offers for iPods. But I just don't think wishcasting for a "real leader" is going to change things. Our two-party system, run by professional politicians who are informed by lobbyists is not a bad one. Is it really, really far from good? Yes. But I think it is counterproductive to sit and moan about the absence of quality leadership.
You are right, of course, about the figure on the back of a check talking. We can discuss all sorts of methods of fixing this: federally funded campaigns, serious FEC investigations into illegalities, locking up Tom DeLay (sorry, couldn't help myself), and so on. But the basic system isn't at fault, it's the implementation. If nobody could donate to candidates, who ran on a fixed budget, then any money to change hands would be a clear bribe.
As for the two parties, thing, well, that has to do with the nature of our system, and not the media. We've had two parties in this country for well over 100 years - our media isn't to blame. Blame single member districts.
Let's let the people's voice be heard. Federally fund elections. Don't let donations control politicians. But the system itself can't just be wished away and, if done correctly, isn't even all that bad.
Somehow, I'm reminded of this post by Kos (of DailyKos fame), although I don't share his, uh, strong anger:
Quote:
Last week I spent three days at a conference of various leaders of the budding VLWC, and it was, well, interesting. As happens at any such gathering, the networking was the greatest benefit. Met lots of good people. The sessions were too touchy-feely for me. I'm not a liberal who likes to talk about "feelings".
At one session, one participant told me "we can achieve world peace if we just visualize it". What the fuck? I jumped down the guy's throat -- "When people were shooting it out in my front lawn in El Salvador, they didn't give a flying fuck about what you were visualizing. Neither do the warlords in Somalia, or in Darfur, or the insurgents in Iraq, or terrorists all over the world."
Man, talk about idiots reinforcing the worst stereotypes about our side. Jeez. Fantasizing about eliminating the Defense Department isn't being part of the Reality Based Community. If that's the sort of thing you like to do, and are offended by my bluntness, then deal with it. Being a part of the reality based community means we must operate in -- you guessed it -- reality.
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Link.