alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

December 23, 2007

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

by AltHippo @ 6:36 pm. Filed under Uncategorized

This exchange between Glenn Greenwald and Ezra Klein confused me. Sort of. I had noticed at the time that Glenn had posted something about Ron Paul, and because I have no interest in the life and times of Ron Paul, I just ignored it.

Did you know that reading the blogs is optional? It is. Yes, people will say sometimes that such-and-such a blogger should be required reading, but that, as Willard “Mitt” Romney might say, is meant “figuratively”.

Apparently, the original Greenwald post praised Paul for his positions on civil liberties. This upset Ezra, who pointed out, not entirely diplomatically, that Paul’s position on abortion is not progressive. As he put it: “I find Glenn Greenwald’s defense of Ron Paul’s anti-abortion record deeply bizarre. ‘Look over here, he likes the Constitution’ doesn’t exactly respond to concerns that, in a Ron Paul world, tens of millions of women will be forced to use their bodies to bear children against their will.”

My impression is that Glenn was trying to embarrass the Clintons, Obamas, and Edwards of the World, not advance the Ron Paul campaign. As if the scores of progressive DC insiders that read Glenn’s blog would suddenly say to themselves “You know, this year I think I’m going to vote libertarian.”

Not gonna happen.

That Ezra’s post had a personal edge to it, made me wonder if the dreary late fall/early winter here in our fair city was starting to get to him. It’s been mostly overcast for the last week, which coupled with the proximity of the birth of the founder of Christianity, and the accompanying surfeit of shoppers on their holiday binge, might explain the tone.

Or, he could have been trying to start a pissing contest. Who knows.

Thinking about it I wondered what would happen to the red states if they ever did pass all of the laws that they’ve been just dying to pass, but have been prevented by an “activist” (yet mostly Republican) Supreme Court. Let’s say they finally banned abortion, affirmative action, passed anti-sodomy laws, illegalized unions, got rid of the minimum wage, Social Security, welfare, state-sponsored health care, and banned books from their library that contested any of these issues.

And taught Creationism Science in the public schools. How could I forget that?

I would guess a Fundamentalist overhaul of the red-state legal system would result in mass exodus. Who would want to live there?

I’m wondering if you could take the recently released SimCity Societies and try the Red State hypothesis out somehow. That could make a fascinating 3d simulation.

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2 Responses to “Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?”

  1. eRobin Says:
    December 25th, 2007 at 11:11 pm

    I don’t think people are that mobile.

    Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2008 to you :)

  2. AltHippo Says:
    December 26th, 2007 at 2:00 am

    A happy and healthy 2008 to you as well.

    You’re right, of course, that people aren’t that mobile. When the Red State mentality inflicts you and your loved ones, it’s important to be able to get out of Dodge. Ironically, the one good thing about a Dodge, or any of the Chrysler brands, is using it to get out of Dodge.

    As I write this, a 30-year-old clip of David Bowie singing with Bing Crosby is playing on my tv. Which begs the larger question: if Bowie and Crosby can do a peace song together, why is the rest of the world so far behind?

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