The web-based home of the mental wanderings of Jeff Burkholder
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Optimized for me. Scroll buttons were invented for a purpose. :)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
So, I realized something the other day about the political climate in the U.S.: Liberals are doomed to failure when it comes to presenting a united front against conservatives. They're getting better, but still have a long way to go.
Allow me to explain. Since the 2000 election, conservatives seem baffled at the amount of animosity the left holds for President Bush. They point to the President's accomplishments in office, his displays of leadership, and his efforts to win the world for freedom and democracy. Yes, they say, there have been a few missteps, but when you find the overall balance, he certainly comes out on top. I mean, especially if you compare him to Bill Clinton.
It's at this point that a lot of liberals balk, and the beginnings of a cogent, coherent backlash takes form. President Bush took the U.S.'s biggest budget surplus in generations (handed to him by Clinton) and completely reversed it into a massive amount of debt, largely due to tax cuts that weren't really necessary. The enormous outpouring of international support for the U.S. after 9/11? Wasted, scattered, and gone. President Bush took on the task of finding Osama bin Laden, and bombed the entire country of Afghanistan to do so. Still waiting for that "Bin Laden Behind Bars" headline to appear. Then, forgetting that tedious routine of "rebuilding the infrastructure" in Afghanistan, he moved his sights (both literal and figurative) to Iraq. On fuzzy logic-based "evidence" of Weapons of Mass Destruction(TM)--not to mention the need to "take out" Saddam Hussein--we bombed them as well. Apparently, the headlines for "WMDs Found" and "Hussein Discovered Hiding Under Rock" were published in the same non-existent paper as the bin Laden one from above. The government has deliberately misled the American people about the reasons for war in Iraq, Saddam Hussein's involvement in 9/11, and more, leading to daily averages of 2 American soldiers and 44 innocent civilians killed in Iraq during our occupation.
And Clinton lied about having sex. Whoops.
Conservatives' hatred of Clinton was/is pretty much on par with liberals' hatred of Bush. However, here's where the difference arises. Conservatives (particularly the "Religious Right" portion thereof) have the market cornered on unilateral, self-righteous hatred. If you don't agree with us, you're evil. Think I'm being harsh? Reflect on how innocent members of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea might have felt at that whole "Axis of Evil" classification from the President.
Unfortunately, the worst liberals can dish out is something akin to: "I think you're massively wrong, but I can understand where you're coming from." Even amongst the liberals' hatred of President Bush, there's a certain amount of condescending "He's in over his head," to balance the vitriol, rather than anything like Ann Coulter's position of liberals as being, "either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant."
So, liberals are definitely at a deficit when it comes to hating the other side. Too much deference to conservatives is leaving our message tempered with a large dose of "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
12:39 PM
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
All right. Hold your breath. Or if you were holding it, feel free to let it out. I'm back.
There's no telling how long this return will last; perhaps just this post, perhaps a good deal of time. I was just taking a lunch break and decided to do something resembling (but is not actually) productive with my time.
By the way, the cartoons have been coming along quite well. I'm much more faithful and consistent with posting them every Saturday than I am with pretty much anything else I do -- except perhaps washing my hands after going to the bathroom. Stickler for that, I am.
Life continues to move inexorably forward, despite my utter lack of involvement in the process. Seriously, though, a number of updates:
Impending baby news: We're down to less than three weeks from the due date. Emotions bounce back and forth between "Can't wait to see him!" and "Wow...only three weeks left as a couple..." Nursery is all set up; hospital bags are packed and in the trunk of the car so they're ready at a moment's notice; Nean's already made up the vast majority of the birth announcements. Oh, and yes, in case you didn't know, baby's a he. Downright nifty, huh? Ah, and to address the one burning question most people are asking: No, we're not telling you his name until the doctor slaps his bum. Truly no room for negotiations on this, sorry. Everyone will just have to wait.
On the job front: Some very big news, here, but a lot of it's still yet to be completely nailed down. I'll fill you in as I can at a later date.
Well, lunch's just about over, so I probably ought to work on looking like I'm doing something I actually get paid for. Again, please not only check out Zoidland.com, but tell your friends. Heck, tell your enemies. I'm equal-opportunity. I've got some pretty cool ideas for future improvements to the site and would love input from you, my faithful reader(s).
Have a day full of excellence!
--Jeff
P.S. Oh, and just in case you were concerned, I'm still just as cynical as ever about the political and economic climate in the United States of America. I haven't ranted much about that lately, but still waters run deep and all that. Just wanted to allay any concerns that I was starting to become complacent or conservative or something else stupid like that... ;)
1:31 PM
|
|
| |
|
|
|
