There is nothing more I want than to believe that somehow decent people of good will will triumph over those who embrace vulgarity, dishonesty, opportunism, greed and deception, as integral parts of their world view.
I put some of that hope--remember that word?--on our president, for whom I voted two times. Despite of crushing disappointments on many issues, including his administration's protection of Wall Street criminals, his expansion of the abhorrent practice of extra-judicial assassinations of American citizens, his approval for expansions on the surveillance police state, the inhumane and cruel treatment of undocumented immigrants (thousands of whom have been subjected to barbaric conditions in the hands of ICE), the federal crackdown on pot dispensaries in states that have legalized pot use, the appointment of the proverbial "wolves in the hen-house" to government positions, I keep trying my best to find an excuse to all of it.
Maybe his hands are tied when it comes to prosecuting Wall Street criminals, understanding that these crooks could bring the economy down if proper investigations are started. Maybe he's thinking about the "long game" and history will vindicate his apparent timidity and acquiescence.
I try to hold to anything that will keep that hope alive, thinking that one day I'll get up in the morning and hear breaking news about top Wall Street crooks being criminally indicted.
I loved the inauguration. What a speech that was! The right wing complained that it was a speech pushing a liberal agenda. Equality under the law, gay rights, immigration reform, it all sounded so, well, progressive.
And so I try to keep a little bit of hope in this president, as I also look to other options, like social justice activism, but as I look around I start to see some disturbing patterns...
I'm looking and searching for the real bad-ass, intelligent, strategic-minded, confident leaders or group of people ready to take on the lunatic right wing, and I get alarmed that I don't seem to be able to find them; where are you guys?
Don't get me wrong. I'm fully aware of the fact that there are many good progressive, environmental advocacy, and social justice organizations doing great work, like the Sierra Club, CREDO, ColorOfChange, Bold Progressive, of course, Daily Kos, and many others.
But the pattern I keep seeing is one where there are these nefarious forces eating away at our democracy, bold, aggressive, ruthless, strategic, relentless, focused, and motivated, and they are the actors. They take the offensive. They take whatever power they have and use it to the maximum, unafraid and unmolested by any type of considerations about fairness and moderation.
And as they act, we react; we complain about how awful and unfair they are. We dig up every instance of victimization and exploitation, and we all gasp in unison, "How terrible these people are!"
And as they act so bluntly, and boldly, as the thugs that they are, we are a caught in a pattern of not only on constantly reporting and obsessing on what they do, but on answering to every absurdity the utter. We do this with such a frenzy, and with such regularity, that unbeknownst to us, we end up internalizing their framing of the issue, and many times we end up using their own "language" to describe things.
How many times have I heard a high profile liberal media personality say something like "Oh, and by the way, he's not a pinko liberal peacenick," when they want to make a point about somebody being some kind of "moderate," revealing their deep-seethed inferiority complex, for being a liberal.
What is a liberal, or a progressive? One who knows who he can immediately answer that question: A reality-based person, who is intelligent, holds sane views about every single aspect governance and society, respects and beliefs in science, and empiricism, and has reached the highest levels of understanding about the world around him, and of morality.
There is no area where this individual is inferior to non-progressives, as there is only one path in the evolution of intellect: from ignorance to enlightenment, the latter being the essential characteristic of a Progressive.
In war, in peace, in business, in society, in parenting, in every single aspect of human existence, a progressive will be better, yes, that's the word, better, than those who are not. This can be empirically proven. Do you have any doubt? Let's start with the discussions about Jesus and Dinosaurs walking the earth at the same time, 6,000 years ago!
And so this leads me once again to another great and sad disappointment, among many others, including watching Democrats (like Reid) cave in to insanity, over and over again.
In the face of the current debate about guns, and in the middle of an ongoing carnage around this country, all enabled and driven by an depraved cabal of profiteers and an insane and fanatical cult of useful idiots (followers), the president of the United States releases a photo of him shooting a shotgun!
There can't be no more humiliating example of how effective the right wing machine is in forcing the entire society to frame all important issues following their meme. It is truly astonishing!
And this happens after another very humiliating and shameful act committed by our president, when he released his birth certificate to the public.
I'm a very optimistic person, and of course, I will continue plugging along, searching for the real bad-ass, take-no-prisoners, in-your-face, confident, strategic, with a bold and clear agenda progressives that know and understand what's going to take to confront and defeat the right wing machine in this country.
Earlier today Robert Reich twitted his reaction to the president's releasing this absurd photo:
Not as absurd as Michael Dukakis driving a tank, but same vicinity.
I could not agree more! What a sad day. I'll feel better tomorrow. I will hope and pray (this situation is going to turn me into a religious person) that the most powerful man in the world right now, the president of the United States of America, will never do something like this again.