Tragedy, or farce?

The news that the Dems caved, finally, on the FISA bill is really no news at all. Despite all the attendant hysteria, it was clear almost a year ago that the bill would be passed. Why it was necessary to draw is out for so long is anyone's guess, perhaps the thinking is that any distraction is useful. Obama even showed up to vote 'oui', putting the final nail in the coffin of 'hope springs eternal' that has animated so many bloggers. Bipartisanship, baby, it rocks the world of Washington, but it's a bitter pill to those like Glen Greenwald who have done so much to fight the good fight.

It's no good trying to explain to all those folks, not just Greenwald, that their political techniques are useless, because they always refuse to admit that there are other ways to skin the cat, while their way is more like petting it. Telephoning your Senator, raising money for ads, contributing to those that oppose the bill doesn't work. The Obamas of the world will take your money, and then turn around and betray, every time. The wheels of power are running roughshod over the bones of this country, unless they can be stopped it's all just farce, despite the good intentions. When it's finally clear to enough people that unless there is action to stop the wheels, the real tragedy will start. Of course, by then every repressive mechanism that can be conceived by these beelzebubs will be in place and ready for action.

If there had been any support for a general strike one year ago, it might have made some difference. But these people are unwilling to consider, to admit as even a possibility, anything out of their world view of politics as just money and votes. The American people themselves are so numbed and oblivious that only real misery is going to start to wake them up. Like it or not, that is on its way. Perpetual war in the service of global corporations, gigantic scams in the financial world, environmental disasters guarantee that it won't be long.