A Reminder

All you're gonna find in the middle of the road

is a coupla yellow lines and dead armadillos

Today's Brian

It's been kind of a mantra for a while: It's not up to the Dems to save the GOP.

Looks like we're gonna step up and do it anyway.

And it feels like a side benefit of saving American democracy, but it's not. Turns out it's a requisite.

So c'mon, Republicans - the water's too cold - it's gonna kill ya - get it the fuckin' boat, and let's go do somethin'.

Why Politics?

Because the people who decide what you pay in interest on your credit card, and your mortgage, and your car loan are involved in politics.

The people who set your rent and your base pay - they're involved in politics.

The people who tell you to shut up and live with it when your water looks like piss, and your air makes your kids gasp for a breath, and the food you eat is both too expensive, and too poisonous - they're involved in politics.

When you complain about having to choose

between the lesser of two evils,

and that means you stay home,

refusing to participate,

you're letting someone else choose

the greater of those evils for you.

What's The Goal Here?

The point is to feed yourself. You need a good meal.

But if you're thinking you'll have to fuck somebody over so you can grab a bite - when there's actually enough for both of you - then you're raising the probability that you both go hungry instead.

I want my favorite (right now that's Elizabeth Warren) to get the Democratic nomination, and I'm going to talk her up when I get the chance. But I'm not gonna shit on any other Democrat in the process.

The GOP jumped off the cliff and mashed itself into this weird amalgam of TheoCons and Radical Libertarians and Mindless Robotic Cheerleader Rubes - right 'round the fuckin' bend.

And for the last 25 or 30 years it's meant the Dems have had to do the work for both major parties. "Progressives" vs "Lefties" vs "ConservaDems" vs "Limousine Liberals" etc etc etc.

If we get hung up on any kind of purity tests or we shit on each other for backing "the wrong Democrat", then sure as fuck, we're going to be standing there with our dicks in our hands watching the impala run away. Again. Don't bring the DINO shit in here.

There are plenty of factions that make up the Democratic Voter Cohort. Every one of those factions is important if not absolutely vital in every election. But not one of them is more vital than all the others.

What I'm thoroughly sick of hearing is the contest between factions to lay claim to the title of "Single Most Important blah blah blah".

Yes, your issues are important, because your votes are important, and everybody - EVERY-FUCKING-BODY - gets that. Congratulations. Whoopty-fuckin'-doo for you. 

Now chop the wood and carry the water. Cuz y'know what? If the Dem doesn't win, then your issues don't mean shit. Your chances of even getting a hearing on your issues are less than shit.

And can you guess why? Because you wouldn't work together last time, and they're at it again.

So even when you know Putin and the Mercers and Steve Bannon (et al) are still doing everything they can do to get us to fight with each other, you can't figure out how to ignore all that divisive shit and do what it takes to send the Republicans straight to political hell?

C'mon.

GET TOGETHER

GET TO WORK

GET SHIT DONE

That Life Lesson Again

@PeteButtigieg:

“If we adopt a platform that's way out to the left, they’re going to say we're socialists. If we adopt a more moderate or conservative platform, they're going to say we're socialists. So we might as well just do what we think is right...”

That Warren Woman

Not long ago, Scott Brown was busy losing his Senate seat and decided his best course of action was to say stupidly offensive things about Elizabeth Warren as he tried to turn Adolescent Mocking into a viable campaign strategy.

Any time one side decides to concentrate on their opponent's status or comportment or  "tone" - you know their policy argument's a total loser.

From Pam Martens at Wall Street On Parade:

Senator Warren said to the audience: “Who would have thought five years ago, after we witnessed firsthand the dangers of an overly concentrated financial system, that the Too Big to Fail problem would only have gotten worse? There are many who say, ‘Sure, Too Big to Fail isn’t over yet, but Congress should wait to act further because the agencies still have to issue a bunch of Dodd-Frank’s required rules.’ True, there are rules left to be written, but that’s because the agencies have missed more than 60 percent of Dodd-Frank’s rulemaking deadlines. I don’t understand the logic. Since when does Congress set deadlines, watch regulators miss most of them, and then take that failure as a reason not to act? I thought that if the regulators failed, it was time for Congress to step in. That’s what oversight means. And that’s certainly a principle that would have served our country well prior to the crisis.”

Warren makes way too much sense - she must be destroyed.

From The Comments Section

...on a Daniel Larison post at The American Conservative:

• You don’t have to be a liberal to be OK with pre-Bush 2 tax rates.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to resist wasteful Defense spending levels and to see the wisdom of staying out of wars.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to live with a health care system many Republicans endorsed two decades ago.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to practice a productive legislative relationship with the other party.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to allow that at least some regulation is essential for a trustworthy business environment.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to quit gratuitously insulting minorities and women.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to quit using sneaky ways to circumvent democratically representative voting results.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to use your small-state Senate seat responsibly.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to have a gun policy that respects Second Amendment rights, but isn’t written by the firearms industry.
• You don’t have to be a liberal to conserve our natural resources.