While the quality of discussion in GDP circles the bowl, Plaid Adder has posted this in GD:

[JeffR]

Everyone should read the full piece, but the excerpt below on its own should be enough to inject some maturity into the, um, "political debating" that's going around here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2675951

It is a strange moment when you realize that whenever you teach a child to believe in an ideal, you are priming her for the same painful process of disillusionment, anger, and grief that you had to go through when you learned how hard it is for people to do the right thing and how easy it is for them to be cruel to each other and how even easier it is for people who are comfortable to forget that anyone else is in trouble. And yet wouldn't give up the beliefs that brought you all this pain, because without them, what's life? Getting up and going to work in the morning, going out to buy crap, consuming it, going to sleep, starting all over the next morning. You have to believe that another world is possible, even and especially when the evidence suggests otherwise. If you get comfortable with the crappy state of the world as it is, you're lost. You have to believe that the world *could* change, even though it seems like it never does. You have to have something to work for.

Anyway. So that's what I was thinking about, listening to this thing: whether it will ever be possible to connect these ideals with being American again. Is it a lie to teach her about the republican ideals that went into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and pretend that they still have anything to do with America the empire? Since when have we ever really held that ALL people are created equal? For how long will people who have no money be considered to have forfeited their right to the pursuit of happiness? When is Congress, or the judiciary, ever going to function as a check on the power of the executive branch? When will there ever be again such a thing as an election that everyone can be sure was fair and free? At what point in history will anyone ever again be able to say "America" and "human rights" in the same sentence without either crying or laughing?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions. All I know is I find it hard to take an interest in politics as usual right now. I'm fed up with the horse race, with the electoral romance, with celebrity politicians and polls and percentage points and the whole dog and pony show. Someone will win the Democratic primary, and that person will need millions upon millions of dollars in order to beat the Republican candidate, and that money has to come from somewhere, and wherever it comes from, that's who will own that candidate. Nothing that happens between now and November is liable to change that.

Things don't go in the same direction forever. Maybe by the time PJ can vote, this place will be totally unrecognizable--in a good way. I'd like her to feel, when it's her turn to take on this mess, as if there's a way she might be able to actually make a dent. I hope whoever wins in 2008 has some ideas about how to make that happen, and some intentions of implementing them. It's just hard to expect it, sometimes.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thank you, my dear JeffR!

It's a superb piece of writing...

It's already gone to the Greatest Page...

A :kick: for you!

[JeffR]

2. I hope it gets to the top, Peggy. It's an important piece.

And its gravity and clarity outweigh 99% of what's being posted these days, especially in GDP.

[emilyg]

3. TY

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. Plaid Adder is brilliant, as always...

K & R

[no name no slogan]

5. Although it disrupts the circular firing squad, I'm going to K & R this (nt)