Personal thoughts on ABB [View All]

[WillyBrandt]

I've been ABB forever. I remember when Clinton said at that rally in Iowa, "Go ahead, fall in love, be for somebody ... But when the primary's over, let's fall in line and bring the White House back to our party."

My candidate, Clark, wasn't in then; and, alas, he isn't in now. But I was prepared to vote for, to work hard for, and to donate to any candidate, as soon as the primary season looked like it had been decided.

That feeling has only strengthened as time as moved on. It would be tragic--but unfortunately typical--if Democrats, progressives, and alarmed moderates squandered this moment. The GOP is wavering at the precipice: do we push them over, or jump over ourselves?

I realize that even if Lieberman were the nominee, I'd work for him. And not with my nose pinched either, despite how much I dislike him. The needs of the nation are greater than any candidate. That's what matters. Looking back at a candidates' failures, moments of cowardice, moments of ill-judgment is a fine thing to do, so far as it goes. Still. I like all the candidates, but even if you don't: would you give essentially a silent vote to a Tyrant just to spite an imperfect man?

I could pick out a few strains (oh, but what about issue X, or position Y?), but it's bullshit compared to the two Americas before us. One, an America returning to normalcy and freedom from a toxic aberration. The other, an America darker and deadlier, ever more estranged from her soul.

The first path is full of warts and spots and perhaps blood as well.

But the second we're getting just a small a taste of; the main course would follow were Bush elected in 2004. (Imagine a debt default; imagine a romp through Syria, an annihilated Seoul.) Things will not get worse before they get better. They will get worse and worse. If you think that you might reach heaven by wreaking hell, know that you will only wreak hell.

ABB is a devotion to doing whatever is needed for following the first path, however grand or bland it may turn out.

If principle interferes with pragmatism in a case as extreme as this, then realize the price of that principle will be paid in freedom and money and blood. If a human being has before him/her the imperfect and the Truly Horrible, then rejecting the choice altogether, and retreating from reality, isn't anything to be proud of. It's a sign of weakness, and narcissism in the face of crisis.

I'm voting and working against Bush no matter what. I'll stomach my doubts, and put aside my disappointments. There is so fucking much to be done.



PS I voted for Nader in 2000, out of dissatisfaction with the party, and a lack of seriousness that I now realize was essentially whimsy. Does that make me partly responsible for Bush's selection, and for all the harm and horror that has followed? The answer is yes.