Oh geez, Ashton, where to begin?

Post #289,668 by rcareaga 7/23/07 10:19:15 AM Reply	Oh geez, Ashton, where to begin? How about with I was a lifelong Democrat only because the choices were limited. The Democrats are the party of slavery and were [interesting, the shift in tenses there, don't you think?] the party that started every war in the 20th century, except the other Bush debacle. The Federal Reserve, permanent federal income taxes, not one but two World Wars, Japanese concentration camps, and not one but two atom bombs dropped on the innocent citizens of Japan -- all brought to us via the Democrats. That's an analysis about as nuanced as you'd find on Faux News. It's a take on history, and on some events within living memory, that would do no credit to a modern seventh-grader. It's not that I think our peculiar duopoly ("a single party with two right wings" was originally Gore Vidal's formulation, I believe) is a praiseworthy system, although until recent decades it did a serviceable job of locking the lunatic fringe out of the action, but you conduct your opposition with the party you have, not the party you want, and given the monstrous, cruel and uncouth thing that walks the land in the muddy raiments of the old GOP, the moral equivalence Sheehan here advances is pernicious. I know that the woman is still grieving, and I recognize that her vigil outside Crawford was one of the more conspicuous seed crystals helping precipitate popular disillusionment with Operation Iraqi Fuckup, but Mrs. Sheehan has drunk deeply of that headiest and most habit-forming draught, the adulation of crowds (with a tangy chaser of self-righteousness), and, besotted with fame and virtue, she wants more, more, *more!* Look, I don't know how we might contrive through domestic measures to climb down from empire—I suspect that gravity and not politics will govern the force with which we come to ground—but if I can go a little Godwin on you for a second, Kristallnacht (or ought we call it "Kristol-nacht"?) is not the optimal moment for devoting one's energies to mapping out 21st century German social democracy. Die-hard Naderites (and Camille Paglia) will still deny it, but this kind of thinking was a major contributor to the cloud of malice and folly and noise that threw the election to Bush in 2000, with consequences from which the children of members here will still be suffering in their middle age. No difference between the parties? It is to laugh. Oh, I could go on, but I'm late for work... exasperatedly, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
Post #289,686 by Ashton 7/23/07 6:32:12 PM Reply	Re: Oh geez, Ashton, where to begin? {Harrumph} Slay not the bearer of minor morality plays. I made no comment about the odds of this capsule being swallowed, or even sucked-on lozenge-style. Of course she is ever more provocative than wise, nor does a recognition of the wingedness of the putative two parties induce many to try for a new aeronautical design that can fly. That is not Our Way. Any charm she may possess as an authentic Amateur (in the very best sense) merely fills the polluted water with shark-attractant, next. Yet many parents will see the honesty of her Anger, despite her dim prospects within the system rituals. Simply, I thought it interesting that she got a by-line in this, our stomping grounds - and within its major organ. As that small excerpt reveals -- such a mish-mosh of complaints can indeed conflate to that pernicious view that, there is no significant differences between the cabal and those who know why they loathe its words, deeds and its overtly terminal creepiness. It could - to the right sort of mind. Face we must the fact of the contemporary absence of Revolutionaries with vocabularies, akin to those who created backbone in the ordinary folk of musket days? How simplistic, even silly [54-40 or Fight] must the next 2007 slogans become, to draw enough attention from the Tee Vee? I don't know (either) - am perpetually shocked (rarely surprised) at how trivial a matter can grab mass attention; how horrendous a matter remain utterly ignored. Apparently I misunderestimate the Zeitgeist consistently: feeling that {to believe >This!< why, there'd be trouble remembering to breathe, even through the mouth.} Yet, respire they do. And stand in line for days to get a phone - on which to say nothing memorable to everyone on that phone list, repeatedly (and in car, aisle, shower.. I suppose.) That Cindy might unseat Ms. Pelosi is, of course sheerest wishful fantasy, as is any notion that -- somehow there is now some \ufffdNew National Awareness! of just how surreal has become our entire political system, (or perhaps even - its raison d'etre? when you follow down the line.) Awareness is not Our Way, either. As to methods: I'm with gravity, too. Words (have) Failed. Communication on any large scale has devolved to schoolyard taunts, Top/down. So long as Shrub==Jesus within anything like a plurality, there remains perhaps only the advice of Pindar - Not every truth is the better for showing its face undistinguished; and often silence is the wisest course for a man to follow. Or, case at hand, 'a woman'.
Post #289,706 by JayMehaffey 7/23/07 10:25:39 PM Reply	That is part of the problem It's not that I think our peculiar duopoly ("a single party with two right wings" was originally Gore Vidal's formulation, I believe) is a praiseworthy system, although until recent decades it did a serviceable job of locking the lunatic fringe out of the action, but you conduct your opposition with the party you have, not the party you want, and given the monstrous, cruel and uncouth thing that walks the land in the muddy raiments of the old GOP, the moral equivalence Sheehan here advances is pernicious. There is a big group of Democratic politicians and campaign strategists who are also aware of that line of thinking and are actively working to be 1/2 step less evil then the Republicans. Jay
Post #289,709 by rcareaga 7/23/07 11:51:48 PM Reply	We advance (or retreat from wickedness) by increments To spurn the lesser of two evils is all to often to gorge the greater. I'll take that half step and push for another. Sheehan and Nader seem to imagine that we are blessed with [link\|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-league_boots\|seven-league boots]. Note the referenced caution from Pratchett. cordially, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.

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