Politics is About POWER

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Oppression and power are inseparable. Someone may not like me, but without power they cannot harm me. Much of liberal activism consists of attempts to change what people like or do not like, what they think or believe, while ignoring the role of power in the social problems. The issue of power is avoided like the plague in all discussion among liberals. Pretending that power does not exist protects those with power from scrutiny, and weakens the powerless.

Yes, redressing power imbalances - the point of class analysis - will most certainly end oppression. Ignoring power will most certainly perpetuate oppression.

Class analysis will not lead to people liking me, approving of me, or agreeing with me. It won't change human nature. Those are the goals of liberalism - liberals want to be liked, approved of, and agreed with, and the have an itch to morally reform the people. I don't share those goals with them. I do not want to change hearts and minds, convert people to new beliefs, nor to reform human nature. Religion deals with those issues. Politics is about power.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. But the power we have is our collective fairness. We adhere to

common law of balanced judgments. It is not as expedient as tyranny,but it is a better way to live.

Democracy is messy, but I would not say we are afraid to stand up for it. Fairness and individual rights and respect for differences is not a weakness. It is ultimately what will save this over populated world.

[Vincardog]

2. The issue of power is avoided like the plague in all discussion among liberals. Oh REALLLLY?

This liberal spends a lot of time tying to shake people into the awareness of the POWER that is being wielded against us all every day.

[hifalutin]

3. You know what they say

about absolute power......

[Orwellian_Ghost]

4. That makes you the exception

but more to the point the deep rooted concepts of power are not addressed in liberal ideology which is why we see ad infinitum calls for reform rather than addressing root causes.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. And, Lord Acton was right about it. As politicians prove daily.

Having power over other people inevitably leads to sacrificing some people to preserve that power. Thus, we have politicians of every stripe willing to kill other people in wars, ignore the poor, the sick, the helpless, in order to to retain the power that they have achieved.

Always for a "good" cause of course.

[Echo In Light]

6. Read Chomsky's Understanding Power

http://www.understandingpower.com/

"As long as politics is the shadow cast on society by big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance." ~ John Dewey

[JNelson6563]

7. There is no question

I am involved in county and Cong. district politics. When there is opposition to something I am working on the first thing I do is assess their power. How much support could they raise? How much could I?

That is the way of it on every level.

Julie

[TahitiNut]

8. Nonsense.

"Those are the goals of liberalism - liberals want to be liked, approved of, and agreed with, and the have an itch to morally reform the people."

It seems the confusion regarding emotional codependency and political ideology is rampant. As a politically liberal individual, let me say with as much clarity as I can muster that I adopt my political viewpoint out of a sense of ethics that has almost nothing to do with seeking approval or being liked and everything to do with a commitment to my own sense of ethics and my opinion of myself.

More succinctly: Compared to my opinion of myself, your opinion of me is nearly inconsequential. That's your problem, not mine.


The notion that we adopt some ethical viewpoint based on the approval of people who may, in fact, be psychologically ill is itself a kind of insanity - even if those people are family or friends. The "average" mental/emotional health of individuals in our society is NOT good. Indeed, if the last eight years of general elections show anything, it's that we're a nation of emotionally codependent neurotics.

[cascadiance]

9. Pretty much all of politics is about power. There IS a difference though ....

... based on what's motivating it!

There are those that want power through politics to advance their own lot (money and power) and those of their close friends (or other influential "friends"). They don't care about the public at large, and probably are there more to screw them, since they know sitting on the sideline won't reward them unless they go out to in effect take from others.

There are others though that look for power and are determined to get it, but who's goals are for the collective good (and power) of us all. That is where power is GOOD! You need people with determination to achieve power in that context to fight down the selfish ones that are motivated by power. You can't just "give up" in a "principled fashion" when the going gets tough. Someone needs to be motivated by power to win. But motivated for the right reasons.

The question is how to separate those that are looking for power for themselves, versus looking for power for the the rest of us. I would contend that those who take risks, by taking contentious stands against the well off and powerful entities, and the roots of their power, are more likely to be those that look for power for the good. There may be opportunists there too, but they will be exposed and come crashing down if they do so, as neither the people, or the well-heeled power brokers will allow them any more power later if they are found to be disingenuous. That's why I liked Edwards earlier. I thought he fit that mold.

There are many out there that try to "keep you guessing", and don't take firm stands. We need to push them to take those big risks wherever we can. It could be that they are motivated selfishly and don't want to acknowledge such, and don't want to commit to something that would alienate their powerful friends or take away from their own power and rewards. Or it could be that they feel that they can't play their cards now before they are elected or they will get slapped down by the powerful entities looking to keep their own power and seeing them as a threat. That's the dilemna I see on many issues with Hillary or Obama now. Obama made great strides a week ago or so in Wisconsin with his NAFTA speeches, but he still has a long way to go too.

I just hope that both Obama and Hillary are both (or at least the one that wins) in that camp that is waiting to play their cards later in a "less risky" environment for us all. Meanwhile I'm going to continue to find ways to push them into taking on those risky positions.

I do believe we need to take on the power brokers head on this time, and all of America needs to see them for what they are and slap them down so that we can really push a big part of this corruption mess off of our backs soon!