In the world of political blogs, one cannot run a blog and write “screed” after “tract” (as the left would likely typify the material that I write) without reading at least some of what occurs on the “other side of the tracts.” For that reason I purposely subscribe to a number of internet political magazines and actual paper magazines featuring Democratic and/or far left leaning philosophies if, for no other reason, than to get a grip on the thought processes of those I may later excoriate. Left or right.
Unlike Rush Limbaugh, for example, I am not a perpetual apologist for the Republican Party (but hey, we all have our niches — his just makes more money). I want to think in terms of: give this power to the Republicans now, what would the Democrats do with this selfsame power? It is for this reason that I find limitations on the actual freedom of speech in various forms of media, here and throughout the world, to be highly questionable, absent a clear, concise guideline for these words and thoughts. There are already egregious examples too numerous to mention extant in Britain, Canada, Denmark, the EU and even on our own shores — more than enough fodder for a series of books, much less one fat guy on the internet.
Thusly, whilst reading the Sunday, July 18th Los Angeles Times online, did I cross a column written by Thomas Frank (http:www/latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-frank18jul.story) entitled “How The Left Has Lost Its Heart” and subtitled: “Now, the working class has no true champion.”
Right out of the box, I disagreed with Mr. Frank when he wrote in his very first paragraph: “That our politics have been shifting rightward for more than 30 years is a generally acknowledged fact of American life. That this movement has largely been brought about by working-class voters whose lives have been materially worsened by the conservative politics they have supported is less commented upon.”
Katie-bar-the-door, do I feel a rant coming on. Hold on to something solid because here comes the judgmentalism:
Oh really, Mr. Frank? I would submit that, in truth, John Kennedy would make a weak-kneed mass-consumption Republican today. The Dems still revere him and, to an extent, the greater populace today only because he was killed by an assassins’ bullet (please note the placement of my apostrophe). Henry “Scoop” Jackson would be entirely too centrist today, as is Zell Miller and Joseph Lieberman — good Democrats held at arm’s length by their own party.
Things have been shifting right? Oh, no, not at all. I would submit, however, that the “fight” has only become more “in your face” and prevalent because of some technological movements taken immediate advantage-of by more conservative-oriented individuals and organizations.
Whatever “backlash” is occurring, is driven only by so-called conservatives finally finding technological venues for their own voices — voices stricken from the mainstream until only recently.
It is this perceived mainstream emergence that has been driving far left wing Dems to ground and desperately rallying for more support. National perspective has moved from an ABC – CBS – NBC-dominated TV lockstep (almost as oppressive as BBC’s control of UK airwaves) to alternates such as cable, satellite, AM radio and the internet. Even massive print legacies such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times (and all points in between) are suffering from diminished readership on two fronts: fewer persons nationwide are taking the time to read “leisurely,” and those who are realize that the print media is as stilted and one-sided as the free airwaves.
And then, of course, there’s NPR and our national public TV stations: that federally-funded sliver catering to guilty, rich, elitist whites consisting of numerous well-trimmed graybearded males with red-veined noses, lacquered nails and their subordinate immaculately-coiffed females sitting on various boards, moving to-and-fro in their climate-controlled Acuras, Infinitis, Cadillacs (only recently cool), Jaguars, Lexus, BMWs, Mercedes (with a few Volvos thrown in for the lower classes). Check the parking lots
Who passed NAFTA? Who passed GATT? Who opened our borders more than ever? Remember Miguel Ferrer’s line in the movie Traffic when he says,
