My Head, My Heart

Kos makes a simple, easy-to-understand argument about why a Democratic push to impeach BushCo. is a bad idea. His point boils down to this, essentially: they have better things to do right now.

I know this to be true. Iraq is a fiasco and we have to figure out what to do about it before the remaining US troops are sucked into a black hole of full-blown civil war, before the country collapses on top of us, before I ever, EVER have to hear myself agree with James Baker again.

But I am mad.

When 9/11 happened I was mad and I was human and I wanted revenge. I wanted those responsible to be punished. Bush and his war in Iraq did not do that. Is not doing that. (I get achingly, fumingly enraged when I think of the "Mission Accomplished" declaration he had the audacity to give.)

No, Bush has not punished those responsible, but he could have. So now he, too, bears responsibility. And he, too, should be punished for his crimes.

Of course, I know better. But I don't feel better.

So when I read this comment on Kos, I appreciated the sentiment.

What are Democrats for?

I can see the pragmatist argument you are making. The Democratic party has obtained a foothold, but it's precarious, and tactically it is more sound to secure that foothold than risk reaching for a higher goal when you can still fall off the cliff.

On the other hand, there are questions of morale here.

I am a cynical, despairing voter. I vote for Democrats because I see them as my best hope for getting my political interests represented. There are very few Democrats who actually strike me as ideal voices, however. The successful Democrats all seem to be the mealy-mouthed conservative do-nothings. They toe the line, they bleat about Republican excesses, but demonstrate that wonderful bipartisan spirit when it comes to important votes. I'm sick of it. It seems to me that conservative, 'safe' Democrat-ism is what lead to the Bush presidency in the first place, and what lead to the Iraq war, and the Patriot Act, and signing statements, and Alitos and Roberts, and Bob Gates as a Rumsfield replacement, and the whole bloody mess in general.

The Republicans, by God, stand for something. They make the usual political statements about peace and freedom, but you know, when they want lower taxes, they lower taxes! When they want a war, they wage war! When they promise money to their corporate benefactors, they unleash the moolah! When they want to impress their base, they will make complete asses out of themselves by claiming that brain-dead women are merely napping. They stand for things that I think are pretty horrible, and accomplish things that are even worse, but they do what they set out to do, mostly. Except the Thousand-Year Republican Reich, that hasn't worked too good, but hey, they've got people like you still thinking it might happen.

I don't want Democrats who will only do 'safe' things in office. I don't want Democrats who will only consider doing 'unsafe' things when their offices and majorities are 'safe'. I want heroes. I want Democrats who will do hard, unsafe things, when they are vulnerable. I want brave risk-takers, not hunkered-down spear-carriers.

You see, there's a Hydra in the Lernaen Swamp that is our nation. It's been festering evilly since the Cold War. It's heads have names, names we've known since the Nixon years. And they still keep popping up even though it's the 21st century. That's because, back then, when we first fought the Hydra, people did the expedient thing of chopping off a few heads, and letting others retire without doing jail time. However, you can't just chop the heads off. You have to burn the stumps, or the heads pop back, double in number. Look at the names of the people infesting this current administration. There are people in power now who have been screwing the world up since the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush I administrations. Nobody burned the stumps back then, so they've popped up again, and done as much or worse than before.

I want a Hercules, who is going to go in, chop the heads off, burn the stumps, and kill the fucking Hydra once and for all. It won't be safe, it won't be expedient, but if it is never done, the problem will never end.