Politics: When Idealism Trumps Reality.

Okay, politics is the art if the possible. Politics involves compromise.  You can google the sources for those ideas.

Idealism tries mold reality to its ideals. I got this idea first from William James and had it reinforced by reading history. The Marxists are idealists. The Nazis are idealists. They force humanity into the confines of their ideals. They achieve this by killing people. 

Right now this country faces the fact that the Republicans are a front for fascists. Two things about fascists: they believe in their ideals with a religious fervor which religiosity justifies all means of obtaining their goals, and their views attract those who may not be fascists but who find safety in the certainty of fascist appeals to a glorious past.

The Democrats cannot afford their native fecklessness to turn their own idealism to become a circular firing squad. 

Whoever is reading this blog, I hope will read The Liberal Patriot's The Democrats’ Progressive Organization Problem. The essay details many facts which you should read but I will quote its conclusion:

A party that is serious about winning would be wise to start ignoring these organizations and concentrate on what is really important: connecting to the values and concerns of the broad majority of the American electorate. No doubt they’d get some flak from these organizations for doing so. But I suspect the trade-off in support where it really counts--among actual voters--would be very much worth it.

I do not think myself woke and I do not care if someone is transgender. If some person's pursuit of happiness means they use non-binary pronouns or changing their sex, then I need to respect their choices just as they need to respect my rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But when my governments try to restrict their rights, then I need to stand against those governments. The Democrats must find common cause to uphold the rights of the Declaration (and included in all state constitutions) before getting onto a particular sub-issue. 

Persuasion is not in the toolkit of idealism. Persuasion is not bludgeoning others with the rightness of your ideals. Democratic politics requires persuasion for success. If the Democrats do not try to persuade the voters of the virtues of democracy, they will lose the power needed to fulfill their goals 

Not that the Democrats will welcome the support of a person as tainted as I am. Nor do I have enough readers here to carry on the message but fo read and forward the Liberal Patriot's message.

sch 6/24/22