Quote of the Day

Then as now, Adams said, too many liberals failed to understand the power and allure of evil, and when the radical Christians came, these people would undoubtedly play by the old, polite rules of democracy long after those in power had begun to dismantle the democratic state. Adams had watched German academics fall silent or conform. He knew how desperately people wanted to believe the comfortable lies told them by totalitarian movements, how easily those lies lull moderates into passivity...

Homosexuals and lesbians, Adams said, would be the first "deviants" singled out by the Christian right. We would be the next." Chris Hedges - from "Feeling the hate with the National Religious Broadcasters"

Nail, meet hammer..

We are the victims of our sense of trust. It just is not in our nature to believe what appears to be true can actually be true..

And we do play by the old rules of civility. I write mad passionate words every single day. I don't know what else to do. There is no parade for me to march in. There is no local politician I can write, that wouldn't just throw my letter in the trash. There is no letter to the editor that wouldn't get drowned by a sea of opposition. Trust me, I have written those letters.

And yet, "leaders" like John at America Blog writes something like this today.

This would be laughable if it weren't a sign of what we're up against. This is what the Microsoft battle is about. This is what the filibuster battle, and creationism, and Terri Schiavo and all the rest. It's about a rabid wing of the Republican party that has taken control and simply doesn't believe in our democracy or our system of government. They're angry, authoritarian thugs who claim they're beleaguered, even though they now control just about everything.

It's high time our thugs got angry and put this to a stop.

So I wrote a comment on John's blog that I would be a thug if I knew how. He's flailing the same as I to find something more than what we have done already to fight back.

Another post at Americablog shows how the wingers do it..

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, a democrat, has been fighting in the media with the conservative Colorado Springs-based group Focus on the Family for about a week now.

Salazar is in the political cross hairs of Christian conservatives who accuse him of supporting the so called "filibuster against faith."

Salazar's critics gathered at a Dairy Queen restaurant in Westminster owned by the senator's wife.

One supporter, Phillip Hendrix from Castle Rock said, "stop filibustering judicial nominations. Let some of these judges take their office."

The local tactic is part of a broader national strategy to put heat on senate Democrats who've been using the filibuster to block conservative judicial nominees from the federal bench.

How is that for thuggery? They simply harass the politician's wife at her business. They certainly are NOT playing by old, polite, rules of democracy. The concept of "religion" excuses their behavior merely by association.

And for the rest of us, what association do we have to lean on when we become thugs? We have none.

So I'm truly at a loss. I want to do more. I've contributed some money, and I've written a bunch of letters, and I write about it here every day. Yet, I feel the war being lost. Just look at what Microsoft has done....

I would say that to start, we could remove the tax exempt status for all religious organizations, but since we have no influence, that would never pass. That's "old, polite rules of democracy" again.

There most be something else....

** update **

Maybe I really could run for political office here. I live in a northern suburb of Dallas which is pretty conservative. It's all luxury SUV's and soccer moms. The odds of my actually winning an election to a city or state office would be really low, especially considering I'm openly gay. This isn't New York or California. This is Texas.

But - I could make it very interesting. I might even be able to get some publicity out of it. Homos running for office have to be rare...

Plus.. I have no skeletons in the closet. I've never been arrested, and in fact my total run-in with the law consist of 3 speeding tickets over the course of 22 years of driving. I'm not addicted to anything, and work as a professional.

My record is cleaner than most members of Congress...

hmmmm...

** update 2 **

And it just occurred to me that politican's need to be good with people. I'm an engineer, not a "people person". I could probably debate a winger into the floor, but facts and reason fly in one ear and out the other. I have the charisma of a.. umm.. can't think of an inanimate object, so just find one near you and my imagine my personality is like that..

Okay.. so I guess scratch running for office.. back to the drawing board.