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Blind Partisanship Is Still Ignorance, Regardless of Party

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December 24, 2007

 

And so this is Christmas…

 

We who have fought on the side of progressive causes, and in fact were using the term progressive before it was the cause celebre it has become today, should take a lesson from what has happened over at Daily Kos today. The long and the short of it is that the Editor of Opednews decided to post his article about supporting Ron Paul in the REPUBLICAN primaries, over at Kos. The response is a glimpse into the heart of the darkness that pervades this country, on both sides of the political process. Here is the link:

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/24/11250/453/61/426080

 

The response is beyond disappointing; it is unintelligible at points and shows that there has been an invasion into the progressive platform by people who display the very traits that we were revolting against when progressivism began. This is supposed to be about debate folks. It is supposed to be about having an intelligent discussion, weighing the positives and negatives and hopefully reaching some point of agreement. The responses, 137 at last count, display the complete ignorance that exists on the democratic side of the process. That ignorance crosses many levels.

 

First the ignorance is obvious in the amount of responders who simply did not bother to even read the article. They read the title, and responded in ad hominem attacks on Rob Kall for even mentioning the name of a republican in a positive light. The main reason why there was not an intellectual exchange is that the people who responded never bothered to read what they were so upset about. This is ignorance at its best, responding in a vacuum, devoid of the information it needs to properly respond.

 

Secondly, the ignorance about Ron Paul was staggering. Some managed some media driven propaganda blurbs about how Paul wants to do away with everything under the sun. Others called him a racist because he correctly makes the argument that the civil rights act gave too much power to the federal government at the cost of states rights, which is at the core of his beliefs. Others attacked him as anti-woman, I am assuming because he is pro-life. Considering he is a doctor who has delivered thousands of babies, is that position really that surprising? Those that could not find a platform from which to launch an attack simply questioned Dr. Paul’s sanity. The last bastion of the ignorant is to blindly lash out at the mental stability of those they could not compete with intellectually. They wrote revisionist history then, claiming he seemed confused on Meet the Press where he successfully defended himself against the vicious attacks of Tim Russert. They attacked and dismissed his followers despite the fact that Paul consistently out-performs the other GOP candidates in every debate and in fundraising. The ignorance was now at full force.

 

But perhaps the worst display of ignorance by these people is in their sophomoric understanding of the very political system they think they are somehow involved in. The mere notion that Paul possesses progressive ideas through them into a tizzy. Never mind that he is anti-war, the main plank of the progressive platform. No, for these folks, they do not like the reason Dr. Paul is against the war; I kid you not. Never mind that he does not buy the 911 cover story. Never mind that he was a key person in the recent progressive documentary, Freedom to Fascism. Never mind all of that, because… HE’S A REPBUBLICAN!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! Post after post filled with derogatory remarks and profanity, revealed that there are clearly some people claiming the mantle of progressivism or the Democratic Party who simply do not get it. To these people the only thing that apparently matters is party, that being the democrats. That is the substance we have rebelled against for seven years now folks! Blind partisanship is what has led this country into the mess it is in now. The GOP led congress abdicated their authority as the proper check on the GOP executive branch. It is exactly what Karl Rove has preached! Is that what we have become? Was our soul worth that little that we have become what we loathe? Do you honestly believe that a Hillary administration with a democratic congress would be any less corrupt??? If you do, it is time you got out of the business of politics because you are the problem. Ignorance and blind loyalty to people who would sell you out for a nickel. That is the problem.

 

I do not agree with everything Ron Paul believes in but I understand how government works. I understand that people have different opinions. When Dr. Paul speaks about this country bordering on fascism I think he is understating the problem. The United States has become a model of corporatism. Our elected officials are bought and sold every day through a corrupt lobbying system that encourages it and hides behind free speech. Do you honestly believe that corruption is only in the GOP? Sure it has been more pronounced for the past 7 years in the GOP because they have been in complete control but ask the guy with the cash in his freezer. That was a democrat folks. The Jack Abramoff’s of the world gravitate to power and money. If the dems controlled everything, it would have been the dems who were busted. If you think that is untrue, then you are too dangerous to vote. There is a machine working behind the scenes. It decides what you hear and what you see. It controls the media and selects your candidates for you. Ask Howard Dean about it. He was in complete control until the machine decided he wasn’t going to play along so they tanked his candidacy with “the scream”. Instead, they got their man, John Kerry, who walked away from you in under 10 hours even though he had a million dollars given to him to fight election fraud. Go ask Wasserman and Fitrakis if the 2004 election was stolen. It was stolen worse than in 2000 and the guy you backed walked away from you with a million dollars. What do you think Hillary will do? Do you think she is an independent thinker? She has taken more money than any candidate in EITHER party. She is bought and owned, plain and simple. There is not a more machine-bought candidate than Hillary Clinton. Is she better than George Bush? Of course, but so is 97% of America. Would she be better than Rudy? Absolutely, Bush might be better than Rudy, who is a thug to his core. But would she be better than Ron Paul who served his country in the military and for 18 years in Congress? I honestly do not know but I would LOVE to see the debates.

 

That is how the political process is supposed to work in America. We are supposed to have favorites for sure but we are supposed to actually listen to both sides and make informed decisions. To decide 12 months before an election is anti-American and is the very thing progressivism fights against every day. I will not even get into defending Rob Kall himself, a man who has fought tirelessly for the true cause of progressive politics for years. His work stands for itself. He deserved better than to have people hiding behind fake names curse at him and drag his name through the mud because he had the temerity to mention a republican’s name on a democratic website but he can stand up for himself. I hope Markos at Daily Kos takes a serious look at the buffoons he has ruining his website because I know he has worked as hard for progressive causes and his work deserves more than to have this atrocious display of ignorance disguised as progressivism.

 

Ron Paul is the best choice for republican voters during the primary season; which was the point Kall was trying to make. The other guys are all arguing over who can blow up the world better and take away more of your civil liberties. The only sane voice belongs to Paul. Within the world of the neocon Republican Party, Ron Paul is the progressive. His stance on the federal income tax is an educated understanding of how the constitution was supposed to work. The fact is that the amendment allowing the collection of income taxes was never ratified. The Federal Reserve System merely allows rich bankers to get richer at your expense. The majority of services provided by the federal government are actually paid through other tax streams, not your income taxes. Do I think that the government should be as small as Paul wants? No. But once again, I understand how our government works. Without a libertarian Congress, Dr. Paul would be forced to come to the center and compromise. At least he would be doing that from a principled start, not bought and owned by corporations. At least he would be moving to the center understanding that we need to get out of Iraq, something Hillary seems very determined not to do. At least he would be moving to the center from the position that our civil liberties are precious and have been nearly eviscerated under Bush. At least he would be moving to the center with an understanding of the impending problem with our currency. The more radical portions of what Paul may envision for America would never come to pass because the government would again be balanced.

 

Anti-war, pro-civil liberties and a clear understanding of the impending economic doom hanging over this country. If Barack Obama ran on that platform everyone over at Kos would be embracing it but because Ron Paul runs on it, they dismiss and marginalize him. Why? Because he is a republican and in the tiny minds of those who think they have a vague clue how the system they are in actually works, that is simply unacceptable. Nothing like being a pawn on the grand chessboard. Unfortunately for them, at the end of the day, there is nothing progressive about ignorance.

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Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 53-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple (more...)
 

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