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June 13, 2006
Markos is so right it's scary.
It appears for the second time in a week, one of the central themes of Crashing the Gates has been demonstrated for me right before my own eyes. I've been trying to work both angles of this problem, well let me start closer to the beginning. There are basically three types of people in politics. Politicos (establishment folks included) which are directly involved in the process, activists that try to shape the process into something different and then the unwashed masses, who are pretty much clueless about the process and convincing them to get involved is a painful affair. People tend to be in one of these three categories.
Working with Politicos is pretty much one of the most physically exhausting things I do. They have their own language and customs and it's hard to connect with them, because they just don't work the way you or I do. I should paint with too broad a brush stroke with this. The more power that a Politico seeks, the less easy it is to understand them and their motivations. I've had very little trouble connecting with local candidates, most of them are just like me, they just decided to put their name on a ballot.
And that brings me to the next class of people in politics...The Activists. I'm an Activist, which basically means I'm aware of what the politicos are up too, but I'm only interested in specific aspects of it. Activists are challenging in their own right, because the vast majority of them are so focused on their own issue that they ignore everything else that's happening in the world around them. I try to keep the broadest focus I possibly can as an Activist, which actually makes me sound more like a politico, but I'm still just an Activist.
So if you read Crashing the Gates, Markos has a long conversation about the complete failure of the liberal Activist community to actually get out of their issue silos and grasp the big picture of the situation at hand, which has led to a bunch of unholy alliances with "moderate" Republicans, who destroy the American way of life. There is no such thing as a moderate Republican, there are only those that try to destroy America and those who enable them to do it.
So what does this have to do with anything Jamison? Well last night I watched a group of Liberal Activists in the DFA proceed down an issue silo and create a defacto alliance with the radical right. I'm not questioning the merits of their arguments, they are all completely valid and legitimate, but if you step back and look at the big picture, they are so focused in their silo that they have effectively cut themselves off from the people that agree with them.
None of this stuff happens in a vacuum, people's egos and lust for power are pretty hard to ignore, but in the end you have to ask yourself, what kind of country do you want to live in? If we all don't join forces against a ruthlessly organized radical right wing threat dedicated to our total destruction, then we are in effect saying that our destruction is the right thing to do. They are a godless machine hell bent on destroying this country, every one of them down to the last man, woman and child are willing to sacrifice their lives to make sure that they cause America harm and ultimately it's complete destruction. There is no hesitation. Their entire blue collar ranks are being effectively starved to death by their anti-America plans and yet without a job or the ability to feed their family, they march happily to the polls every election cycle to vote a few more years of oppressive and destructive Republican rule.
Against an enemy like this, there is no silo that is significant, no issue worth quibbling about. We fight together to save our country and ourselves from evil. That's just the way it has to be.
Posted by Jamison at June 13, 2006 6:59 AM
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Comments
Therefore those who win every battle are not really skillful-those who render others' armies helpless without fighting are the best of all.
Art of War 'Sun Tzu'
Jamison you need to reread the two books every leader needs to have read at least twice. Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' and Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'.
In your DFA it seems that the fragmentation of the party is allowing the Radical Right to subvert part of the base of the Dem. Party. This is because both sides have become so polarized in the last ten plus years. Parties should be about ways to run the nation not about peoples individual rights. Gay, Guns and God are issues of the individual not the state or federal government.
Posted by: Royal at June 13, 2006 8:34 PM