[lbo-talk] Taibbi: Four Amendments and a Funeral

Simon Huxtable jetfromgladiators at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 7 06:43:31 PDT 2005


I've been reading a lot of Taibbi recently, and here's another good piece that follows the failure of four amendments: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7539869?pageid=rs.Politics&pageregion=single1

"[...] After a month of watching [Bernie Sanders] and other members, I get the strong impression that even the idealists in Congress have learned to accept the body on its own terms. Congress isn't the steady assembly line of consensus policy ideas it's sold as, but a kind of permanent emergency in which a majority of members work day and night to burgle the national treasure and burn the Constitution. A largely castrated minority tries, Alamo-style, to slow them down -- but in the end spends most of its time beating calculated retreats and making loose plans to fight another day.

Taken all together, the whole thing is an ingenious system for inhibiting progress and the popular will. The deck is stacked just enough to make sure that nothing ever changes. But just enough is left to chance to make sure that hope never completely dies out. And who knows, maybe it evolved that way for a reason [...]"

Simon

Last night when we went for pizza I only had one piece and I kicked in ten pounds. That's why I hate going out with those guys. How many pieces did you have? Well, ask yourself who didn't put money in? Right. That's how it always is with them.

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