Liberal, Conservative.
Socialist, Capitalist.
Democrat, Republican.
None of these labels really matter when it comes to where one stands on America. You may favor more social programs, or none at all. You may be for gay marriage, you may be against it. Regardless of where you stand on many of the so called hot button issues, you can still love America. You can love America for what she is. You can love America for all of her potential. This love can be critical or or it can be blind (although I prefer the more critical variety). But this love of my country and society, it is what forced me to leave the Left. While it is en vogue to say that they left me, that would not be fully accurate. To be sure, the Democrat party have moved steadily to the left; this progression (and I chose that word for a reason) did indeed leave me behind, once I opened my eyes, ears and mind and began to look at what the Left said and what the Left did, I found that I was also moving to the right. Now, years later, I am very much a part of the Right.
Now, before I have the inevitable knee jerk attack for saying that lefties/liberals don't love America (country, society, history or what have you), that is not what I am saying. You can be on the left of things, on many or even all issues, and still love this nation. You can still believe that America is truly exceptional in many ways, despite her many flaws.
That said, when you look at the vocal members of the Left, it is hard to see anything but negativity. They are not all negative about the same things, lets be sure about this. The vocal Left is an odd mishmash of toxic negativity. Just go to any of the so-called anti-war rallies. Look at the motivating groups, like International ANSWER. These people are not anti-war. They are anti-America. Look back, down the years, and you'll see that many of the movers and shakers in the 'anti-war' crowd were just fine with Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, fine with the Sandinistas, Hussein's campaigns against his neighbors and subjects and a host of other terrible events and regimes. What they oppose is any American action other than capitulation.
Now, add in another fun crowd, the Bush Haters. These are the people, for what ever reason, so hate GWB that anything that hurts him is a good thing. No lie is too large, too vile, so long as it may hurt the president they so loathe. If it may hurt Bush, they cheer it on, even pray for it. If it also happens to hurt America, well, it is a small price to pay. Now, to be clear, I don't think opposition to the President or his policies are treasonous in and of itself. How one expresses and acts upon the oppostion might be, however. Calling the Plame/Novak/Libby/Wilson affair a breach of national defense and calling for investigations and convictions is fine. So long as you also take the same posistion when information about holding facilities in eastern Europe are leaked, or when a former presidential advisor is caught stealing and destroying classified documents before he and his administration are investigated. When you are willing to hurt America abroad, weaken the nation in the long run for the short term gain of deposing a president that can only be around for a few years anyway, you've crossed a line.
In short, if the only thing that matters to you is "how will this help/hurt Bush?", and you act on it accordingly, you're lost in a form of destructive madness. This also applies to the Right, but from where I stand, it is less of a problem over there. Partially because, despite the claims of the Left, dissent is allowed on the Right. It may not always be welcome and celebrated, but it is tolerated and more often than not, encouraged. Witness John McCain and Zel Miller. Both iconoclasts that are willing to speak against the party leadership when they disagree. Which one has been greeted with proverbial torches and pitchforks more often, and with more intensity?
One of the reasons I left the Left, and took stock of where they were heading and where I stood, was their treatment of opposing points of view. Ask any minority or female conservative, and you'll get a crash course in the intolerance of the Left. Now, I am not saying the Right is a big loving come one, come all affair. But the Right has never claimed to be one. The big tent notion of the Right has always maintained that if you are with them on core issues, there is room enough in the tent to disagree on the smaller things. Not so with the Left. Ask Ron Silver. Often times, anything less than full agreement with the Left is seen as opposition or worse, betrayal. When I voiced concern that abortion was too often seen as a form of birth control, no better or worse than any other... that was the begining of the end. Expressing concern that abortion on demand, without concern, may be bad for society, this was heresy to my fellows on the Left and in the Democrat party. And it just went down hill from there... I learned a hard lesson, that those who preached tolerance and concern as core values, above others, were very intolerant of differing opinions. In fact, as soon as I expressed that I though abortion was un healthy, and should be discouraged in favor of other options (Norplant, oral contraceptives, condoms) and used as a fail safe when they failed or when the mother's health was in jeopardy... I was labeled as an enemy. That I thought abortion should be safe and legal didn't matter; only that I objected to abortions on demand, for any reason. It wasn't long before the buzz words came out... patriachy, sexist, oppressor and of course, the Lefts favorite, facist.
Back to the "anti-war" crowd. Look around one of these loony rallies. When did "my enemy's enemy is my friend" become strategy, not tactics, for these folks? Where else will you find anarchists, folks worshipping Che, anti-semites, socialists and a whole host of conspiracy theorists and nuts, all united together. Let's make no mistake either, in assuming that these people are all anti-America. Many of them are, however, and the destroy Bush ant any cost crowd has been making common cause with them. Years ago, the legitimate Left and the Democrat party distanced themselves from these people. But now, they court them. They encourage them. They feed off their energy and have embraced them as their base. For some in the Democrat party, I think they have always been in this camp, but were either in the closet about it, or just generally ignored. But now, the Howard Dean wing of the party is the party. And it saddens me. I don't want a parliemtry dozen party system, like much of Europe and other democracies, but I see the Democrat marching down a path of self destruction, a vision of negativity, where they define themselves by what they oppose and all who don't agree are anathema, and I think we may need another viable political party. (I don't favor the European model, if only because the governing coalitions that are created are rarely strong or good for the common man, IMO. They are often weak, corrupt, and share no vision beyond a tenuous alliance to stay in control; the very definition of "politics makes strange bedfellows")
What brings this on today? For one, listening to Ramsey Clark, as he takes up the mantle as Saddam's defense lawyer. He's not anti-war. He is rooting for the other side. And he is no longer on the fringe of the Left and the Democrats. He is at the core, and any oppostion is shouted down, forced to sit down or get off the bus. The truly sad thing is, the pary is losing elections (and no, holding onto the governors' mansions in NJ and VA are not great victories signalling a come back) in no small part because of this position of opposition. And the opposition is more often than not nothing but opposition. They are against it simply because Bush is for it, or because it could help Bush somehow. Until sanity returns, or the saner members of the Democrat party takes control and tells the children to behave or leave to form their own party, I only see defeat and marginalization in the Democrat's future. And I don't want that to happen. A strong, vocal and effective Democrat party keeps the Republicans on their toes, and forces them to meet their obligations. A weak and insane coalition of negativity does not.
Well, that is all for now. Rant done.
Updates will follow, on such things as:
- The Motorcycle
- The failed attempt at part ownership of a pub
- school
- The xbox 360
- The dating scene
- The new job and the transistion out of the old one
All of the above and more contributed (along with a big dose of lazy and enui) to the derth of postings.
UPDATE
The Captain has a good example of party leadership that just doesn't get it.
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