Enfranchising Outrage
This is of a piece with last night's post, in the spirit of getting over any tempting misguided genuflection towards correctness and civility. Post below is another reminder that passion - especially focused passion - is absolutely critical. The author here is the editor of Greenwald's imminent and impatiently-awaited book "How Would a Patriot Act." My understanding is that the book, due out next week, is being first-editioned in paperback at very reasonable price. Please badger your bookstores about it.
I do believe Ms. Nix should share names and affiliations of the editor-quizlings as fair game.
On February 15, I sat in a Chinese dive in North Beach with the online editor of well-known progressive magazine and a similarly-leaning, legendary book editor. I’d name names, but it’s only the twisted trust these men place in “conventional wisdom” that I wish to call out. And, I write this today only because the country as a whole seems to be in the grip of this same impotent and failed belief system, the one that tells us there is nothing we can do to stop the Bush administration from trampling on the Constitution and sliding this great nation from democracy into despotism.
It’s time to exorcise these demons of so-called conventional wisdom. Doing the right thing in politics and media, just because it’s the right thing, has become something of a lost art. But, maybe we can do something about it. So, here’s my tale.
I’d shown up for dinner with a bounce in my step, charged up by a number of conservatives-with-cajones stepping forward to take the Bush administration to task over its unwarranted domestic spying program, and claims that W can break any law he finds inconvenient. Republicans like Bob Barr and Bruce Fein were even using the “I” word (and the very next day, George Will would weigh in with his two cents likening Bush to a monarch). I expected that my dinner partners, as progressive thought-leaders and purveyors of information, would be fired up, too. I looked forward to a rousing discussion of how to explain Bush’s law-breaking ways, to connect the dots, and bring historical perspective to recent events.
Alas, I found no urgency, no fervent desire to inform the citizenry of what all was at stake. Instead I was treated to smug defeatism, of the brand so popular today in Washington, DC, even though we were hunched over a tiny table at the House of Nan King in liberal San Francisco. You know the stuff. The political posturing: It’s a losing proposition for Democrats to support censure or impeachment. This Congress will never impeach Bush. We’ll look weak on security. Or the ever-comfortable, elitist stance: People don’t care about these issues. They only care about American Idol. I paraphrase, but you get the idea.
“Are we supposed to stand by and do nothing?” I asked.
They looked at me like I was a five-year-old. Or, perhaps the radical fringe. I remember the book editor saying, “We can only do what we can do.” I left dinner somewhat disoriented, but after a Scotch by myself at Tosca, where I waited for my husband to come pick me up, I became even more committed to the Glenn Greenwald book project I was trying to get funded. I’d met Glenn through a fellowship at Working Assets, and had the idea that if his ideas could reach a wider audience, we might just be able to create a tipping point about Bush’s abuse of power. With Will Rockafellow, I’d put together a proposal, and about a week after my night at Nan King, Working Assets agreed to launch a publishing venture with Glenn’s project. The book, How Would a Patriot Act? formally enters the world next week, after some much-appreciated buzz on the blogs a couple of weeks ago.
But, despite my hopes for what Glenn’s book may be able to accomplish, we are still fighting an uphill battle in the public opinion arena. It is astounding to me that conservatives have been far bolder in criticizing the president over his NSA shenanigans. And even in the face of the USA Today story, detailing more administration lies and explaining the NSA’s plans to build a database of every call made within the country, we see no collective demand from Democrats to stand up and say, NO MORE!
WE HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING. We need a movement. We need to be our own leaders, people. It will take all of our talent, all of our knowledge. All of our cooperation.
This has to be a citizen-led movement, and it will take all of us working together to build the necessary pressure. Yes, our Congress may be controlled by the president’s party, but there are some brave elected officials for whom we can build support. And this is not a liberal or conservative crisis. This is an American crisis.
And our media—mainstream and progressive—have often been too timid to stand up to this administration, but the stories are starting to roll in. The New York Times, the Boston Globe and even USA Today are working it now.
But we have to care. We have to be outraged. We have to take action.
This is our moment. Our public servants are there to follow the will of the people. If the people want George Bush to stop breaking the law, then the people must, and can, make him stop.
[clip]
I do believe Ms. Nix should share names and affiliations of the editor-quizlings as fair game.
On February 15, I sat in a Chinese dive in North Beach with the online editor of well-known progressive magazine and a similarly-leaning, legendary book editor. I’d name names, but it’s only the twisted trust these men place in “conventional wisdom” that I wish to call out. And, I write this today only because the country as a whole seems to be in the grip of this same impotent and failed belief system, the one that tells us there is nothing we can do to stop the Bush administration from trampling on the Constitution and sliding this great nation from democracy into despotism.
It’s time to exorcise these demons of so-called conventional wisdom. Doing the right thing in politics and media, just because it’s the right thing, has become something of a lost art. But, maybe we can do something about it. So, here’s my tale.
I’d shown up for dinner with a bounce in my step, charged up by a number of conservatives-with-cajones stepping forward to take the Bush administration to task over its unwarranted domestic spying program, and claims that W can break any law he finds inconvenient. Republicans like Bob Barr and Bruce Fein were even using the “I” word (and the very next day, George Will would weigh in with his two cents likening Bush to a monarch). I expected that my dinner partners, as progressive thought-leaders and purveyors of information, would be fired up, too. I looked forward to a rousing discussion of how to explain Bush’s law-breaking ways, to connect the dots, and bring historical perspective to recent events.
Alas, I found no urgency, no fervent desire to inform the citizenry of what all was at stake. Instead I was treated to smug defeatism, of the brand so popular today in Washington, DC, even though we were hunched over a tiny table at the House of Nan King in liberal San Francisco. You know the stuff. The political posturing: It’s a losing proposition for Democrats to support censure or impeachment. This Congress will never impeach Bush. We’ll look weak on security. Or the ever-comfortable, elitist stance: People don’t care about these issues. They only care about American Idol. I paraphrase, but you get the idea.
“Are we supposed to stand by and do nothing?” I asked.
They looked at me like I was a five-year-old. Or, perhaps the radical fringe. I remember the book editor saying, “We can only do what we can do.” I left dinner somewhat disoriented, but after a Scotch by myself at Tosca, where I waited for my husband to come pick me up, I became even more committed to the Glenn Greenwald book project I was trying to get funded. I’d met Glenn through a fellowship at Working Assets, and had the idea that if his ideas could reach a wider audience, we might just be able to create a tipping point about Bush’s abuse of power. With Will Rockafellow, I’d put together a proposal, and about a week after my night at Nan King, Working Assets agreed to launch a publishing venture with Glenn’s project. The book, How Would a Patriot Act? formally enters the world next week, after some much-appreciated buzz on the blogs a couple of weeks ago.
But, despite my hopes for what Glenn’s book may be able to accomplish, we are still fighting an uphill battle in the public opinion arena. It is astounding to me that conservatives have been far bolder in criticizing the president over his NSA shenanigans. And even in the face of the USA Today story, detailing more administration lies and explaining the NSA’s plans to build a database of every call made within the country, we see no collective demand from Democrats to stand up and say, NO MORE!
WE HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING. We need a movement. We need to be our own leaders, people. It will take all of our talent, all of our knowledge. All of our cooperation.
This has to be a citizen-led movement, and it will take all of us working together to build the necessary pressure. Yes, our Congress may be controlled by the president’s party, but there are some brave elected officials for whom we can build support. And this is not a liberal or conservative crisis. This is an American crisis.
And our media—mainstream and progressive—have often been too timid to stand up to this administration, but the stories are starting to roll in. The New York Times, the Boston Globe and even USA Today are working it now.
But we have to care. We have to be outraged. We have to take action.
This is our moment. Our public servants are there to follow the will of the people. If the people want George Bush to stop breaking the law, then the people must, and can, make him stop.
[clip]
posted by Sir Gumbo at 11:14 PM
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