For the past couple of weeks, I have witnessed an interesting trend here at Daily Kos:
Progressives rallying to the side of high profile persons/entities working to undermine the U.S. government.
So my question is simple: Why should Americans elect progressives to help run a government they are actively working to fight and undermine?
Can we honestly support the illegal release of classified documents out of one side of our mouths, and then cry out for the "rule of law" with the other?
Do we have to choose?
Now, before everyone rushes in to assault my sanity and humanity, please stop and think about how many of the things that progressives have been doing and saying over the past few weeks are being received by the American people.
We are rallying behind a soldier who violated his oath and engaged in espionage (I've learned not to use the phrase treason, because people become all obtuse if you use that word).
We are celebrating the foreign entity doing the leaking.
We are lamenting the fact that the President of these United States won't step up and help provide bedsheets to the sweet little soldier/spy who released the documents.
And then in two years, we are going to go to the American people and say "Elect us! . . . we have your best interests at heart!"
Can anyone see a disconnect there?
Can anyone see how even if you are happy to know the things that were leaked, this is not a slam dunk black and white issue of free press?
Can anyone acknowoledge the nuance around this and see how it plays nicely into the "progressives hate America" talking point?
Does no one else see the irony of all this talk of "authoritarians", while simultaneously trying to be elected as the authority?
I acknowledge that progressives need people working from both inside and outside of government, but my question is, can one person or group really effectively do both?
Is it realistic to expect the President to serve as the figure head of the government and ignore its laws and coddle spies working to destroy it?
Does anyone else see the inherent problem with the path many progressives have embraced with Wiki-leaks?
Regardless of the legalities and nice sounding principles, I think that progressives are going to have to choose - are we going to work within the system to improve it or work outside the system to destroy it and rebuild?
Can't do both.