Thanks to Iraq — I'm kinda wanting to go over to the other side.
Okay, well, maybe not that side, but I sure think that nowadays, it's a helluva lot more fun to be a reactionary than to be a liberal.
And less lonely, too.
I'm really running outta gas on this liberal thing. When I write a post nowadays, I feel like a guy opening a Yarmulke Shop in downtown Berlin in 1933. When I satirize a conservative on Blogcritics, I feel like I'm performing a Bris ceremony in the Nuremberg town square.
I'm tired of being a "liberal progressive."
Seriously.
You guys have Bush. And the Bush bloodline — which apparently won't run out within the next four or five generations. I fully expect The Twins to take office (President AND Vice President!) right after Jeb and Neal get done with their second terms. We have the beginnings of a new apostolic succession that will make the length of the English Monarchy's reign look like the lifespan of a sitcom on WB.
...Meanwhile, we have Ted "not dog food, not yet at least" Kennedy. Or the friggin' 'meltdown man' Howard Dean. Shit, we don't even have Christopher Hitchens anymore — and we can't appeal to the younger generation because they'd rather own stocks in Google than have an alternative to cardboard castles and dogfood dinners in their too distant old age.
Yall have Kid Rock and Ted Nugent.
Shit, we have... what... Barbara Streisand... and she hasn't made a decent album in decades...
Yall have a real honest-to-god "We're Gonna Kick Yer Ass for Your Own Good" Foreign Policy — an Imperialist dream of conquering the world that has balls, smells of testosterone, and promises a happy ending.
...We want everyone on the world playground to, as Blogcritic Al Barger would say, "play nicey" — but our outlook is grim, and we don't really see how cool it looks and feels to walk with a swagger and carry a Nice Big Stick. We wanna turn that Cosmic War Mace into toothpicks for the poor. That ain't gonna sell.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aaman
I'm really running outta gas on this liberal thing. When I write a post nowadays, I feel like a guy opening a Yarmulke Shop in downtown Berlin in 1933.
You deserve an award at least for combining gas and 1933 Berlin in the same paragraph.
Multitudes, indeed:)
Keep the faith, baby!
2 - Shark
Aaman, good catch. What's next? Ulysses?
And thanks for your support during my nervous breakdown.
3 - Eric Olsen
when you're right you're right: it's much more fun and satifying to own things and crush your enemies than the alternative, but I like clean air and water and never refer to the Bible regarding public policy - there are a lot like me too
4 - SFC SKI
Shark, it's always hard to tell where your sarcasm ends and heartfelt opinion begins, but you are pretty damn funny.
Like Eric, Some things I love about the President and his party, and other things still make me cringe and run away from them. So, you shouldn't feel the need to jump with both feet, there's room enough in the middle, and you can lean in whatever direction you like.
5 - Roy Smith
You're right, we liberals can't compete with the simplistic, testosterone-soaked, hate- and greed-driven agenda of the far right ... at least not among that portion of the populace that regards politics as another form of cheap TV entertainment, to be watched right after Jerry Springer and before the WWF. With any luck though, these people do not constitute the majority of our country. And if they do? Well, people ultimately get the government they deserve ...
BTW, most, if not all, of my politics is informed by my having been raised in a Christian church and being a faithful member to this day. Those beliefs, in turn, make me detest most of what the far right has to say and to cringe every time I hear a fundamentalist describe himself as "Christian". Maybe my problem is that I think Jesus actually meant it when he said things like "love your neighbor as yourself" and "turn the other cheek".
6 - Shark
Roy Smith: "...my problem is that I think Jesus actually meant it when he said things like "love your neighbor as yourself" and "turn the other cheek".
Yep, Jesus was a liberal (and probably gay -- what with being surrounded by men who lived, worked, ate, and slept together), but look where he ended up.
I have an aversion to being nailed to any static object, so for now on, I'm stickin' with the GOP's implicit mantra: "Fuck you: I got mine."
(Ah, that feels much better.)
7 - Eric Olsen
the problem with turning the other cheek is it is perceived as weakness by our enemies and as such invites attack - bin Laden said so himself.
8 - Shark
Eric: "...turning the other cheek is perceived as weakness by our enemies..."
(Shark frantically scanning scripture to negate Jesus' wimpy-ass mandate)
Ahh, good, here it is! Rejoice, my fellow Conservatives!
THAT'S BETTER!
9 - Eric Olsen
yeah yeah - we know the New Testament is supposed to supplant the Old, but I am more concerned with reality: if bin Laden and similar fuckstains say our weakness justifies their aggression, then I guess we have to prove them wrong, with prejudice
10 - bhw
Well, I don't think we need to turn the other cheek when a terrorist strikes. But the Christian Right seems to have forgotten what Jesus was talking about when it comes to a) domestic policy [render unto Ceasar and all that] and b) dealing with people with whom you disagree spiritually, morally, socially, and politically.
11 - Aaman
There is a difference, oft forgot, betweeen righteous anger and the other kind.
12 - andy marsh
God bless America...
Is san andreas any good?
13 - Shark
Andy: "Is san andreas any good?"
Andy, I don't know.
As I've stated, I'm currently trying to shake the cultural retardation of my long liberal past.
You can ask me about "Pokemon" until I catch up...
14 - Roy Smith
1) Shark: Yep, Jesus was a liberal (and probably gay -- what with being surrounded by men who lived, worked, ate, and slept together)
I must take from this that you believe all our military members are gay ... I am in the Navy and am certain that this is not the case.
2) Eric: The British thought Gandhi was weak, too ...
3) Turning the other cheek isn't always the answer, I will grant you, but there is a valid principle there that we can learn from. (For instance, the War in Afghanistan did not suffer from the moral ambiguity that has surrounded Iraq or Guantanamo Bay.)
Avenging every injustice with force is also not the answer. Look where that approach has gotten the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The point of this is that the way to ultimately win this "war on terror" is to show that we are more moral and more courageous than the terrorists. More courageous is the easy part - we just need to avoid succumbing to fear. More moral is much trickier, and depends on not acting in ways which are seen to be self-interested or greedy. Just as important, we cannot declare ourselves to be more moral: like it or not, it is the rest of the world that gets to decide whether we are acting on a higher moral plane than the terrorists that seek to destroy us.
15 - swingingpuss
Another saying from the good book- as you sow,so shall ye reap. We created bin laden and finally get to face the music which the rest of the world had been listening to for over last three decades.
And we would be dancing to their tunes till we realize that using hard power actually means cutting your nose to spite your face.
Using soft power doesnt mean turning the other cheek, it means winning the hearts of the suffering people and thus depriving the terrorists of their base support.
There is another saying- if pushed to a corner even an ant would come out fighting
Hard power never works in the long run.
16 - Roy Smith
Eric: if bin Laden and similar fuckstains say our weakness justifies their aggression, then I guess we have to prove them wrong, with prejudice
That only works up to the point where we don't compromise our own moral principles. Abu Ghraib and incidents like it probably did more damage to the war on terror than the entire Iraq insurgency has, because it convinced a lot of people on the sidelines that we had no moral superiority over the terrorists.
17 - Dave Nalle
>>I must take from this that you believe all our military members are gay ... I am in the Navy and am certain that this is not the case.<<
Now come on, everyone knows sailors ae gay. Don't try to take our cliches away from us man.
Dave
18 - Shark
Roy: "Abu Ghraib and incidents like it probably did more damage to the war on terror than the entire Iraq insurgency has, because it convinced a lot of people on the sidelines that we had no moral superiority over the terrorists."
Lesson Learned: Keep cameras out of the hands of our 'interrogators'.
~Next!
19 - Eric Olsen
so in addition to reviling Johnny Depp you are an adherent of the blowback theory. We didn't "create" the bin Laden of al Qaeda: he metastasized into that all on his own. I agree we have to pay a lot better attention to those whom we train, equip and encourage - they cannot be left to their own devices, as we have painfully learned throughout the globe.
But you aren't telling me "we brought 9/11 on ourselves," are you? For that is the most odiferous of offal.
20 - JR
Yep, Jesus was a liberal (and probably gay -- what with being surrounded by men who lived, worked, ate, and slept together)...
And never married, thought his mother was a saint, had a close platonic relationship with a hooker... The guy definitely fits the profile.
21 - bhw
For once, I think we have to learn the lesson that the policy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" has a price, and that we will have to pay up at some point.
Blowback is real.
22 - Eric Olsen
He was most certainly a radical, but whether right or left is difficult to tell
23 - Aaman
free tadical?
24 - Roy Smith
Are we sure that it was a platonic relationship?
25 - Eric Olsen
I'm left, you're right, she's gone