dawg
dawg's JournalWhy I choose to be a counterproductive left wingnut.
I don't change my position on the issues because of who occupies the Oval Office.
I opposed targeted assassinations of U.S. citizens under President Bush, so I also oppose them under President Obama.
I opposed invasive NSA spying and blanket warrants under President Bush, so I also oppose them under President Obama.
I opposed proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare under President Bush, so I also oppose them under President Obama.
I opposed free trade deals (that strengthen the hands of global corporations and weaken the bargaining position of workers) under President Bush, so I also oppose them under President Obama.
I opposed austerity economics under President Bush (although he never actually tried it), so I also oppose it under President Obama.
By now, surely you get the picture.
I want to be counterproductive because I want to stop things. I want to be the spanner in the works; the fly in the ointment.
I think counterproductive left wingnuts stopped a potential Larry Summers fed chairmanship in its tracks. And that is a good thing.
I also think counterproductive left winguts helped to stop, or at least delay, a reckless and potentially illegal attack on Syrian government forces that would have proved detrimental to long-term U.S. interests in the region. (Some say that Obama brilliantly planned things to go the way they did all along. If so, then he sure is a lot smarter than his staunch supporters who were shilling for the missile attacks 24/7 when they thought that was his plan.)
It's not that I am inflexible and unwilling to compromise. I recognize that some things simply aren't possible right now.
But the Republicans are crazy. I'm not being hyperbolic here, either. The policies they support are insane and would destroy the lives of many Americans if they were ever allowed to go into effect. There is no compromising with that. The more we give them, the more they demand, and centrists who try to tell us otherwise must be living on some other planet.
President Obama has lots of admirable qualities, and I agree with him on a number of issues. He's pro-choice, a staunch supporter of gay rights and civil rights in general, he has been willing to raise taxes somewhat on the wealthy, and his health insurance plan will be an improvement over what existed before.
But I grow more and more convinced that the Democratic Party is in the process of selling its soul.
And I don't blame President Obama. He's just one of many.
As the Republicans fall farther and farther off the deep end, more and more Democrats are realizing that wealthy donors can be brought over to our side if only we "moderate" our positions on economic matters somewhat.
But I don't want my party to turn into nothing more than the pro-choice, gay-friendly, version of the republicans.
I have always shown up at the polls to vote for Democrats, from Dukakis in 1988 to Obama in 2012. But I'm not an automatic vote. Not anymore.
Somehow, between the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, the Republican Party transformed from the Party of Lincoln, to the Party of Reagan. I bet it did not happen overnight, and I bet there were many in the party who cried foul along the way.
I wonder if they ever got called counterproductive left wingnuts?
A serious and sympathetic post for any lurking conservatives.
Your pollsters and your pundits lied to you.
They told you all the mainstream polls were "skewed".
They told you it was going to be a Romney landslide.
They said their internal polls showed that Romney was ahead, and that Pennsylvania was in play.
They lied.
They did it because they wanted to manipulate you and make sure that you were excited enough to go out and vote. Maybe you understand why they lied, but it should be clear to you by now, that they did indeed lie to you.
They lie to you about other things as well. They definitely lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They are lying to you about climate change. And they constantly lie to you about the income distribution of the tax cuts they propose.
The biggest lies they tell, though, are about us - the liberals. The truth is this:
We believe in hard work, and that it would be best if every able-bodied working age person had a job.
We believe in families; strong families make a strong America.
We believe in the freedom of religion. We would never support a candidate who was openly hostile to Christianity (or Judaism, or Islam, etc.).
We believe in success. Most of us do not favor punitive tax rates for the rich; we just think that middle class and working class families should get extra breaks on their taxes that the rich do not need.
We believe in free enterprise capitalism (well, most of us). Capitalism works through competition, and competition fails when big businesses are allowed to run roughshod over smaller businesses and workers. That's why we favor regulated capitalism instead of a Wild West free-for-all.
Most of all, we believe in America. We love this country and we strive to make it better. We may not always be right about everything, but we are motivated by our love of the country and its people - ALL of its people.
We are your friends and your neighbors. We have jobs, kids, mortgages, bills, honey-do lists, and headaches just the same as you. We aren't the monsters Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck told you we were.
Your pollsters and your pundits lied to you.
I'm telling you the truth.
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Gender: MaleHometown: Georgia
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 10,622