My 24 hour quietus on blogging about the
politically ugly people is hereby over.
And I've used the intervening period to roll a
few thoughts around in my head, just to feel how they settle in. Disclaimer:
This isn't going to be Oxblog quality thought (not like you came here
for that).
When I was in seventh grade,
I had a hippie government teacher (hey, it was 1973 ) - he fit all the
stereotypes: Long, greasy hair, scraggly beard, bleary-eyed intensity, blue
jeans and short-sleeved work shirt with a knit tie. Body odor. When he gave
multiple choice tests, he'd set the answer key up so that when it was read
vertically down the page, it spelled "WHISKEY," or "POT." He was the kind of guy
my parents warned me about.
But here's
the thing: He was a really good, committed teacher. If he didn't leave his
politics at the classroom door, neither did he jam them down our impressionable
throats.
One of the kids one day asked
him what the difference was between left wing and right wing. He drew a circle
on the chalkboard, and went through the political spectrum of the day, talking
in a mostly balanced way about the way that Democrats and Republicans saw the
world, and split the left and right halves of the sphere. But at the bottom of
the circle, he drew "communism" and "fascism" side by side, almost touching. And
he told us, "when you get to the extremes of the political spectrum, the
difference between the hard left and the hard right are indistinguishable to the
disinterested observer in execution. The people getting slaughtered in the name
of the higher good may have different names and different addresses, but the
quantity of blood flows equally down the societal
gutters."
It was heavy stuff, and it
left a mark on your humble scribe.
So
it's sort of interesting, when I see the different ways that the fascist right
and the communist left are treated in today's media. The Instapundit had a link
today to a blogger named Tony Woodlief , who apparently has managed to
arouse the ire of certain fascist organizations
. (There had been a thread up there recently that wondered, invidiously, if
Tony was a Jew - apparently Professor Reynolds' antiseptic light has cleansed
that particular branch of the fever swamp - you'll just have to trust me. Also,
upon reflection I deleted the link. Not here.) But the point is that when the
hard right takes odious public stands, the rest of the polity (including the
right) rises up in full-throated condemnation. There is no, "yes, but" in their
disapprobation. They are roundly excoriated. Read the comments from the Anti-Idiotarian
crewe in Tony's blog. No leftist shills,
they.
But the same seems to me less
comprehensively true for the fellow-travelers on the left. Apologias abound , and it is widely conceded,
that yes, the kids have gotten a
bit off message , but their hearts are essentially in the right place.
From that last link, on the Canadian Dimension (a leftist e-zine, that
thankfully gets it right... er, correctly), view this text, about one David Icke
- a former British soccer player turned fascist, whose insane ramblings have led
him to be quoted by a neo-nazi group, Combat
18:
Combat 18 is fascist. The numbers do
not stand for "18" but for "one-eight," the first and eighth letters of the
alphabet. "A" and "H," as in Adolph Hitler. C18 was for much of the nineties
the most important and the most violent organization in the British neo-Nazi
movement, with a number of murders to its credit. C18 has now fallen on hard
times. Its main leader, Charlie Sargent, is serving a life term for the
first-degree murder of one of his own followers, and the group itself promptly
split in two over a bitter struggle over finances. But none of this prevented
it from carrying out two bombings in black and Bangladeshi neighbourhoods in
London last summer, or of being suspected in the bombing of a gay pub that
killed two and sent 60 people to hospital. Such are David Icke's friends and
associates.
Despite this record, Icke enjoys a surprising degree of support from unexpected
quarters. Paul Hellyer of the Canada Action Party attended Icke's last
Vancouver speech. Icke is listed as a contributor to the supposedly left-wing
tabloid, The Radical, published in Quesnel and distributed widely throughout
B.C. And Icke's tour is being advertised in local New Age publications Shared
Vision and Common Ground.
The fact is that some
of what Icke says has a resonance in these quarters. He's against world
conspiracies, free trade, the MAI, the WTO and corporate globalism. Many of his
far-right supporters are active in other areas, as well: cannabis legalization,
alternative health, anti-corporate activism, even support for Native
sovereignty struggles like Gustafsen
Lake.
(Emphasis
added)
And while it's clear that most
folks on the left find such linkage reprehensible, not all do. And in that lies
all the
difference.
--------------------------
Significant
parts of the political left were radicalized by the Florida election / recount /
Supreme Court decision. They got
angry!
And it's pretty clear to me that the politics of anger drove the Democratic
party activist faithful towards the arms of the reliably apoplectic Howard Dean,
who summarily exploded under the weight of their overheated expectations. John
F. Kerry was the one guy left standing who could "beat Bush," and that became
the driving force for his selection as the party's candidate. He was the one guy
who could "beat Bush," end qualifications statement.
Now, even if the party's movers and
shakers are experiencing some buyer's remorse , they will be forced to dance
with the one that brung them.
But
whomever wins in November, we've still got a war to fight, and it's not the time
to get wobbly. Setbacks and embarrassments aside, we've got boots on the ground
over there, and a mission we can still achieve. All the
realpolitik
thought going around the blogosphere and elsewhere about exit strategies and
political transformations short of democratic rule miss the entire point - we
went there to ensure our security, and along the way liberate a people - not
really because we're extra special wonderful people, but because doing so would
fundamentally change the calculus in a region where the balanced equation isn't
familiar, and make us safer in the long run. Tiptoeing away when the going gets
rough will ensure that all those soldiers died in vain, will present an
energizing victory to those who deserve it least in Iraq and virtually guarantee
that the next front will be fought much closer to
home.
If Kerry should win, the pressure
to do something different than W will be significant - but some of the Euro's have already made it clear that they want no part of America's mess.
So if you can't bring the U.N. in, what do you do? For the first year or so,
"staying the course," while looking for the exit will be an option, no matter
how disheartening to the troops, who will realize that their government is no
longer dedicated to victory. But after that, with an election looming, it will
become Kerry's problem. Much like Somalia became Bill Clinton's, even though it
was Bush the Elder who sent the boys over
there.
And here's the deal, received
knowledge passed on to me by my Vietnam era mentors when I was a young pup: The
troops will fight with their hearts and souls for a victory, in a cause their
people believe in. But they will not dedicate themselves to a draw, or
worse.
It seems to me that too many
people look at Vietnam not as an American (and Vietnamese) tragedy, but as the
high point in their political lives - the moment when they Threw Down The
Establishment, and planted the flag of revolution on the wreckage.
In Iraq, they're looking for a curtain
call. These are the radicals of the political left - they deserve the same
treatment as those on the right.
Posted @
09:35 PM
|
Posted in
""
|
Sendit
|
Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." - John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Ceasar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friederich Nietzsche
