alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

July 9, 2008

On the Balance of Dissent

by AltHippo @ 4:29 pm. Filed under 2008 Elections, democrats

Chris Bowers wonders:

Logic aside, I have to wonder why hundreds of people on Daily Kos would desire for people to leave a group that is critical of Obama from the left. This is to effectively ask Obama supporters to stop asking things from Obama. The inability of some to tolerate any criticism of Barack Obama is pretty depressing.

Really? You don’t understand why someone would want to put an ixnay on the iticism-cray? Might it be that a continued Executive under the Republicans would be harmful to our society? Hmmm? Also, am I crazy here, or do Democrats have a history of pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory? (I guess both could be true.)

It’s a balancing act that Democrats have not yet figured out. Democratic representatives routinely dump on the left. They show disrespect for the base in a way I don’t see from the Republicans. That’s not going to work going forward. The base needs to, ought to, hold their representatives accountable. Now, it’s also true that some politicians (you know who you are) are from districts that don’t understand why the Democrats are against eavesdropping on the Muslims. Living in an informed society, to very badly paraphrase Ghandi, would be a good idea. The point being that large segments of American society don’t see things like FISA as effecting their rights, but just the rights of others.

So, there must be a degree of accountability. There must be a constant and vigilant effort to undermine authoritarianism. Money, and the laws of physics and gravity say that politicians will reform government in a manner that most benefits themselves. If there is a central tenet of the blogosphere, it’s that the light of observation kills cancer.

On the other hand, there are the crazies. (Excerpt: “Did I mention all of the superdelegates that had to be threatened with primary challenges, the other superdelegates that were bought off, the power of DFA used as your personal campaign organization outside of the official OBAMA organization and nearly every African-American in the US voting for you? And with all of that plus the institutional power of the Democratic establishment lining up behind Obama so they can pull his strings after he is in office, he only just *barely* managed to buy his way into the winner’s circle. Barely. Because we’re not talking about his qualifications or experience, which is virtually non-existent. I can’t think of anything more embarrassing than having been carried to the nomination on the back of droogs who want to use you. For sure, no one will ever look at the nomination of Barack Obama and have anyone say he won on his merits. “) That reminds me: any chance that Michelle Malkin actually writes the Riverdaughter screeds?

The point being is that there is a balance between those two extremes (Orange Satanists and Meowists), and we haven’t found it yet.

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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

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