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• Friday, March 2, 2007 04:56 PM

  Not crazy

  Sarah,

  Who exactly was arguing that we were "out of the woods" when it comes to the right wing?

  Here's me, about six comments back: "If the Bush presidency reminds us of anything, it is how fragile democracy is, and how vigilant we must remain."

  What I find increasingly disturbing is that several years ago, only a handful of voices in the wilderness were crying out to be heard on the real dangers posed by Bush and his ideological cohort. The rage was necessary. Today, there's a big audience for this rage. A cottage industry of authors has sprung up to decry the excesses of the right wing. And the rhetoric grows more shrill and paranoid by the day, even as the conservative movement sputters and a majority of Americans turns left.

  It's time to move on to the next leg of the journey.

  We decry the right wing for creating the dehumanizing narratives about "enemies" that allow them to hate and fear and kill remorselessly. And yet, a similar hysteria seems to be gripping the left. We are in danger of becoming what we hate.

  I'm all for a robust defense of liberal ideals. Attack bad ideas. Let sunlight disinfect. Fight and fight to win. It's no less important now than it was two years ago, or six. But fear is the right's game.

  You can add one part pyscho-babble to your potion, or sprinkle in some parallels with former totalitarian regimes, but it's getting increasingly hard to hide that the active ingredient in this snake oil is hate.

  And I would never call mbf crazy.

  Enjoy your weekends, all.

  —Raj
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