So, the masses (such as they were) turned out to protest the War . . . and, er, other things tangential to the War that, you know, people should really know about because, er, when you manage to get like fifteen demonstrators together in one place you'd better make sure everyone knows about Mumia and Palestine and the perils of flourinated water.
I'm all for activism and expressing your political opinions, but if the recent protests are representative of what the American Left has devolved into I think I will beat the rush and call the corpse DOA. Maybe I'm not even really beating the rush, but unlike most of the people who might be in line ahead of me for that singular pleasure, it's not something I am remotely excited, pleased, or delighted by.
What the hell happened between, say, FDR or even JFK and, well, now? Was Vietnam the event that absolutely shattered Progressive America into a million absurdist sub-shards each screeching incoherently?
This is not a good thing. I am, politically, very much a centrist, and think both the Republicans and the Democrats (and/or the Left and Right not affiliated with the parties) is not 100% my cup of tea, thanks. But I like a system wherein the lunacy of the Right and the lunacy of the Left counterbalance one another and generate a nice, sane middle ground (which can always be refined, of course, and improved, but regardless is preferable to the World According to Ramsey Clark or the World According to Pat Buchanan).
The rot in the Left jeopardizes my happy middle kingdom, and I think we see this with the last presidential election -- Democrats and more generally Leftists who just don't get it. Who think they "really are the majority" because their friends, or most of their friends, agree with their politics, never mind that they live in Berkely or Manhattan and have no clue whatsoever what some guy sitting on a tractor in Iowa or working on an assembly line in Alabama think about the world.
Hmmmm . . . so maybe the Democrats will rebound, this two party thing has been going on for a couple centuries. Or maybe they won't, and my nice, happy land between the extremes will soon find itself defined by the Crazy Republicans versus the Not-Crazy Republicans, right of center versus far right of center.
Hopefully before it comes to that, the politicized Left will unfuck itself most ricky-tick and get back into the game. But Cindy Sheehan and International ANSWER and all the other lunacy (pardon the pun) ain't the answer at all.
I'm all for activism and expressing your political opinions, but if the recent protests are representative of what the American Left has devolved into I think I will beat the rush and call the corpse DOA. Maybe I'm not even really beating the rush, but unlike most of the people who might be in line ahead of me for that singular pleasure, it's not something I am remotely excited, pleased, or delighted by.
What the hell happened between, say, FDR or even JFK and, well, now? Was Vietnam the event that absolutely shattered Progressive America into a million absurdist sub-shards each screeching incoherently?
This is not a good thing. I am, politically, very much a centrist, and think both the Republicans and the Democrats (and/or the Left and Right not affiliated with the parties) is not 100% my cup of tea, thanks. But I like a system wherein the lunacy of the Right and the lunacy of the Left counterbalance one another and generate a nice, sane middle ground (which can always be refined, of course, and improved, but regardless is preferable to the World According to Ramsey Clark or the World According to Pat Buchanan).
The rot in the Left jeopardizes my happy middle kingdom, and I think we see this with the last presidential election -- Democrats and more generally Leftists who just don't get it. Who think they "really are the majority" because their friends, or most of their friends, agree with their politics, never mind that they live in Berkely or Manhattan and have no clue whatsoever what some guy sitting on a tractor in Iowa or working on an assembly line in Alabama think about the world.
Hmmmm . . . so maybe the Democrats will rebound, this two party thing has been going on for a couple centuries. Or maybe they won't, and my nice, happy land between the extremes will soon find itself defined by the Crazy Republicans versus the Not-Crazy Republicans, right of center versus far right of center.
Hopefully before it comes to that, the politicized Left will unfuck itself most ricky-tick and get back into the game. But Cindy Sheehan and International ANSWER and all the other lunacy (pardon the pun) ain't the answer at all.