Letters to the Editor
DCLaw1
Published Letters: 996 Editor's Choice: 2
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Comments
[Read the article: A genuine political sea change?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Wow -- I wish I had the time to address every response and conversation in here. Glenn, my hat's off to you for keeping on top of these threads so well, I couldn't imagine.
Let me just say a couple things briefly. First, no one should misunderstand my comments as indicating I am in any way unaware of how much more work needs to be done before normalcy can ever return to this country. I'm not trying to blow sunshine up everyone's arse, just acknowledging that a very real trend has begun, which stands a very good chance of putting this country back on the path to recovery if voices of reason continue to stand up for what they believe.
Second, I acknowledge the plain reality that movements and counter-movements come and go, and the national mood swings slowly like a massive pendulum. So, of course, no matter how successfully we recover from the nightmare of the last several years, we will need to remain ever-vigilant against similar political and sociological diseases.
Third, everyone has a role to fill in this process. Some, like Glenn, will continue to be spotlights on the insanities and idiocies that continue to stand in the way of recovery. Others will help with elections and citizen activism. Others will help via their careers, professional, civil, scientific, and so on. The possibilities are literally endless, but no one should underestimate the impact their particular efforts can make.
So, please, whether you are a skeptic or an optimist, please, please do what you can to shine a candle (or a flood light) against the waning darkness.
See ya around.
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Denning:
[Read the article: A genuine political sea change?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"After last weekend’s correspondents’ dinner, The Times decided to end its participation in such events."
More support for sea change?
Absolutely. Any sign that the media might be embarrassed about its incestuous relationship with the pillars of power is indeed further proof that something fundamental is shifting in our political and social culture.
Years ago, I realized that an argument or an allegation more often has a deferred effect than an immediate one. I found that, even when a person with whom I argued refused to concede a point, often he or she would move closer to my position by the next time we talked. Particularly when one has a very good point -- as did Colbert a year ago at the Correspondents Dinner -- that point often has a way of sinking in some time later, once the resisting person has a chance to reflect on it.
That's why so much of this sea change, as it is being called here, seems so belated. There's a great deal of institutional and psychological inertia (denial) within the people and forces that most need changing -- but strong arguments have a way of gradually insinuating themselves into the dominant position, eventually.
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Foreigners in our midst
[Read the article: The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Authoritarian" is not too strong a word for Mansfield's line of thought -- indeed, it may not be strong enough.
The neoconservative ideology, by any name, is foreign to the American ideal. It is foreign to liberalism as we know it. Foreign to libertarianism. Foreign to conservatism as it has traditionally been known. Foreign to "strict construction" of the Constitution. Foreign to even the wildest "elastic" construction of the Constitution. Foreign to the Constitution itself.
This ravenous, virulent parasite feeding on the bowels of the modern Republican Party is grotesquely foreign to James Madison. Foreign to John Locke. Foreign to George Washington and even John Adams. Certainly foreign to Thomas Jefferson. Foreign to Teddy Roosevelt. Foreign to Goldwater. Foreign to Reagan.
Truly, this fearful, excessive, juvenile ideology espoused by Mr. Mansfield and too many others -- no matter how heavily adorned with demagoguery and academic posturing -- is an unwelcome foreigner in our midst.
And I don't know what's more appalling -- it's presence, or the media's unforgivable unwillingness to acknowledge its presence.
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Idiocy
[Read the article: The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Chris Matthews started his show today (forgive me for watching Hardball) by saying something to the effect that the battle to succeed Bush "starts tomorrow" with the first Republican primary debate. As if this is not an election, but a coronation of a Republican successor to King George II.
Later, I heard Matthews ask Giuliani's campaign manager the following (paraphrasing only slightly):
"If Rudy Giuliani and Ahmadinejad got in a street fight in an alley somewhere in Queens, who would win the fight?"
The inanity continues.
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NYGuy
[Read the article: The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gee, did Tweety volunteer to fellate the winner, or does he intend to remain faithful to President Butch?
Really, that guy has some definite masculinity issues. It's actually embarrassing. His naked adoration of Bush in his flight suit was just the most salient and unmistakable example among many.
The sad thing is, I know he's capable of incisive commentary -- from time to time, one can actually catch him saying something potent and true. But these rare glints of good sense are so frequently obscured by the literally unending litany of tripe he serves up on a daily basis.
It's not even about liberal vs. conservative anymore. It's become rank stupidity vs. everything else.
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Kovie --
[Read the article: The right's explicit and candid rejection of "the rule of law"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't mean to imply that the authoritarian mindset has been entirely absent from our history as a nation. Quite the opposite -- it has always lurked in the shadows, sometimes coming frighteningly close to tipping the balance, but as you say, it has always been beat back into its cave by good sense and understanding of what this republic is meant to be. So, I mean that the ideology is "foreign" in the sense that it is alien and repugnant to our identity as a country.
These have all been attempts to replace our constitutional process with some form of tyranny and dictatorship. Repeated attempts at a second, quite illiberal American Revolution, if you will, by stealth, lies and intimidation.
For this reason, I think an apt moniker for the neoconservative, authoritarian movement, would be the "Counterrevolution."