The Baselessness of Defeatism

[The River]

Enough with the whiney ass cry-baby posts about how
JK is now responsible for our impending November defeat.
If it isn't Kerry, it's the DLC or Rove or some other individual or
group who is going to cost us the election.
This has got to stop!
So, for all the desperate doom and gloomers, a post from Glen Greenwald
on the baselessnes of your fears.
Read it, and then, if you still feel we are doomed, just STFU till November 8th.
Otherwise, I'm going to assume you are one of the infamous "deep cover trolls"
who wait for times like these to spread doubt, fear and despair on DU.


http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/


"One particularly toxic effect of three straight national election victories by the Bush movement is the defeatist belief -- pervasive among many Democrats and other Bush critics -- that our political situation is hopeless, in large part because Americans are too apathetic and easily manipulated. Aside from the obvious danger that defeatism of that sort can easily become self-fulfilling, it is also grounded in factually false premises.

This defeatist mindset is typically predicated on the claim that Rovian Republicans have uniquely mastered the art of ruthless political propaganda, that the media either fails to criticize this propaganda or even actively disseminates it, that the worldview of the Bush movement is simpler and more base than its opposite and therefore more easily conveyed, that Americans don't care about anything as long as they are well-fed and entertained, etc. etc. Most typically, this defeatist view relies upon some combination of these pessimistic premises, and is used to draw the conclusion that the so-called "conservative" movement is destined to win because the hurdles to defeating it are virtually insurmountable.

<snip>

For those who long ago and with complete certainty recognized the corruption and dangers of the Bush movement, frustration can easily set in because this change has been slow and incremental. For those who believe that this President and his administration are so plainly corrupt and evil to the core, the fact that this has been such a long, hard slog can lead to despair and has the tendency to affirm the view that the system is hopelessly stacked against real change. But this progress is real and substantial and meaningful.

Our system of government was designed based on the expectation -- really, the inevitability -- that there would be excesses and abuses of power in the future. For that reason, the founders sought, first and foremost, to provide as many safeguards as possible in the form of self-corrective mechanisms which are intrinsic to the system (and they maximized the likelihood that such mechanisms will prevent abuse by ensuring that radical changes will be very slow and difficult to achieve). And the (imperfect though still consistent) history of American public opinion is that it backlashes against extremism and abuses of power. That is clearly what is occurring now."

[BeFree]

1. Good for you, River

The defeatist try and try to slow the flow: they are but a minor inconvenience. Onward, to the sea!