What makes an elephant?
I live in Cook County. Recently, Todd Stroger (County Board President) put forth a budget proposal that was balanced and avoided raising taxes. Now, Todd is a Democrat. Actually, he's more than a Dem - he's scion of "Machine Politics" here in Chicago. However, balancing a budget without raising taxes seems like a traditionally Republican thing to do. You would think that Republicans would be happy about it, but they're not. Tony Peraica, the Republican who led the ridiculous march on the County Building when he lost the election, has countered with a proposal that makes even more cuts - doesn't change the budget any... Just makes more cuts. The difference is that while Todd's proposal makes significant cuts in the Prosecutor's office, Tony's makes significant cuts in healtcare staff.
This got me wondering what difference (if any) there is between the elephants and the mules. This particular disagreement leads me to believe that the Dems are more concerned with providing people with adequate health care, while the GOP is more focused on putting them in jail. This actually makes a bit of sense to me since it has seemed that the Republicans mobilize around irrational fear (leading the constituency to vote against their better interest regarding the "Death Tax") and the Democrats mobilize around irrational hope (leading the constituency to vote against their better interests regarding things like Affirmative Action).
However, I know this isn't the whole picture.
The fact is: the parties are nothing more than brands. Worse than that, they're brands without any real product. The actual difference between their products is less than the difference between Miller Lite and Bud Light. They're both piss, but spend countless sums convincing you that one bottle of piss is better than another. It's not even tradition, given that the parties of today look nothing like the parties of 30 years ago. Hell, the Democrats were the ones for slavery back in the day.
The brands of the parties are nothing more than portfolios - portfolios of ideas they feel will win them elections. Come to think of it, sports fandom is just as ridiculous. Deciding to be a Cubs fan vs. being a Sox fan, means that you believe that the front office of the organization you root for will do a better job negotiating contracts with players and coaches than the front office of the other. There's no "Sox style" or "Cubs style" of play... Play is the result of investing in the coaches and players that the front office thinks could win but, more importantly, fill seats.
Still, I'm a Cubs fan. Why? I used to root for both teams. Eventually, I found Sox fans so distasteful that I couldn't root for that team anymore. Actually, that's why I'm a Democrat, too.
This got me wondering what difference (if any) there is between the elephants and the mules. This particular disagreement leads me to believe that the Dems are more concerned with providing people with adequate health care, while the GOP is more focused on putting them in jail. This actually makes a bit of sense to me since it has seemed that the Republicans mobilize around irrational fear (leading the constituency to vote against their better interest regarding the "Death Tax") and the Democrats mobilize around irrational hope (leading the constituency to vote against their better interests regarding things like Affirmative Action).
However, I know this isn't the whole picture.
The fact is: the parties are nothing more than brands. Worse than that, they're brands without any real product. The actual difference between their products is less than the difference between Miller Lite and Bud Light. They're both piss, but spend countless sums convincing you that one bottle of piss is better than another. It's not even tradition, given that the parties of today look nothing like the parties of 30 years ago. Hell, the Democrats were the ones for slavery back in the day.
The brands of the parties are nothing more than portfolios - portfolios of ideas they feel will win them elections. Come to think of it, sports fandom is just as ridiculous. Deciding to be a Cubs fan vs. being a Sox fan, means that you believe that the front office of the organization you root for will do a better job negotiating contracts with players and coaches than the front office of the other. There's no "Sox style" or "Cubs style" of play... Play is the result of investing in the coaches and players that the front office thinks could win but, more importantly, fill seats.
Still, I'm a Cubs fan. Why? I used to root for both teams. Eventually, I found Sox fans so distasteful that I couldn't root for that team anymore. Actually, that's why I'm a Democrat, too.
posted by bigsoda at
8:27 PM
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3 Comments
