I know I pick on Glenn Greenwald a lot -- but there is a reason. The guy is a historical and political illiterate, a magical thinker of the worst kind. His most recent display of his utter intellectual immaturity is in an interview with Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic in which he posits that
the two-party system does not work in terms of providing clear choices. No matter who wins, the same permanent factions that control Washington continue to reign. That's true no matter which issues one considers most important. At some point, it's going to be necessary to sacrifice some short-term political interests for longer-term considerations about how this suffocating, two-party monster can be subverted.
Yes the Democratic Party is a deeply imperfect vehicle for advancing liberal goals, but the notion that it is indistinguishable from the Republican Party is pure nihilism. Now I understand that Glenn dwells on a higher plane than we mere mortals here in DC, but you know what, it makes a difference if the people entrusted with enforcing labor and worker safety laws believe in them or are fundamentally opposed to them, whether the folks that run the federally funded family planning program are in favor of government-aided contraception or against it, whether the people at the Environmental Protection Agency are committed to the environment or are industry hacks and so on and so on. There is a huge governmental apparatus that has enormous sway over day to day life in this country and the notion that "the same permanent factions" are in control of it whether Bush or Obama is in charge is to show complete disinterest in actual governance.
And what is to be our salvation from all of these corporatist Democrats who are impeding the golden age that is just on the horizon? Why the good people out there in real America coming together across the ideological divide to fight for Miranda rights for suspected terrorists, and against wars and corporations:
I think the citizenry is becoming less and less defined by loyalty to one of the two parties, and these partisan divisions are breaking down, becoming much less clean. We saw that with opposition to TARP, the general anger toward corporatist control of Washington, discomfort with our policy of endless wars, and the widespread disgust with incumbent power. Far more important than Right v. Left is insider v. outsider (or politically powerful v. powerless). That fact is becoming more crystallized, and the more that happens, the more the artificial barriers that divide citizens (Right and Left) will erode, the more apparent will be the commonalities.
As fucking if. Seriously, this guy is a fucking child. I have been observing American politics in a pretty intense way for over thirty years. During that time I have tried to remain as lucid as humanly possible, to remain objective about conditions on the ground, notwithstanding my own lefty biases. The idea that partisan divisions are breaking down, that there is meaningful common ground between liberals and the tea party set is a pathetic delusion. Greenwald is frighteningly unformed as a political being -- beyond his civil liberties absolutism and his anti-corporatist rhetoric (although he supported the Citizens United decision), one struggles to find any kind of programmatic coherence in his world view. Does he really think that Ron and Rand Paul are likely allies for those of us on the left? Greenwald doesn't get bogged won in such details -- he is above that sort of thing:
When Jane Hamsher and I founded Accountability Now, to target incumbents who served corporate and Beltway interests rather than their constituents, we did so by forming a coalition with libertarians and others devoted to civil liberties protection. There is much greater agreement across the ideological spectrum than our conventional political punditry wants to recognize.
No, there fucking isn't. What agreement is there between those of us who want universal health care, greater protections for collective bargaining, a more progressive tax system, a government push for green energy, and the absolute defense of the Social Security and Medicare programs and the Randroids and paleo-cons with whom Glenn wants to make common cause? How many of these folks are willing to stand up for a woman's right to control her reproduction or Greenwald's right to marry his partner and be an equal citizen? How many will join us in trying to ameliorate the effects of poverty or of past racial discrimination? None -- or virtually none.
The business of cobbling and keeping together a majority to support the things about which we care is going to continue to be difficult, tedious, painstaking, and mundane. There is not going to be some magical moment where our political opponents see the error of their ways and cease supporting policies that favor the wealthy and the corporate elite. These people may be wrong, they may be delusional, but unlike Greenwald, they are fully formed political beings who know which side they are on. And it ain't ours.
I recommend that you read this article by Michael Tomasky and gain a little bit of historical perspective on the liberal struggles of today and of yesteryear. It's an excellent piece, possessing all of the important qualities that Greenwald's skin-deep diatribes lack.
