Okay, so two political posts.

[pyat]

The problem with two-party politics is eloquently expressed, I think, by The Parable of Mouseland.

Or, you can listen to the orginal narration.

Comments

[relee.livejournal.com]

Oh that's great! I keep trying to tell that story to my friends, but I don't tell it nearly as well. I'll have to link these to some of my friends.

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

This is from the Tommy Douglas story?

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, this would be considered Communist in the US and such a show would never ever ever be produced or aired by an American network.

[archai.livejournal.com]

Of course, the problem with the parable as an example of two-party politics is that there needn't be only black and white cats in it. You could have Gray Cats (Constitution party) and Brown Cats (Libertarian Party) and Tabby Cats (Green Party) and Calicos (generic independents) and still, the basic problem in government would remain accessiblility to the people, because what makes a Cat a Cat out here in the real world is that he's got so many more resources than a mouse that a mouse can't compete. A mouse can't be heard if a Cat doesn't want him to.

Related and almost parallel is the fact that all the "mice" accept the Catness of the "cat." If a Cat speaks, everyone listens, because a Cat is talking, and Cats Matter. And this is accepted. We lose sight of the fact that in reality, there is no difference between mice and cats except the situation each finds himself in.

The solution to this, of course, is the scalability and nonexistent entry barriers of New Media that make it possible for a mouse to run a viral nationwide campaign on next to no money at all (Ron Paul, anyone?) and for someone close to the victims of Cat Discrimination to publicize a little-known story that the Cats would rather have hushed up (how about that blogosphere?). We've seen it about a bajillion times, mostly in small ways, in the last few years. The Traditional Media is now chasing the blogs around to get the news, and the activists that get together on community sites are finding suddenly that they as individual citizens are able to drive the national discourse and even, more and more frequently, the direction of national policy.

Give a Mouse a mouthpiece (mousepiece?) he can really use, and you can watch his fear of Cats drain away, because he begins to understand that what sets a Cat apart is nothing (Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos beat the pants off of Democratic Leadership Council chairman Fmr. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. on national television with stunning fearlessness a year ago).

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Of course, the problem with the parable as an example of two-party politics is that there needn't be only black and white cats in it.

Yeah, I'm misusing it, somewhat. It's actually a criticism of class and wealth. If you vote in rich businessmen, they'll make laws good for rich businessmen.