I anticipate having a lot to say, and little enough in contrary to what you've laid out here.
By way of anecdote I (politically moderate, I suppose, or more akin to the old Christian Democrats of European tradition) had to talk down my sister (politically quite "liberal" in the mode of the American Democrats) from bleak depression over Bush's 2004 victory because she felt it heralded a new era of idiocy for America. What I could not do was convince her that those who had voted as they had were not idiots--my wife had voted for Bush that year, even though I had spent most of 2004 in Iraq "because" of Bush and his policies. As my wife had said, if anyone had had a reason to vote against him, short of the loved ones of those lost in the Iraq adventure, it was she, but she felt that Bush better represented her values than Kerry ever could have.
My wife was wrong--or at least, wrong in that Bush reflected her values, as you have ably pointed out--but perhaps the bigger point was that the Democrats have continued to prove that they do not even want to reflect the values of my wife, or me, or others like me. They, as much as the Republicans, want to convince us to vote for them, by hook or by crook, in order to impose their vision on all.
I think it makes much of the political byplay, especially in the blogosphere, darkly humorous as the rank-and-file of both parties bend themselves out of all shape in order to support their team, even if it means the National Organization for Women, for instance, has to excuse Clinton's power-play philandering, or combat veterans mock the poor conditions of the top military hospital in the US.
Anyway, incomplete thoughts, but mostly just approval. Very nicely done.
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Date: 2007-03-10 12:13 am (UTC)By way of anecdote I (politically moderate, I suppose, or more akin to the old Christian Democrats of European tradition) had to talk down my sister (politically quite "liberal" in the mode of the American Democrats) from bleak depression over Bush's 2004 victory because she felt it heralded a new era of idiocy for America. What I could not do was convince her that those who had voted as they had were not idiots--my wife had voted for Bush that year, even though I had spent most of 2004 in Iraq "because" of Bush and his policies. As my wife had said, if anyone had had a reason to vote against him, short of the loved ones of those lost in the Iraq adventure, it was she, but she felt that Bush better represented her values than Kerry ever could have.
My wife was wrong--or at least, wrong in that Bush reflected her values, as you have ably pointed out--but perhaps the bigger point was that the Democrats have continued to prove that they do not even want to reflect the values of my wife, or me, or others like me. They, as much as the Republicans, want to convince us to vote for them, by hook or by crook, in order to impose their vision on all.
I think it makes much of the political byplay, especially in the blogosphere, darkly humorous as the rank-and-file of both parties bend themselves out of all shape in order to support their team, even if it means the National Organization for Women, for instance, has to excuse Clinton's power-play philandering, or combat veterans mock the poor conditions of the top military hospital in the US.
Anyway, incomplete thoughts, but mostly just approval. Very nicely done.