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That's what the corporate media, the Republicans, and even our Democratic leadership keep telling us to do. Play nice. We're supposed to be part of some post-partisanship agenda, in which people with diametrically opposed viewpoints are going to magically "get along" and stop sniping at one another. What they don't tell us, of course, is the only way to get along with the raging ideologues on the right is by agreeing with them. They're not capable of saying, "Well, maybe we weren't quite correct in this matter," or "Maybe we made a mistake."
Nope. It's always all or nothing.
We get accused of being raving ideologues ourselves because we say "why should we be content to be dragged to the right, past any reasonable description of "center" to "meet in the middle" with people incapable of budging even an inch? We're described by many as the "far left," when most of us are barely left of what used to be considered "center." We're not Marxists, or even socialists. We MAY be "social democrats," but even that is a tricky bit of definition. We're painted as "fringe," though, in reality, we're nothing of the kind.
And, ironically enough, this continues even AFTER we take control of both Congress and the White House. Maybe because so many of our elected "representatives" have sidled rightward for so long, they're unable to see where the center is anymore. Is it really "Democratic" to choose to support big business over the interest of average Americans? Some say, "sure--why not? Democrat isn't just what YOU define it to be."
Fair enough. But if the difference between a conservative Democrat and a moderate Republican (a rare breed in this day and age) is as thin as a cat's whisker, what precisely are we voting for? Those of us slightly left of center far outnumber those who're on board with the whole "let's give our money to the giants of industry and hope they'll do the right thing" idea. Or, at least, that's the way it seems to me.
We're STILL playing the Republicans' game, still letting them set the rules, and still acting as though their ideals and theories haven't been completely disgraced. The only strategy necessary for the left is to let them run their mouths and say "see? Batshit crazy. Any questions?"
But that's not what we're doing. At least, we're not seeing that from the few people able to break through the corporate media blockade. For, even with them out of power, it's clear that the corporate media still carries their water. Maybe it's time to become so obnoxious that they can't ignore us. Of course, for some reason when WE get obnoxious, we're vulnerable to the media harpies and Republican pundits in a way that they're not vulnerable to us. It sometimes takes an independent like Jesse Ventura to say what we're all thinking, someone who is practically immune to it because he really doesn't give a shit. His ass is covered by the fact he's telling the truth and the fact he doesn't have to bother covering someone else's ass.
So, no, I don't think I want to play nice. If I want to call Limbaugh a fat, drug-addled dimwit with delusions of adequacy, I will. If I want to say that Ann Coulter is a scary-ass harpy who should explode when sunlight hits her, I will. If I want to call Sean Hannity a slobbering, crack-licking dog curled up around Cheney's stinky feet, I will. And if I want to call Senator Baucus of the "hey, let's arrest these people because they're annoying me even if they DO know what they're talking about" brand a terminal fuckwad, I will.
(If this dupes, my apologies. I posted it, there was an error, and the only place I could find it was in the "check for duplicates" list at the top of the page as I attempted to post it again. It didn't show up on the Latest Page, OR in my Recent Posts list. So...)
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