Ask Auntie Pinko
September 12, 2003

Dear Readers: Two questions came in recently that provoked Auntie to thought. While my conclusions may disappoint some, I hope that you will find them as thought-provoking as I find so many of your questions!

Dear Auntie Pinko,

I'm so sick of these fascist NeoCons. Can't some of us become NeoLiberals and start shouting and smearing right back? I have connections in the media (I'm a director and producer in a... uh... a certain industry involving bright lights and people who pretend to be other people for a living, let's say) and I can lexis-nexis (search the subscription-only news database) these modern brownshirts like Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush and Boortz, and drag up some interesting excrement from their pasts. I say we should do it. Fight fire with fire, I say.

I'm more a Yippie than a Hippie and it twists my panties in a knot to see us good Democrats backed into a corner weaseling out and using soft words just because some red-faced bigot bully wants to play dirty.

I'm good at research, good on camera, and can play dirty too. I say there needs to be NeoLibs. What does Auntie Pinko think?

Heather,
Atlanta, GA

Dear Auntie Pinko,

What on earth can I do when overwhelmed by a swell of anger when I'm driving along the road and see a big, honkin' planet-trashing SUV with a bumper sticker of the familiar white-on-green type that says, "Wellstone's dead. Get over it."

Of course, bricks, baseball bats, chain saws, and spray paint all come to mind, but those would likely land me in jail. I'm considering laying in a supply of "MLK is dead. Get over it." stickers to place on such vehicles, but how would I then lure the driver into North Minneapolis?

The vehicle was parked, and stopping to wait for the owner to show up and scream at him was more than a passing thought. Asking if this is the face of compassionate conservatism would have certainly resulted in a teaching moment for us both, but having my face punched in by someone stupid enough to put one of those on his SUV wasn't on my agenda for the day.

So I guess the question is this: What on earth can we do when these people just go over the top? When they make fun of the French heatwave deaths? When they question the loyalty of the soldiers in Iraq who complain about the lack of basic coordination efforts? When they think that a bumper sticker like this is even remotely acceptable? Ignoring such behavior doesn't work, we know that.

But what can we do with these cretins?

Angry in St. Paul

Dear Heather, Dear Angry, Dear Readers,

Auntie Pinko is no stranger to the sensation of boiling with rage at the well-orchestrated, professionally-choreographed slime-slinging exercises of our political parties. And, being a Democrat, I will admit to my biases in how I perceive them � especially since Mr. Gingrich's memo to his GOP colleagues during the 1992 campaign, urging them to refer to opponents using the words "sick, pathetic, bizarre, twisted and traitor."

But Democrats are no stranger to mud chucking and sleazy campaign tactics, either. Which brings me to my point � while we are no strangers to the gutter, it's not our 'street' right now. Obviously, the GOP currently 'owns' this turf. So the question becomes, do we try to take it back from them?

Auntie Pinko rather hopes not.

And right now I know that some of my readers are saying substantially the same thing as Angry in St. Paul: "Ignoring such behavior doesn�t work, we know that."

It certainly feels that way. And it's true, ignoring someone's childishness rarely produces an instant behavior change in a positive direction.

Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I think that many, perhaps even most Americans � including those who may not agree with my political ideology � still have some sense of what it takes to make a democratic government of a vast, complex, diverse country work. Most of us do admire someone who shows they aren't afraid to fight back when the cause is worthwhile, and some of us even appreciate a moderately clever trick and a pragmatic willingness to bend the strict interpretation of truth in the interest of achieving a worthy goal.

But I also think that while we have a certain tolerance for the grittier side of politics, and even a perverse fascination with 'how low can they go,' ultimately we know that effective democratic government is founded on compromise. I believe most of my neighbors respect people who rely on reason more than those who appeal to simplistic, divisive emotional hot buttons. We are perhaps too tolerant of those who abuse their freedom of speech, too lazy to make much effort to stop the distortions and folly, too willing to let others be the first to say "enough!"

But sooner or later, a threshold is crossed. And when that happens, the ones we turn to for leadership are not the noisiest, nastiest ones. Rather, we turn to those who have steadfastly stuck to reason, truth, and the better impulses of human nature. We look to the leaders who will lead all of us, not just the ones we agree with the most. We know that there are far too many of our neighbors who differ from us, and an effective leader must lead everyone.

In some ways, even while the mean-spirited, immature rantings of the shrieking heads on radio and television make my blood boil, I look at it as a sign of progress. The more sickening they are, the sooner my neighbors will indeed get sick of them. In the mean time, if my Democratic colleagues are standing firmly for their principles, using reason, and emphasizing the positive foundations of our ideology, we will still be there long after today's hate-spewing preachers have gone the way of Father Coughlin, long after the jingoistic politicians have suffered Senator McCarthy's fate.

So, what can we do? Fight lies and distortions with facts. Fight hate and jingoism with reason and hope. Fight mean-spiritedness and sleaziness with dignity and compassion. Never shrink from a fight, but fight on our terms, even if it means being temporarily drowned out by the rantings of paranoia.

Don't forget the power of humor as a weapon. Fight nasty humor that makes fun of others with genuine irony. Cultivate an appreciation of human frailty that laughs with, not at. Let your jokes expose folly, without the vicious excoriation of the fools (for we are all fools somewhere, sometime.) Don't fear to laugh at yourself.

And above all, ask yourself the question Auntie Pinko has been asking myself lately, Heather and Angry:

"What would Wellstone do?"

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