Socio-Political Discussion of the Day

From the Comments section of Greg Burgas' review of recent titles at"Are Comics Good?":

T.
May 31, 2008 at 1:00 pm
... Maybe it’s just that the reality of matters is that what Bruce Wayne DOES do with his money is more effective than anything else he can do with it. As reality since the 1960s shows, throwing money at social problems just doesn’t work. If it did, the trillions we’ve spent on the War on Poverty since the Lyndon Johnson days would have cleaned up the ghettos a long time ago instead of making them worse.

John S.
May 31, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Absolutely. Who needs social programs when we can just take a single guy, dress him up like a bat, and send him to beat up people who do bad things?
Seriously, T, it’s well-known that Johnson’s War of Poverty was what’s called an “unfunded mandate”–meaning that we threw lots of laws at social problems, but very little actual money. Go talk to just about any charity, any social aid program, anyone who’s actually working to reduce poverty and ask them, “Say, do you feel like you’re adequately funded?” You will get a long, detailed, hands-on lecture full of facts about exactly how big the gap is between what we think we spend and what we actually spend on social problems.

Martin
May 31, 2008 at 1:56 pm
However underfunded social programs may be, consider that the U.S. has spent NOT A SINGLE DOLLAR on dressing up people like bats and letting them hit people. It’s never been tried. So, basically, we have no idea if that would work better in real life.

Possum Progressives in Kalamazoo: The Michigan Organizing Project

Small steps, Master Kung tells us, incremental progress; anything more, and you'll break your heart.

Michigan is seeing some small progressive successes in places like Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Muskegon. A group of liberal-to-moderate church congregations, homeless shelters and community NPOs called the Michigan Organizing Project are networking "to assist in the development of strong, congregation-based, grassroots community organizations committed to democratic principles and values of justice and fairness". They've been careful to define themselves as "non-partisan" while leaning towards social justice projects beloved of the left.

One key element seems to be choosing three (3) specific legislative changes every six months or so, a deliberate decision to avoid the scattershot laundry list of issues I see at other demonstrations. MOP stays tightly focused on small issues: changing local dental care rules for the poor, changing new development projects to include 1/3 low income housing. The member associations then pester hell out of our local politicos, and every three months or so, the congregations get the warm bodies in the seats for a public declaration of intent ("will you vote Yes or No on projects one, two and three?") from our representatives.

This end run is making progressive changes in local politics, while completing ignoring the Democratic party, still trying to get its thumb out of its ass. Michigan Republicans are too busy honking "no taxes! taxes no!" (in a state with an infrastructure already on life support) to pay any attention to MOP; Republicans have a tendency not to show up at MOP rallies, sensing an unsympathetic audience, perhaps. While it's true there's no one there with a purse worth kissing up to, I want to think there's one or two of them willing to go where the people are in pain. The Presbyterians are there; the Catholics are there. The Mayor, the city council, and our state representatives are there. The Kalamazoo Homeless Action Network is there, which allows me to nudge my hipper friends and whisper, "KHAN...!" in an effort to make them snort or giggle during the prayer.

History and a mercurial nature compel me to spend my activism on grandiose, more quixotic projects, chipping away at the obtuse mountain we laughingly call public education-- but that's a fight the gods contend against in vain, gnawing away at the Old Enemy though you know you're going to lose. There is much to be learned from these almost imperceptible notes of grace won by the Michigan Organizing Project. If the next national election is stolen, if it makes no difference who's in charge at the top (though I think ordinary people have it a tiny bit better under the Democrats), this kind of grassroots attention to detail might prove a successful adaptation by the Progressive species to an unfriendly environment.

If A Social Darwinist Dies, Should Any of Us Care?

Let's assume for just a moment that these Social Darwinists are correct, and it was the poor people's own damn fault they were caught when Ponchatrain broke through the levee that was neglected by their own local government.

Can you also defend the federal government's abandonment of the doctors and nurses who stayed at their posts? By the end of the week, medical personnel were giving one another IVs in order to stay hydrated. These professionals were just as abandoned as the "losers" in the stadiums. Their own fault for not getting out in time, right?

Let's blame the children in the stadium, too-- probably their fault for being born to lazy parents. And the old ladies, and the diabetics and the asthmatics.

I would respect your rather nasty attitude more if you would honesly come out as a worshiper of Odin or some other pagan god. Republicans, stop pretending that Christianity motivates your political beliefs in any fashion.

How sad that your entire political philosophy is an elaborate defense for your own meanness, your cruelty and small mindedness. It is only by the grace of God, inherited wealth, family connections and conservative blindness that your own coke addled, "reformed" alcoholic president isn't out there with his shirt off, whoopin' and lootin' with the rest of the "losers" along the Gulf. It could be your turn next week.

You sad assholes, New Orleans is a great city, and in spite of its horrendous flaws and your disapproval, it deserves to live and laugh again.