I was busy of posting a flurry of "How is this helpful with the upcoming elections" comments and telling off people I don't like when I had an epiphany.
And that is that my responses aren't helpful either, because anybody who has time to bitch about semantics and cry big crocodile tears about unfulfilled forever dreams or about how foolish other people are not to realize how awesome everything is (and yes, I know those are both caricatures) less than three weeks from a midterm that has seen many important races begin to tighten and need a little extra hard work to push them back into the win column is simply not looking at the big picture. And while I'm a big fan of my own words, I'm not so self-inflated as to think they can make blind people see.
With rare exception, the default net effect of a diary that is popular here is to discourage. Does that mean "Diaries here make us lose?" No. It just means the "busy" diaries here (many, bordering on most, not all) are completely useless. They don't change anything, but while not changing anything, they aren't making anything "better" either.
And many of the diaries I like and/or agree with (frequently posted in response to the former) aren't helping either, because while they may help me feel temporarily impassioned, THEY can't cure blindness either.
This is a roundabout way of saying that we would all be better off if this site just died for the next three weeks. Nothing personal about the site--we can all go back to accomplishing nothing after the election is over. But whether you're a greaser or a soc or a jet or a shark or whatever, there must be more productive things you could be spending your time on.
And I know I can't keep telling people that, if telling people that is by its very nature hypocritical. My desire to score witty conversation points does not (for the next few weeks anyway) outweigh my desire to keep this country moving in the right direction, even if it's not at the speed I dream about at night.
Obviously exempted from all this are pure action diaries, diaries in support of candidates and initiatives... but the good they do doesn't even come close to outweighing the wasted time that could be spent doing real good in elections that matter, so I won't miss reading those either... and it's not like I'm going to forget where "ActBlue" is.
So those of you who are fighting the good fight, keep fighting the good fight. Those of us who are usless chaff (on EITHER side of ANY issue; note I said 'us'): Here's hoping you find a day or two to fight the good fight in the next three weeks.
I'm not going to ask a bunch of people to join me either, because that would fall under the same category of meaningless team sports that doesn't help anyone...which I suppose this diary basically is too, but just because I'm taking a break doesn't mean I'm not me anymore. Whether it's a tunnel of love or a black hole (we still have some ability to influence that in the days ahead) I'll see you on the other side of it.
I'm a huge non-fan of drive by's, so I'll keep an eye on the comments here, but my next 20 calendar days are booked solid... here's hoping yours are too.
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ACTION ITEM: Teabagger Rockstar Justin Amash makes Ron Paul look like Linc Chaffee, yet he has a good chance of winning the seat of the moderate (at least on the environment) Republican Vern Ehlers. He actually OWNS A CHINESE FACTORY that imports chinese made tools into Michigan, and he could end up with a seat in our delegation. We have a good candidate this year, possibly the best we've ever had, and Amash's radical status has earned our candidate the endorsement of over fifty notable local moderate Republicans.
Please consider donating to Patrick Miles for the MI-3... this actually is an inside-straight pickup opportunity for the Dems if we take advantage of it.
http://www.patmilesforcongress.com/
I feel slightly less hypocritical about posting this now.