23 January 2010

Get a grip!

This was a bad week, there's no doubt about it. We had a defeat in Massachusetts and a bad Supreme Court ruling about corporate political-ad spending. What I really can't believe, though, is what I'm seeing on some blogs. It's the end of the world. It's the end of democracy. It's (I've actually seen this) "fascism". It's game over. The enemy has won. We might as well give up on real health-care reform and on everything else. The Democrats can't do anything. Obama will be a lame duck and a one-term President. Moan, groan, doom, gloom.

Jesus fuck a shit soufflé, people, get a grip!

Brown and the court ruling are setbacks. They may even turn out to be serious ones. We've had setbacks before, some of them much worse. Remember Proposition 8? The Nader-spawned fiasco of 2000 that gave us eight years of Bush? The Republican tsunami of 1994? Reagan carrying 49 states in 1984? The King assassination? Where the hell would we be now if the good guys had just declared game over and given up after any of those defeats?

Yes, Obama is not without flaws -- too timid, too centrist, too concerned with bipartisanship. When has there been a President who was not at least equally flawed? Yes, many Democrats in Congress are cowards and some are corrupt. When has that ever not been the case? Yes, we've had losses. What administration has not? (It was also said of Clinton and Reagan, early on, that they would be one-term, failed Presidents.) Yes, the opposition has mobilized hordes of stupid, ignorant, possibly-violent fanatics. Remember the militia movement of the 90s? The Moral Majority? The KKK? It is necessary to persevere in the face of an imperfect world.

Our side has the Presidency and huge majorities in both Houses. Obama, whatever his shortcomings, is highly intelligent and has gotten much more accomplished than I, for one, ever expected. We still have nine months to go until the elections, during which the economy will probably keep improving and all kinds of things we can't anticipate now, both good and bad, will happen.

Stop moaning and stop mourning. You sound like a bunch of Europeans. Remember Dr. King, Frederick Douglass, César Chávez, Harvey Milk, the suffragettes and union organizers of a century ago, and all the other fighters who kept on fighting in circumstances far more dark and discouraging and dangerous than anything we face, and whose victories got us where we are today -- what would they think if they could see such whining, sniveling, defeatist quitters proclaiming the end of the world because one of the crummiest candidates the Democratic party has ever put forward lost one election by five percentage points? What would the people who are struggling against real fascism in Iran right now think if they heard Americans shouting "fascism" over a court ruling on political-ad spending?

I will probably get deleted from half-a-dozen blogrolls for writing this, but that's not the end of the world either. Screw it, sometimes you just have to tell it like it is.

19 Comments:

Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

Good Morning Mr.Infidel!

I certainly wouldnt delete you from my blogroll, I know that. I dont know if you had read my posting on this, but yes ... I had comment's as well on this Supreme Court ordeal. However .... my intention's were not to whine, or moan, anyone that know's me on a personal level know's that I am not one to throw in the towel quick. But the reality is ... that Supreme Court ruling was a fairly harsh blow, fuck what happened in the past, all that shit is dead, I am talking about here and now man. I think the video I posted of Mr.Olbermann may have been slightly exxagerated on the possibilities of it's effect's .... but no ... I didnt lke the ruling at all when I heard it. We have already given these phoney elite slacker's and such way too much in my opinion, it's like they just keep getting a free ride, lot's of folk's who actually work and grow on actual "merit" wont be very pleased with that. And rest assured .... these clown's will in the long run take every advantage they can on this, in whatever way they can. Would they not? I think that folk's more and more are going to, well let's just say ... get a lil tired of all these freebies and forgiveness we have for these type's. You reckon?

I am looking forward to seeing some of these blog's you read, havent had much time to, since I got in just the wee hour's this morning .... been a loooooong night! :)
Thank You Guy ........

23 January, 2010 05:18  
Blogger Sue said...

deleted???? HELL NO, My Infidel said fuck!!! YAY!

I think I'm safe from the scorn, my post after the election was "You can't break our spirit!"

We are just lucky Obama and his people woke up this early into his presidency and will make the changes needed. The right are already saying it.

great post Infidel!!

23 January, 2010 07:00  
Blogger Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

Your comment moderation is a pain in the ass Infidel. But you speak the truth my friend. It is an honor to both have you on, and be on your blogroll.

23 January, 2010 07:05  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

RC: I think you may have missed my point(s) a tad -- but no, your post was not one of the ones that inspired me to write this. Thanks for visiting.

Sue: Let's just say I reserve that word for special occasions. It does seem that people are starting to put things in perspective more. I know you have. Thanks, your visits are always appreciated!

Truth: I know a lot of people don't like the moderation, but unfortunately the trolls and spam make it, at least to me, a necessity. The right-wingers my blog gets are (mostly) not as classy as the ones yours attracts. Thanks for the kind words.

23 January, 2010 08:12  
Anonymous rita said...

Thanks for that rational perspective!
I have been hearing the same apocalyptic predictions of doom & gloom at work.
The propensity for ordinarily balanced people to become emotionally irrational, is one of the things that keeps me away from getting involved in the national political scene.

Not that political zeal & enthusiasm isn't wonderful. Sometimes it's just too much like religion.

23 January, 2010 08:12  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Hi Rita! Sorry to hear you've been getting that -- where I work, no one ever talks about politics at all. Maybe I should send in this post as a guest column:-) Thanks for visiting.

23 January, 2010 08:16  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

I'm still tryin to scan through a bunch of these round up link's ya'll set up here. Great source for linking up for misc.info's.

Uhhhh ... I think I do get your point's ... at least to a degree. As far as pointing out I reckon all the past hard slap's we pulled through yeah ...he had. And I sure as Hell as odd as this may sound ... am actually very pro business, I have my own very small business for that matter ... that's my bread and butter, is hustling. But I see some of these top dawg's as not being nothing more than market manipulator's, not like folk's such as Bill Gates, that is why it is sometime's difficult for me to swallow this constantly bailing these folk's out of ...well ... simply bad move's on their part. So for me it's a lil deeper than just this Supreme Court ruling ... I like to reward folk's on merit basically.I sure aint against folk's for being rich, which actually some folk's I met and talked to thought I was. You can bet alot of folk's are goin to be watchin every move these hustler's make. I was disappointed with Obama on his health care move's... yes ...and it is a big move ... but not disappointed enough to where I would vote republican, even though I have most of my life. I actually support your thought on having dem's stick together regardless ...why? because as I have said before ...I think the GOP is pretty much solidly bought and paid for, sad to me, but true. And I dont trust this teabag crowd or whatever their official name is. I also think that the GOP seem's to kiss up a lil too much to religious group's, and feel they want, well at least if they had any more power, to give all of us a hard time ... not just gay folk's either or just women's choice, I think they are out for a little more control than even that. For this reason ... even though I'm not officially dem, I would vote right now dem again, I will not vote on an independent, cause I feel it wastes my vote in this era. But yep ... I'm still gonna vote, and dem , and even if Obama does somethin else I dont like ...I still will.

Later Guy .........

23 January, 2010 09:43  
Anonymous rita said...

I wish you would! You are a very good writer(I may be a tad prejudiced ;)
But, you read the paper, so you know what I'm talking about. Besides, you are too far away for the local fundies & power mongers to harass.

23 January, 2010 10:03  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

One more thing I like to add if I may. I live in Dallas, so I dont see what alot of other state's are facing on unemployment, but I hear/ read, it's still pretty lousy, even though we got hit here, Texan's are spoiled and dont know true hard unemployment time's, I dont know if we ever did for that matter. But, I want to point out that I actually quit a job, which some may think is dumb, back November 2006 ... decided to try my own gig, which was tough at first for a year and half I reckon, but I am making now probably 3 times more money than I did when I was working for someone.... yes ... right now as bad as you hear the economy is ...I sell wholesale quantities of video and music, games, etc. to retailer's basically ... and in these time's ... the business has been pretty good, I can barely keep my client's stocked to be frank, I shit you not, I can turn a 300 unit gig, next morning, and my cell ring's, they need another 200 or so! I said ..."JFC Guy ... what happened to all I brought you yesterday?" he say ..."Online and in store sales took em all!" So ... why is it good business now? Well ... the way I figured it is maybe because folk's look at video and music and computer games as "cheap" entertainment? I know game's, music, and movie's sell well ... I can tell you that.

Thanx ..........

23 January, 2010 10:12  
Blogger Leslie Parsley said...

I'd be a total fool to delete you from my roll - especially anyone who can come up with "Jesus fuck a shit soufflé, people, get a grip!"
Besides the imagery, I think you know I agree with you.

As far as moderating goes, I'm not as generous or patient as Truth. I think trolls and wing-nut nonsensical rants are distracting and take away from the discussion at hand. Sometimes I choose just to move on, which I hate because I respect the people who are on my roll - if I didn't, they wouldn't be there - and I want them to know I care enough to stop by.

I'm too small to get a lot of Anons and so forth, so I can simply delete, at least for now.

23 January, 2010 10:13  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

RC: But I see some of these top dawg's as not being nothing more than market manipulator's

That's exactly the problem. Getting money in most cases no longer has much connection with contributing or creating anything of value -- if it did, medical researchers would be multi-billionaires and those Wall Street manipulators would be living in cardboard boxes.

If all the corporate executives and all the garbagemen in America both went on strike for one month, which group's absence would cause more real problems? Who contributes more, really?

This is why more people these days are willing to give socialism a chance. (Just don't use the word.)

this teabag crowd or whatever their official name is

Over at Parsley's Pics we pretty much settled on "teabuggers".

Rita: Well, if I did, I should probably leave out the soufflé:-)

TNLib: I have the same viewpoint -- trolls regurgitate talking points, change the subject, and get everyone arguing with or about them instead of talking about the posting. In my experience most trolls don''t post anonymously, unfortunately. Thanks for visiting.

23 January, 2010 11:00  
Blogger Holte Ender said...

Keep on telling it, I'll keep reading it.

23 January, 2010 13:39  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Holte, glad you're still around -- I saw the "out of action" sign on your blog and wondered if something had happened. I guess you've just migrated to MMA for a while?

23 January, 2010 13:50  
Blogger Leslie Parsley said...

RC: I guess Texans have forgotten about the oil bust days. Even Houston almost sank into the Gulf.

Holte: Where are you?

23 January, 2010 16:30  
Blogger Alessandro Machi said...

You mean you aren't JUST on DailyPUMA?

I pretty much disagreed with your entire post, but that's ok. Just like its actually a good thing that Brown won because it sends a message.

Although I wanted Coakley to win. In a way, it would have been good no matter who won if you really analyze it.

The fact that everybody has chosen to try and own Brown's win as either a good thing or bad thing when the exact same measuring stick could have been used if Coakley won, means we are all getting dumber by the day.

23 January, 2010 23:08  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

we are all getting dumber by the day.

I'm not.....

24 January, 2010 04:29  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

tnlib: Actually I remember the oil bust day's well .... and Houston is my original hometown in Texas, I live in Dallas now. But yes, alot of folk's did forget that, and that is the reason Houston is doing so well today ... because they learned to diversify since then ...Dallas pulled through the crisis of oil fine because it already was more diversified than Houston as far as business. At the same time ... it was the business friendly atmosphere in Texas that as well made Texas pull through this recession easier than many large state's. I have stayed in several big state's ... well the largest in the nation for that matter ( New York, California, and Florida)... Texas is weird as far as politic's and business.

Take Care! ........

24 January, 2010 05:48  
Blogger Leslie Parsley said...

RC: "Texas is weird as far as politic's and business."

Oh, yes indeed. TN is bad but Texas has 'em beat. I went to UH and was there all through the 60s. Great food though.

24 January, 2010 07:39  
Anonymous Jesus said...

Jesus fuck a shit soufflé

I'd never!

27 January, 2010 05:22  

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