Hey, Dean folks and all liberals...respond!

[LWolf]

Anyone out there want to help refute the letter about Dean and liberals that made my editorial page today? This is not unusual for this area; letters like this generally dominate our letters to the editor. This is the very first comment on a dem primary candidate, though, and I though maybe Dean folks, or anyone who wants to defend liberalism, might like to respond. I already did. If you do, be kind to my candidate, if you happen to mention him; he isn't mentioned here, but the reference is obvious.

Sorry I can't provide links; my paper doesn't put editorials or letters to the editor on the website. Link for the paper and letters below.

Background:

We have a young man (a student) at the local community college who provides our local conservative rag with a column on the ed/opinion pages. Our papers concession to "fair and balanced." This young man is a leftist libertarian. And provides weekly amusement and fodder for all the right-wing writers of letters to the editor.

Last week, his column took a whole half of a page, all promoting Dean. He did a really great job, IMO; the only discrepancies were the "only one to oppose Iraq" myth. I was surprised that he signed on for Dean, since he is a lot more liberal than Dean is. Maybe it's the "libertarian" angle. The main point of his piece was that Dean is a moderate; likely to appeal to the hidden dems in this hard-core conservative area.

So this morning, the first response came in:

Dean's No Moderate
Surprise, surprise! Matthew Keltner tells us in his Oct. 2 column that he is supporting Howard Dean in the Democratic primary. Isn't that who Ralph Brax is supporting too? What a coincidence! (Brax, a history professor at the local college, is our other liberal contributor.) Notice Matthew's backhanded remark about retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, referring to him as a "fence-walker" because he supported the war. I don't understand why Clark would even bother to run as a Democrat when they've got leftists like Matthew and Ralph in the party who are outspokenly anti-military. Matthew goes on to praise Dean for his so-called "moderate" politics. But what Matthew conveniently forgets to tell you is that Dean had his hand in the New England Dairy Farmers Association--a union of dairy farmers that squelches free enterprise and sets prices for consumers in the Northeast states. Matthew wants us to believe that Dean is really a moderate because he is backed by the NrA and owns guns. Big deal! I dknow a blueblooded socialist with a huge arsenal. Gun ownership doesn't and summport for it doesn't make you a moderate. If readers of Matthew's column were smart, they would automatically be suspicious of why someone as left-wing as he is would support a true moderate. Truth is, Howard Dean is the most left-wing of them all--a perfect fit for "cosmopolitan" Matthew!
Matthew tells us he's "proud" to be a liberal. Pope Leo XIII proclaimed that liberalism had diabolical roots. "But many there are who follow in the footsteps of Lucifer and adopt as their own his febellious cry: 'I will not serv,' and consequently substitute for trye liberty what is sheer and most foolish license. Such men style themselves as liberals." As one Marine officer once remarked, the left in America today represents, "sodomy, socialism, and surrender."
-Rick Arnold, Lancaster

Apologies for typos; I was typing fast. If you'd like to respond, here's the link to the paper:

http://www.avpress.com

[veganwitch]

1. i think the letter refutes itself

they person is obviously unstable and their own idiocy is pretty self-evident.

there was a professor at my college that, after i wrote a letter to the editor on veganism, continued to rail and rail for bio-ethics (which, in my opinion, is simply excusism). this was in 2002. i still speak with a prof who was in our veg*n club and apparently this whack job is still writing letters to the newpaper.

you really can only pity these people.

[LWolf]

2. I agree.

This is the norm for my area. Even though I'm not a Dean supporter, I thought someone might refute it. These whack jobs dominate in our area, from the city councils, local business people, on down. There are a handful of people willing to refute them in print; even though there are plenty of dems out there, they are covert dems, afraid to speak against these folks. The locals are used to hearing from the handful that will speak; I figured a burst of fresh insight might encourage the locals to speak up and relegate these folks to the fringe where they belong.

[helleborient]

3. Hmmm...where would you start?

There is one true point...NRA membership doesn't make you a moderate. Michael Moore is a lifelong member of the NRA.

Simply reading about Pope Leo XXIII in my World Book Encyclopedia :

"In a letter to United States Catholics in 1895, he warned against seeing the American separation of church and state as an ideal for all nations."

"In 1899, he addressed another letter to the American church condemning Americanism...an adaptation of such American concepts as religous liberty and the need to adjust the presentation of Catholic teachings to modern ideas and practices."

Clearly, it seems, Pope Leo XIII was an enemy of the American constitution and any spread of its influence to other nations. I don't think he would think we should be helping write the Iraqi constitution.

He might be reminded of these comments by Dwight Eisenhower near the end of his second term - most certainly not an "antiwar" liberal:

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

Doesn't this summarize the fears of many liberals? Not necessarily opposition to the existence of the military...but opposition to undue influence of military and industrial might.

You also might refer to the fact that the Republican Party until the 80's or so had a proud liberal wing...populated by the likes of Nelson Rockefeller and Lowell Weicker. Republican propaganda turned "liberal" into a bad word...previously it was used frequently to describe a number of Republicans as well as Democrats.

[Mairead]

4. Leo 13 was a genuine anachronism, a throwback to the truly mediaeval

papacy. He apparently really believed that social classes are ordained by God, people should be happy to be obedient serfs, and that the 'earthly princes' should obey the Pope. A real nutter. Anyone who'd quote him could bear having their head read.

The best thing that can be said for him is that his successor was probably worse.

[gottaB]

5. 2 tacks

You support Dennis, right? The first tack is to simply lay out your reasons for supporting Dennis.

Second tack. The essence of the substantive charge this nutcase makes is that liberals are anti-military. That's easy to refute. Cite veterans groups and newly formed groups of military families who oppose the Iraq war. Show how the Democrats, including Kucinich, or Dean, or whomever you like, show how they genuinely care about the well being of our soldiers. Cite Senator Kennedy. Make the case that the Powell doctrine has been abandoned in favor of PNAC dogma. Make it an argument of chickenhawk AWOL blowhards vs. experienced leaders who actually know something about the military--because they listen, and reflect, and don't get their panties in a wad over irrelevant hatreds.

[DrFunkenstein]

6. What's So Funny About Sodomy, Socialism and Surrender?

Not only are the roots of diabolic, I think we should stop pretending they're not. A friend of the Devil is a friend of mine. I embrace the "race music" that has loosened the morality of our children and corrupted all sense of decency. I think the Red menace actually should round up our police and burn down the churches.

I say down with America! Down with all that is good! Down! Down!

[Nicholas_J]

7. Leftist Libertarian?

This is a contradiction in terms. Libertartians are generally considered RIGHT WING.

And far from being left wing, many Vermont legislators would consider Dean not only a moderate, but an outright conservative. HE has been frequently described as s "Rockerfeller Republican"

The reason that I find Dean absolutely abhorrant is his adherannce to conservative principals at the expense of all else:

After Dean officially announced his campaign on June 23, some news stories identified him with the left. It's a case of mistaken identity. 'He's really a classic Rockefeller Republican -- a fiscal conservative and social liberal,' according to University of Vermont political scientist Garrison Nelson."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2003/27/we_473_02.html#one

I defend liberalism on many principals. They ended child labor. They ended the great depression, they fought the Fascists in Europe, they fixed the economic catastrophe that Reagan created to defeat the "EVIL EMPIRE", which gave rise to the current "AXIS OF EVIL" that "Conservatives, the New Batch" are trying to create another economic catastrophe for in order to transfer wealth from the tax-payers to Haliburton, who are being most unpatriotic by doing business with Iran theough a subsidiary called Halliburton Products and Services Ltd, of the Cayman Islands. They also have offices in Iran as a result.

Notice as well, those nasty extrememly liberal Social Democracies of Europe are able to provide massive social benefits to their citizens. Have thriving economies. SO thriving that it is France and Germany that the U.S. is borrowing money from to finance the new deficit.

Thats why a lot of nations are dumping the dollar and using the EURO as the new international medium of exchange.

[LWolf]

8. Thanks for the thoughts.

I made my response. I'd just like to see a larger voice for dems/progressives locally. We have them, but the right-wing nut-jobs are so prevalent, and so loud, that they scare them into silence. I was thinking that more voices, instead of the same 5 or 6 every week, would help.