Brothers and sisters ... do you *believe*? [View All]

[Mechatanketra]

There's a sentiment that pops up time to time in discussions, a kind of rhetorical trick where prognostication is read as preference. "The Democrats are rooting for the economy to stay sour!" "The peaceniks want more Americans to die!" and so forth.

Closely related to this is a kind of handwringing over various potential party positions as if the outcome of anything wasn't actually caused by stuff, but merely randomly determined by some cosmic crapshoot. "We can't oppose this war -- what if they find WMD? We'll look bad!" "If Bush turns the economy around before the elections, we're not going to have much of a platform!" And so on, and so on, and so on.

Hearing this stuff makes me wonder sometimes: does anyone else actually believe in our side (read: "people who think Bush and/or Republicanism is in the wrong") anymore? Or do people generally harbor this sneaking suspicion inside that someday, out of the blue, supply-side economics will produce prosperity, total deregulation will finally accomplish the birth of a corruption-free self-policing market, noted terrorist leaders will admit they only attacked us out of envy for our freedoms, the abolition of affirmative action will lead to an unprecedented era of racial harmony, etc.?

I, for one, don't have an answer to those who ask "but what if ...?" -- because it's a strawman, a red herring. Or rather, I guess, my answer is that of Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters: "If we're wrong ... fine. Nothing happens. We go to jail, calmly, peacefully, we'll enjoy it." (OK, maybe not that far, but I think you get the idea). If the Republicans' way of doing things could produce the results they claim, I'd be a Republican -- but I'm not. Because half the time they're lying, and half the time, they're just wrong. I mean, that's why I'm here; that's why I get involved in politics at all.

Thus concludes the sermon. We will now proceed to a hymn (hmm -- onder how "Idiot Son of an Asshole" sounds on an organ ...)