And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of old and evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
- Hunter S. Thompson
This quote keeps coming back to me lately, with thoughts of the revolution on my mind. The revolution that, here at least, has turned into a fiery storm the likes which I don’t recall ever seeing, not even at the ‘worst’ times of the ‘08 primary. Our standard bearer is the oldest person on the stage… though not by much. His opponent, our opponent for the time being, is not evil or a liar or untrustworthy or worthy of the depths of loathing and utter bitterness of contempt that I keep seeing frothing forth in highly recommended diary after highly recommended diary. She is our friend, as are her followers. Ours is a wave riding high, perhaps to ride higher and higher to victory, or perhaps to crest too soon and roll back. It is too soon to foresee. Also too soon to foresee is our true enemy, lurking in wait beyond August and with them all the rage of Republicanism that we know all too well.
And I can already see the responses… ‘she may be your friend, but she ain’t mine’ and how shortsighted it is to not realize that we need her, and will continue needing her, along with all of her followers to prevail. And that’s where the crux of it lies, for our sense of inevitable victory is, here at least, in a mean sense. Her proponents and campaign are ridiculed, her diarists are ignored or swarmed with all the intensity of flames, as we roll ever onward, discarding ally after ally, disregarding recent triumphs and glorifying comparatively ancient ones, without the foresight that the enactors of such old ones such as FDR were as much a part of the wealthy and corrupt class of their era as she allegedly is of ours. And dare you not forget she may be our nominee, and with our help may very well become the next FDR, as the wise Thom Hartmann keeps reminding us on his daily show. My friends say she doesn’t come across as trustworthy or genuine; I’m finding that personally to be less and less the case. But be that as it may for me personally, I think it behooves us to consider her our friend, and to be prepared to support her fully if the time should come.
Our standard bearer is a kind and genial man; not softspoken but direct, loud, and clear. He is an unlikely candidate for the presidency; a man with such ambitions, I feel, would have ensconced himself within our party structure years ago instead of months ago. Would have not made the dozen or so unforced errors that plague him to this day, ranging from his extremely poor response to the initial BLM protests, to his gaffes about wonderful organizations being establishment instead of strictly speaking of their leadership as being entrenched, to continuing to be a self-avowed Democratic Socialist. Surely no one aspiring to win over half the nations voters (and non-voters) would be like this, would come to us today presented this way. Yet there he is, somehow holding his own against the strongest and I say greatest political opponent he could possibly have. He may win this. We may win this for him.
Yet what is becoming of our quest? Purges, purity tests, loyalty oaths, throwing people under and over the bus. I’m not clean in this myself. I once penned a diary questioning whether Hillary and Obama would endorse Michael fucking Bloomberg, in an insomnia induced haze. I’ve deleted it but that’s beside the point. To what lengths are we willing to go to win? How many bridges will we burn, how many people will we alienate? How much are we going to handicap ourselves and our friends, our dearest allies whom we will need more than ever in the fall? I do not know. When I look at the rec list all I see is vitriol, boasting, overconfidence, singular rare endorsements and often surprisingly similar diaries to one another. Is this the extent of the revolution here? Where is the outreach, where is the persuasion? Where is the dialogue, when in the comments section all I see are people spitting at each other or outright ignoring each other. If we don’t want to end burnt out, alienated, discarded and alone we ought to change our tactics and mind our manners and I mean fast. Because we are all in this together.
The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil [ed. note: The Republicans, not Hillary!], keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
- Hunter S. Thompson