Reply #25: K&R... [View All]

you are correct.

The extreme left wing of the Democratic party is not much more helpful to us than the extreme right wing of the Republican party is to them; very few on the far left are capable of pragmatism. I have of course more sympathy for the left wing, being pretty leftist myself; OTOH, while my beliefs are considerably to the left of the... hmmm, how shall I say it? the "center" of the Democratic party?... I also acknowledge, having watched the circus in Washingtoon, District of Comedians, for four decades, and studied its history all the way back to its origins, as well as the history of all of us in the same way, that most people in the US just aren't nearly as far to the left economically as I am. Worse, many of the leftists are far more authoritarian than I am; and quite frankly I see that as quite a bit the greater evil. Worst of all, many of them will not admit it. And frankly, I don't see most of the DLC as being a great deal better; they are both very authoritarian, and far to the right, not just of me, but of Dean and Pelosi, if not Reid. Hell, AFAICT, they're to the right of Joe Liebermann, and even some of the Republicans who got voted out this week!

OTOH, despite the fact that I quite strongly disagree with the positions of the leadership of our party, and in some cases their past actions, I nevertheless support them. The alternative is a descent back into the hell that I have (along with you all) experienced for all but two of the last twenty-six years. I strongly suggest you all not lose sight of that fact.

Now, I'll be clear, and frank: I support nationalized

• health care,
  
• banking,
  
• insurance,
  
• food and clothing production and distribution,
  
• personal and goods transportation, and
  
• communications.
  

I strongly support environmental regulation and protection, and I support it over property rights. In fact, it is my position that no one can own land; one can own the rights to use it, but there are limits to how it can be treated that must be enforced, both for the protection of those who use the land nearby, and future generations. It is in fact the case that such laws are actually enforced; if you buy a house in the suburbs, good luck trying to mine your land, or engage in a noisy or polluting activity on it. I see no difference between this and requiring a farmer to file an environmental impact statement.

And these are pretty far left opinions (though they are by no means all of them; we'd be here for hours). So how can I support Pelosi, and Reid, and Dean? They almost certainly don't support all or even most of these ideas, and even if they do, would never be unwise enough to do so on the record.

Well, here it is: the alternative is to return to the wilderness. And I've been there for the last twenty-six years, for all but two. And during that two, I got to watch these precise same fights disintegrate the unity of my party, after which I got the last twelve years. And while they were impeaching the Big Dog, I was swearing at the idiots in my own party who had made it possible by doing so much infighting that we didn't get anything done when we had it ALL. I beg you all to remember the last twelve years, and to remember that this type of infighting preceeded it. PLEASE think about it.