Politics Is Conflict

It can go top down or bottom up. Bottom up: The FCC rules change rollbacks, a direct result of massive phone and Internet response. But systemic change starts at the top. We are pack animals, and we take our cues from numero uno. That is why Naderites and self-marginalized "voters of conscience" piss me off so much. Politics is conflict, and our history will always be written by those who do the best they can, not cop out with holier-than-thou "I'm above all that ’cause I didn't compromise my oh-so-precious moral purity (and unspoken 'superiority')." Grow the fuck up. Voting for Nader is pissing in the wind, and I am a huge Nader fan. It is not a matter of voting for the lesser of two evils. That is some of the most disempowering propaganda ever puked. Gore was not identical to Bush, or indistinguishable, and a major reason the Democrats have swung so hard to the right, trying to survive, is because they are politicians, folks, and as us liberal pansies have dropped out or spit-polished our ethical litmus tests, they have responded – Hey! Whaddaya know! – like politicians, and have given us exactly what we asked for. And that is why Howard Dean will restructure the Democratic Party. Dean sees the big picture, and he will continue to galvanize people who compromise day in and day out, people who recognize someone who will make things work, as well as they possibly can. Yes, Virginia, politics involves moral ambiguity (no!), and the higher you go, the more ambiguous and challenging it gets. A lot of people, myself included, think they "get it" when in actuality the selflessness required to reach that level of understanding is pretty fucking rare. That, more than anything else, is what we, the people, should be voting for. That is what conservatives understand implicitly. And that is what way too many lefties just can't quite grasp. The world is drowning, and too many people who should know better are describing the water. Thanks, I feel better now.