I'm not one to shy away from criticizing this site when things get a bit nuts. This boycott nonsense, from whatever angle you want to launch it, is getting there.
Make no mistake - pressure from the left on Democrats, the DNC, the White House, and Barack Obama himself, is a GOOD THING. For too long, the only pressure anyone in power ever felt was from the right, and almost exclusively the far right. The consequences for America have been catastrophic. We Democrats left the field to a hard core of uninformed, ignorant, hateful ideologues and the repulsive parasites in power who used them, and responded only to their loudest fringes.
We are now answering that with pressure of our own, thanks almost exclusively to the internet, and in large part to this site itself. I applaud that development wholeheartedly. Power in this country will not be put to progressive use unless progressives push power in that direction. So push we must.
However.
I don't think most visitors to this site, even the regulars, actually understand what a manifest evil the Republican Party of our time has become. Take a look around you. It is literally possible to place the blame for every single thing wrong with America squarely on Republicanism.
If you get sick and can't pay for treatment, it's because Republicans have stopped health care reform.
If you lose your job and can't find another one, it's because Republican economic philosophy has come to full flower, creating a Dickensian nightmare for us all.
If you can't afford prescription drugs, it's because Republican free market fetishism allows pharmaceutical companies to turn your illness, or your hair loss, even your god damn erection into their profit.
If you graduate from college with six figure debt, it's because Republican education policy has left you at the mercy of a bank.
If you get stuck in traffic, it's because Republican neglect of infrastracture has created that traffic jam.
If you can't get to sleep at night because of all these worries, it's because Republican dogma is making sure that tomorrow morning, those worries will still be there and get worse.
If you get off a plane in another country and get looked at weird by foreigners, it's because Republican foreign policy has made every American abroad a target for ridicule.
If you can't get laid, it's because Republican obsession with regulating your genitalia has made half the country terrified of sex of any kind.
The question is in this video.
Do you know your enemy? I do. And it's Republicanism, the Republican Party, and every single manifestation of it, large or small, major or minor. Have your boycotts, put your pressure on our elected Democrats, fine. Go right ahead. Make them do the right thing.
But in the end, know your enemy, people. Don't ever forget it.