This thing from David Brooks (h/t to TREX at firedoglake) got me thinking about the issue of partisanship and how it is so demonised at the moment. At least in some circles.
To set this up I have to say that I am a proud liberal. I am not a progressive .. i am a liberal. I think that is a good thing. I do not think that there is anything to apologize for that I think that we should set up a society where the least among us will be protected and where the winner doesn't take all. I have no intention of happily living in a society where the moral imperative can best be described as "I've got mine, now fuck you".
Because of this it makes me incredibly angry when I watch the squandering of resources (financial, human and moral) by the current administration in Washington and the folks that enable the White House to bamboozle, or at least attempt to, the American people into thinking that their vision of America is in any way compatible with what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
So when I hear "let's all just get along", I want to punch someone in the head. You do not compromise with Fascists. They do not understand the concept. All they understand is the win and guess what .. they are still winning. The current crapfest around the MoveOn.org ad is a case in point. How the hell did 25 Democratic Senators think that the most important thing that they had to do was to vote in favour of a resolution "condemning" MoveOn.Org for basically being a bunch of big meanies and hurting Gen Petraeus' feelings. Gen. Petraeus is a big boy. If he can't take a little bad punnery when he is catapulting the propaganda then he is in the wrong damn job.
Now, all that is said as a prelude to saying that I think that partisanship is a good thing. I dont even just mean that it is good that liberals are pissed off and not going to put up with the same old crap from the "leadership" but rather that it is good when conservatives argue forcefully for the things that they believe in. Of course, saying that you are in favour of eating bbq'd babies on live tv probably isnt a winning election strategy but ...
Partisan political struggle is how the country decides what it stands for. Without it we have a mushy pile of nothing.
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