The Battle Rages On

So, the inevitable has occurred. A prize electoral seat – an historically Democrat seat – has fallen to a Republican contender in Massachsetts.

Inevitable because the Democratic party didn’t look far enough ahead, didn’t foresee the equally inevitable Republican opposition to everything Obama would want to do simply because Republicans believe they should. Opposition for the sake of opposition, with no alternatives offered. Very much similar to the body politick in this country, save for the fact that conservatism in Australia is destined to wander aimlessly in opposition for sheer lack of numbers and a politically smarter opponent in Kevin Rudd.
Politically, it appears to me that Democrats, – the ‘real’ Democrats, not the mealey-mouthed conservative Democrats – weren’t prepared in the least for the bile & vitriol the GOP would foster towards Obama and what they told their accolytes his plan would be. American politics is principally conservative politics. Genuine socially responsible, socially pro-active politicians don’t exist there, or are at least too few in number to make any appreciable differences. The culture is one of “I made this, and it’s MINE”, which is essentially selfish, yet something to be proud of in a self-made sense. There is no sharing or over-arching concern for the greater societal good for fear that the individual will lose something. Amusingly, there seem to be a whole lot of individuals in America who’ve lost everything, yet the GOP continues to foster opposition for opposition’s sake on a highly poisonous level, in complete ignorance of the losses American citizens have suffered at the party’s hands. Capitalism run rampant, greed-is-good ethos, disregard for the under-privileged, aged & infirm and what does the GOP want? A return to precisely that. Business as it was in 2008, thanks linespeople…thanks ball persons.
Whether losing Massachusetts means anything in the grand scheme of things in regard to Obama’s prostituted version of the desired health care reform is unknown, and at this point, unknowable. Will fillibustering renew in opposition? I’d have to ask did it ever really cease? This is arguably the world’s most convoluted representative democracy we’re considering when asking such questions. What is sure is the cock-a-hoop attitudes which will be expounded by Republican conservatives with this one-off electoral win. Their destructive, born-to-rule poisoning of American politics will continue, as will the incitement to dissatisfaction of government without any alternative proposed. Obama’s job, now one year old today, will become just that much harder, and to what end? One year in the big chair and he was supposed to create silk purses for all, from the sows ear his predassessor left behind, according to the GOP. Rational observers knew it wasn’t going to happen in 12 months, maybe not even in 24, but with a little consensus changes for the better could have begun. I believe changes for the better will come, but in their own time. Trouble is, conservatism has no patience for anything but it’s own desires. I feel sad today for Americans.