I post this tweet not because it's uniquely disqualifying but because it's so perfectly indicative of the divide between liberals and the lefties in question. And more, of the reason why American liberalism has such a hard time sustaining success.
The point is not, and has never been, that "both parties are the same." The point is that neither party offers a remotely acceptable alternative, and that attacking the left-wing for criticizing provides a disincentive for the marginally better party to improve. Liberals and Democrats constantly tell us that the Republican party and mainstream conservatism are a uniquely dysfunctional and destructive political force, one which keeps getting worse and not better. That's true. They then say that we must support the Democrats because they Democrats are not as bad. The problem is that when you've already established the total worthlessness of the other option, "not as bad" is a terribly low bar to clear. If you keep supporting the less-awful side in a way that forbids criticism of that side, as so, so many liberals and Democrats do, there is no incentive for that less-awful side to actually be good. That's precisely the condition with the Democrats today: they haven't responded to Republican shittiness by becoming better. They've simply slumped into being worse and worse.
Now I don't take Hayes himself for being the kind to forbid criticism of Democrats, as so many do. But when he or other smart liberals say things like this, they're contributing to an intellectual landscape where the balance is tilted massively towards a belief that supporting Democrats is always the thing to do. And, sure enough, one of the first positive replies to this tweet was someone saying "Nader 2000," which is one of those liberal codes for "no friends to the left of Joe Lieberman." (Always hilarious: people who hate Ralph Nader for supposedly getting us into war in Iraq who love Hilary Clinton.)
And, listen, fuck the Democrats. Seriously. Yes, they're better than the Republicans, just like getting the hair ripped off of your balls is better than getting a tooth pulled out with a pair of pliers. That is not good enough. Fuck the Democrats and their union-busting and their hypocrisy on the surveillance state and their willingness to go to war and their horrid, self-pitying defeatism. Fuck them. Vote for them if you must, but fuck those guys.
Leftists are constantly being attacked for not offering a politically plausible plan. And yet I find that it's in fact liberal Democrats who fail to articulate anything resembling a coherent political strategy. How do you get Democrats to actually govern in a way consonant with your values? During the election, when I was talking about not voting for Barack Obama, between the screams of pure rage and redbaiting, the liberal Dems would say, "criticize him when he's in office to get him to do what you want, but elect him first!" But that time when it's supposedly okay to criticize Democrats and push them in a particular direction never comes. Ever. The election was over, and they still yelled at us, for talking about drones or chained CPI or Syria. The time to defer to Democrats, in the eyes of most liberal Democrats, is always. I'm just recording my experience. Meanwhile, their theory of change is... what? When the only bar Democrats are required to climb is "better than neo-Confederate, warmongering, women-hating assholes," what possible incentive is there to improve? It's Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football, again and again and again.
Now the usual suspects will appear to complain that I'm stating the obvious. And I am. Others will ask why I bother, given that liberal Democrats are incorrigible. Perhaps they are. But look, as long as this notion is expressed by people of prominence, we have to respond clearly: the point is not that they are the same. The point is that neither is good. And if you think "better than the Republicans" is good enough, then shame on you. If you think it's not good enough, express a theory of politics for how it gets better when so many of your number are dedicated to shielding Democrats from criticism of all kinds, or tell those people to stop shutting down criticism of Democrats.
Are the Democrats, in some Platonic sense, better than a party that tries to suppress the black vote, excludes and demonizes Mexican immigrants, pushes for limitless war, guts basic social services, tries to rob women of control of their own bodies, bans gay marriage, and generally sets the country on a path to enrich some small sliver of our people to the detriment of the rest? Yes. Congratulations, guys. What a laurel.
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