Want to read the comics?Then, follow the Louisiana US Senate race.
Currently, until the legislative session is over and Congress recesses for the summer, it’s doubtful that Louisiana will see any debate by the protagonists.We have newly-minted Republican, Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy versus old-guard Democrat US Senator Mary Landrieu.Oh, did I forget the possible but unlikely candidate, Republican Paul Hollis?
I say unlikely since based on confidential information, some strong pressure from people with influence is being used to convince Hollis not to run for US Senate.The question is whether he will buckle.I think he will.
So, for now, I am going to assume we will have a Kennedy-Landrieu race unless someone else enters the field.A new entry is most unlikely given the total dough needed to win this state-wide election.Chump change candidates won’t have a chance, as if they ever do, anyway.
But, what makes this election so hilarious right now is that the combatants are not the actual candidates but their proxies.
As usual, biased Internet newsletters and web sites will feed us their daily chow.This week, the Louisiana GOP sent out an email taunting Landrieu to choose between Obama and Hillary Clinton.An organization called Louisiana Victory 2008 wants John Kennedy to tell the public what his position is on the standard of proof required to prosecute an ethics reform case, in Louisiana.The Louisiana Republican Party has seized upon a recent press release by Mary Landrieu and is claiming that she is taking credit for the potential landing of a steel plant.The Landrieu campaign disagrees with the GOP’s interpretation and claims—- Republican Party spin.
So, here’s the laugh:None of the issues really being discussed are major substantive voting issues.They are not helpful in our electing our next US Senator.
No question, the national and state Republicans are gunning for Landrieu’s hide this election especially since the US Senate race could be in the balance this fall.To her defense, Landrieu points to the endorsement by the US Chamber of Commerce to support her business credentials.
Thus, getting beyond the daily chuckles, one day, we’ll ask--what are really the major issues this US Senate race election year?
I say it’s the following (this order has no relationship to the importance)--the candidates, the parties in power at the White House and in Congress, the candidates past histories, their focus on recovery issues, their abilities to grab the bacon and their abilities to be independent-free from party influence.
There are other major issues Louisiana voters should consider before pushing that vote button—let your imagination do your walking.
But, if you believe the candidates themselves will be talking, think again.
Instead, expect a limited debate schedule.That’s how Governor Jindal got elected and the public did not care, then.In my view, we should have as many debates as possible.
Until debate season does start, we will only get the Internet and some advertising funnies.
Unfortunately, choosing a Senator who serves six years is no laughing matter.Yet, hilarious “proxy talk” will be our daily diet for months.
Until late summer, they will depict the candidates as clowns, buffoons, liars, and cheats.
So, expect those proxy daily jabs until after the National Conventions.That’s a lousy way to run a democracy, but, I guess, what was good for the Governor’s campaign will be good enough for the US Senate race.
Meanwhile, we can get our jollies on the daily campaign Internet proxy guffaws.And, we will laugh or snooze until the candidates go toe-to-toe over those tough questions so important to the future of the State of Louisiana.
Socialists and other anti-capitalists often assert that crony capitalism is the inevitable result of any capitalist system. Jane Jacobs calls it a natural consequence of collusion between those managing power and trade. Since businesses make money and money leads to political power, business will inevitably use their power to influence governments. Much of the impetus behind campaign finance reform in the United States and other countries is an attempt to prevent the leveraging of economic power into political power. Capitalists generally oppose crony capitalism as well, but consider it an aberration brought on by governmental favors incompatible with true capitalism. In this view, crony capitalism is the result of an excess of socialist-style interference in the market, which requires active corporate lobbying to reduce red tape. They point to the relatively higher levels of interaction between corporations and governments that are considered more socialist, taken to its maximum in the form of nationalization of industries. Even if the initial regulation was well-intentioned (to curb actual abuses), and even if the initial lobbying by corporations was well-intentioned (to reduce illogical regulations), the mixture of business and government eventually proves poisonous. Burton W. Folsom, Jr., in his book The Myth of the Robber Barons, distinguished those that engage in crony capitalism – designated by him "political entrepreneurs" – from those who compete in the marketplace without special aid from government, whom he calls "market entrepreneurs". Economists of the Austrian School are severe in attacking crony capitalism, although in more formal contexts the term "state corporatism" is usually used. Radical economists have described the term as an ideologically motivated attempt to avoid the more fundamental problems of market capitalist economic arrangements. The term "crony capitalism" made its first significant impact in the public arena as an explanation of the Asian financial crisis. However radical economists have frequently dismissed this explanation of the Asian financial crisis as apologetics for failures of neoliberal policy and more fundamental weaknesses of market allocation. According to radical economist Robin Hahnel, IMF officials Michel Camdessus and Stanley Fischer were quick to explain that the afflicted economies had only themselves to blame. Crony capitalism, lack of transparency, accounting procedures not up to international standards, and weak-kneed politicians too quick to spend and too afraid to tax were the problems according to IMF and US Treasury Department officials. The fact that the afflicted economies had been held up as paragons of virtue and IMF/World Bank success stories only a year before, the fact that neoliberalism’s only success story had been the Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC's) who were now in the tank, and the fact that the IMF and Treasury department story just didn’t fit the facts since the afflicted economies were no more rife with crony capitalism, lack of transparency, and weak-willed politicians than dozens of other economies untouched by the Asian financial crisis, simply did not matter.[5] Finally, some critics question whether the concept is meaningful at all, pointing out that personal factors influence business decisions in all economic systems that involve a government and that the existence of these factors is an insufficient explanation for why certain economic systems work better than others.
Written by Unash Aimed on 5/15/2008 Written by
on 5/16/2008
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Actually, at the end of all this the joke is on Louisiana, and the only clowns, buffoons, liars, and cheats will be the voters themselves.... Not to forget several 'columnists' who will like to do the day to day blow by blow reporting on the topic.... Yeah, we shore do like to short ourselves down here and then cry when the realities of the deeds set in................... Written by Anonymous
on 5/16/2008
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