General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: An open letter to folks like myself who cannot in good conscience vote for Obama [View all]ElboRuum
(4,717 posts)Don't do me any favors. Keep your vote. Your pomposity is ripe, stinking, and offensive. You claim to want to "resolve" issues between yourself and some of your fellow liberals, and by those fellow liberals I can only assume from the rank tone of your post those you consider less enlightened or forthright, yet you go out of your way to tell us of the size of the clothespin you'll have to put over nose to vote for what you appear to believe is such a clearly unqualified candidate. 'I'm doing it for the poor disenfranchised voters everywhere...' So, what then? You'll solve the problem by doubling down on the arrogance? Good plan. You must be one of those people of the school of thought that the proper place to bury the hatchet is in the person of those beneath your enlightened views and lacking your pristinely true north moral compass.
Well, speaking as a "fellow" liberal, let me extract your hatchet, gauze the wound, and speak for a moment on the concept of "fellow" liberals. I have met many liberals in my life, both in person and online here, if only to their disembodied words. And let me tell you emphatically that not all of them I consider my "fellows". Some have a very narrow view of what being liberal or progressive means. Some of narrow view have this nasty habit of seeing their own views as unitary and unassailable, beyond reproach. They fancy themselves as exemplars, the de facto spiritual leaders of a pure movement. And from these individuals, I get the distinct impression of a bubble they live in that affords them the situational benefit of being precisely unitary and unbending. Bully for them. The rest of us live in the real world.
And I, for one who lives in that very real world, am tired of listening to people of this kind backhandedly degrade people who are in some measure attempting to right our ship of state, restore fairness to our economic system, and foment social progress in this time very hostile to all of these initiatives. Whether it is these flawed Democratic candidates and incumbents or the ones who somehow manage to vote for them without the benefit of nasally mounted clothespins of ridiculous size, flawed people of good intent are always a better bet and of greater value in my opinion than people of implied perfection and pure intent.
Most respectfully proposed? Yes, saying it is so must make it so, right? Well as a "distraught fellow progressive" (what a joke) I suppose I should be thankful for that. Should be thankful, I say, because my grotesquely limited moral and intellectual fiber is somehow preventing it.