I look at Daily Kos today, and I am filled with fear. I'm not being hyperbolic or dramatic; I'm honestly afraid. Do I even need to say the following? Does it even need to be said? Can we have come so far that we can't even agree on
this?
First it was the reaction to the Roberts vote, which caused Obama to chime in. Then, it was the response to Obama. Now, today, it's diary after diary of people getting completely unhinged, getting the vapors on a day when the other side clearly admitted defeat.
I'm going to say the following, and many of you are going to hate me for it. But, unfortunately, it needs to be said. I can't believe it needs to be said, but here we are.
- The average American is never, never, never going to believe that George W. Bush is a fascist, a sociopath, or a bloodthirsty maniac. And that's not because the average American is an idiot. It's because Bush is none of those things. He's not a fascist; to utter otherwise exhibits a shocking disregard for the real victims of fascism. He's not a sociopath. In my line of work, I see sociopaths on a daily basis. He ain't one, and I challenge anyone to find a psychiatrist willing to make that diagnosis without having met the man (remind you of Frist at all?). And, more likely than not, he's probably not bloodthirsty. Most Democrats I knew, and certainly a majority of nationally elected Democrats in federal government, voted for the war and supported it initially. If you accepted the existence of wmd (which Bush clearly did), invading Iraq was a defensible position. The lack of wmd is Bush's fault, to be sure. He was in charge at the time. But given that the head of the CIA told him it was a slam-dunk case, and given that Bush is an idiot, do we really have to go all the way to questioning his humanity? Can't we just agree that he's unfit for his office and leave it at that? Because if you continue calling him Chimpy McSlaughter, you're not going to rally anyone to your cause. Remember that song about going around carrying pictures of Chairman Mao? Same deal;
- Most Americans believe this is a great country. Not could be, not should be, not would be but for the other side...but is. You're not going to convince many Americans that America is not the #1 source of good in this world. If that's your goal in life, be prepared for a difficult, fruitless, isolating experience. No one is going down that road with you. And why should they? 1620, a bunch of laypeople set out for Virginia, and ended up in Massachusetts. They had to take handouts and charity from the resident native population. Perhaps half their number died that very winter. 150 years later, the descendants of that stock, left to die in a cold unfamiliar wilderness, invited the king of the world's only superpower to a rousing game of hide and go fuck yourself. And with nothing more than grit, determination, and squirreling guns, they beat the British. That is the American story. That has always been the American story, and it will be there still when we are all laid in our graves. The American story was there on both sides at Gettysburg, when Pickett's boys left the comfort of the woods to take the long walk for home and hearth, and the blue on Seminary Ridge discharged their duty in turn. The American story was read aloud at Normandy, in the snow drifts of the Bulge, it was imprinted on the Frozen Chosen who were abandoned by their country after Inchon, and yes, it was there in spirit when American marines defended Khe San. The results weren't always positive. In fact, much of the time, the results were stupid, pointless, or even downright evil. But we did not strike out on behalf of evil, and we never will. Ours is a story of men and women of the possible, as they saw it. No, we are not an infallible people. No men are. But if a problem must be solved, and its only solution is ingenuity, sweat, determination and blood, there is no other people most Americans would want on their side but their neighbor;
- To that end, the war in Iraq is not unpopular because it's immoral. Most Americans don't not support the war because of the lack of wmd's. They don't support it because we're losing. If we'd won the war by now, most Americans wouldn't care about much else. Winning in Iraq would certainly be significant, so significant that it would, in most Americans' minds, put all the war-related controversy to bed once and for all. Think about it: were we really justified to go into Lebanon? Panama? Somalia? Granada? But we either won in those places or got out before we really lost. Ergo, most American's can't find those places on a map;
- A united America, conservative, liberal, independent, and totally apolitical, is all to the good. Not just in some bright, shiny postcard sense, but in the sense that we are all more intelligent when we talk to one another, work out our differences, seek the tough compromise over the easy insult, and see the job through until the job is done;
- Most conservatives probably know that Bush is a failed president. They may fight it now because of the divided nature of our country, but they know it. How many conservative principles has held to? Budget discipline? Strong military, when enlistments are down and most of our enlisted are bogged down? SCOTUS? Cutting the size of government? Not only has he been a failure in every time of crisis and need since 9/11, he hasn't even held up his end of the bargain to his core;
- The damage that this administration has done isn't the damage that a conservative government would do. No, this is plain old, boring incompetence. If it was just conservatism that was the problem, we'd just vote the bums out and be done with it. But our problems go beyond just voting in liberals. What we need is all people of good conscience and ability to find commong ground and find solutions.
- Another 20 years of cold civil war will destroy this country. We cannot continue to talk to each other this way. If we simply trade barbs and attacks, meanwhile holding party loyalty above ingenuity and compromise, no matter the issue, no matter the circumstances, Pax Americana will die at our hands. And, folks, it won't be pretty. It will be uncomfortable, slow, ugly, maddening, and painful. How will you feel the first time we send Americans to die on some foreign land because another more powerful ally demanded it of us, and we are no longer in a position to tell them to sod off? How will you react when your kid falls further and further into debt serfdom because even the service economy has faultered in deference to the third world? Because, people, that is what will happen if we don't right the ship. We are a few decades of infighting and indifference from being just another country;
- Somewhere in the central midwest tonight, a middle-aged mother is getting home from work. She's not terribly political, but she watches the news. Turning it on tonight, her first response is `Bush did it again, put in one of his friends.' She generally votes the straight Republican ticket, but is increasingly frustrated with the direction of the country. What are you going to tell her? That she voted for Adolf Hitler last time? That she's a Bible-thumping psych-Christian who's too stupid to understand the theory of Evolution? That she deserves to be defeated in an active, real, shooting civil war, so we can take power and finally feel what it's like to win? Or are we going to engage her in discourse, not just talk, but listen to her concerns, her fears, and come to understand that she has just as much of the American story right as we do? Because, friends, if we assume to have the entire American story right, are we any better than those who claim to have God on their side? And if we demand fealty on every issue from our leaders, aren't we automatically abdicating the American story, which is one of independence, new ideas, and sweat, to the other side for all time?