Letters to the Editor
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Fear and false choices/press
I agree with zack-
The reason the MCA passed in the first place was the failure of the press. The fearmongering that the administration drummed up and the press echoed reverberated loudly in the halls of congress. Fear is one of the motivating cancers of a Versailles culture, much as it is in high school where conformity is so prized. I don't think it is enough to pin this on the democratic leadership trying to avoid looking weak before the election. They are adults, and they all all know by now that the most effective way to look weak is to be weak and completely avoid responsibility. I think there are, perhaps, a whole stack of motivations that include fear of the right wing echo chamber ('dems are weak on national security' meme, esp. near an election), fear of the terrorists (living within the echo chamber), and desire for conformity, acceptance (Versailles).
No doubt, inside the echo chamber, inside the Versailles culture, these votes looked reasonable. From outside the echo chamber, outside the Versailles culture, their actions look completely inexplicable, and totally reprehensible. But they won't know that unless *someone* from outside tells them. Loudly and repeatedly.
I will definitely send this on, Digg it, post it to friends, etc, but, as zack said, it's not the end of the story. This might help correct one of the errors brought on by non-existent journalistic standards, but there are many others still out there. The blogs are helping, but a lot of voters are still out there in the echo chamber.