Grown Up Passion

Democrats press for U.S. Senate inquiry on Iraq

That's a relief.  At least some powers that be are starting to poke around and make a little noise in the corners of the room ...

And then there's this article: Candidates Target Bush's Credibility,"

" which reports that Sen. Bob Graham of Florida  ...

who opposed the war, went even further Sunday, accusing the Bush administration of dishonesty. "It lied in the sense that it didn't tell the whole truth," Graham said at the picnic.

Maybe the problem is not that the Dems aren't saying the right things ... maybe the problem is that the left wing equivalent of the right's talk radio is NPR. 

Why does it seem like all the inflammatory, rabble-rousing lefties are wearing birkenstocks and holding up placards at the World Bank and IMF? Why is the "establishment" left so freakin' conservative?  It's like once leftists grow up and become parents and investers in 401Ks and wearers of suits and assumers of mortgagers we feel we have given up the right to be truly radical in our idealism.   So we play it safe.   Once we assume the guise of grown-ups in mainstream North American culture, we seem to give up our power, our passion.   It's like we know that we sold out ... that somehow we have internalized and accepted the myth of those back and white dichotomies : "You are either part of the solution or part of the problem." 

Well, yeah.  If you are what I consider a real bleeding heart liberal in your soul, then your heart does bleed for all of it.  All the ways that as a species we are fucking up the planet and fucking over each other.  And you are willing to bleed because you have hope and you can't but help believe that it can get better and that it will get better and that people really want it to get better -- you have to believe that or you can't take your next breath.

But holding that all in your heart and in your head.  Well it freakin' paralyzes you doesn't it?  I mean our whole socio-economic set-up here is an enormous, snorting, gas-guzzling, ravenous, soul-crushing, consumption-crazed, out-of-control behemoth.  And you gotta put food on the table, right?  And take a well-earned vacation every now and then, right? And who could begrudge us a few perks of our labours?  And before you know it, ye gods, you look in the mirror and, GASP, you are one of them.

So no wonder grown-up liberals are so damn apologetic and accomodating and friggin' reasonable.  We're all a little embarassed and feeling guilty.  And there goes our grip on our righteous anger, our passion, our zeal, our fire -- all those things that one can hear on any given afternoon on AM radio.   But not on NPR. 

rant off.