Last night after a day of defending the Democratic Leaders, I was unthinkingly engaging a troll. One point he or she made was that all politicians were scum. I responded as follows:
I cannot afford the luxury of cynicism.
Here's the exact comment the links are in the comment:
Up until the Presidency was stolen from Al Gore, I voted in elections and that was all that I did to participate. Howard Dean and the progressive netroots helped me to get active. I have sent money; I have caucused; I have made phone calls, sent letters, and asked for help for Democrats. If you haven't seen John Murtha's impassioned speech from yesterday, you should see it. He came out against the war and received the Rove smear and jeer treatment, but the grassroots of the Democratic party supported him.
You could also read the speech given by Rahm Emanuel at the Brookings Institute yesterday about being a politician.
Consensus is extremely hard to build, especially when the main media outlets are owned by big business.
Maybe you'll be less cynical, maybe not. I cannot afford the luxury of being cynical. I'm working to save our country from "Conservatives without Conscience" (a great book by John Dean) There is a big, big difference between the parties.
I've been working on an internal "unifying theory" of the state of our nation and how I'm responding. After the shrub was appointed by the Supremes, I was disturbed and angry. When the Repugs started spouting their phrases of "elections have consequences" and "we have a mandate", I rejoined the ACLU and began reading DemocraticUnderground. (It's how I found dailykos.) Each offense heightened my participation although I did not have much hope that this country would recover from its trance. I lived through Watergate and Iran-Contra. I knew of what the Repugs were capable.
Howard Dean and Air America gave me hope. The first day on the air, Rhandi Rhodes interviewed Ralph Nader; she told him that she didn't have the luxury of his candidacy. He hung up on her in the middle of the interview, and I knew that this country was resilient and would change. That incident got me energized.
I don't know how I was directed to Howard Dean's speech "I want to know". It got me energized.
I listened. I read. I joined. I donated. I became more angry than scared. I could do more, and I want to do more.
The article from the Guardian on American Facism and John Dean's book on Conservatives without Conscience tell me that I have a long fight. You tell me that I'm not alone.
I cannot afford the luxury of cynicism.