When I was younger, I used to believe a lot of things I now find remarkably stupid. For years, I dated a beautiful woman who was just a couple inches shorter than me. For reasons I find baffling now, I had the notion in my head that in a couple, it was important for the man to be taller than the woman. So I didn’t like it when she wore high heeled shoes or boots when we went out together. I can’t pinpoint the moment that I got over this particular prejudice, but it retrospect, it baffles me. We actually fought about this once or twice.
Before reading below the fold, read this post by Micha Ghertner.
Everybody has had quite a bit to say about the FISA bullshit that has happened over the last couple days. And I didn’t want to chime in; I’ve been saying for too long now that the Democrats in general and Obama in particular would make their first priority buttressing the image of government and I have no affection for saying “I told you so.”
And then I read this post by Armando, and something I’ve been feeling for a while now – that I’m wasting my fucking time – hit me like a brick.
What bugs me is that we don’t take responsibility for the FISA legislation ourselves. The problem with democracy in general is that we don’t have to be responsible for how anything turns out. We didn’t support these lousy Democrats like Heath Schuler (yes we did), we didn’t ask for spineless leaders like Nancy Pelosi (yes we did), we didn’t act like assholes and vote for Nader instead of Gore or make Gore and the Democrats so insipid that Nader was the better option, and so on and so on. I should pretend I’m shocked when people pretend that we weren’t trying to get people to support Schuler and Harold Ford in 2006 in the age of Google, but I can’t even bother. I’m sick to death of being polite.
It was so cute how for a day or two, people on the left were prepared to pretend that they were excited to be allied with libertarians on FISA. I’ve spent three years trying to convince just a handful of you that we’re your natural allies on the things you claim are most important, or just that we’re decent people not to be hated. And Armando comes out with a Sunstein-bashing, and OPOL writes a rant about how its the money corrupting politics (via Tyler Cowen, statistics on campaign advertising vs. private advertising. The private sector spends more than thirty times advertising gum and mouthwash and godaddy.com as the politicians spend on trying to get us to vote for them, as a ratio of advertising versus income), and I may as well have been talking to myself. And the sad thing is that these are the people who have the most readers who I have spent time talking to.
And while certainly everyone is as entitled as they please to their own beliefs, I don’t see any reason to respect the beliefs and concerns of others if they have no desire to respect mine.
So, I’m going to put it as bluntly as I can: if you think for a second that a government which is going to take control of your medical care, decide where you can smoke and what kind of fats you can consume, and tell you what kinds of light bulbs you can use is going to not spy on your phone calls, you’re high as a kite. If you think that the government should be in charge of what all children in the country are taught, and you think that government isn’t going to spy on what library books you check out, you’re on the dope. If you think that government is capable of deciding what kind of speech should be allowed before an election, and what should be prevented, you have asked government to spy on you and shouldn’t be surprised that they do. I’ve spent a lot of time with progressives over the last few years, and it strikes me that y’all think you should vote for all the good things you’d like the government to do for people while being excused from the responsibility for the bad things the government does. As if the bad things were the government swindling you in some way.
It comes down to this: either you are for freedom first and democracy second, or you are just shilling for a different kind of tyranny. The reason why the FISA ‘update’ is wrong is because it is an offense against the freedom of Americans, and that is the only valid reason. And either offenses against freedom matter or they don’t. And if they matter in this case, then they matter in all cases, even if people being free results in their doing things you really dislike.
And that’s the trouble. Because voting is one of those things where it doesn’t cost you anything. Your vote doesn’t make the difference and isn’t going to, so you don’t have an incentive to be responsible with it. You can vote your aspirations, and to make yourself feel good. And pretend when the results of that vote toss out your lawsuits that you aren’t culpable. When they do executions by firing squad, they use multiple shooters so that no one knows who actually fired the fatal shot. And then it is no one’s fault that there is a corpse on the floor. We all just get off scot free.
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I don’t know how much longer I can spend in the progressive blogosphere. But I do appreciate all of you who have taken the time to listen to me and to talk to me. I hope that both you and I have gained from the experience.
And no doubt will again.
Here’s one thing we have in common. We’re misfits without a party.
You are a libertarian but the libertarian party doesn’t grab you.
I’m a Democrat and I loathe the Democratic leadership in office now and don’t see much of a change coming even if Obama wins.
This joint is always open for you, there’s a whole lot of misfits here. Right now pretty much everyone is ranting.
I don’t like the label “progressive,” frankly, I’ve never understood what that means. I’ve always been a Democrat and I’ve always cared about social justice.
It’s a hard road sometimes, that’s for sure.
essay confuses but also intrigues. will brew another cup of coffee and read links.
and so on, which is its own black hole. But I do hope you stick around, because you’re one of the authors I read most regularly, whether I agree with you or not. In fact, often because I don’t. We stagnate when we all agree.
I’d like to respond to this in particular:
Yes and no and yes all at the same time. You’ve got an excellent point laced through this, but you’re also reductive as all get out. If you give a power-hungry institution an inch, it’ll take a mile. Fair enough. But there’s no inherent connection between, say, creating public non-smoking areas and spying on phone calls.
But I also know you’re aiming at a more general point here, so I’m not going to nitpick. And though it’s possible to lug out an equally dusty point – that some governments manage to find the right balance… I’m looking at you, Scandinavia! – I think it’s a little counterproductive in the sense that it doesn’t apply to our situation so much. So let’s put that aside.
This is the line I think where you cut most closely to the bone:
Exactly right. And I’ve often thought about leaving blogging for the same reason, coming away some nights with a sour taste in my mouth that, though we were ostensibly fighting for good causes, we were somehow contributing as much to the problems as to the solutions.
I don’t have the answers, either. I hang out here, dkos, and SC, trying to get a good range of people to help me sort out my own feelings on these issues. It hasn’t gotten me any closer to answers, although I feel more self-aware about them. Which isn’t worth anything to anyone, except to me. Blogging is narcissistic by nature. Back into the black hole, right?
This is not a productive comment, except to say that I hope you hang around here.
sorry I missed it until today. Strange bedfellows are the best. I am in many ways your polar opposite but oddly you make way more sense then most progressives. I read you whenever I come upon your posts. Your views are like mine not based on the purely political or my party right or wrong. I’m always stunned when I read your brilliant and artistic musings No matter if I agree or not. Is this a GBCW? I sure hope not I have learned a lot over the years from you. One of the main things is that I have more in common with anarchists and libertarians then most Democrats.
As for OPAL vs. Jay I think while he has a huge audience both for and against you both have at the root of your appeal exactly the fact that freedom first is required and that the responsibility lies with the citizenry. The audience you speak of needs voices like yours. so please do not drop out of the fray. your last essay on Joyce was one of the most fun and thought provoking I have read and you are always a cool breeze in a medium full of hot air.