The conversion of a moderate (long)

[DancingBear]

It happened over time. I believed once, as do many here that all things good and just come from the process. Yes, the amorphous “process”, defined within a world 10 miles in diameter where no one is allowed a glimpse into real life, lest the process be tainted. Within the 10-mile world backs are patted, deals are struck, and the political yin/yang that is our side vs. their side continues forth. With equilibrium maintained, the country marches forward.

For the longest time, I too felt that when one side gives, in time the other side receives, and that moderation was the key to staying in power. “The woods are full of moderates”, I would say, and I watched my representatives play what I always thought was a fair game. Ya win some, ya lose some – just have to try harder next time, I guess. I cleaned off the cobwebs, opened the windows, and stepped outside.

What I saw surprised me, for I so wanted to believe that the process worked. I saw Republicans standing united with one goal and one goal only – to take complete and unquestioned control over every branch of government that exists, and to do it by any means necessary. I saw them attack a man who left his limbs in Southeast Asia. I saw them call a man with three Purple Hearts a coward, while their cocaine-addled puppet ran away from every challenge, tiny as they were. I saw them drive a newsman to retirement because he had the audacity to try and speak the truth, while the Vice President spoke from the gutter and was praised. I saw them equate oral sex with prison, while watching their brethren engage in adulterous affairs by the boatloads. In short, I watched them lie, steal and cheat their way to elected offices throughout this country, and to stay there with the help of a media cowering so badly in the corner that the slightest hint of honest reporting makes them cringe.

They will not stop. They will not stop until our views and beliefs literally vanish from the face of the earth. Falwell boasts that he wouldn’t give a dying liberal a thimbleful of water, and the zealots believe. Limbaugh and Hannity have hot lines to the Congress, and the hatred pours forth from the radios day after day. Gay Americans live in fear, for Our Leader has in so many words condemned them all to hell. In the halls of Congress, these thoughts get amplified time and again as Goosestep Nation tells the tepid opposition to keep quiet, lest they want more of the same. We reply with a kiss on the cheek.

I watch it get worse. A woman jointly responsible for the deaths of 3000 people on a clear September day is now our voice abroad. As she brazenly lied before Congress and the world, all but 13 of the people I thought shared my beliefs decided the process trumps truthfulness and said “aye.” A man who finds torture to be open to suggestion is now the chief arbiter of the law of our land, and 9 of the people who I thought shared my beliefs decided the process trumps evil, and voted “aye.” As the beast builds, shooting the citizenry in cold blood, those who hold the process dear fold their arms and promise to defend the sheriff because, after all, that is the most important battle. No one seems to notice that the streets are empty, and the graveyards full.

Where, I ask, is the outrage, the moral sense of purpose that I, and millions of my fellow citizens carry with us? Why must our blood literally boil with rage every time another part of the fabric of this country gets chipped away, a victim of the process? How has the simple of act of saying “no” to evil become not a stand for decency, but an object of ridicule?

As we get beaten time after time after time, and as our leaders prove unfit for the task at hand, I realize that the process kills. It kills the spirit that makes us who we are, and it breeds those for whom a comfortable place in the 10-mile room is safe haven from the beast that is destroying their constituents. We extend the outstretched hand, only to get pulled into the mud, never realizing the other side is always starched and washday white.

I realize now that the Lieberman’s of the world have dealt us a blow from which, unless they are removed forever, we cannot recover from. I think of 1964, and the resounding defeat of Barry Goldwater, and the right saying “never again.” They started building in 1965, and have not stopped since. In all that time, they have never wavered from their ultimate goal. The wayward sons have or will be put to pasture, and when the time comes to speak as one, or to demonize, the flock delivers. The plan is there for all to see, but we turn a blind eye to what works and instead take body blows for 12 rounds, happy to get to Round 13 without getting hit with a left hook. Some strategy.

I can no longer believe. I am moving to a new state soon, and I have talked with my wife and length about what to do. As of today, I am seriously considering running for elected office in that new state. If I do so, I hope there will be a (D) next to my name, but I can’t promise. It is up to you, and I, and millions more, to write, call, march, and scream, and to bring us primary candidates to challenge the DINO’s, and general candidates to clean out the filth. It is our only salvation.

For those that disagree, and who still believe, watch closely over these next months. Watch as Bush and the rest laugh at your beliefs that democracy actually still exists. As you talk endlessly one about “keeping our powder dry” and “when we get back in power” and “we need to pick our battles carefully” watch the other side nod its head with a confident swagger. Then, as you watch yet another Democrat buckle to the will of the right (disguised of course under the guise of being prudent), watch as they take this naïve plan, tape it to a razor blade, and shove it down your throat. As you head for the ER, they pray for you.

But not too much.