I am not a Republican. I don't plan on being one. But if the Progressive Community is going to get anything done, we need to cooperate with them...some of them.
I recently read a blog which dicussed Cheyney's continued insistance on the use of torture-- and of the neccessity of America's "right" to do so. This diary is not about that. Not entirely. I think that this could be an excellent opportunity...
As a comment to the blog I wrote the following:
This is a crucial issue for American sovereignty, as I
see it. It is ironic (sadly so) that we are now
engaging in the very practices by which we have defined
the evil nature of our enemies in the past. If we
become willing to fight them at all costs--through any
means, we compromise the very thing for which we are
fighting: our Values. In the end, what is to keep any
other country from claiming the moral obligation to
invade the US?
I am afraid that, as true as I feel this insight may be, it smacks too much of "Libruls wanna give 'Merka (tm) to the French." The Mighty Wurlitzer is still far to loud to make this case anywhere but the most open minded of slightly left of center moderates... but my second comment...
This can be useful. If you have read other comments (this is only my second diary ever), you know that I am a fan of George Lakoff. In his book Don't Think of an Elephant, he discusses strategic initiatives and wedge issues. The Right Wing Agenda has been using these tactics for years. Let's face it: they are better politicians. They are better at politics because what they do is grab power. We of the Progressive Community believe in public service. Those of us who engage in politics to do this are afraid of dirtying our hands with this nasty buisness--afraid of becoming too much like Karl Rove.
We have one shield against the sewage of the Agenda's politics: our policy of servace embraces truth. If we use the truth, and frame the debate under our terms-- without the misleading, hateful spin of the Right Wing Agenda, we can get our message across to most people, I think. There is a weakness within the Right Wing Agenda which we need to expose. One example (though certainly not the only one) is Cheyney's stance on torture. This weakness separates that divisive, cynical agenda from traditional Republicans and moderates. We should call for reasonable Republicans like Graham and McCain to publicly distance themselves from this agenda. I do not agree with either of these to on every issue, or even most issues, but they are certainly more on our side of "the fence" than they are with that Agenda... Zell Miller has distanced himself from the Progressive Community. The pressure should be on the likes of McCain and Graham to either
1.) follow this example and join the ranks of moderate
Democrats, or
2.) Pull the rug from the Agenda that is using Republican
power to corrupt the values of our nation, and reclaim
their party from the corruption so rampant
within it.
If we do this, and soon, we can weaken the extremist Agenda while making sure that in the future, should Republicans win a large majority in the three branches of government, we can be assured that they will not be of the ilk that now threaten the values of our nation that we hold most dear.
Whadayathink?