I'm fired up.
Some assclown on the Twitter (I am not giving him free publicity here) decided I was worth putting on some stupid public list of his.
He called it "Self-Hating Leftists".
Why?
Because I dared to point out that I thought government helping people (AKA: 'that damn Soshulism') was a good thing.
So I hate myself? Really?
Why does wanting things like equality for everyone, regardless of their skin color, gender, sexuality, religious affiliation, political ideology, or any other freaking characteristic make me hate myself?
It doesn't.
Why would wanting all the financial criminals who just about destroyed the global economy to be punished, the rules of the game to be changed so it can't happen again, and stronger regulation of the very activities that caused it to happen in the first place make me hate myself?
It doesn't.
Why does wanting a more or less immediate end to the quagmire in Afghanistan, so that our men and women can come home safely to their families, so that we may stop spending untold billions of dollars in a less-than-productive manner bombing the shit out of people who may or may not actually be terrorists make me loathe myself?
It doesn't.
I can go on, and on, and on, but I'm not sure I need to really go down the laundry list of things that don't make me hate my left-wiing ideology.
Things like justice for slain children, equality for all people of this country and the world, freedom from parasites like vulture capitalists and religious fundamentalists who would both alter the landscape of this massive country to suit their specific needs and theirs alone, if given the chance.
The right wing likes to bleat words like 'freedom' and 'liberty' till the cows come home, but what they really want is to tread upon the liberties of anyone not like they are. If you aren't a racist, bigoted homophobe...you're not a 'real American.' If you're not a Bible-thumping, 'queer-bashin', God-fearin man...you're not a 'real American'. If you worry more about the sex that gay people are having than gay people themselves worry about...you apparently are a real American, if you believe the fascist right.
No, Mr. Assclown of Rightwingtopia, I am not, contrary to your ill-informed beliefs (which is to say all of them) a "Self-Hating Leftist".
I'm a proud leftist. I am a compassionate leftist. I am a leftist who believes in smaller government - by shrinking a bloated Department of Defense, gutting right-wing regulations where legislators tell women where they're gonna get probed (and like it) over the objections of real bonafide medical doctors, and by breaking up any and every single 'too big to fail' institution so that the financial disaster we're still trying to recover from never happens again.
Conservatives (and their deluded cousins, Libertarians) argue that they want smaller government, and lower taxes. But they always leave a word out of their proclamations, so as to pull the wool over the untrained eyes of the low information "swing" or "independent" voter.
"Smaller government...for you!" is how they should speak. They want to slash the things like Medicare that help keep our senior citizens out of abject poverty, but want to make sure a tiny cadre of ultra conservative Catholic Bishops gets to write health care policy for the entire nation.
"Lower taxes...for us!!" is what they really want. Every single Republican and the Ron Paul freak show wants to cut the shit out of taxes for the richest of the rich...and leave every one else holding the fucking bag.
"Tax cuts...don't have to be paid for...unless they help out the unwashed masses!"
"I am pro life...except when I want to kill dangerous minorities who threaten my 'Americana' way of life by existing!"
"I am for a national defense so strong that it chokes off the rest of our national budget. Birth control? Honey, stop being a slut. We have MISSILES to build and COUNTRIES to bomb!!"
Yeah.
I don't hate myself for being a lefty. I embrace it.
I am, however, pissed off at everyone who calls themselves a conservative, or even gives - at this point - the time of day to any conservative talking points, or 'ideas'.
If you're a "Self-Hating Leftist" like I am, stand up, and be proud of your liberalism.
I'm sure you already are.