It’s kinda an experiment, but between now and the election, I’ll be posting a few times a week on The Stranger’s Slog, in exchange for a larger audience and a little beer money. (I like beer.) And the first such post — “Pend Oreille v. Seattle and the Triumph of Socialism” — just went live:
This whole Boundary Dam controversy drives home for me a couple of lessons, not the least of which being the immense public benefit of public investment. Most Seattle residents and businesses have no idea how lucky we are to purchase our power from a city-owned utility whose primary obligation is to the rate payers, not the shareholders. Call it “socialism” if you like (and technically, it is socialism), but Seattle City Light has always proven a tremendous boon to our local economy.
Pend Oreille County rate payers also benefit from such socialism, both from the impact fees and wholesale power provided by the Boundary Dam hydroelectric project, and from the power generated by the Pend Oreille PUD’s own Box Canyon Dam, just up river.
But the bigger lesson is that today’s enormous political divide between rural and urban Americans as to the proper size and scope of government is largely based on a fundamental misconception about who is subsidizing whom. For without state and federal investments and subsidies in rural electrification, irrigation, transportation, communication, education and nearly every other “-ation,” much of rural America would have remained the same economic backwater it was prior to the admittedly massive expansion of government during President Roosevelt’s New Deal, and the next half-century of Democratic and Republican administrations that followed.
Anyway, I encourage you to read the whole thing, and comment here, there, or in both threads.
As for HA, don’t expect much of an impact from this diversion of energies. I’ll always link to my posts on Slog, so you won’t miss anything, and I always planned to post with more frequency as the election approaches, so there shouldn’t be a dearth of content here.
In addition to beer money, you should ask that they add a link to your site on their blogroll, which has not had a link to a local political blog since they inexplicably removed effinunsound several months ago.
I started the ball rolling for you.
I think conservative Americans ‘feel’ their politics more than they think about them. Who wouldn’t want to stand on their own to feet and raise themselves up by their own bootstraps. We all would. those of us who think our political philosophy through a little more tend to see that it takes the concerted actions of many to achieve a positive result for all.
The conservative political ‘feeler’ sees that the liberal wants to help the aggregate of people and so he/she considers that the liberal does this out of mushy ‘feelings’ to help the undeserving poor.
It is very difficult to change the ‘mind’ of a person who ‘feels’ their politics.
Hence, the rubes are easily distracted and fooled by people who lie to them. I think we have to overtly express our disdain for these dunderheads — since it is feelings that they understand and respond to.
Great post Goldy.
In one of Robert Caro’s biographies of LBJ, he writes a chapter called The Sad Irons that details how thoroughly New Deal electricity transformed rural Texas. It’s hard to imagine how hard it was to bake bread without an instant source of heat.
Even today, some parts of Washington State don’t have telephone service because it is unprofitable to serve them.
Jesus Christ, did Rossi really side with Airbus over Boeing?
Dood really wants to get sub 30% of the vote and set a Washington election low record, eh?
# 5 I guess Rossi figures that there aren’t many Boeing employees out in rural Washington, which he’s counting upon for support. But he would be wrong: Lots of Boeing employees commute to the Everett fractory from Arlington, and one fellow I met drives from Mount Vernon every day. The same holds true in other directions, as well.
And there are lots of aerospace companies throughout the state – even in Esatern Washington – which rely upon Boeing business, either directly or indirectly.
But why he would even take the risk is beyond me. Unless his internal polling shows that he’s already peaked and things are going to get worse from here. In that case, perhaps me might have figured he should look out for his next career options, which might include being a lobbyist for EADS.
Hi Goldy,
I have to say I prefer the Wingnut infested comments sections here to the Fratboy infested comment sections over on Slog, but if that is what you need to do…
Yes, @1 is right to question. Why don’t they have a link to you in their blog roll?
Now, off to read your article posted slogward…
As for rural electrification….
I’ve recounted several times how F.D.R.’s programs brought electricity to my mother’s farm in South Alabama. Existing private utility companies wanted to preserve their local monopolies, even though they had no intention of stringing power lines in rural areas anytime in the foreseable future. But they fought hard the government programs, calling it communism, and even to the point of hiring thugs to try to run off the work crews installing the poles and lines. But eventually they got electricity, and their lives began to change dramatically.
If you check into it, you’ll find that broadband has been deployed to a healthy swath of rural Washington along powerline right-of- ways, as well. And if memory serves, it was done using surcharges on communications providers.
Bloddy socialists are destroying the fabric of Amurka.
You guys are all wet. I’M the one who firdt pointed out to everyone that the Rural Electrification Project was socialistic.
I have said this for a long time — longer than you.
@6
Lots of aerospace jobs in Moses Lake.
@9
Patty Murray helped get that broadband installed.
Personally, I say fuck Seattle, fuck socialism, free the Pend Oreille !
more tax breaks to boeing. to build drones. in california.
Slog is a must-read every day, at least once, btw.
FDR’s “admittedly massive expansion of government,” was also completely unconstitutional.
The president was never intended to be the master of the US economy. He or she was to hold titular authority for foreign policy and other strictly limited areas where rule by 535 people wasn’t practical.
FDR was and will likely remain the least American and least patriotic president. In the former USSR, or the socialist ‘democracies’ of Northern Europe he would have been an excellent ideological fit. Here, where the individual is honored and celebrated, he had no business or value. He and LBJ between them ruined this country, and should have been tried for treason for violating their oaths of office. (I swear to UPHOLD the Constitution, not upturn it. Easy mistake to make, but a critical one.)
@16
Wow. Just wow.
If you were at all consequential, that comment could have made Atrios’ “Wanker of the Day”
Nice. Here we have that right wing stand by: attack the patriotism of your opponents and make them “other”. You and I-Burn ought to get together, with his eliminationist rhetoric and your impugning people’s patriotism and American-ness – you guys would make quite the pair
“you guys would make quite the pair”
I’ve gotta stick up for I-Burn here, LS. At least he doesn’t deliver his vapid BS along with a shitload of unwarranted smugness and conceit.
@18
Steve,
See comment on Moral Quandry re I-Burn.
While I agree about the sanctimony usually adorning LISB’s commentary, I-Burn engages in rather disturbing eliminationist rhetoric that I think is even worse.
@19 Lost keeps expressing libertarian crap that would have most definitely killed off my Mom and perhaps even myself as a child. He would have at the very least had me living on the streets of Seattle as a five year-old orphaned waif so his family could save all of a penny in taxes each year. So I find Lost’s others-must-die-to-satiate-my-greed BS far more disgusting than anything that I-Burn’s ever come up with.
@20
His history is a bit bazarro as well.
Scientist @17,
Don’t mind Lost @16… he’s still pissed at FDR for defeating fascism.
That’s a beautiful area where the dam is, driving up through Ione and Metaline (Falls) along the river.
Take the dam tour with the NORAD type entrance. Real cool.
lost: “FDR’s ‘admittedly massive expansion of government,’ was also completely unconstitutional.”
Hey, son, are you on the Supreme Court? Last I heard, ever since Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of what the Constitution means and requires. We may not always like the Court’s decisions, but if the Court says something is either constitutional or not constitutional, then it is. So, lost, you look fairly stupid with your comment. Arrogant, too, I might add. You dropped out of law school, correct?
And with that I nominate Lost for the second time this month for a “Golden Goat Fucker Award”. (The first being his hilarious assertion that anyone who consumed alcohol during prohibition was, ipso facto, an alcoholic)
Who would have ever thought the alleged voice of so called conservative “reasonableness” could top Mr Cynical and Puddy?
Re 24
Great. So when Dred Scott was decided that was entirely reasonable, yes? Fact is court interpretations can be wrong. It can be patriotic to call them on it when they are. Or does that only apply to lefties and Citizens United?
FDR threatened to pack the court if it didn’t toe his anti-american socialist line. He was a bully. He was a socialist. And he was no more American than Brie or the Trabant.
Re 17
I can respect the patriotism of those who accept that the founding document of this country is the law of the land. FDR deserved hanging for succeeding in subverting it contrary to his oath.
Re 22
Oh. I thought the left believed fascism was alive and well. Good thing Obama defeated it, while feeding the 5000 and turning water into wine!
Re 25
Uhh, no. I said that pot smokers who would risk jobs, property and possible prison time for a high are addicts. Bit of a difference, but I wouldn’t expect a liberal to understand that.
RE 21
Pray tell, where is my history ‘a bit bizarro?’
RE 20
I know neither you nor your mother, and am uninterested in murdering either of you, or anyone else come to that. You seem obsessed somehow with the notion that before I was born I wanted to kill you both.
Additionally, you persist in acting as a psychologist with no knowledge of his patient, but perfectly willing to diagnose a specific disorder. Unethical, but then you’re a liberal, so that goes with the territory.
I am interested in a government that acts within the lawful bounds given it by the founding documents. Unlike progressives.
@13
LOL… I’d love to see you tender handed, REI worshiping, idiots, cold, starving and in the dark. Have fun with your windmills.
I spent almost fifteen years involved in Ferry County politics (Pend Oreille County’s poor neighbor). From personal experience I can tell you the mythology on both sides of the state about the other have little connection with reality. The governor needs to set up a consulate in Colville for the purpose of cooling the resentment on that side of the cascades and an Eastern embassy in Wallingford. Between the smug and the irrational I don’t know with who to sympathize.
“Uhh, no.”
Uhh, yes. It’s not like we’d forget a doozy like that one, Lost.
There’s still a link handy over at effin’unsound. Do we really have to dig it up?
@27 You fucking idiot. The libertarian BS you propose would have surely killed her and likely me as well. I don’t take kindly to that shit, asswipe.
“you persist in acting as a psychologist with no knowledge of his patient”
What the fuck more evidence do I need than your damned NPD saturated comments? I have the education and the clinical experience, and I call it as I see it, you damned NPD ridden piece of shit.
Worf, “The first being his hilarious assertion that anyone who consumed alcohol during prohibition was, ipso facto, an alcoholic”
Lost, “Uhh, no.”
http://horsesass.org/?p=29539#comment-1021019
Uhh, you were saying?
Steve,
If it makes your relations with your significant other, or other people for whom you care, better to take out your frustrations and aggressions here rather than at home or your local pub or work, so be it. Glad to be of service.
But don’t pretend that what you say is rational. It’s simply angry rantings.
Worf and Steve,
BTW, I’ve re-read that entire post. In context I wrote that comparisons with alchohol and MJ aren’t reasonable.
And I wrote that those who would risk much for a short MJ high are either addicted or in the grip of a pretty powerful habit. A statement by which I stand.
But I guess semantics and nuance aren’t any more a trait of liberals than understanding of economics.
@29
Not a bad idea!
I’ve re=read the post, too, lost. There is no other context to what you said. Maybe you were sloppy with your words – it happens to all of us online. But to insist now that the rest of the world can’t comprehend your meaning because they lack the ability to understand nuance while simultaneously screaming that FDR should have been hanged is… well typical for a conservative.
@35 You and your pathetic attempt at spin can go to hell, Lost. Your words are posted above with all the context anybody needs to see. If you think you have more, then stop the fucking whining and post it.
@34 You have no fucking clue. I don’t get angry. I don’t dump. But I can be one very mean SOB around people I don’t like. You don’t like my diagnosis? Tough fucking shit, Lost. It’s not like you’d ever be man enough do anything about it.
Re 37
Whatever. If I wrote something you interpreted as a comment that tippling during prohibition was akin to alchoholism, it is in fact my fault for unclear writing.
As for FDR, the death penalty is used for treason, and that was his crime. He swore to uphold the Constitution and intentionally violated it repeatedly. Call it screaming if you wish.
Re 38
Buck up, Steve. I don’t care nearly enough about you to consider you either mean, or an SOB.
So now you’re reduced to calling me out for a fight? Some aphorism about violence being the resort of the incompetent just came to mind, for some reason…
Lost, have your third nomination for the Golden Goat Fucker for being an intentional racist asshole.
http://horsesass.org/?p=29637#comment-1021958
lost
I have defended you a time or two on HA threads. I regret that. You are truly an idiot. A Teabagging idiot. Your arrogance is apparent.
Most people who drop out of law school just can’t hack it. The first year is tough. You dropped out. Nonetheless, you want to tell us how to interpret the Constitution. Let me tell you, I have far more reverence for that document than you do. You, lost, are an asshole who does not understand his limitations.
lost,
By the way, Steve actually overcame all odds, unlike you. I’ve met the guy. He doesn’t brag. He is who he is. You have no idea how people succeed, or don’t, in this society.
RE 40
Now you’re simply lying.
Nowhere in that comment was there anything remotely racist. But if ad hominem attacks are all the shot left your locker, you have my condolences.
Proud,
I didn’t leave law school because it was hard. I left because an honest self assessment told me I’d have made a mediocre practicing attorney. I wanted to help address some of the glaring civil rights issues (both in the fields of property and criminal law) eroding our Constitution. I’d have been doing contract law or divorce law at best. Rather than being a mediocre attorney I chose to be a very skillful craftsman.
And with all due respect, I won’t get into a pointless debate about which of us has greater reverence for the Constitution.
The Supreme Court can err. It did in deciding to stop vote counting in Florida. It did in Dred Scott. It did in Citizens United, in my opinion. Does this mean we should accept every error as holy writ? Not in my opinion.
You’ve met Steve. You know very little about me. So spare me your opinions of my history or current position in life. For what it’s worth Steve is exactly what this country claims as the greatest asset. Individuals working hard, exercising talent and succeeding despite the odds. He and I can disagree about politics or his presentation of them. That doesn’t diminish my respect for what he has done for himself.
@39 What are you doing, Lost? Are you sharing your dreams and projections with me again? You somehow reveal so much about so very little. But what’s there to reveal about some shallow, neurotic surface personality saddled with a severe case of NPD?
Me, angry at you? That must be your NPD talking to you. It would be like my being angry at a child for wading in the shallow end of the pool. Lost, I’m here to get laughs at your expense. This isn’t about politics. You fill the role of the butt of my attacks simply because you’re stupid. The same goes for the KLOWN. It’s about your fucking humorless stupidity coupled with the oh-so-obvious NPD, and maybe even a bit of goatfucking. You may have noticed that I get along with Max and the HNMT. I can be friends with them because they’re not fucking brainless and humorless like you guys. I’d make fun of the liberals here but they’re not stupid and humorless either. The dumbfuck political BS you spew here springs from your stupidity and your utter lack of a sense of humor. The more dumbfuck shit you spew, the more material I have to work with. Keep it coming.
Oh, that fighting thing you brought up? I can get how you might not understand where I’m coming from on these things. heh- I don’t bother. Take it up with GBS. He always seems game. I promise, though, that if I sense that you’re in any danger, I’ll post a portion of your street address without using your name, with no commentary. I provided this courtesy for another troll a couple of years ago. I do believe he got the message as we’ve had no further problems.
RE 44
Blah blah blah.
On rare occasions you have something to say worth reading. Then there’s the other 99 percent of the time.
First you threaten me with physical violence, then with posting my address? I’d get some help, old buddy. I’m not fighting you, nor am I worried about a bunch of liberals showing up on my doorstep with copies of Das Kapital in hand, ready to burn George Bush in effigy on my lawn. So post away, if it makes you happy. But do seek help. Clearly you’re a borderline case.
lost,
It ain’t pretty being lost. Maybe, some day, you’ll find yourself being found. I pray for that, buddy. In the meantime, you are most surely lost.
“He is who he is.”
I really am deeply flattered, especially as it comes from such a great guy.
“That doesn’t diminish my respect for what he has done for himself.”
You likely mean well, but please save it, Lost. I’ve accomplished very little of what I could have in this life.
A couple of years ago I hooked up with a kid I knew in detention. That kid had known the most unspeakable horrors. Even today, I can barely bring myself to think of it. He knew what loss was all about. He had absolutely nothing. He was one of those who taught me that, no matter how bad it might be for me, if I looked around I could see that it was worse for somebody else. In a Dickensian, libertarian world, he, as well as myself, would have been roadkill. What became of him? What did society’s safety nets give us in return for a few tax dollars? He became a five-time mayor of an American city. He was begged, but refused, to run for congress. He is world reknown in the field of commercial fisheries. He is a great family man. He doesn’t talk about that stuff. He’s quite humble about what he’s accomplished. But I knew because his accomplishments run deep in the pages of Google. That’s what our safety nets gave us. Ppeople like him are what our nation’s social contract is all about.
Through knowing people like him I learned to be kind when I look down, and to be humble when I look up. But when I encounter people and politics that would have pissed on such as him when he was down and needed help, I tend to get mean. But I do try to balance that with a sense of humor, though not always. Sorry, but that’s the way of it.
“First you threaten me with physical violence”
heh- You’re such a twit. I thought you should know.
Congrats on the Slog deal.
So… how should we treat a conquered people? Eradication of their culture, language and common affiliations? Force them into total conformity with the dominant, conquering culture, or simple genocide?
Pretty clearly a racist view point.
Typically conservative.
Back to the subject of Goldy’s post, here is Major Major Major Major’s father from Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. Plus ca change…