Some Defend-President-Obama-no-matter-what-folks here will do anything to divert,

[Armstead]

170. I agree with much of what you wrote. Perhaps the difference is in tempement.

I'm aware of much of what you wrote regarding historical patterns, etc. And I'm aware that Capitalism can be a repressive force when it is allowed to run rampant.

But after about 50 years (I'm 62) of paying attention to this stuff and seeing the basic values of liberalism that were once mainstream being systematically undermined and set back, I'm a little tired of the "long view." I'm very impatient of waiting for the pendulum to start to begin to swing back even slightly left towards a true center.

Believe it or not, I'm basically a moderate liberal (and I share Obama's basic belief in balance and compromise), but today even moderate liberalism is branded too often as "far left" and "utopian and unrealistic." That's what I react against.

It's especially frustrating because what we allow our politicians to condone and support defies basic common sense and common decency. It's not just a matter of ideology.

It's not rocket science, for example, to recognize that it's better to have a lot of competing small and mid-sized banks than a few monolithic immoral banking monopolies. That's something that honest "small c" conservatives and moderates and liberals should all agree on (except for the monopolists). And still -- even when we've learned the hard lessons -- we continue to allow these things.

IMO, we've got to stop going along with that kind of BS. And if it requires some noise and excess, so be it. It worked for the GOP and Corporate CONservatives, and it would work for us if we actually stop enabling bad behavior and apologizing for liberalism and started standing for something -- even if it has to start at moderate -- bit real -- liberal reform, as long as its real.

Of course, your mileage may vary but that's how I see it.