(Quick return from the temporary leave of absence to make this announcement with my reasons, will be kept short.)
Like many of you, I joined the FISA group MyBo (I don't need to show the link, do I?) when it was starting to be viral. Last night however, I made a fateful decision: I withdrew my membership from the group. [Sounds of many gasps can be heard.] Now why would I do a thing like that? Well let me tell you.
First off, let me dispel the irony I see here with our movement. We claim to be independent thinkers, yet we are all in lock-step following marching orders. The only difference is, unlike the "other side", we're not taking them from the top down, but rather from within our own enclosures. This FISA thing really has gone into a game of follow the leader, doing what a diarist or blogger says (be it calling one number, writing to an address, or doing XYZ to show your lack of support). Honestly if someone was sincere about the whole ordeal they'd think of the idea themselves and the information is easily accessible, but instead the majority here are starting to act like sheep being led to water or something.
Secondly, I don't see the point in being in the group anymore. Unless Obama lives in a Dubya-esque bubble fantasy world where he's totally outside the realms of reality--and I doubt he is so--he already knows our stance on it. Hell he'd be damn fool if he didn't know his constituents' stances on more or less any matter, but especially here since it's an old issue. Plus the current media storm (let me get there soon enough) about "Is his base self-destructing over this?" pretty much creates an echo-chamber where either he or a higher-up has to know what's going on. But gasp he's making his decision based on his own criteria outside of what we think. How dare he! Shouldn't he know that he's not an independent mind but rather controlled by us supporters and must do our bidding? Well welcome to reality, for whatever reasons there are for supporting the FISA "compromise" he is doing so.(Without giving the snarky "it's a capitulation not a compromise", what exactly is the alleged compromise in it anyway? No one seems to ever explain that, and not sure but a little context may be nice before going off the deep end.) He already said prepare to be disappointed, well there you go. Then again I was already disappointed in him from the start so maybe the "shock" (most of it wouldn't be if you paid attention) of the last month didn't register with me.
Thirdly, and most importantly, I refuse to bolster the people I disagree with most currently. Those people would be the insecure "supporters" who waiver from undying support to making mountains out of molehills on EVERYTHING he does if it's minor (and making Mt Everest out of Appalachian mountains if it's more), who are going to let one COMPLICATED (may seem simple but with Bush II even the simplest turns into a mess) issue be the reason to drop all support for him. I refuse to give any more credence to a bunch of vocal immature people that are more bent on purity than actually improving the country. Call me "pragmatic" or whatever, but I don't see this FISA thing as anywhere near a big deal as everyone else is making it out to be (not good, but not the end of the world, and many of those "attacks on the Constitution" have even bigger issues thanks to Bush II e.g. the PATRIOT Act). Call me crazy, but I'd rather not have another Republican-led nation for at least another 10 years so we can maybe get out of the shithole Bush II kindly will leave us with a big smirk on his face.
So goes the meme here that if you're unhappy about something, you speak up and do so loudly. Well, here's my speaking up: I no longer support the people who made the whole issue into a "no FISA or die" extreme. It's been fun, but now has taken beyond the danger levels where I begin to suspect that you all actually want to lose in November if Obama won't be perfect. I sure as hell am not looking for a perfect politician (and likely never will), but I'm smart enough to know that a loss in November means you can kiss goodbye so much of what we're fighting for. Real "Change" doesn't happen overnight, and won't be complete with Obama even if he's in office for 8 years; but if the movement for it self-destructs before it even picks up steam, then I will have no choice but to withdraw all support for my fellow progressives and be a leftist independent on my own.
The last line sort of reminds me of the early 20th century and the fall of socialism in the United States. You see, there was a huge leftist movement up through WWI, but it died. Part of the reason is that they couldn't decide on what to do and join together to fight what they were fighting for, instead relegating themselves to infighting between the Anarchists and Socialists amongst other groups. Yup, division between allies was the downfall in this country of much the same values most of us share here. So if you all want to take the FISA issue to the highest level, where you will grudgingly vote for Obama if at all but not do anything to help him win (and if you think this election is a shoe-in, you obviously are neighbors with Dubya in that fantasy land I mentioned), then fine.
But you no longer have my support until you're able to accept a few defeats without waving the white flag and surrendering into the same mindset that gave us people like Dubya in the first place. My views is that the best way to show my disapproval is to ignore and give no more credence to those decaying into extremism at their own expense, and thus leave the FISA group and refuse to read any articles on the matter unless it's from a news organization telling me the conclusion of the matter. I'm moving on.