Mercy Not Sacrifice
Well-Known Member
We all know the story by now: Those who were giving Bush a free ride on torture, starting wars, taking away civil liberties, stealing elections (don't get me started), and--this is the big one--creating a massive deficit, are the very same people who blame Obama for big guv'mint (without ever defining what that means), rising deficits (which is a complete double-standard), fascist librul soshalism (how the hell can you have fascist socialism?), taking away their freedoms (you mean the same ones that Bush stole?), and taking away their guns (despite the fact that Obama has done nothing of the sort). They place the focus on stupid questions such as whether gay people should have the same rights as straights, whether women should actually be given control over their own bodies, and whether we should be allowed to own assault rifles that could pass for something straight out of the military. All the while, the real issues such as the environment, the growing disparity between rich and poor, corporate control of government, the ever-growing military-industrial complex (though this is one that conservatives are actually coming around to), and foreign and domestic human rights, are not just overlooked but thrown back in the faces of the people who DARE to bring them up. Oh, the horrors.
But there's one issue that the conservatives chose, they made a deliberate decision, to change from potentially being one of the greatest political accomplishments ever to being one of the worst political p*ss fights ever: Health care reform. The level of unchecked lies, stupidity, and feigned outrage was an utter disgrace to this nation. All I can say is that I hope the history books give those ******** the whupping they deserve, never letting up. And the rabbit hole doesn't stop there. On top of all that crap, conservatives continue to struggle with telling the truth. Consider this study of Politifact ratings, which disproportionately find conservative statements to be False or "Pants On Fire" (not just false but completely absurd). And conservatives can't cry bias on this, because according to the study, a very similar number of questionable conservative and liberal statements were analyzed.
In theory, I think that Obama is doing a good thing by trying to reach across the aisle. In theory, I think we liberals should do the same. But in practice, I feel like doing so is sticking my hand in a pit of snakes. Hell, I've seen it right here on this forum, and IMO the conservative BS has grown far more venomous in the last two years. I don't know about you guys, but I'm just about to throw in the towel on hoping that they will come around. The occasional conservative may slip through the cracks and come around to "see the light"--hell, I was one of them. But the overwhelming majority of them seem to want to form this militant barricade to anything good that we stand for. Anything. Ralph Nader called this The Liberal's Dilemma: Successes of liberal policies are used as the very reasons to block them.
I just don't know. Liberals, any of you feeling this way? Or have you found a way to make it work without having to compromise your progressive values? Conservatives, can for once you put aside the finger-pointing and do something we have done too much of over the years, namely, point the fingers at yourself for once?
But there's one issue that the conservatives chose, they made a deliberate decision, to change from potentially being one of the greatest political accomplishments ever to being one of the worst political p*ss fights ever: Health care reform. The level of unchecked lies, stupidity, and feigned outrage was an utter disgrace to this nation. All I can say is that I hope the history books give those ******** the whupping they deserve, never letting up. And the rabbit hole doesn't stop there. On top of all that crap, conservatives continue to struggle with telling the truth. Consider this study of Politifact ratings, which disproportionately find conservative statements to be False or "Pants On Fire" (not just false but completely absurd). And conservatives can't cry bias on this, because according to the study, a very similar number of questionable conservative and liberal statements were analyzed.
In theory, I think that Obama is doing a good thing by trying to reach across the aisle. In theory, I think we liberals should do the same. But in practice, I feel like doing so is sticking my hand in a pit of snakes. Hell, I've seen it right here on this forum, and IMO the conservative BS has grown far more venomous in the last two years. I don't know about you guys, but I'm just about to throw in the towel on hoping that they will come around. The occasional conservative may slip through the cracks and come around to "see the light"--hell, I was one of them. But the overwhelming majority of them seem to want to form this militant barricade to anything good that we stand for. Anything. Ralph Nader called this The Liberal's Dilemma: Successes of liberal policies are used as the very reasons to block them.
I just don't know. Liberals, any of you feeling this way? Or have you found a way to make it work without having to compromise your progressive values? Conservatives, can for once you put aside the finger-pointing and do something we have done too much of over the years, namely, point the fingers at yourself for once?
