Monday, January 18, 2010

Andrew Sullivan Speaks for Me Today

He doesn't always, but on the eve of a Republican winning the seat held by Ted Kennedy for 47 years, he sure does. Excerpt:

...any legislative moves with this Democratic party and this Republican party are close to hopeless. The Democrats are a clapped out, gut-free lobbyist machine. The Republicans are insane. The system is therefore paralyzed beyond repair.

Yes, I'm gloomy. Not because I was so wedded to this [health care] bill, although I think it's a decent enough start. But because if America cannot grapple with its deep and real problems after electing a new president with two majorities, then America's problems are too great for Americans to tackle.

And so one suspects that this is a profound moment in the now accelerating decline of this country. And one of the major parties is ecstatic about it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read your post over at the Daily Kos. One thing you wrote that I found particulary interesting: "Step up the war against the Radical Right in the Letters to the Editor, the on-line forums, and anywhere else you can. These cowards will back down if they're verbally slugged hard enough."

We won't back down and more often than not you'll be the one caught looking like the ass on the wrong side of liberty. Those that value liberty and the idea of a minimal, constitutional federal government [and the federalism that implies] will not back down to your collectivist, anti-freedom bullshit. Start writing -- I encourage you! You'll only help the cause of liberty.

Joseph Miller said...

Liberty? Is that what right wingers have stood for in American history? People like you fought to keep blacks enslaved, women the property of their husbands, gays in prison, unions illegal, and White Male Conservatives in positions of total power. Liberty? You wouldn't know liberty if it walked up and bit you on the ass. You bastards gave us the Civil War, Jim Crow, Creationism,. Confederate worship, the killing of union men in the coal mines, and every other form of authoritarianism known to Americans. Oh, and one your great heroes, Scalia, says that the use of torture in criminal investigations doesn't violate the 8th Amendment. Bush suspended habeas corpus rights, trashed the 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments, and you have the goddamned nerve to speak of liberty?!?

Minimal government? From the same idiots that worship Cheney, the closest we have ever come to an outright dictator? Is that supposed to be a fucking joke?

pablo said...

Anonymous,

Yes, I especially like the way minimal government worked for the banks and financial industries, allowing them to send the economy down the toilet. And I like the way minimal government has been working for the health insurance industry (just hope you don't have any "pre-existing conditions"). And on and on...

And as Joe states, if there was ever an administration that completely ignored the constitution, it was the administration that ended a year ago.

Wake up, be honest about what is going on around you, and stop just repeating memorized lines.