Equating Dissent With "Thuggery"
shadowflyer recently wrote, in a comment to a post of princejvstin's (http://princejvstin.livejournal.com/1460126.html?view=2393502#t2393502):
All I want is for Rahm Emanuel to start acting like Rahm motherfucking Emanuel. Is that so wrong? Honestly. If the rethugs are going to bitch and whine about Chicago politics no matter what, then we should give them some real Chicago politics, in the manner illustrated in my icon.
The icon is of a baseball bat, with the legend "this looks like a job for the stick of enlightenment."
To which I pointed out:
Ah, you want a Manuel Zelaya-like coup from above?
Be careful what you wish for -- this didn't work too well for Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, and you should also keep in mind that whatever rule you propose for your side in politics will -- if adopted -- become the rule for both sides in politics.
Remember the lesson of Marius and Sulla.
to which shadowflyer said
Your party is a step ahead of you, boyo. I'm only proposing that my side extend exactly the respect and courtesy to your side that they've received. The GOP has been as unreasonable and subversive of the spirit of the process as any dictator you should name, and the Democrats should stop pretending they have a good faith partner in government.
So, basically, here we have a Democrat who doesn't get that dissent and opposition are normal parts of the democratic process, equates them to physical violence, and believes that physical violence is an appropriate response to such opposition. And IMO such views are not uncommon among the harder-core Democrats today.
Though the prevalence of such views is, politically, a good thing for the Republicans -- because the American system is not set up to effectively suppress such dissent and the inept attempts by the Democrats to do so have so far pushed the moderates into the Republican camp -- I hesitate to see it as a purely good thing, because this attitude is very dangerous to rhe Republic as a whole. If Obama had been a more competent or ruthless man, he might have set up a system which would effectively generate and use such violence ot suppress dissent, in which case we would be around where Honduras was in 2008 -- facing a choice between allowing a coup-from-above or carrying out a countercoup to remove the would-be tyrant.
Incidentally, if the Democrats are this disbelievingly angry at the Republicans for daring to win a by-election, wonder how crazy they'll get when they lose the Congressional elections of 2010, or the Presidential elections of 2012?
Should be fun to watch.
All I want is for Rahm Emanuel to start acting like Rahm motherfucking Emanuel. Is that so wrong? Honestly. If the rethugs are going to bitch and whine about Chicago politics no matter what, then we should give them some real Chicago politics, in the manner illustrated in my icon.
The icon is of a baseball bat, with the legend "this looks like a job for the stick of enlightenment."
To which I pointed out:
Ah, you want a Manuel Zelaya-like coup from above?
Be careful what you wish for -- this didn't work too well for Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, and you should also keep in mind that whatever rule you propose for your side in politics will -- if adopted -- become the rule for both sides in politics.
Remember the lesson of Marius and Sulla.
to which shadowflyer said
Your party is a step ahead of you, boyo. I'm only proposing that my side extend exactly the respect and courtesy to your side that they've received. The GOP has been as unreasonable and subversive of the spirit of the process as any dictator you should name, and the Democrats should stop pretending they have a good faith partner in government.
So, basically, here we have a Democrat who doesn't get that dissent and opposition are normal parts of the democratic process, equates them to physical violence, and believes that physical violence is an appropriate response to such opposition. And IMO such views are not uncommon among the harder-core Democrats today.
Though the prevalence of such views is, politically, a good thing for the Republicans -- because the American system is not set up to effectively suppress such dissent and the inept attempts by the Democrats to do so have so far pushed the moderates into the Republican camp -- I hesitate to see it as a purely good thing, because this attitude is very dangerous to rhe Republic as a whole. If Obama had been a more competent or ruthless man, he might have set up a system which would effectively generate and use such violence ot suppress dissent, in which case we would be around where Honduras was in 2008 -- facing a choice between allowing a coup-from-above or carrying out a countercoup to remove the would-be tyrant.
Incidentally, if the Democrats are this disbelievingly angry at the Republicans for daring to win a by-election, wonder how crazy they'll get when they lose the Congressional elections of 2010, or the Presidential elections of 2012?
Should be fun to watch.