Granny D – Lessig Blog Archives

Granny D signing off

Granny D — Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:06:25 +0000

Well, the debate was fun, but frightening, of course. There were so many times when I felt like a fool–not finding my words or letting some golden opportunities just slide by. But it was wonderful to be finally looking him in the eye and speaking the truth right at him. WMUR has an online poll of viewers. Those who though I won: 79%. Those who though Judd Gregg won: 20%. So I thank my many coaches on this site, and for all your encouragement, which was very real and very strengthening to me.

And to Professor Lessig, I do so thank you for your generous hospitality here. I shall look into getting one of these blogs for myself one day soon, and I will always thank you for teaching me how to do it.

A big walk and three speeches tomorrow, so I’m to bed!

Love again to all,

Doris

Here I go–Granny D

Granny D — Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:22:50 +0000

I sincerely want to thank the many of you who gave me so much information and so many valuable perspectives on the issues I’ve raised here. In less than an hour I will go into the lion’s den to debate Judd Gregg. He, as you may know, is the fellow who prepped Geo. Bush for his debates. My only hope is that George returns the favor!

Otherwise, we are doing what campaigns are supposed to do before a debate: lowering expectations. That is difficult in my case, as we are already just where a campaign would want to be. Going for me are, let’s see, age 94, emphysema, arthritis, nearly deaf, no experience debating, didn’t read the newspapers this morning. All that is finally an asset!

Love to you all!

Doris (http://GrannyD.com)

My Big Debate Looms!

Granny D — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 21:34:55 +0000

Granny D again. I’m just two nights away from my CSPAN debate with Senator Judd Gregg, who seems to want to keep his Senate seat, and I’m very nervous. It is hard for a 94 year-old woman from the woods to think about going against a career politician lawyer, but I got myself into this mess.

We get to ask each other four questions. I think I know what I will ask him (see http://GrannyD.org), but I can’t imagine what he will ask me. If he hired you to come up with a question or two, what would you come up with? I’m sure he wants to put me on the spot without looking mean or disrespectful of my age. Any ideas?

Oh, and I VERY much appreciate all the posts in reply to my messages. I am learning a great deal.

Yours, Doris “Granny D” Haddock

Whose economy is it?

Granny D — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:06:53 +0000

Granny D here. I love this blog world–you make a general statement and then some people write a book for you about it. Thank you all for your comments on protectionism. I am totally persuaded and will now stop pruning my garden, leaving behind my old fashioned notion that editing and flowering are necessary partners.

What does continue to bother me, however, is the unsaid notion that labor is one of the several components of manufacturing, when, in fact, it is us. Economists (and their hunchbacked evil blogger assistants) tend to make such deadly abstractions that they lose sight of this, as if the Economy were a demigod or at least a being unto itself, whose health we must serve by sacrificing our own.

That abstraction is most likely to happen where the people do not have the means to represent their own interests. So, as a democracy becomes less so– say, as a result of the imposition of special interest campaign donors, a corporate-dominated news media, and so forth– the jobs and needs of the people are more likely to be considered as abstractions and as replaceable moving parts, rather than as real lives. The conversation in many of the blogger replies reflects this abstraction in favor of the demigod Market or the demigod Economy.

The rationalization that the Good will Eventually be served in a widespread manner is rather a crock, as Eventually, like the Leisure Society, never really comes. Let’s have a democracy that really expresses our need for good jobs and health care and all the rest, and see if, in fact, we don’t craft a better society than the horror show now being crafted by the abstracted free market. Wouldn’t real democracy be a better kind of free market–with We the People really free? It is a given that nations with the most poverty have the least democracy, as people do not chose to be poor and exploited if they have a say in it. Right now, we do not have a say in outsourcing, for example, not because a natural market force is working in the world, but because our interests are not being represented, and corporate interests are. It is fairly simple, despite all the charts and books, and as our wise Yogi said, you can see a lot just by looking.

Free markets are too expensive

Granny D — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:10:34 +0000

I know, why am I worried about protection at my age? I really don’t want to be labeled a protectionist, but I think there is a happy medium between raw free marketeering and highwall protectionism. My father worked as a laborer in a furniture warehouse in Laconia, NH. He was able to own a house and raise five kids pretty decently. You can’t do that anymore, and the reason is that the economy is no longer self-contained in the way that a good system or a good machine can be. Without some containment, it’s rather like trying to farm without scarecrows, on the theory that the hungry birds are part of the free market of the farm, or letting the irrigation go wherever it likes, without channels to keep it from seeking the lowest point of the field. Healthy systems have their boundaries.

Many thanks those of you who have wished me luck in my debate with Judd Gregg later this week. No, he didn’t agree to it because he’s running scared! I’m sure he isn’t too worried. We have a tradition of debates in New Hampshire (town halls and all that), and he is just honoring that tradition. If anybody’s teeth are chattering, they are mine, but, luckily, they are on my dresser table!

Excuse my absense from this blog, but I was in transit back from a speech at Cal Poly in California. I put up my speech at http://grannyd.com/speeches.php in case you need something to put you to sleep tonight.

My, the college kids are fantastic! The greatest thing about George Bush is that he has awakened and organized an entire generation. If they vote, he is history.

Speaking of history, does anyone care to compare the dollars involved with Teapot Dome with the dollars involved with Enron, Halliburton and all the other inside scandals in the current White House? Won’t history record this as the most corrupt administration in our history?

Digital Equip. vs Wal-Mart

Granny D — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 22:20:42 +0000

I thank the many who have responded to my first blog! This is fun. I was taken to task by one of you for mentioning that Digital Equip. was the largest employer when Judd Gregg was first elected, compared to Wal-Mart, presently.

I agree that Mr. Gregg did not personally upend Digital and invite Wal-Mart in by night. Each company has responsibility for its own success or failure. Yet they operate within an economic environment, and our leadership makes important differences in what kinds of businesses succeed and fail. Right now, there is no leadership to create an environment where companies whith good-paying American jobs are growing, and where they are helping us close in on our trade deficit–quite the opposite is true. There is much that could be done by leaders, if they would show up to do it, and Mr. Gregg is among the missing.

Am I suggesting a return to protectionist trade policies? Well, I am old fashioned and I think China, for example, has enough potential customers to provide for its own great economy and its own great and free middle class, and I think we do not have to put their progress entirely on the backs of our own middle class jobs. Let us make and buy our own portable beer cooler televisions. For if we do not have a manufacturing base for the small stuff, it won’t be long before we have to go shopping for our jet fighters and rockets in Shanghai. I do not suggest that Mr. Gregg somehow put sugar in the gas tank of Digital Equipment, but he has voted for tax policies and trade policies that have tilted the playing field away from our children’s future.

Or am I all wrong about it? I love blogging–Have at me. –Granny D

From Granny D

Granny D — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 07:46:01 +0000

I want to thank Lawrence for letting me participate here. Yes, I’m running for US Senate (http://GrannyD.com) at the age of 94 against a Bush Yes Man and debate coach, Sen. Judd Gregg. I will debate Gregg next week and am nervous about it, though I certainly have the facts on my side, while his major accomplishments are the Iraq War, the deficit, the fact that the largest employer in New Hampshire was Digital Equipment when he began his term (it is now Wal-Mart), and the fact that you could eat the fish in our streams when he began his term, and they now have enough mercury to tell their own temperature! I’m coming from behind, to put it mildly, but some last-minute TV, a little advice from Joe Trippi, and I think I we can make it interesting.

I’m going to post all Gregg’s incredible Senate votes on my website over the next few nights. I can’t believe that someone can vote like that and expect to be reelected! Of course, a lot of things are happening these days that I can’t believe. It feels like a science fiction movie sometimes–so many people hypnotized, bodysnatched or zombified. We aren’t communicating with SO many of them, including people in our own families. We need psychiatrists to help us get through!

Tonight, I’m in San Luis Obispo for a college speech at Cal Poly, and I’m reading Lakoff’s “Don’t Think of an Elephant,” which is helping me understand why facts bounce off Bushites like raindrops off ducks. Some Bush apologists are now circulating Internet messages to the effect that the death rate in Iraq compares reasonably with the murder rate in this city or that. This is their new standard! At least they know they are comparing crimes, something Mr. Bush must smile at when he self-congratulates himself (constantly, I’m sure) for disconnecting from the International Criminal Court.