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I wondered to myself... Now that we're on top, what will DU become? I hoped it might become something of an inclusive liberal think-tank, with our finest minds being able to take the dross thrown by the other side and spin it into political gold. I hoped we could find common ground and put together ideas about framing that could, possibly, knock the Republicans off their game a little.
Maybe I was hoping for way too much, especially considering the Republicans hardly needed any help being knocked off their game, considering they're reeling around the country like drunken pirates on shore leave, but I didn't expect us to turn the guns on one another for the fuck of it.
Maybe I should have. Okay, maybe part of me feared or suspected that outcome. I mean, why not, right? Our enemies are beaten (hahaha) and, well, we've got enough disagreements within our own rank to fuel a thousand bloody internet brawls... if not more. If nothing else, we have the grand standby of the left-authoritarians against the left-libertarians. "Let's ban tobacco!"
"Oh, fuck, not this shit again."
The battle for healthcare should have given us a real reason to band together, to fight for something meaningful and to expand our voice across the web to all the other liberal sites. "Don't give us half-measures, you motherfuckers. Make it real or go home." But instead, we started fighting amongst ourselves almost as soon as the first hint of a plan came down the pike. I won't hide it. I was for single-payer all the way. Because it's the ONLY thing that'll actually work. If we had've come out of the gate screaming "Health care for all or FUCK YOU," in pretty much the same way the Republicans ask for ANYTHING, we might have gotten a seriously strong "public option" out of it. But, no. We got second-guessing, pissy-pants, "keep our ammo dry for something...anything...else" motherfuckers who couldn't negotiate their way out of a maze designed for and by a three year old.
I know the term "herding cats" was practically invented for Democrats (if it actually wasn't) and in many ways I think that's a strength. But when we can't even come up with a solid position from which to push? No wonder all the fringe groups felt as though they'd been thrown under the bus. With all the pushing and shoving the minority interests were the first casualties.
I've tried, tried very hard as a matter of fact, to keep my emotions out of these disagreements. I like debating for it's own sake, and for the chance that it might bring up lines of thought no one has considered before. I know it has for me. I still think my idea for getting corporate donations out of certain STATE campaigns is a good one. Unfortunately people were too busy beating the living shit out of one another to pay attention.
So be it. Let the Republicans control the state initiative process. Let them rule the ONLY way we have to force politicians to do or accept things they would never vote for if left to their own devices.
Can't say I'm innocent of making it worse that it might have been, but the debacle of several weeks ago weighs heavily on me. I came back to DU after a long hiatus after the Primary Wars because I was specifically asked by someone I respect a great deal (someone who hasn't posted any of HER famous threads for quite some time, btw...though, I would say, for good reason. I know I don't tend to do much of this while dealing with personal issues either).
I've been a bit pissed since that whole blow-up. I openly admitted to something I'd never bothered to hide in the first place and suddenly I became Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of some folks. I think it was at that moment that I realized that any semblance of respect in this place was as ephemeral as the dreams of single payer health care have become. It's really a "what have you posted worth a shit lately" type of deal.
Fine.
So I'll post police threads that piss off the authoritarians because, well, I don't give a fuck if I piss them off. Not all cops are bad. But even if they're not, too many of them are, and too many others are complicit. It's the truth and if you can't take the truth, maybe you should go somewhere else.
And I'll post my opinion about the 2nd Amendment (Self-Defense is a inalienable right) and, again, I don't give a shit who likes it or not.
And, well, I'll post things about ME and MY opinions, and (Gawd forbid) my personal experiences because, well, I reserve the right to do so even if some people think it makes me a self-absorbed jerk. Fuck them. My therapist doesn't seem to think so. That's good enough for me.
Maybe I do need something I can only get here. The anonymous (mildly) wild west atmosphere of someplace like DU is where people can let their hair down and talk shit to anyone. I'm not used to it anymore, particularly since I'm not the littlest kid in my class anymore, the one with his nose buried in a book WAY older than any my peers might choose to read. Maybe I need a reminder of what it's like to be kicked around--not because of any tendency to do it myself, but because I need to remind myself why I loathe bullies more than anything else on the planet and why I tend to give them both barrels when I see someone else under their not-so-tender ministrations.
There are a lot of things that are still good about DU. The idea that we all respect one another as part of the great liberal "army" in opposition to the Right Wing fuckheads--well, that's not one of them anymore. If it ever really was.
But rest assured. If you're the kind of liberal who likes the notion of "banning" things that you don't like, I will be along to kick holes in your complacency. I don't like banning things, be it books, movies, substances, or weapons. I don't claim to be wise enough to decide what someone else is worthy enough to possess, and I don't think anyone else is either (here or elsewhere). It's a bit like I feel about God or the "supernatural." I don't know and neither does anyone else. You don't preach to me, I won't tell you to take a long walk off a short pier. I will note, however, that it's not the Christians on DU who have a tendency to tell me what I should believe. I may not agree with them, but at least they're not annoying.
And don't confuse my left-libertarianism with the other variety. I'm not an "I've got mine and fuck you if you don't" type person, and I resent the fuck out of anyone suggesting I am. If I was, I'm sure I could find other places to be than DU.
I take some solace in knowing that for all the respect I'm not afforded here, there are other places where I know that I can expect respect to be reciprocal. And I can live with that. As long as I realize that only certain people on DU give a rat's ass about respect. Giving or receiving.
All in all, I think the positive of DU still outweighs the negative. But sometimes it's a close thing. When I see people telling our gay brothers and sisters that they need to sit down and shut up, or telling other minority members that they're getting all riled up for no reason, well...
That dog won't hunt. Not for a minute.
Question authority, power to the people, fuck the corporations, and never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Good night and good grace.
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