- Joined
- Jan 30, 2008
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- 5,083
Since I find myself angry these days, yet too tired to write coherently most times except in short bursts like this, I’m posting this as something that articulates my struggle to a T. I can’t feel I’m alone in this. Since writing to my representative and senators about idividual issues could be a full-time job with really low pay, (I’m doing some, but Jim Inhofe (Science denier before it was cool) and James Lankford (I ran Falls Creek! Jesus!). Need I say more? (Oh, and the hubs went in the flesh yesterday with a contingent of teachers and concerned citizens, to the offices of those senators to register their view that DeVoss should not be confirmed, so we really are trying), I’m seriously considering writing to other states’ Democratic reps and senators, and begging them to hold the line for those of us who have no recourse.
Anyway, this is my contribution to "hard reading" for the day. (I confess I found the level of reality here yesterday to be so bloody depressing I had to close PS down just for my continued sanity. I'm all about staring reality in the face, but daaang. Sometimes I have to avert my eyes.) Normally I have had a sense of…delicacy (ha ha!) about posting this guy’s stuff, but why, I wonder? I mean, the whole country is now pretty much a truth-free zone. A few pockets of kumbaya-free, unvarnished truth are required. Especially for those of us on the left, who put a premium on being "nice". (That would of course, not be me.)
So…….Don’t say you weren’t warned. Read at your peril.
http://forsetti.tumblr.com/post/156358356085/on-internal-struggles-eliot-ness-versus-jim
On Internal Struggles: Eliot Ness Versus Jim Malone
As I’ve said many times on this blog, I write mostly as an avenue to vent. I vent in order to release the mental pressures of being a self-aware person who treasures truth in a world where superficiality, intellectual laziness, and ignorance have become badges of honor for a lot of folks. This pressure has been turned up to eleven the past few months to the point where I am having a hard time releasing it fast enough to keep me sane. One reason for this build up of pressure is because I’m not as busy at work this time of year so I have far too much mental free time. Another and much more significant reason is the sheer amount of dumb****** and BS that’s been thrown around by conservatives and by far too many on the left. Dealing with this from just one side is often overwhelming. Dealing with it from two fronts has pushed things, at times, almost to the point of depression.
On top of all of this, I’ve had to seriously rethink strategies and attitudes about how to think about and deal with certain individuals and groups of people. How do I think about and treat someone who has been more than willing to stand up and vote for thinks completely antithetical to everything I believe? How do I think about and treat people and organizations who spent the past eight years lying about, obstructing, and demonizing facts, laws, precedents, history, and President Obama, who are now demanding “unity” and “bipartisanship”? How do I think about and treat people who spent the past eight years using every negative, derogatory, and racist term around to talk about Michelle Obama and her two girls, who are now demanding no one say a mean thing about Melania or Barron Trump? How do I think about and treat Republican leaders who met the night of President Obama’s first inaugural to lay out a strategy of obstructing and denying anything the new president put forth, even though we were in the midst of a major economic crisis, who now are saying Democrats need to work with them for the good of the country? How do I think about and treat these same Republicans who let a Supreme Court seat go unfilled for almost a year, refused to even hold hearings for the nominee, and made up reasons for doing so out of whole cloth, who are now lecturing Democratic Senators for wanting to see ethics reports on Cabinet nominees before holding hearings? How do I think about and treat so-called progressives who did everything they could to damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who are now whining about all the anti-progressive things being proposed by the new administration? How do I think about and treat these same “progressives” who berated anyone who tried to talk to them about their horrible behaviors and piss-poor strategy, who now are having second thoughts about them? How do I think about and treat people who are proud of being ignorant and deny basic facts. How do I think about and treat people who did everything they could to make sure Hillary looked bad and didn’t win, who are now demanding we all join forces to resist the Trump administration?
All of these and more keep churning in my head and so far I don’t have any good, easy answers. One reason I’m having such difficulty with all of this is because I’ve been able to hold and take a theoretical stance about things most of my life. It is easy to “stay above the fray” when the fray doesn’t really impact your life. Believing progressives should always take the high ground is great in theory, but not very practical against an opponent who cares less about ethics, rules, and standards of behavior. Believing you should always treat people with respect is great in theory, but not practical against those who refuse to treat you the same. Believing everyone has reasons for why they do and say what they do is wonderful, but it is a gross mistake to think and treat their reasons as being good and rational.
Part of the problem is my Christian upbringing of “turning the other cheek” and “loving your enemy” is in conflict with the pragmatic side of my nature. It seems the more progressives “turn their other cheek” the harder they get slapped by conservatives. The more we “love our enemy,” the more our enemy damages and takes away the very things we cherish the most. At some point, the definition of insanity-”doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result,” has to set in and a lesson needs to be learned. I feel like part of me is Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables” wanting to do things squeaky clean, by the book, and above board against an enemy who has no guiding rules other than do whatever it takes to win. Then, there is the other part of me that is Sean Connery’s character in the movie, Jim Malone, “You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way! And that’s how you get Capone. Now, do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?” It’s this battle to find a balance between these two sides that is causing me so much trouble.
I don’t think I’m alone in this struggle. I see Democratic members of Congress going through this right now in deciding whether or not to do their civic duty to protect and help the American people as best they can or take a firm stand against the new administration by not supporting anything it does even though by doing so they are going against their beliefs about how government should work and their desire to help people. I understand this internal conflict. There isn’t an easy answer. Part of the reason it is so difficult is because these are not even close to ordinary circumstances.
I didn’t like Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush but on some level, they played by the rules. Even though they had some really horrible ideas and policies, on some level they respected the history, standards, and protocols of running the country. There was a common understanding and agreement everyone could work from no matter what the disagreements. This commonality no longer exists. It’s been eroded and destroyed intentionally by conservatives over the past twenty-three years. It started with Newt Gingrich when he became Speaker of the House and adopted an aggressive, anti-cooperation, demonize your opponent at every opportunity approach to governing. As time passed, conservatives have taken Newt’s strategy, modified and amped it up to the point where not only do they run their campaigns on bragging about not cooperating, they have completely destroyed all notions of standards and protocols. They are so wedded to this strategy, they willingly vote against their own bills and abandon their own policy ideas if it looks like Democrats will vote for them. The Dream Act? Backed by a lot of Republicans right up to the moment it was supported by President Obama, then it suddenly became horrible policy. Cap and Trade? Supported by a large number of Republicans until Democrats proposed it. Health care reform with an individual mandate to help fund it? A Heritage Foundation idea that was implemented by a Republican governor in Massachusetts, that suddenly became a “socialist takeover of the American health care system,” when the Democratic president suggested it. Raising the debt ceiling? Never an issue when a Republican is the president but an existential crisis when a Democrat holds office. Shutting down the government when they don’t get their way? Only been done by Republicans. Holding up a Supreme Court nominee leaving the Court without being fully staffed? Never been done in history until last year by the Republican-led Senate. Norms, protocols, standards…none of these things mean anything to today’s conservatives. They are fighting with knifes while progressives have been fighting back with scathing editorials. They aren’t going to change. In fact, they have been and only gotten worse because they haven’t suffered any consequences for their behaviors. This needs to change. It’s time for progressives to become less Eliot Ness and more Jim Malone.
This means progressives need to put aside some of their beliefs and attitudes about “playing fair” and “playing nice.” This doesn’t mean we have to adopt the devoid of ethics strategies of conservatives, but we have to be willing to play hard and mean when necessary. It is possible to be tough but not lower ourselves to the same level as conservatives. Of course, this is a very difficult balance to achieve but is necessary if we are going to compete against an opponent who has no regard for the rules. The same goes for dealing with individuals. I don’t need to resort to name calling or personal attacks when dealing with someone who uses these tactics on me, but I certainly can throw their own “logic,” words, arguments, and strategies back on them. I can point out their hypocrisies. I can cram facts down their throat at every turn. I can hold them accountable for the consequences of their actions and decisions. If they howl they are not being treated fairly, too ****** bad. They forfeited the right to judge and bitch about behavior a long time ago. They need to pay a price. The best way to make them pay is to vote them out of office. As long as they are allowed to win elections, they will not only never change, they will only get worse (as we’ve seen this last election.) They need to be politically marginalized. This means voting for the progressive who has the best chance of beating them. If there is a Republican and a Democrat on the ballot. Vote for the Democrat even if they aren’t the best Democrat. A bad Democrat is infinitely better than the best Republican right now in American politics. Every time we allow Republicans to win an election, we are rewarding their bad behaviors. Saying, “both parties are the same” or “there is no difference between the candidates” is nothing more than bringing a knife to a gun fight. Whenever this happens, we are going to lose and lose badly.
It’s time to get away from the theoretical world us progressives love so much and get down to the dirty business of politics. This doesn’t mean we abandon our ideals or what we really want to see happen. It just means none of those things are even remotely a possibility without having the power to make them happen. This power is never going to be given to us and we aren’t going to get it without a tremendous fight. Conservative white men have had power for centuries. They aren’t going to cede it without fighting for it tooth and nail. They have shown how badly and dirty they’ll fight to keep it and they haven’t even scratched the surface of how low and nasty they’ll go. American fascism is being built and centered on white male dominance. You don’t fight fascists with scathing arguments. You fight them with necessary and justifiable force. If they have a march of 400,000 people. We march with a million. If they impose voter restrictions that impact 100,000 minorities, we go out and register 250,000. If they impose Muslim registrations, we all register as Muslim. If they roll out a heavily armed force against a Black Lives Matters protest, we surround the protesters as a protective buffer. The one thing we shouldn’t do is “turn the other cheek.”
This brings me to Democrats in Congress. Initially, it looked like they were going to oppose Trump, especially when it came to his highly unqualified cabinet appointees. So far, this hasn’t happened. Not even a little bit. They just voted to for Ben Carson to be head of HUD, Nikki Haley to be the US Ambassador to the U.N., and it doesn’t look like they are putting up any resistance to Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State or any other nominee when it comes time to vote. The argument given is Dems want to “pick their battles” with Trump. What the ****? Everything Trump has suggested, every single Executive Order so far, every single nominee has been an all-out war against progressivism and Dems are focused on winning a battle here or there? The U.S. unemployment has skyrocketed, Muslim refugees have been banned, a wall is being built on the Mexican border, massive voter registration restrictions have been passed, the U.S. has undermined NATO, women’s rights have been crushed, a trade war with China was started, ACA was repealed, the social safety nets gutted, massive tax cuts for the rich passed…but Dems stopped Trump from putting somebody on the 7th Circuit Court? That’s the ****** strategy? I’m being told they are doing this to be “pragmatic.” I’m a devout pragmatist. This isn’t pragmatic. This is stupid. And, all the so-called “progressive icons” like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Sherrod Brown are willingly playing along with this strategy. Again, I understand why they are doing this. They want the government to operate, for norms and standards to have meaning, to not look like they are the reason why people are disillusioned with government. I get this. However, their opponent doesn’t give a damn about these things. In fact, their stated goal is to destroy all of these things. They are playing a different game that doesn’t have any rules and they are winning. You can’t defeat them playing a different game with rules.
Conservatives have been waging a war against progressivism for decades. The Tea Party and Trump are nothing more than the logical outcomes of years of rightwing propaganda and warfare. Their goal isn’t to win a battle against progressivism. Their goal is to wipe it out. They now have the political power to deliver a mortal blow. Now is not the time to be satisfied with winning a battle here or there. “The environment, minorities, women, the economy…were royally *****, but we won a minor battle” is not a pragmatic. This approach isn’t even bringing a knife to a gun fight. It’s bringing a month old limp carrot to a gun fight and being proud of your weapon of choice. Dems are treating things as if they were dealing with normal politics, a normal opponent, a normal administration. There is nothing normal about Trump, his base or today’s conservatives. They don’t play by the rules. They don’t care about standards of conduct. They don’t care about anything other than their ideology. Viewing and treating the situation differently then this is a huge mistake. Now is not the time to “turn the other cheek” or “love your enemies” because your enemy doesn’t feel remorse, guilt, empathy, sympathy, humanity…that would cause them to stop hitting you. They are devoid of these traits. They are sociopathic and will keep hitting you long after the fight has been called and your body is cold and rigid. If you don’t view them for who they are and recognize what they have and will do, they will keep on doing what they do.
Conservatives have not paid any price at the polls for their horrible behaviors. The main reason why is because Democrats give them cover. Stop it. Let them own their failures, completely. Don’t vote for a single thing they propose. You don’t need to. They have the numbers to pass anything they want. Let them. But, don’t leave your fingerprints on their policies. If Dems don’t vote for a single thing and the country goes bad, they can say it wasn’t because of them. If they take this “win a battle here or there” approach, when things go south, voters will blame them as well as Republicans and Republicans will use this “both sides” to weasel their way out of being held accountable. The main reasons Democrats took Congress and the White House in the 2008 election was because of the massive failures of the Bush administration. Trump is going to make Bush look like Lincoln. Let him fail. Continually point out how he and the Republicans have failed to deliver on their promises and how their policies have hurt the working class. But, for God’s sake, don’t willingly put your fingerprints on the murder weapon.
Somehow, some way progressives need to figure out how to take a high road while fighting dirty. I know this sound contradictory and maybe it is. All I know is fighting for what is right by the Marquees of Queensberry Rules against an opponent who doesn’t give a **** about rules isn’t working. No amount of arguing or pleading or understanding is going to convince them to start playing by the rules. No amount of “reaching across the aisle” is going to stop them from their goal of wiping out progressivism. Democrats need to come to terms with this and quickly. I wish it was different. I wish we could have rational conservations and debates about policy differences. I wish norms, standards, and protocols mattered to conservatives. I wish facts and truth were a priority. I wish half of the country wasn’t willing to believe right wing propaganda. No matter how much I wish these to be true they aren’t. I need to form strategies based on how the world is, not how I wish it was. I need to be less Eliot Ness and more Jim Malone. So too do other progressives if we want to preserve the things we believe in.
Anyway, this is my contribution to "hard reading" for the day. (I confess I found the level of reality here yesterday to be so bloody depressing I had to close PS down just for my continued sanity. I'm all about staring reality in the face, but daaang. Sometimes I have to avert my eyes.) Normally I have had a sense of…delicacy (ha ha!) about posting this guy’s stuff, but why, I wonder? I mean, the whole country is now pretty much a truth-free zone. A few pockets of kumbaya-free, unvarnished truth are required. Especially for those of us on the left, who put a premium on being "nice". (That would of course, not be me.)
So…….Don’t say you weren’t warned. Read at your peril.
http://forsetti.tumblr.com/post/156358356085/on-internal-struggles-eliot-ness-versus-jim
On Internal Struggles: Eliot Ness Versus Jim Malone
As I’ve said many times on this blog, I write mostly as an avenue to vent. I vent in order to release the mental pressures of being a self-aware person who treasures truth in a world where superficiality, intellectual laziness, and ignorance have become badges of honor for a lot of folks. This pressure has been turned up to eleven the past few months to the point where I am having a hard time releasing it fast enough to keep me sane. One reason for this build up of pressure is because I’m not as busy at work this time of year so I have far too much mental free time. Another and much more significant reason is the sheer amount of dumb****** and BS that’s been thrown around by conservatives and by far too many on the left. Dealing with this from just one side is often overwhelming. Dealing with it from two fronts has pushed things, at times, almost to the point of depression.
On top of all of this, I’ve had to seriously rethink strategies and attitudes about how to think about and deal with certain individuals and groups of people. How do I think about and treat someone who has been more than willing to stand up and vote for thinks completely antithetical to everything I believe? How do I think about and treat people and organizations who spent the past eight years lying about, obstructing, and demonizing facts, laws, precedents, history, and President Obama, who are now demanding “unity” and “bipartisanship”? How do I think about and treat people who spent the past eight years using every negative, derogatory, and racist term around to talk about Michelle Obama and her two girls, who are now demanding no one say a mean thing about Melania or Barron Trump? How do I think about and treat Republican leaders who met the night of President Obama’s first inaugural to lay out a strategy of obstructing and denying anything the new president put forth, even though we were in the midst of a major economic crisis, who now are saying Democrats need to work with them for the good of the country? How do I think about and treat these same Republicans who let a Supreme Court seat go unfilled for almost a year, refused to even hold hearings for the nominee, and made up reasons for doing so out of whole cloth, who are now lecturing Democratic Senators for wanting to see ethics reports on Cabinet nominees before holding hearings? How do I think about and treat so-called progressives who did everything they could to damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, who are now whining about all the anti-progressive things being proposed by the new administration? How do I think about and treat these same “progressives” who berated anyone who tried to talk to them about their horrible behaviors and piss-poor strategy, who now are having second thoughts about them? How do I think about and treat people who are proud of being ignorant and deny basic facts. How do I think about and treat people who did everything they could to make sure Hillary looked bad and didn’t win, who are now demanding we all join forces to resist the Trump administration?
All of these and more keep churning in my head and so far I don’t have any good, easy answers. One reason I’m having such difficulty with all of this is because I’ve been able to hold and take a theoretical stance about things most of my life. It is easy to “stay above the fray” when the fray doesn’t really impact your life. Believing progressives should always take the high ground is great in theory, but not very practical against an opponent who cares less about ethics, rules, and standards of behavior. Believing you should always treat people with respect is great in theory, but not practical against those who refuse to treat you the same. Believing everyone has reasons for why they do and say what they do is wonderful, but it is a gross mistake to think and treat their reasons as being good and rational.
Part of the problem is my Christian upbringing of “turning the other cheek” and “loving your enemy” is in conflict with the pragmatic side of my nature. It seems the more progressives “turn their other cheek” the harder they get slapped by conservatives. The more we “love our enemy,” the more our enemy damages and takes away the very things we cherish the most. At some point, the definition of insanity-”doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result,” has to set in and a lesson needs to be learned. I feel like part of me is Eliot Ness in “The Untouchables” wanting to do things squeaky clean, by the book, and above board against an enemy who has no guiding rules other than do whatever it takes to win. Then, there is the other part of me that is Sean Connery’s character in the movie, Jim Malone, “You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way! And that’s how you get Capone. Now, do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?” It’s this battle to find a balance between these two sides that is causing me so much trouble.
I don’t think I’m alone in this struggle. I see Democratic members of Congress going through this right now in deciding whether or not to do their civic duty to protect and help the American people as best they can or take a firm stand against the new administration by not supporting anything it does even though by doing so they are going against their beliefs about how government should work and their desire to help people. I understand this internal conflict. There isn’t an easy answer. Part of the reason it is so difficult is because these are not even close to ordinary circumstances.
I didn’t like Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush but on some level, they played by the rules. Even though they had some really horrible ideas and policies, on some level they respected the history, standards, and protocols of running the country. There was a common understanding and agreement everyone could work from no matter what the disagreements. This commonality no longer exists. It’s been eroded and destroyed intentionally by conservatives over the past twenty-three years. It started with Newt Gingrich when he became Speaker of the House and adopted an aggressive, anti-cooperation, demonize your opponent at every opportunity approach to governing. As time passed, conservatives have taken Newt’s strategy, modified and amped it up to the point where not only do they run their campaigns on bragging about not cooperating, they have completely destroyed all notions of standards and protocols. They are so wedded to this strategy, they willingly vote against their own bills and abandon their own policy ideas if it looks like Democrats will vote for them. The Dream Act? Backed by a lot of Republicans right up to the moment it was supported by President Obama, then it suddenly became horrible policy. Cap and Trade? Supported by a large number of Republicans until Democrats proposed it. Health care reform with an individual mandate to help fund it? A Heritage Foundation idea that was implemented by a Republican governor in Massachusetts, that suddenly became a “socialist takeover of the American health care system,” when the Democratic president suggested it. Raising the debt ceiling? Never an issue when a Republican is the president but an existential crisis when a Democrat holds office. Shutting down the government when they don’t get their way? Only been done by Republicans. Holding up a Supreme Court nominee leaving the Court without being fully staffed? Never been done in history until last year by the Republican-led Senate. Norms, protocols, standards…none of these things mean anything to today’s conservatives. They are fighting with knifes while progressives have been fighting back with scathing editorials. They aren’t going to change. In fact, they have been and only gotten worse because they haven’t suffered any consequences for their behaviors. This needs to change. It’s time for progressives to become less Eliot Ness and more Jim Malone.
This means progressives need to put aside some of their beliefs and attitudes about “playing fair” and “playing nice.” This doesn’t mean we have to adopt the devoid of ethics strategies of conservatives, but we have to be willing to play hard and mean when necessary. It is possible to be tough but not lower ourselves to the same level as conservatives. Of course, this is a very difficult balance to achieve but is necessary if we are going to compete against an opponent who has no regard for the rules. The same goes for dealing with individuals. I don’t need to resort to name calling or personal attacks when dealing with someone who uses these tactics on me, but I certainly can throw their own “logic,” words, arguments, and strategies back on them. I can point out their hypocrisies. I can cram facts down their throat at every turn. I can hold them accountable for the consequences of their actions and decisions. If they howl they are not being treated fairly, too ****** bad. They forfeited the right to judge and bitch about behavior a long time ago. They need to pay a price. The best way to make them pay is to vote them out of office. As long as they are allowed to win elections, they will not only never change, they will only get worse (as we’ve seen this last election.) They need to be politically marginalized. This means voting for the progressive who has the best chance of beating them. If there is a Republican and a Democrat on the ballot. Vote for the Democrat even if they aren’t the best Democrat. A bad Democrat is infinitely better than the best Republican right now in American politics. Every time we allow Republicans to win an election, we are rewarding their bad behaviors. Saying, “both parties are the same” or “there is no difference between the candidates” is nothing more than bringing a knife to a gun fight. Whenever this happens, we are going to lose and lose badly.
It’s time to get away from the theoretical world us progressives love so much and get down to the dirty business of politics. This doesn’t mean we abandon our ideals or what we really want to see happen. It just means none of those things are even remotely a possibility without having the power to make them happen. This power is never going to be given to us and we aren’t going to get it without a tremendous fight. Conservative white men have had power for centuries. They aren’t going to cede it without fighting for it tooth and nail. They have shown how badly and dirty they’ll fight to keep it and they haven’t even scratched the surface of how low and nasty they’ll go. American fascism is being built and centered on white male dominance. You don’t fight fascists with scathing arguments. You fight them with necessary and justifiable force. If they have a march of 400,000 people. We march with a million. If they impose voter restrictions that impact 100,000 minorities, we go out and register 250,000. If they impose Muslim registrations, we all register as Muslim. If they roll out a heavily armed force against a Black Lives Matters protest, we surround the protesters as a protective buffer. The one thing we shouldn’t do is “turn the other cheek.”
This brings me to Democrats in Congress. Initially, it looked like they were going to oppose Trump, especially when it came to his highly unqualified cabinet appointees. So far, this hasn’t happened. Not even a little bit. They just voted to for Ben Carson to be head of HUD, Nikki Haley to be the US Ambassador to the U.N., and it doesn’t look like they are putting up any resistance to Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State or any other nominee when it comes time to vote. The argument given is Dems want to “pick their battles” with Trump. What the ****? Everything Trump has suggested, every single Executive Order so far, every single nominee has been an all-out war against progressivism and Dems are focused on winning a battle here or there? The U.S. unemployment has skyrocketed, Muslim refugees have been banned, a wall is being built on the Mexican border, massive voter registration restrictions have been passed, the U.S. has undermined NATO, women’s rights have been crushed, a trade war with China was started, ACA was repealed, the social safety nets gutted, massive tax cuts for the rich passed…but Dems stopped Trump from putting somebody on the 7th Circuit Court? That’s the ****** strategy? I’m being told they are doing this to be “pragmatic.” I’m a devout pragmatist. This isn’t pragmatic. This is stupid. And, all the so-called “progressive icons” like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Sherrod Brown are willingly playing along with this strategy. Again, I understand why they are doing this. They want the government to operate, for norms and standards to have meaning, to not look like they are the reason why people are disillusioned with government. I get this. However, their opponent doesn’t give a damn about these things. In fact, their stated goal is to destroy all of these things. They are playing a different game that doesn’t have any rules and they are winning. You can’t defeat them playing a different game with rules.
Conservatives have been waging a war against progressivism for decades. The Tea Party and Trump are nothing more than the logical outcomes of years of rightwing propaganda and warfare. Their goal isn’t to win a battle against progressivism. Their goal is to wipe it out. They now have the political power to deliver a mortal blow. Now is not the time to be satisfied with winning a battle here or there. “The environment, minorities, women, the economy…were royally *****, but we won a minor battle” is not a pragmatic. This approach isn’t even bringing a knife to a gun fight. It’s bringing a month old limp carrot to a gun fight and being proud of your weapon of choice. Dems are treating things as if they were dealing with normal politics, a normal opponent, a normal administration. There is nothing normal about Trump, his base or today’s conservatives. They don’t play by the rules. They don’t care about standards of conduct. They don’t care about anything other than their ideology. Viewing and treating the situation differently then this is a huge mistake. Now is not the time to “turn the other cheek” or “love your enemies” because your enemy doesn’t feel remorse, guilt, empathy, sympathy, humanity…that would cause them to stop hitting you. They are devoid of these traits. They are sociopathic and will keep hitting you long after the fight has been called and your body is cold and rigid. If you don’t view them for who they are and recognize what they have and will do, they will keep on doing what they do.
Conservatives have not paid any price at the polls for their horrible behaviors. The main reason why is because Democrats give them cover. Stop it. Let them own their failures, completely. Don’t vote for a single thing they propose. You don’t need to. They have the numbers to pass anything they want. Let them. But, don’t leave your fingerprints on their policies. If Dems don’t vote for a single thing and the country goes bad, they can say it wasn’t because of them. If they take this “win a battle here or there” approach, when things go south, voters will blame them as well as Republicans and Republicans will use this “both sides” to weasel their way out of being held accountable. The main reasons Democrats took Congress and the White House in the 2008 election was because of the massive failures of the Bush administration. Trump is going to make Bush look like Lincoln. Let him fail. Continually point out how he and the Republicans have failed to deliver on their promises and how their policies have hurt the working class. But, for God’s sake, don’t willingly put your fingerprints on the murder weapon.
Somehow, some way progressives need to figure out how to take a high road while fighting dirty. I know this sound contradictory and maybe it is. All I know is fighting for what is right by the Marquees of Queensberry Rules against an opponent who doesn’t give a **** about rules isn’t working. No amount of arguing or pleading or understanding is going to convince them to start playing by the rules. No amount of “reaching across the aisle” is going to stop them from their goal of wiping out progressivism. Democrats need to come to terms with this and quickly. I wish it was different. I wish we could have rational conservations and debates about policy differences. I wish norms, standards, and protocols mattered to conservatives. I wish facts and truth were a priority. I wish half of the country wasn’t willing to believe right wing propaganda. No matter how much I wish these to be true they aren’t. I need to form strategies based on how the world is, not how I wish it was. I need to be less Eliot Ness and more Jim Malone. So too do other progressives if we want to preserve the things we believe in.
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