I'm sitting here looking at what has to be at least the fifth diary of meta anguish to hit the rec list this weekend. For a weekend we've wracked up a pretty good total of offended groups: transsexuals, the mentally ill and Jews. Of these the last is particularly facepalm worthy as the original diarist seemed unaware of the origin of the term "Shylock." Let me suggest something unpopular: sometimes politics requires a thick skin. We are not here to insure every democrat perfectly adheres to progressive ideals. We are here to try and save this country from a Republican party bent on destroying it.
I am not suggesting that bigotry go unchallenged. There is a place to call out racists and bigots, and that is in the comments of their diaries. Every meta angst diary responding to something mean that somebody said on the internet that makes the rec list risks crowding out a diary containing critical news or information. In one way this weekend reflects well on this site, we held off on our fights until a series of slow news days. And now it is time to put them away and move on.
This site is not a community, it is a cause. Any idea of a happy community on the far left died the day Rush Limbaugh called for the economic destruction of our country in order to unseat the President. Short of debates over launching a nuclear war or genocide we are today playing politics for the highest stakes imaginable. Our efforts must be directed to opposing what is happening to this country, not fighting each other. There are plenty of those websites for such fights.
Some of you know that I am both a lawyer and historian. When I say we are facing one of the greatest challenges our nation with ever endure I mean it. This is not the first time that America has suffered a depression, nor is it the first time that states have sought to cut to the bone to balance their budgets. In 1930 a wave of austerity swept through state legislatures. The result was dire. By 1932 the self reinforcing cycle of austerity, leading to decreased revenue leading to greater austerity had rendered many states incapable of performing the basic functions of government. In Texas teachers were paid with IOU's for much of 1932. In New York City 20% of all public school students suffered from malnurishment. By the election tanks had already rolled through the streets of Washington D.C. to put down the Bonus Marchers (a fact often overlooked as sending in the Calvary had meaning in 1932, rolling tanks would not take on a similar meaning for a number of years).
By election day 1932 the country was broken. People would have turned to anyone for hope. It was only by shear luck that we ended up with a Roosevelt and not a Hitler. Today we are walking down the same path as was followed in 1930. Maybe we will get lucky and things won't get much worse. I can't say I really believes it.
So what are we doing? We're having fights amongst ourselves. What are the Republican's doing? Telling each other that failure to pass a debt limit increase won't be the end of the world. Let me put on my lawyer hat for a minute: the Republican party is arguing for one of the stupidest and most destructive policies imaginable. Even if they failure to shut down the government, what is happening to state budgets right now risks bringing this country to its knees. We need all hands on deck NOW to deal with the immediate threat, and that means keeping communications channels like the Daily Kos rec list free of clutter. When we no longer face a opposing political party that has made destroying our nations economy into a political strategy, then will be the time for meta angst dairies.