Bill LaCroix: Pray for Gridlock; Legislative Update for Jan. 30

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Pray for Gridlock; Legislative Update for Jan. 30

“Gridlock”, as defined by Fox News, is when enough legislators to the left of Attila band together and successfully dig their heels in to stop tax-funded, corporate-serving shenanigans that can be nothing but bad for anyone to the left of the aforementioned corporate interests or esteemed gentleman.

Thus defined, I now nominate the latest Right-of-Attila legislators for this week’s “Pray-For-Gridlock-Round-of-Applause” (*):

Dave Lewis (R- Helena)

· For introducing SB 82 (LC0018)which would force teachers to fork over their retirement funds in the form of 401ks to the stock-market banksters who have proven themselves so reliable in the recent past (**).

· For introducing SB 81 which would allow huge tax credits for entities who “donate” to fundamentalist charter schools (***).

· For introducing SJR 2 during the 2011 legislative session demanding that the U.S. withdraw from the United Nations.

· And for so much more, lest we forget.

Rep. Steve Fitzpatrick (R- Great Falls)

· For introducing HB 213 which would give tuition tax credits for those sending their kids to fundamentalist charter schools (***).

· For introducing HB 265 which calls for MORE money in our new Montana Lottery formerly known as our elections (the Missoulian mistakenly labeled it HB 223)(****).

· For introducing HB 200 a boilerplate voter-suppression bill.

Rep. Scott Reichner (R- Big Fork)

· For being an A.L.E.C. pet (*****).

· For introducing HB 229 which also calls for MORE money in our new Montana Lottery formerly known as our elections.

· Rep. Ted Washburn (R-Bozeman)

· For being an A.L.E.C. pet (*****).

· For sensitively introducing HB 27 which would make silencers legal (in 2011 Washburn introduced a bill to require fully-armed “militias” in every Montana town).

· For introducing HB 267, which would allow electronically-enhanced arrows for hunting.

· For carrying voter-suppression bills HB 30 (LC0539 passed in committee) and HB 108 (LC0239 tabled in committee).

· For carrying wolf-hysteria bills HB 31(LC0278) and HB 33 (LC0326 tabled in committee).

Rep. Sarah Lazloffy (R- Laurel)

· For attending Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (******) and, as a voting member of the House Education Committee, being the stand-alone example of where your tax money could go if charter schools are legitimized.

o As a disclaimer to the above, I need to say that I have a lot of empathy and sympathy for rash and sometimes-idiotic 20-year-olds. I was one myself. But during my tenure in that demographic, I wasn’t a voting member of a duly-elected democratic body deciding whether or not to codify Leviticus into tax-funded school policy. As grown-ups, we do need to put our feet down, don’t we?

(*) I love amphibians, and so, to be fair to myself, I’d like to make the following disclaimer: that while I’d actually like to see the Legislature get positive things done, I’d also choose to be the frog in the well who takes three leaps up for every two slides down rather than the frog who takes only one leap for every two down. It’s hard work being a progressive in Montana. Given the fact that amphibians are the ones taking the biggest hits from environmental degradation, it's hard work for frogs, too. Can you relate?

(**) http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-legislature/republican-montana-legislator-proposes-ending-guaranteed-state-pensions/article_761a061a-6a5b-11e2-be79-001a4bcf887a.html

(***)http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-legislature/school-choice-supporters-rally-as-montana-legislators-hear-tax-credit/article_c2dbbfd2-69c2-11e2-8f66-001a4bcf887a.html

(****)http://mtcowgirl.com/2013/01/29/page-from-the-gop-playbook-solve-a-problem-by-making-it-worse/

http://missoulian.com/news/local/montana-legislators-groups-at-odds-on-campaign-donation-limits/article_2f07590c-6a8e-11e2-ab85-001a4bcf887a.html

(*****)http://billlacroix.blogspot.com/2013/01/montana-legislators-who-benefit-from.html

(******) http://billlacroix.blogspot.com/2013/01/legislative-update-jan-29th.html

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Why I Blog

Thoreau and Emerson had a discussion in May of 1846 about the Mexican War--our first war that set us on the course we still track today. Conquest of nation-states and the inevitable Imperialism that follows. Emerson counseled his friend that we can supersede the transgressions of a well-meaning State by the Muse. Thoreau wasn't so sure that the State was so well-meaning or that the Muse alone would be enough to supersede it. But he tried both the Muse and "other means" to our everlasting benefit. Civil Disobedience, in the American sense, has always been his child, in large part because he raised it to the level of Literature. "Other means" requires the Muse to be lasting and effective, and vice versa. How would anyone know what the hell you were talking about otherwise, let alone emulate what you're trying to do?

The problem with Progressives today, I think, is that we have been in the habit of letting other people--Rupert Murdoch, the Koch Brothers, Sun Myung Moon--tell our stories for us, people who do not mean us well. We haven't plugged our muse into our political discourse very much, and that's a big mistake. Mark Twain didn't make that mistake, and he was among the first American writers to use the new-fangled typewriter. Why do we children of Twain, Emerson and Thoreau make that mistake now with our new-fangled computers?

For all its faults, Corporate America understands that people are story-based critters, like it or not, and I think we progressives should like it. By definition, people make many important social (read: political) decisions based largely on who's the best storyteller. It’s in our nature, and Corporate Media is a classic example of how Nature abhors a vacuum. We’ve collectively created a cultural ‘narrative’ vacuum by allowing ourselves to be so easily entertained by—Corporate Media! And Nature hates that. She’ll allow the same garbage responsible for that vacuum (Corporate Media!) to be sucked in and to rattle around until it ruins our cognative motors before she’ll let that sad state of affairs stand. I'd ask any "America Firsters" stumbling on this blog and reading this far to consider: Rupert Murdoch is from Australia. Sun Myung Moon, now-deceased but whose creatures, the Washington Times and UPI still walk the face of the earth, was from Korea. The Koch Brothers, of course, were from the sheikdom of Texas. All of them were, and the living ones still are, so obscenely rich they apparently believed they own America simply because they paid for it, and we collectively let them define who among us are “real Americans”?! C'mon!

Although it helps to strive toward the goal, progressives don't have to be great writers, and I'm not claiming to be one. We simply have to acknowledge that we have the better stories and we’re sitting on our best ones. Our truest ones. Multi-national billionaires have better versions of American Liberalism and Progressivism than the real ones told by real Americans? Us? We shouldn't put up with that. Why do we?

Like any historic attempt, we need to find our Voice. Significant action will come only after our contemporary, progressive political muse matures, which it hasn't yet. Not to paint with too wide a brush, but too much of our positions have been framed in intellectual, almost-didactic prose, which, if you don't identify as an intellectual, means boring. Not all of it, just a whole lot of it, but never mind. If history's still a guide--and I hope it still is--there's hope, because when any progressive movement's Muse matures, it generally becomes the baseline for much of Western Civilization’s meaningful and therefore lasting literature. For example, "Mein Kampf" is still in print but I'll bet you'd have to turn over a lot of rocks to find someone to call it 'literature'.

So, this blog. It's a call, I suppose, to elevate our critical modern discussions out of Fox-news-landia back to where intelligent, caring Americans can find their feet and fight back, either with the Muse, by other means, or both. It’s not up to some politician to change the narrative. That’s up to us. So by definition we still have as good a chance as we ever had. Don't lose hope. It’s always been this way. At least in literate societies.

In other words, like Emerson advised and Thoreau partially agreed with: stories matter, and may the best Muse win.