and, I suspect, even harder to read.
Having survived the Purity Wars that destroyed all of the movement toward Progressive politics in a blood bath of self-referential pettiness in the late 1960's, having laughed along with many others at the jokes about "circular firing squads", having grimaced at the constant smug observations that "this is the Democrat's to lose, and they always find a way", I see the same foolish tendencies growing daily in this community.
One of the things that has given me hope during the past, dark days of Gingrich/Rovian politics is that they would destroy themselves. In a Constitutional democracy no individual, or small groups of individuals, demanding ideological purity, can long survive. People come to their senses. They break out of the head lock of fear, and hate, and narrow self interests to emerge wiser and less vulnerable to the tactics that captured them. It has certainly taken longer than I hoped, but it is happening.
Now we are in danger of falling into the same traps that we have so often decried in the Republican Base.
We are becoming the enemy, Pogo...
We are becoming ideological purists. We are each trying to define those specific elements of our personal Progressive Policy beyond which we refuse to accept a candidate's decisions. We mutter that, "We'll vote for him but, our enthusiasm is gone". We righteously search for key issues and huff and puff about our indignation when our personal standards are not meet by the candidate. We draw lines in the sand. We will not compromise. We "expected" more, we moan. This is not the way it's supposed to be, we pant, in diary and comment, interminably.
We have a lot of new folks these days. Some of them have been long time readers who decided to join the fun. Many are gentle and intelligent souls, given to thoughtful and insightful commentary. But, some are not.
Some are classic shit disturbers. They try to throw down the gauntlet creating dissension in the ranks of Kossack's by prying apart those disagreements and fanning the flames of discontent. They egg us on. They work our disapprovals and create the same kind of divisive unrest that destroyed the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, and the Democratic Party for a generation back in the 1960's.
We have a rare and historic opportunity facing us in the next 4 months. We can create a Democratic sweep. We can reclaim the White House. We can change the direction of this country.
But not if you are so hell bent on standing up for your particular version of Progressive Values that you weaken your candidate, your party and your hopes for the future, in a flame out of righteous indignation.
Barack Obama offered a "New Kind of Politics". He did not promise a new kind of purity. A new kind of electoral self-immolation, or a sacrifice on the alter of a population groping towards sanity after 8 years in Bedlam. He is a politician who MUST GET ELECTED before any of your fondest dreams can be realized. He must walk a tight rope to overcome the racism, fear, and years of indoctrination that have pervaded out politics. He must compromise!
Compromise is the most difficult thing for the ideological purist to accept. They always cast compromise as a betrayal. But earning the right to govern a country with such disparate views, a country divided by misinformation, bad information and no information, requires working the room. It requires compromise. If you are unable to understand and accept this, you are not sufficiently sophisticated to play in this arena.
Will you please consider what I have offered before you allow yourself to be drawn into the baiting by the trolls who have emerged in the past few weeks to stir the pot?
Will you consider the impact of parading your purity before the world (and your diaries, and comments are widely read) when you unintentionally parade your discontent with our candidate?
Can we form a united front and, just this once, not destroy ourselves in factional politics, based on individual demands that our candidate comply with our personal analysis of world affairs, BushCo criminality, and the Righteous Truth?
Republicans manage to line up behind their candidates. Can we, Democrats, try doing the same, just this one time? It has the potential to deliver the prize that so often has eluded us...