Color me inspired by this diary.
I'm disappointed in Obama's stance on this.
I'm disappointed in the "chicken little" ism being derided on the rec list right now.
I'm disappointed in at least the appearance of blind loyalty to a party and/or a person I've been seeing here as well.
I'm disappointed in this country, politically, over the last decade and more.
But...
I am NOT disappointed in this community as a whole. We're debating this, rationally in many corners. We're figuring it out in our rather chaotic and confused way.
But we're mixing it up.
That being said...
My "loyalty" brothers and sisters, is to the Constitution, to the values it enshrines, and the purpose at its core: the defeat of tyranny in ANY form.
Not to a person, a party, a candidate, or any other human, collective or individual.
I've heard it said that those that sit on the fence make an easier target. Guess I'll have to be that target.
But I never was one to take the easy road anyway. :)
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To the "chicken little's":
Take a breath, get some sleep, and THINK.
There are factors in play and circumstances unknown here. Yesterday the spoonman let us know the Obama folks were reading over the FISA bill carefully, today they spoke their peace, which holds for the moment.
Have some faith in the guy you've been busting your ass for, for the past however many months, willya? The fight's not over yet damn it! And no ONE man's opinion will make it so, nor should he be judged on only one such opinion.
::
To the "loyalists":
Skip the "join the Green" party crap and relax. Might wanna have a drink while you're at it too. :)
Some of us are more emotionally driven and tend to explode early and often when something like this goes down. I've been here a long time, it's happened before in much darker times than these, it'll happen again no matter HOW well we end up doing in 1 years time or more.
They'll rail on, vent, whine, piss and moan, we'll lose a few folks, friends will part, allies be made, and lines redrawn. But this community will still be kicking, still be fighting. I promise.
Don't lose your heads over it. Just let it roll and keep on movin' along.
What DOES concern me greatly about this place, is what I've seen as a creeping clone of the Republican machine's "loyalty to party above all else" attitude I've seen worm it's way through here for quite some time.
Scott McClellan, ironically enough, says it better than I today in his opening statement.
Check it out here.
We MUST take care not to misplace those loyalties anywhere except where it belongs; the Constitution itself.
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I suppose that this actually IS a good moment for us to be having our bi-annual or so CULLING, but it's always a rather sordid affair.
To be honest, while my participation level drops during these outbursts, never ONCE have I considered leaving this place. The COUNTRY, yeah, a few times, might still do so yet.
But the big orange? Hell no.
The GBCW's, the threats to leave, the always entertaining flame-outs (you old timers remember Armando/BTD, MaryScott, and ErrinF right?) always seem so utterly childish to me.
I'm not getting my way, so I'm gonna leave in a huff!
C'mon...
I think of this as a family, we have our blow-outs, but we're still at heart together. We stick it out through the toughest of times; we pick each other up when someone falls, ESPECIALLY when we can't bloody stand each other.
But no matter what happens, we've got each other’s backs.
So pull it together brothers and sisters! We got work to do!