Is the glass half empty or half full?

[CitrusLib]

I was speaking to a fellow DUer over lunch about an observation I had made recently. As a relative newbie, the information contained on these boards can be just a tad overwhelming. There's a boatload of information to sift through, particularly for novice and amateur political scientists. :-)

From day to day, it's difficult to tell if the situation in American politics is looking up for the Democrats or getting even worse. Is the pendulum starting to swing back to the left in this country, or isn't it?

Her theory is that like most internet communities, particularly for those comprised of similarly minded individuals, it's easy for a few positive posts to spark an outpouring of optimism and a few negative posts to sink them in the doldrums.

In my experience, most Democrats tend to be optimists at heart even when they can plainly see, understand, deal with, etc. the reality in front of them. But I also think many of my compatriots think that right/left pendulum swings faster than reality can accommodate.

So if we were to take a view of the country from 30,000 miles up, do you think the pendulum is starting to swing left? Is it too slow and too late? What is the prognosis for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the United States over the next decade or so?

I'll stop rambling now. It's officially happy hour.

Citrus

[Double T]

1. If you are talking about politics, it's half empty.....

everything else, half full

[woodsprite]

3. Yeah, but it's half full of Oil. n/t

[ThumperDumper]

2. I think it was...

I think it was swinging right until it bumped into Terri Sheivo.
Now it's headed back the other direction. ;)

.

[chelsea0011]

4. Oh, it's swinging back. A lying butcher in the WH will do that.

Now, what you are hearing is desperation from the right. It's all cheap shots now. No issues, just the vile hatred of a minority.

[katsy]

5. I think the glass has shattered.

It shattered the day corporations were granted personhood and in 1978 (?) when they were allowed to fill the war chests of elected officials.

Many people contend that voting rights/verifiable paper trail is the foremost problem. I maintain if corporations weren't allowed to buy off politicians, diebold et al never would have had state contracts for voting machines without paper trails.

Voters only matter on election day. In that respect, what matters most is how well divided corporations and politicians keep the people. Corporations are legal entities... they aren't human.

In fact, the ceo's, presidents and all upper management have the right to make their votes count... and by granting corporations personhood on top of that, the votes of these same people get DOUBLE the count. Once with the $$$ impact and lobbying and once as a citizen. How can the average population compete with the fundraising and lobbying power of corporations? Mr. ceo demands action by our policians and accomplishes this with money. His voice has been heard loudly once. Then he goes out to vote and his voice is heard again. Double the representation for corporate whores.

Corporations want globalization at the expense of America? They have already accomplished that. You have foreign organizations like the WTO bringing lawsuits against our States... infringing both on American sovereignty and States rights which are no longer protected in the Constitution. The Constitution is a myth fed to the masses to garner patriotism while globalization destroys America from within.

I'm not a protectionist. Nothing was stopping any corporation from doing business in any other country before their big push to dismantle the Constitution in order to make planet earth one big wally world... billions of pockets ripe for the picking from corporate entities completely devoid of loyalty to anyone but their shareholders.

Without boring anyone with any more of this rant than I have inflicted... IMO there is no glass by which we can measure anymore.