Extremism in the pursuit of justice is no vice.
I enjoyed watching the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I grooved to the music and loved the humor. I thought the Jet Blue flight attendant was brilliant. The signs people were holding were hysterical ( “Moderation or death!”). There is however, a voice in the back of my head that I cannot stifle. Who are these “Stalinists” on the left who do not want to compromise with the more reasonable? Who is the Democratic Party’s left wing that compares with Ken Buck? Is Harry Reid really the ideological equivalent of Sharron Angle?
Jon Stewart called out MSNBC’s primetime hosts as examples of the shrillness of cable news reporting. MSNBC’s hosts responded by praising Stewart’s insight. Lawrence O’Donnell went as far as saying Stewart’s sermon is the greatest speech since Obama’s convention speech of 2004.
I know a few Stalinists. I know more ex-Stalinists. I don’t think that self-identified Stalinists number more than the population of Opa Locka Florida.
We are to believe that Obama, Reid and Pelosi are the left in the United States. Agreed the state of the left is pathetic but come-on! They took out everything leftist about their healthcare proposal before introducing it to Congress. The same thing was true with TARP. Hundreds of billions of dollars went to ensure the profit of banks, brokerages, and the rest of Wall Street. What monies went to Main Street just trickled down. Every piece of legislation introduced by the Democrats is vetted to make sure there is nothing left to negotiate away.
These (socialists, communists, liberals, progressives, leftists) running the government have adopted the previous administrations foreign policy. Under their leadership we will continue fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have a button that reads “I’m already opposed to the next war”.
There are millions of us who thought Obama’s election would mean a rolling back of on our civil rights and an expansion of democracy. No, the ‘socialists’ in the Obama crew are attacking anti-war activists. The “Justice” Department is trying to intimidate peace activists into submission by dragging them in front of grand juries and confiscating their computers and cell phones.
President Obama was recently interviewed by Jon Stewart. Obama criticized his critics for expecting too much. “Yes, we can” has morphed into “Yes, we can” but.
I want to shake Jon Stewart. Jon, you know the problem in this country is not that the left is too left. It is not left enough!
What to do about it?
Fifty years ago there was a spectre haunting America. I remember meeting an honest to god card carrying leftist. He seemed like a nice guy. I couldn’t believe he was an actual socialist. I asked him why and this was his answer.
“They say that people who agree workers have the right to organize into a union were Communists. People who believe that Black people are entitled to civil rights were called socialists. People who are opposed to war are radicals.”
He went on to say; “I believe in all those things. If Communists, Socialists and radicals were in favor of all the things I supported, then I should be one too”.
