Politics Can Be Practiced Well: Shifting the Overton Window

By way of Howie Klein comes this explanation of what makes a successful politician--and what gets in the way:

It goes, "I am not part of the political establishment. I am not a career politician. Trust me, because I am a successful business owner and can run government better."

That's not much of a sales pitch. As much as they proclaim they do not want to be a career politician, that is exactly want they want to be. They are bold faced lairs. If you don't [to] want to be a career politician don't run for office. You are obviously lacking the convictions of your beliefs to fight for what you think is right.

I believe company owners are uniquely unqualified to hold any elected position. Why, you may ask-- perhaps not having paid attention the political charades by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mitt Romney?

Because they have the mindset of making all the decisions. No compromise. No discussion. My way or the highway. Sound like Meg Whitman? Carly Fiorina? Ron Johnson? Rick Scott? Linda McMahon? All of the above? And then there's Joe Miller...

I would argue career politicians are a good thing. If they are honest, vote for their constituents' beliefs and are not [beholden] to special interests.

Despite the corporate pragmatists fanciful claims that we Dirty Hippies are naive and 'idealistic' (as if following ideals were a bad thing), recognizing all the members of your governing coalition--as opposed to denigrating--the pragmatic position is to move to the left (italics original; boldface mine):

Forget the thousand explanations pundits have offered for the administration's beef with the left; this is the single biggest reason the left is furious with Obama: that one by one, he has willingly and unnecessarily bargained away the progressive positions that would move the national debate back to the center. After all, the counterweight to the right is not the mushy middle, it's the principled left. Did progressive bloggers really think Obama was going to establish a single payer health care system, bring all Bush warmongers to justice, stop the looting of the poor by the ultra-rich, revitalize the environmental movement, undo Bush-Cheney's executive power excesses, bring about true social justice and stop needless wars? No. They're far more jaded and pragmatic than anyone admits. But at least make those the debate points rather than ditch them unilaterally.

...What matters is that Democrats run away from the left like it's the plague while Republican run to the right like it's nirvana. The net effect is that the media end up reporting far right positions as though they were mainstream and reporting liberal positions as thought they were heinous aberrations. And you wonder why America is veering off the rails?

What I still can't fathom is why the Democratic establishment thinks they can piss off the rank-and-file: if nothing else, they need us so they can look respectable. Besides, we're a pretty cheap date--at this point, some would settle for Elizabeth Warren at CFPA and not making Social Security worse, as pathetic as that is. As a member of the 'amateur' left, I don't expecting these three things is naive:

1) We wouldn't be demonized by our own political 'leadership.'

2) On some issues, we would get most or all of what we wanted. That's what it means to be part of a governing coalition. Instead, Co-Presidents Lincoln, Snowe, and Summers have tanked everything.

3) Democrats would stop talking like conservatives all the time.

Then again, I'm just a Dirty Fucking Hippie.