Can't Never Could

[The following is my reply to one of those "We Still Can't Get Our Act Together" posts which, for some strange reason, keep popping up hither and yon in the Lefty Blogosphere.]

One look around and it's plain to see who sets the total agenda in this country: The voters who send pro-business, pro-theocracy, pro-empire, anti-Constitutional zealots to Washington, D.C.. The mass media, being capital-based, belongs to them. It's their echo chamber. Liberals ceded that ground a long time ago. We don't even try to compete against it.

But, hey, we've got The Blogosphere, where people who already know they're continuously being lied to can go and read all about it.

Every.

Single.

Day.

Democratic politicians don't even have to be brought to heel by The Right, as they have been more than adequately leash-trained over the last quarter century or so. It's always 1980 at the DNC, where "populism" is synonymous with "Reaganite lynch mob" instead of universal healthcare or education for all or a living wage.

Democratic voters - like the people they annoint as public servants - know damn good and well who owns America and, despite all the bitching, accept it unconditionally. Read Huffpo or DKos or Americablog and there is never a shortage of self-described "progressives" willing to make excuses for the latest "betrayal" by the national party. It's always The media would crucify them for demanding immediate withdrawal and They don't have the votes to impeach and [Fill-in-the-blank] would just give Karl Rove ammunition. Feeble, feckless and all too ready to wait for that magical political pendulum which exists only in the minds of "moderate" or "left-leaning" Pollyannas who expect something for nothing.

I regret to inform you The Democratic Faithful are ticket-takers and rubber-stampers. By day's end, they do what they're fucking told. In the Good Cop, Bad Cop routine, they are absolute suckers for The Good Cop. Democrats don't make demands because they are unwilling to look any further than the next election. There is no vision. How could there be? Contrary to the turbo-posting lefty masses, there isn't even a Progressive Movement, just as is there is no Anti-War Movement. Social movements are so Sixties. God forbid today's Democrats should ever be associated with anything from The Sixties - what, with history being re-written and all.

It took me waaay too long to catch on that Democratic politicians are pussies because the people who elect them are pussies. Today's Democrats are best represented by Ward & June Cleaver. What would the neighbors think? is always the paramount concern.

Democrats en masse won't lend support to Kucinich or any other candidate who espouses the values they claim to hold. They're too terrified of being photographed next to some sandal-wearin' kid with a spliff in one hand and a "Free Mumia" sign in the other. Nevermind that Republicans don't give a shit if the fuckin' Grand Dragon of the KKK shows up at the RNC's "big tent." It's nothing a wink and a nudge can't resolve.

What if Kucinich gets photographed taking a ride in a tank donning a large and goofy-looking helmet? Why, everyone who supported him will end up looking like douche bags! Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.

Must...

choose...

candidate...

acceptable...

to...

the bought & paid for Handjob Crew at Washington Week In Review.

Yes, the deck is stacked against anything and anyone to the left of Fred Thompson. The Right owns the deck. And with that deck, it sets the terms of faux-debate because it is corporate, religious and xenophobic. They - not liberals - are the True Believers dwelling among us. Everybody knows American politics is all about that Dolla Dolla Bill, Y'all - and, sad but true, the butter saturating political bread comes from corporate cows which don't give an anachronistic term like "the public good" a thought except to oppose it. The problem is that everyone who knows this accepts as an incontrovertible truth that it will - or, worse, must - forever remain that way.

Democratic politics is a top-down operation. "What are they gonna do? Vote Republican?" say the brainiacs at the DNC. They've got your number, Progressives. When the bell rings, you will pull the lever for whatever cookie is offered - and if it's made from the grist of conveniently forgotten corpses, oh well, the Republican is worse.

Gotta be pragmatic.

Gotta keep writin' those letters to the editor.

Gotta keep hollerin' in the same deaf ears.

Awwww, look at the those fringe lefties. They're so cute when they're mad.

Corporate theocratic xenophobes are not afraid to wield torches, pitchforks and an arsenal of disproportionate resources when their representatives don't listen and act in accordance with the Little Pecker Syndrome which defines that particular consituency. And when the time comes for such unpleasantries, you may have noticed they don't do much hand-wringing.

Nice, Arvin. So we should act like a mob, you say? Never! How, then, could our virtue remain intact?

What are Democratic voters - not to mention the progressives accustomed to not having any political representation - prepared to do when faced with systematic, institutional betrayal? After the requisite bloggy indignation and an hour or two in the drum circle, you aren't going to do jack shit.

And that ain't no secret. Especially at Democratic National Headquarters.

* * * * * * *

UPDATE: Since the discussion continues, so does my commentary: Part II: Can't Never Could. For original context, refer to A Tiny Revolution. As much as I would like to continue the discussion, I'm late on a pressing deadline and my ass is already in hot water. Later, taters!