Letters to the Editor
William Timberman
Published Letters: 3298 Editor's Choice: 7
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Nonsense
[Read the article: The right-wing cult of contrived masculinity]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]unless democrats begin demonstrating this kind of winner's mentality (i.e. - of the benign rational enlightened and POWERFUL variey), a few bullies is all the republican party will ever need to keep them in line -- +david
So, we adopt a steely-eyed stare, puff out our chests, and mimic the Republican kitsch Glenn rightly mocks in this post, and the bullies will leave us alone, eh?
With all due respect, this is nonsense. It's far more important to be ourselves, i.e., folks who know something about something, and to continue to pursue what we believe to be in the country's best interest, than it is to start stuffing foam rubber in our codpieces.
What you propose may provide cheap thrills to the timid, but it's no way to contest for political power.
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When the law is a ass
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Paul, the perverse use of law to defend tyranny is ancient, as I'm sure you know. The cleverness of the NSDAP in that regard is often remarked upon, and about every five years or so we used to hear that the Soviet Constitution was as enlightened as our own. (I even remember sad stories of courageous lawyers in Moscow who spent their entire careers trying to get cases tried fairly in accordance with its provisions.)
My point is a simple one, and not new, but it's as relevant today as it ever was. When the law disappoints, when the courts fail consistently to deliver justice, politics is the only thing which can restore the situation. Ugly as that remedy can sometimes be -- ugly enough to daunt most civilized folks, anyway -- there's just no choice. I believe we're at the point now. As a Democrat, I've been following closely what the presidential candidates are saying, and what the Emanuels, Carvilles, McAuliffes, et al. are doing. As the article from the Sun Glenn quotes in this post makes perfectly clear, it would seem that they intend to turn a deaf ear to the rank and file until they're presented with another 1968. The prognosis, in other words, is not good.
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Introvergirl
[Read the article: The right-wing cult of contrived masculinity]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree that the Democrats need to set the agenda, and that the elected Democrats in congress are reluctant to do so. That's where we come in. To persuade our fellow Democrats to do the right thing, to stop being paralyzed by their own pollsters, and to act in our best interest, we have to persuade them that there is an organized constituency in their own party which will hold them accountable if they don't. This takes work as well as attitude. Attitude is not a political agenda, and shouldn't be confused with one.
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Faults in the Constitution
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Che, the folks over at Balkinization, God bless 'em, are among the most astute commenters on Constitutional flaws and remedies I know of. If you have concerns about the Electoral College, the imperial Presidency, etc., and you don't follow Jack Balkin and his colleagues' postings already, I can't think of a better place to hang out.
If you do head over for a visit, say hi to Bart for me. ;-)
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I wonder
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]how helpful it is in the end to spend so much time describing our political adversaries in clinical terms.
While I don't doubt that doing so provides valuable insights into human motives in general, and the motives of doctrinaire authoritarians in particular, my sense is that at the end of the day, it's both deeply insulting to the people we oppose, and unhelpful in the profound sense that we must deal with our fellows as free agents in the political sense whether they -- or we, for that matter -- are or are not.
A true democracy doesn't ask you for a bill of mental health before it allows a citizen into the arena. Neither should we.
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edit, then push publish
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That last should have read; A true democracy doesn't ask a citizen for a bill of mental health before it allows him into the arena.
Apologies.
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m.b.f.
[Read the article: Various matters]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]With respect, please realize that in a very real sense, you're preaching to the choir here. It isn't your descriptions I dispute, but your proscriptions, and those only gently, as befits someone who's well aware what the questions are, but whose experience has taught him a) that he doesn't have the answers, at least not all of them, and b) that he should be skeptical about those who tend to offer answers which have that whiff of my way or the highway about them.
So, to repeat my position in another way: Regardless of what we know -- or think we know -- about one another, meta-narratives are only so useful when dealing face-to-face. For example, we don't have to prove that we're not wimpy, defeatist, or cowardly; we just have to act courageously. We don't have to call our adversaries lunatics, we just have to demonstrate that they're wrong about things. This takes both perseverance and energy; it also requires being clear-eyed about what we're up against, including those qualities of the right which have been the subject of your superb analysis here.
Frankly, I don't see that our positions are really all that contradictory. It's a matter of style rather than substance, I think. The tent above us, we who are trying to forge an effective political alliance among people still convinced that sauve qui peut is all that's left to them, is surely large enough for more than one set of tactics....
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LWM
[Read the article: The right-wing cult of contrived masculinity]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No, with respect, I don't think I misread David, although he may have overstated his case in the interest of making it unequivocal. My thought is a simple one; it's not necessary to strike a pose if you're for real.