I usually don't repost others material, but I want to sharea great piece by Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame, about why it is important to defeat Romney. I post this as an elaboration on the back and forth on ZSpaceand my blog that I had with Terri Lee, who supports a voter boycott. I don't think the number of people who support a voter boycott is all that large and I certainly doubt large enough to influence the election. However, I think it is indicative of a "screw the system" mentality, where understandable anger prevents good judgment, replacing practical thinking with some idea of a moral high ground. This is a great danger for the left, because it prevents the left from relating to and gaining the sympathy of the average American. While voter boycott supporters like Lee may be morally right in condemning US actions abroad, what do they expect to accomplish when they say trying to improve the lives of Americans who suffer economically is selfish? As she said on ZSpace: "Sacrificing the lives of real people elsewhere to gamble on the possibility of gaining some slight, temporary benefits for people here, seems rather selfish and inhumane to me. As long as the US has a capitalist system, benefits will be taken from workers and the poor while greater benefits are lavished on the wealthy and corrupt." So we should wait to help Americans until capitalism is gone?
Adam Weiss blogs at politicalcreativity.net