Politics is a Duty, Not a Parlor Game—A Response to Bunnie’s Rant

[McCamy Taylor]

“The price of democracy is eternal vigilance” Thomas Jefferson

There is a post directed at “those whose single purpose is to suck every last bit of optimism from every Obama fan.” Though neither a Hillary nor an Obama supporter, I am troubled by the wording of this piece. “Optimism” is the belief that good ultimately triumphs over evil in the world. Nice view if you can keep it. However, good things do not happen by themselves. If all the people working to see that the good things --like universal health care and peace and clean air and safe work conditions and an end to poverty---if all these individuals decide that they are going to take their toys and go home, them there is very little to be optimistic about. In other words, politically active voters and campaign workers and elected political leaders are the forces that generate optimism in our land. When they abandon their duty to be “eternally vigilant”, that is when we should get pessimistic.

And that word “fan”---when did politicians develop a “fan base”? Political candidates used to have campaign workers or supporters. They used to appeal to a voting base of people who needed the things that candidate had to offer—people who listened to the candidate’s stand on the issues and made a reasoned judgment. “Fans” were something that movie stars and sports figures accumulated. Ronald Reagan was our first Movie Star President, a man totally unfit for the job to which he was elected, but no one cared, because he could deliver a speech like a B grade Hollywood actor and fill out a suit. He had the kind of style that could win him fans.

The problem with fans is that they are fickle. Tell a fan that their celebrity is no longer “hip” or “cool”, and they will look for something else to increase their own sense of self worth. Tell them that their idol is yesterday, and they will try to spot tomorrow’s trend. Tell them that their hero diddled an underage girl, and they will send him hate e-mail and go look for another heart throb.

Imagine being “accused of being brainwashed, braindead, or in a fucking cult.” Welcome to the Democratic Party. Many of us here have heard this every election cycle for as long as we have Democrats---from our employers and our friends at Church and our neighbors. They have called us Commies and Fellow travelers and N-word lovers and Queer and Tree Huggers and a whole bunch of worse names. Even within the party, we have endured name calling. Too establishment. Too militant. Anyone who gets involved in politics had better grow some thick skin, because you do not enter this realm in order to make friends and influence people. You are not automatically going to be crowned World’s most perfect person for choosing a political candidate. There is a reason your grandmother told you not to talk about politics or religion at the dinner table.

I resent the paternalism implied in the statement that “young people new to the political process” need to be protected. I cut my political teeth at age 5. Growing up in Alabama, I saw the police use their fire hoses. I knew just how important the struggle for racial equality was. None of the people engaged in the civil rights struggle would have ever dreamed of saying “Ooooo, someone called me a name. I think I will go back home and drop out of politics, so I don’t have to be embarrassed like this.”

By age 9, I knew exactly what was going on among the various Democratic presidential aspirants in 1968. I idealized none of them and knew that none of them were villains, even as they handed the country to Nixon and four more years of war. When 1972 and McGovern came around, I was full of optimism, and when the election was over I mourned, but I sure as hell did not give up. Like a lot of other people, I channeled that energy into reform---Watergate and what came after.

“You've taken young Dems who just voted in their FIRST primary and turned them into people as bitter as you are.”

What do I say to this? Are there people out there who are not already bitter at the War of Choice in Iraq? Do the death of tens to hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children whom we have killed, some in cold blood, so that the NeoCons and Exxon can steal oil that they believe rightfully belongs to David Rockefeller really pale in comparison to a personal slight to some people at DU? Are there people who are not so afraid of the wiretaps on their phones, emails and computers that they have time to feel agonzed if someone criticizes the political candidate of their choice? Are their people to whom the thought of Americans engaged in torture is nothing much to get concerned about but another DU poster calling their candidate “messianic”---that is major trauma? Are there people who can accept the thought of homeless veterans and children going to bed hungry in the United States of America, but they can not accept someone disagreeing with Obama’s (or Hillary’s) perfection?

As for Mr. Bunnies, I am sorry if he thinks that half the party loathes him. How do you think that the Italian anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti felt when the entire nation railroaded them for a crime they did not commit and executed them for their political beliefs? How do you think that Wobblies organizer Joe Hill felt before they killed him? A little intra-party squabbling is nothing compared to the very real persecution that agents of change have had to face in this country.
Politics is not for the faint of heart and it is not a parlor game. You will be called a lot worse things than “cult member” or “Hillbots” before your political career is over. Look at what they did to Edwards for the crime of wanting to give poor people an even break. And every single day that you work towards your goals, you will encounter the opposition---the economic forces which seek to put all the marbles in the hands of a few players—playing his ultimate card.

It is called Divide and Conquer The strategy is to make each of us hate our brother and sisters more than we hate the true enemy. If it works, we put down our voter registration clipboards or our campaign literature or our picket signs, and we all go home.

“If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.” Thomas Paine

Solidarity!

:dem:

[NMMNG]

1. Proud to be the first K&R

:applause:

[betterthansane]

2. Well said....and besides that

...I have been reading threads on about five different sites most of the evening and I am just not impressed at all with the level, tone or intelligence of the discourse.

It would be exceedingly useful if posters to threads would ask them this simple question.....

"Would my candidate take pride in what I am about to write here?"

and possibly

"Would I stand up and say what I am about to write in front of my candidate/mother/priest"

If I was not a hardened political junkie I wouldn't get very far on these threads.

Wise up!

[motocicleta]

3. No shit

That post was so precious I puked a little in my mouth. All I can say is Bunnies and Mr. Bunnies are living up to their names. Politics and life demand sterner stuff. Please keep the kiddie stuff at the other end of the pool.

K n R

[acmavm]

4. What is all this concern about Barrie's 'first time voters'? I just read another

thread where somebody was fretting over what they will do if Hillary wins. Don't they have to suck it up like the rest of the world and face the reality that (as the Rolling Stones once said) you don't always get what you want? It seems the prevailing theme of both bunnie's bizarre rant and the other one is that Obama deserves the nomination and better get it or else these first time voters will do something drastic. Like pick up their marbles and go home. Or break down in tears and become zombies. Or suffer some horrendous damage to their psyche that they'll be forever unable to face the ugly reality of what is called politics in America.

Sheesh.

[Harry Monroe]

13. The damage to their psyche will be nothing compared to another 8 years of another Repuke President!!

They'd better get over it and unite behind our eventual Democratic nominee. Both Obama and Clinton both have their shortcomings, but I am going to vote for whoever is nominated. It is a far better alternative than the Republican choice.

[LandOLincoln]

5. Hear, hear!

K & R


:kick:

[cbayer]

6. Best and most inspiring post of the day. Made me shiver. Thanks

[PatSeg]

7. Excellent!

I drop by GDP now and then, hoping there will some glimmer of intelligence and sanity left. Thank you.

[Yossariant]

8. Well, well, well, McCamy Taylor. Hats off!

:patriot:

[Maven]

9. K/R

[Usrename]

10. Well done!

Very well done.

There are real concerns, and then there are these other distractions.

"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." the prophet George Orwell

[McCamy Taylor]

11. To which I must reply BUSH-CHENEY are the enemy. Why are we fighting among ourselves?

[madmom]

12. BRAVO!!!

:applause: :toast:

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Excellent reply. We were once young and idealistic and had our hearts broken and our

candidates shot dead, but we continue on.

[KittyWampus]

17. Screw the Cynics. They are Agents of Inertia. They WANT the status quo because it validates

their screwed up personal philosophy.

This isn't about being realistic or politically aware, it's about people who are afraid of success trying to keep others from actually joining together and making it happen.

[sinkingfeeling]

23. I have absolutely no idea what you're ranting about.

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Cynics are last years idealists who got their feelings hurt and went home.

The ones who join together and make it happen are the Mother Jones, John Browns, Frederick Douglas, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paines and Brother Malcolms of the world---the ones who fight and struggle through adversity and put their safety and comfort and financial security and even their lives on the line to make it happen.

[RuleOfNah]

15. "when did politicians develop a “fan base”?"

When haven't they? When haven't young voters been proud of their ignorance? When haven't old voters been proud of their arrogance?

They have called us Commies and Fellow travelers and N-word lovers and Queer and Tree Huggers and a whole bunch of worse names.

And some of them make money doing it. Coulter, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, through every TV Newscaster I can watch, down to local newspaper editorials. Moyers, Goodman, those are some of the bright exceptions that show the weight of the rule.

A better question would be when did politicians deserve respect? Paine, Jefferson, they made their name standing against oppression. It's called oppression for reasons. Living under oppression is not fun, fighting it much less so. Get used to it or get out of the way.

[KittyWampus]

16. aw, you cut your "political teeth at 5". Aren't you special. You think you've seen it all

and are basically telling youngsters and new comers they're weak.

I hope you never become a teacher or hold a position of real authority.

[mojowork_n]

28. K & R to this thread. One of your best posts ever. N/T

[McCamy Taylor]

30. I was lucky to come of age in Alabama during the civil rights movement. I saw real change. I saw how

hard people had to work for it. I saw that it was not pretty or safe. You had to struggle. You had to take help where ever you could find it. I saw that the police were never to be trusted nor were elected politicians. I saw that children like me, starting school like me, were turned away because of their color. I saw fire hoses and dogs turned on children.

And even though there was obviously a right side and a wrong side, I was struck by the fact that there were people who were unwilling to speak out for the side of what was right, because they were afraid of getting ridiculed by their neighbors or if they were kids by the other children in school, of being mocked for their social consciousness. I saw that some children in school were treated unfairly or ostracized, in ways that were not as dramatic as the fire hoses or dogs, but it was all part of the same thing.. It all boiled down to a bunch of cowards hiding within a mob, everyone too afraid to stand out, too scared to step forward and say "Hey, don't pick on him just because he is____. That isn't right!"

When someone posts on DU "Don't say anything that might upset these poor new political workers. They are so frail and dainty that their feelings could be crushed by the slightest thing" I say "Bullshit to that." This is nothing more than an attempt to stifle free discussion. There is no one working on the Obama campaign, no one reading a newspaper in America today who believes that their own right not to be offended trumps the right of another not to be tortured. No one.

If you defend Bunnies message then you are the one telling newcomers that they are weak. You are the one claiming that they must be protected from the real world. I do not believe that Obama's youth supporters are anywhere near as frail as you pretend. I think they know exactly what the real world is all about.

[robbedvoter]

18. "so they don't call us crybabies" - the reason Kerry recalled Ohio bound lawyers

from the tarmac that night - according to Mike Papantonio on Air America - he was one of the said lawyers.
And, yeah, I agree. Can't be in politics - or even activism - without being thick skinned - and willing to take risks.
Awesome post!
I too had put a lot of hope and energy in drafting/campaigning for Clark in 2004. I cried, I am still a bit sad when I think of it, but I still believe in the same things and keep fighting.

[Marrah_G]

19. Great Post !!!!!!!!!!!!! K&R

[kirby]

20. Thomas Paine? I think Ben Franklin...

said “If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.”

It seems to be attributed to either. Franklin said it during the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

[blm]

21. Solidarity for open government. Closed government has proven DANGEROUS.

Open government that respects the citizens with the truth so they can PERFORM their duties as citizens responsibly, is what has been missing from this country for DECADES.

http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

Closed government is killing us, our fellow citizens, and smothering what has been left of our freedoms.

[Cameron27]

22. K&R

:applause:

[femrap]

24. Great Post....! k and r. nt

[Helga Scow Stern]

25. Well said! And by feeling victimized by this, we are playing into

the Evil Hands of Doom. Or something like that.

[tandot]

26. K & R

[judaspriestess]

27. ...................

:toast:

[tomreedtoon]

31. Many people believe that politics, and life, is a game.

They have seen shows like American Idol and think that, if they just look pretty and appeal to the crowd and win the contest, they will have wonderful lives and all the crap of their lives will be washed away.

They think that by supporting one candidate or another - and both Clinton and Obama supporters are guilty of this - they will be surfing an incoming wave of change that will solve every problem with their lives. They will be able to retire, their skin will clear up, they will have satisfactory sex and someone to have sex with.

The OP cut through this nonsense, and I'm grateful for it.

Of course, there are lots of other fallacies. The old-line Democrats like the Kennedys have had no contact with poor people that they claim to support. (See Tom Wolfe's Radical Chic for this in detail.) I have never heard of any of the big-time feminists going to a laundromat in a small town like Bithlo, Florida or Newark, Ohio to talk to some of those "oppressed women" doing laundry to see what's important to their lives.

Maybe it's time everybody got real.

[earth mom]

32. At last some sanity! Well said!

:applause:

[varelse]

33. Too late for me to rec this, so here's a kick at least

Great post! :)

[twenty4blackbirds]

34. k n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

35. Or as Hunter S Thompson related in one of his campaign trail books,

of a young hitch-hiker he had given a lift too, "She seemed to think politics was a kind of game like bridge, played by old folks!"