Inception and Conception

Like so many people in the country, and around the world, upon Obama's election and the installation of huge majorities in both houses of Congress, I thought : "Ha. Finally, we 're back on top."

(cf Van Morrison's Back On The Top - http://s0.ilike.com/play#Van+Morrison:Back+On+Top:163236:s170823.14939.1335287.1.1.71%2Cstd_1e209daa1c039eb75bcb3be5f049b305)

But, as the interim elections have shown in NJ, VA and now MA - oh wherefore Bay State? - we have seen that the price of Liberalism is eternal vigilance - with a tip of the hat to abolitionist Wendell Philips's famous quotation concerning Liberty. Just yesterday, we had the ultra-right wing Supreme Court's decision on permitting unrestricted spending on campaigning by corporations.

Sad and intimidating. But, right now the worst thing a conscientious Liberal thinker/actor can do is to fall into despair and inaction. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." So said Edmund Burke. We saw the resulting debacle of the Coakley campaign. The campaign was smug, complacent, and inert. That's all it takes to lose.

So, what the hell am I hoping to do in this blog?

I hope that most of all it would not discuss people, as tempting as it may be. It's all too easy to open the steam valves and scream and shout about W, Cheney, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner - the Suntan Man, Limbaugh, Palin and the rest of that cynical, injurious gang.

I would rather discuss ideas. I am most particularly interested in the damaging effects of current right wing policy on the American way of life.

The thoughts could be very simple, but they should be clear-headed, well-written, and supported by fact rather than opinion. (Example - underfunding for Amtrak leads to x number of cars taking to the interstates and y number of tons of dangerous pollutants.) A little commentary would be fine; but laying out how the infection of right wing politics and policy is concretely hurting America is more the aim, for the moment.

It would be terrific if, say, you are in law, you would comment on legal issues - thinking the Supreme Cort decision here. If you have a background in energy, talk about energy. Education is also on the radar big time. But that's not to say we should limit ourselves to any set of topics. If your thing is zoos, talk about zoos. Hey, I'm Liberal.

With a little bit of diligence and luck, not too much spurious info will show up here. I'll try to be ruthless in rooting out the false, the insane, or the personal attacks so prevalent everywhere in the public discourse. "Misinformation followed us like a plague..." 

from Paul Simon's Peace Like A River http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=undefined&id=tra.15172601&remote=undefined&page=undefined&pageregion=undefined&guid=undefined&from=undefined&__pcode=

I start by sending this to my old friends, my good friends. I count on you to send this to your friends and compatriots. So, please leave some trenchant comments and thoughts. And tell me what you think we all should be writing about.

--- RDL