[Update: Let me be absolutely clear: I am not advocating pointless ranting. This is not that kind of diary. My point is very simple: the enormity of the problems that we face as a nation are such that presidential candidates themselves are not going to be in a good position to solve them; a Hillary/Gore/Obama/Kerry/Edwards/Clark administration won't be that different from one another, because they don't really have a lot of options from here. I am, in fact, advocating pragmatism in the sense that our problems are so severe that politics as usual will not--and cannot--solve them. Our mission is to Crash the Gate and transform politics, not to get bogged down in the personal rivalries of the ambitious and the petty wonkery upon which D.C. is currently built.]
I hate to be combative and I swore off swearing in diaries months ago, but this is ridiculous. What the hell is wrong with you people? Seriously. WTF?
Every other goddamn diary I have the misfortune of reading here is either about the 2008 Democratic nomination for President, or about some piece of stupid inside baseball within the party.
AS IF IT FUCKING MATTERS. Jesus Fucking Christ. You would think that the whole weight of the entire fucking world rested on which impotent figurehead was put in place of trying to rescue our Republic from Bush's colossal messes, or whether the overwhelmed human being in the position of trying to restore order to chaos was quite ideologically pure enough.
It's as if a wrecking ball had come crashing through your house, leaving destruction in its wake and you spent your entire time figuring out just which plumber to call to fix the leaky faucet. It's insane, it's ridiculous, and it's tiresome. Let me try to remind the community of something they seem to have forgotten in the rapture of Democratic victory in 2006:
America is $8,644,540,954,988.12 in debt as I type this. The number grows everyday, and you're sitting here arguing over whether Obama or Gore should be sitting in the Oval Office to watch the debt clock rise even higher, or commit political suicide by raising taxes and cutting spending.
America is neck deep in a Middle East conflagration and human meat-grinder in which our two options are: 1) Leave and let the area devolve quickly into humanitarian catastrophe and become a homeland for terrorists; or 2) Stay and let the area devolve slightly less quickly into humanitarian catastrophe and become a homeland for terrorists. And you're all arguing over whether Clark or Kerry should be given the opportunity to make this oh-so-momentous decision.
There are now almost 50 million Americans with NO HEALTHCARE--and the medical insurance lobby owns half of Washington. And you spend your time claiming that a President Hillary would be the end of the fucking world, as if single-payer health insurance weren't called HILLARYCARE by the GOP--or claiming that a President Edwards would somehow have more clout to persuade congresspeople to betray the Kaiser mafia. Fucking-A.
Oil is running out, and we may already have passed the tipping point beyond which we can't stop the effects of global warming. And we haven't even started on a plan to do anything about it. And the Kyoto protocol was voted down 95-0 by the U.S. Senate. And yet you're ready to lay down and die over WHICH Democratic President gets to try to ram even the beginnings of anti-global warming efforts down the throats of Congress. Beautiful.
Our old allies in the Middle East are turning into Islamist theocracies while we arm our future lethal enemies. These stories don't make the rec list here, but you all want to argue about WHICH poor bastard we send to meet diplomatically with an entire group of people who want to kill us, thanks to Bush?
And I could go on and on and on like this.
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Now of course, it's critically important to elect a Democrat. The difference between a Democrat and a Republican in this context is like the difference between a construction contractor and a demolitions expert.
But don't you people get it?
The Legislative branch is owned lock, stock and barrel by K-Street, with the exception of about 50-100 good progressives.
The Executive Branch has NO leeway in foreign policy, thanks to Bush, and can only sign and approve what the Legislative gives it.
The Courts have been packed with corrupt authoritarians.
And you're all deeply worried about WHICH Democratic politician gets to try to do something with this mess? You're worried about whether Nancy Pelosi is quite Progressive enough in just the way you want?
Because the Truth is IT AIN'T GONNA MATTER MUCH. Hillary, Obama, Edwards, even Gore. Bush has ensured that they'll all be pretty impotent which they get into that Oval Office.
The only thing that matters is the STRUGGLE TO TO TELL THE goddamn TRUTH. The perpetual, endless, debilitating struggle to get the message out about what's REALLY happening out there. The Sisyphean labor of getting the public to care, and to notice just how much damage the Bush wrecking ball has done, so that we can actually get enough popular momentum together to make some actual revolutionary changes to the way Washington does business.
Everything else is just smoke and mirrors. It's all bullshit that won't do a goddamn bit of difference in the long run, because all these politicians themselves can do is try to pick up the pieces.
So for the love of all, stop concentrating on the petty, useless politics, and start concentrating on getting the goddamn TRUTH out there. It's all that matters now--and all that ever will.