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Failures Left and Right

By Philip Murphy

5-30-05

 

If anyone doubts the current level of political dysfunction within the United States, the examination of two recent local public events should bring them around to the pessimist's viewpoint. The two gatherings in question were the Marla Ruzicka post-funeral remembrance, and the Memorial Day parade in Lakeport, each in their own way symbolizing the inability of the two political poles of this democracy to effectively do their jobs.

 

On the left we have the Marla event, which was the idea of her brother Jim. It was a mixture of music and readings from Marla's journal, along with some memories of her shared by friends. All this was fine, and the turnout for this memorial by and for the local antiwar people was fairly good, with about 130 in attendance. But what was disturbing were the reminders of what the faces in the crowd represented, many of whom being familiar lefties. Good people all, but a perfect example of the splintering of the left , who oftentimes end up working against each other come election day. There were the Kucinich people, the Howard Deaners, the Clintonoids, Greens and a few other odds and ends clearly visible in the crowd. Everyone there hated the war, but you couldn't get any of the different lefty gangs on hand to agree on how to hasten it's end. Come last election day the vast majority of them grit their teeth and voted for pro-war thug John Kerry, favoring blind allegiance to party over loyalty to lefty principles when it came down to brass tacks.

 

There is no end in sight to this impasse, in fact, there doesn't even seem to be a conscious awareness of it. Come „06 the vast majority of the crowd will again grit their teeth and cast a ballot for warmonger Diane Feinstien, because they've convinced themselves that they have to stave off the evil Republicans at all costs. So the choices are once again between wretched and horrid, isn't that appealing? Here's more to worry about: age. The average age of the antiwar types in Lake County is fifty-something, and the peacenik young‚uns are few and far between, not a good sign for the future of the movement. Maybe it's good that kids can grow up not thinking about war, but that luxury only lasts so long and at some point reality has to be dealt with, one unpleasant aspect of reality being the foreign policy goals and tactics of the United States. Without that pressure to change America's global cowboy approach to managing world affairs we'll continue to plant fresh crosses on the lawn at Arlington cemetery for the foreseeable future, a fact seemly lost on the young. The left should be trying hard to kill the Democratic party instead of keeping it on life support as it has for the last decade or so, but count on the Republican boogey-men being trotted out every election season to insure that the plug isn't pulled any time soon.

 

` Good news for the Republicans, right? Well, maybe not, as the GOP has plenty of leaks in it's boat too. This was evidenced at this year's Memorial Day parade in Lakeport, where the rank-and-file conservatives showed how they've lost control of their own fates as well, not that anyone there noticed. Displayed like taxidermy subjects, a few vets were briefly presented for viewing, as a prelude to the real content of the spectacle. The true purpose of the event was to A: give horse and car clubs, marching bands and politicians something to do, and B; to sell crap. Actually, portion B was the primary reason the Chamber of Commerce organized the parade, and the horses, cars and marching bands were just thrown in to break up the otherwise steady stream of hard-core advertising pitches.

 

Little if anything was said about the hijacking of a parade that's supposed to honor America's war dead by a bunch of sleazy, opportunistic local merchants (some of whom were the same ones responsible for slapping their advertising on the back of the newspaper's special edition give-away American flags distributed right after 9-11). If that sad fact wasn't nauseating enough, then there was the sight of some of the Lakeport city councilmen's ugly mugs rolling by to churn the contents of your digestive tract. There's nothing like using the nation's dearly departed servicemen to further one's own political career, is there? "We're behind our troops" they say, about 10,000 miles behind, to be exact. All this is as self-serving as the parade's announcer thanking the chamber of commerce for spending some of the money we taxpayers gave them in order to make this fine marketing opportunity, er, parade possible. Lake County is brimming with vets, but somehow that numerical superiority didn't translate into doing what it takes to keep the yearly event out of the hands of Main Street pirates, and just like the lefties, most vets don't even know what's wrong, let alone what to do about it.

 

The left has failed to figure out who the enemy is and how to deal with them, and so has the rank-and-file of the right, with both groups feeling the effects of their weaknesses. The left seems destined to never get it's hands back on the levers of power, and the right is doomed by the successes of their own kind, as middle class-and-lower Republicans are getting screwed along with the rest of us by an unrestrained corporate/ capitalist America.

 

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