Catharsis

A fair warning in advance- if a rant is not something you'd prefer to read here in your blog travels, please scroll past this entry to the next one. I won't be offended. Just getting that out of the way. Every once in a while I have a moment of soul-crushing political doubt, a moment where I am ready just to stop caring and become a mindless sheep like everyone else (when's the next 'American Idol' on?). Yesterday afternoon, spending my day off reading various blogs, I had such a "what's the point?" moment.

In my travels, I came across this- Censure Russ Feingold.

Mark Noonan, a high-profile member of the right-wing Free Republic and senior writer at the above-linked Blogs For Bush, is starting a movement to urge people to call for a censure of Russ Feingold. You see they have looked at our current political landscape and identified the enemy- and it is the Democratic senator who dared to take on the President. In his post, he mostly writes how the Democrats have aided our enemies and how this 'free ride' must be stopped. Apparently, he has forgotten which party holds the power in this country. In his replies to comments he says, with I assume a straight face, that the Democrats' actions "make the war longer and bloodier than it had to be" and that if we "don't liberate Iraq, [we] might as well just give up the whole concept of fighting terrorism". He states we have but two options- "support your country, or help the enemies of your country".

After reading all of this, I honestly wished I was complacent enough never to care about politics again.

The insanity of these people, the fact that they are 110% sure that they are right, the ease with which they have the internalized the President's "with us or against us" world view from 2002, and the fact that these thoughts are leading this country at the moment... it's all too much. I do not fear nor hate these loyal Bush supporters, rather I pity them. There is no limit to how far they will follow the President, as long as the war is going on, which will be forever. After all, without the war, there is no reason for Bush to even be President. His domestic agenda is mostly a failure, all he has left are the strings of a national security imperative. The link above should be ample proof of that.

I don't say this as a liberal absorbed in my own super righteous world. I don't stay in my own political echo chamber; I make a strong effort not to (and I love Fox News- some of the funniest stuff on television). I read all the big conservative blogs (Michelle Malkin- also hilarious! What a great satire!) and try to see how the other side is making their case. Sometimes I just sit and think... why do I believe what I believe? Where am I wrong? Is this issue not worth the fight? I am friends with Republicans, I know these debates aren't black and white. I know we are at war and I understand that that scares people. I know that it is base instinct to rally around ones leaders during such times. Yet, I also know that this an easy out for people like Mark Noonan.

We as a people aren't weak- we are stronger than those base instincts. We don't need to defend a failed leader to feel secure. I know that we have a constitution that is currently just as fragile as our ports. And while there are people overseas who want to do the latter harm, I know there are people in our government who are doing the former harm.

I give these issues plenty of thought. The conclusion I come to is always the same- that this administration is a failure (see for the instance the trial of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, which they could not even get right) who have robbed America of its dignity in just five short long years. And not only are they dangerously incompetent, their belief that they are above the law (as well as an open hostility to the press, legislative branch, the courts, and civil liberties) presents a danger to our democracy.

Most people think these things to some degree, but many don't discuss them this passionately. People might be offended. People might question your patriotism. Politically it's declared better to pull your punches (as if the Republicans have ever pulled a punch, let alone a kick or stab). Well thank God I'm no politician; I couldn't do it.

In addition, I sometimes don't even know why I bother blogging. What's the point? Am I accomplishing anything? Am I just communicating with those who already believe all of this? And I often think that I blog too much. I think that is turning off people who may potentially read my blog. I try to keep this in mind. But I personally sometimes feel it's not enough. Not enough to keep up with the crimes of this administration. Not enough to keep up with all the ways in which our country is going down the gutter. Not enough to convince someone, anyone, that we are fast becoming a democracy in name only.

Still, I think bloggers (well the bigger ones, not lil' ol' me) can make a difference. A big difference... and that's why the politicians are scared of them. We've seen the power of netroots on politics (and there are two books out now- Crashing The Gates and An Army of Davids - on this phenomenon). However, it is a very uphill battle. After all, we are all labeled "left wing" by the media and our opinions are discredited as being 'radical'. I didn't use to live in a country where believing in the Constitution was considered radical.

Meanwhile, the lunacy of the authoritarian cultists who make up Bush's 33% base is never reported on. You have those people advocating for the policies of fascism, and speaking as if we lived in a military dictatorship, and that's ignored. Yet in every mainstream news article about the liberal blogosphere, they instinctively sneer and imagine it as a bastion of shack-dwelling revolutionaries. Not that many people read this blog, but still.

With the President's approval going down each new time the question is asked, could perhaps the establishment stop portraying liberals as somehow existing outside the mainstream American political spectrum? Could perhaps someone be willing to concede that we've been right on a large number of issues (the Iraq war, civil liberties, White House competence) from the beginning? Or will they continue to report the President's unpopularity as some random, arbitrary fact and buy into the far-right's talking points of "Bush Derangement Syndrome" and treason?

Because as the Noonan piece above notes, that's what they consider all of this- treason.

I, for one, refuse to be told I am unpatriotic for opposing a President who has bankrupted our nation fiscally and morally, started a new policy of preemptive war, authorized torture and kidnappings, used fear and hysteria to consolidate his power, used an attack on our country (whose perpetrators he has failed to bring to justice) for his own political advantage, alienated most of our former allies, allowed an American city to drown on his watch, capitulated to the whims of the nation's religious fundamentalists, slowly skimmed away our constitutional rights ('free speech zones', spying on protestors, warrantless searches, etc) and wiretapped American citizens without any legal oversight. Neither should the Democrats. Or any other self-respecting American.

I conclusion, I am just officially sick of all of this. I want America back. Now.

And if anyone actually read this far... thank you. I appreciate it.