Varifrank: I'm Questioning Their Patriotism.

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I'm Questioning Their Patriotism.

I have a couple of friends who are serious fans of Star Trek. I mean they are serious. Dead Serious. To me it’s just a TV Show, to these guys, its life itself. To them, all things can be seen through a lens created by Gene Roddenberry.

I’m usually amused by the way they go about their life. Every once in awhile I’ll catch them saying to no one in particular that they wish the world was more like the Star Trek universe.

I don’t mind this kind of semi day dreamy wishful thinking; everyone has an occasional moment of “wishing it were otherwise”.

It’s when I start seeing the desire for the alternate universe take over their lives that I start to worry. You probably know folks like this, one day they are talking to you about an episode of Star Trek, the next they have a ‘Star Fleet Academy Alumni” window sticker. One day they come to the Company Halloween party in a full Star Trek Federation uniform. Not a cheap off the rack costume, but an actual tailored uniform.

Then one day, they come to work in “The Uniform”. You stare; you wonder where your once rational friend went.

That’s when you grab them by the nape of the neck and go quickly into the lunchroom and ask “ What they hell is wrong with you?” Rather than respond with recognition that they’ve stepped over the line of normal behavior and admit to being somewhat embarrassed, they look at you like you’re the freak.

They tell you how they want the real world to be like the Star Trek Universe, and they can’t understand why you are so against it. “Don’t you want to live in a world like that, it’s so much better than the world we live in”. No matter how you try to bring this person back to “rational world” they insist in living in “Star Trek world”, and rather than try to compromise, they insist that there is something wrong with “rational world”, rather than the other way around.

This is the dilemma that the leftists find themselves in today. There is the way the world is and the way they want it to be and they don't line up anymore.

I spent a lot of time this weekend watching the reaction of the left and I can’t get over what I’m seeing, it's an unprecedented sprial of despair. There are lots of people seriously talking about leaving the country, going to Canada, New Zealand and parts abroad. There are people who are no longer going to visit their families in “Red States” because they can’t take the idea that there are people who would not vote the same way they do! I hate to remind these people doing the complaining that they all loved the “Red States” when those states voted for Bill Clinton back in the 1990's. I dont remember the other President Bush complaining about the Clinton States...

There is something seriously afoot in this election result. It reminds me of the days after the fall of the Berlin wall. When that happened, I was working in San Francisco, and I watched the left deal with the fact that the great Soviet Union was going away. They simply could not accept it, and I think there are many who still haven’t accepted it. I remember when the elections were underway in Nicaragua and the same people insisted that the Sandinistas would win a big victory. It didn’t happen, in fact, the Sandinistas were soundly trounced. Twice. It didn't matter, there are still people in San Francisco who believe that the Sandanistas have support in Nicaragua. There are probably more Sandanistas in San Francisco today than were ever in Nicaragua in the 1980's.

There was this need to look the other way or to find blame (U.S. Imperialism – CIA intervention!), but there was never a time when any of them ever said, “ Well I guess we were just wrong”. The left simply cannot accept that the ideas that they believe can be questioned, or can ever be wrong, even when the evidence says quite the opposite. Facts just don't matter to the Zealot and there are a lot of Zealots on the left.

I remember when Clinton signed Welfare Reform into law, and there was a huge outcry by the left that said it would automatically result in a huge increase in poverty, especially for women and children. When quite the opposite happened, they could not accept it to be true. They rationalized that there had to be “hidden poverty” that was somehow not being found by normal sources. Many states went to extreme means to ensure that people knew of the systems to help them and found themselves at a loss to explain why they weren’t being used. It never occurred to the State Government Agencies that people didn’t need the big government to run their lives. They simply could not see that angle.

Once again, no one could bring themselves to say “ Whoops, I guess we were wrong!”

I see the left today in a serious problem thats very similar to my Star Trek friends. It's fine to want to see the world in a different way, but there comes a point where you are not just wistful for another reality but actually wearing your Star Trek uniform out in public and to work, you’ve started down the road where even if you might have a good point or an idea, people are going to ignore you. We’ve seen political movements in America go the way of the Dodo before, The Free Land and Free Silver movements, the Mugwumps, and the Whig party. Go back not so long ago and you can even see when the Republicans became an utter irrelevancy. I am now beginning to think the Democrats have also jumped into the ashcan of history, with both feet.

I said in an earlier post that I wasn’t so sure that the Democrats are interested in winning elections anymore, but instead they have decided that “ideological purity” as being much more important to their own self identity. When I see and hear people say they no longer want to deal with the “Red States” people and would rather move to another country, I just shake my head. When I hear that so many are ready to run away and give up their citizenship over the results of one election, I just have to say that I am now, in fact, questioning their patriotism, and so should you.

Let no one who is now saying “ I’m leaving” compete on an equal basis with the rest of us. Let’s make sure that in 2006 our 527’s have lots and lots of advertising that shows the other side is in actual fact, not patriotic. I didn’t wet my pants and cry in 1996 when against all logic Bill Clinton was re-elected. I don’t give up on my country because an election doesn’t go my way. Maybe that’s what is different between people like me and the leftists. I believe in the rightness of the country, even when the elections don’t go my way. I believe in Democracy, even when it makes a fool out of me.

I tend to think of this as just one more election, but I get the feeling that many on the left that this was for them “the last election”. What I’m hearing isn’t the sound of partisans saying “let’s keep fighting” what I hear is capitulation. I think for many in the left, they are now finished with the long American experiment. They have wanted a left of center or socialist political movement here for a very long time and they are no closer today than they were back in the grand old days of Emma Goldman and Jack Reed.

I think the left is taking this defeat very hard, and I’m afraid that its not just something they are going to get over quickly. There is a whole host of things that this election has brought to an end, but I think the one thing that has come to an end is the leftist movement in America. It has been steadily becoming more and more irrelevant since the rise of Reagan. Although many will point to Clinton as resurgence, one need only look at the composition of the Congress and his legislative record to make a case that Clinton was the best thing to every come along for Republicans.

Now with Bush getting a second term, and with his maintaining a solid hold over Congress, he can afford to be bold. Most Presidents have a bad second term, but most Presidents don’t have their party in control of Congress. It’s very unlikely that Nixon would have been hounded out of office if Republicans had held the Congress.

That’s the purpose of an opposition party. To keep the Majority party honest. My greatest fear with the collapse of the Democrats isn’t that something worse will replaces them, but that their replacement is already here and they are called Republicans.

Take off your “Federation Uniforms” Democrats and drop the Vulcan salutes. I don’t want you to leave the country, I need you to stay and help keep my party honest. But before you can do that you need to be honest with yourselves about why you lost this election and why you have been steadily losing for 30 years.

It’s not Karl Rove, its not “Selected, not Elected” Its not Halliburton, its not Big Tobacco or Big Oil.

It’s you.

UPDATE: I was reminded by someone today that the last time there was talk about secession, it was Democrats reacting to another Republican Presidential election. In 1860, the southern Democrats left the Union in reaction to the election of President Lincoln.

1860 - Republican gets elected - Democrats want to leave.
2004 - Republican gets elected - Democrats want to leave.

It's nice to see that some things never change.

Posted @ November 08, 2004 11:20 PM | Current Events

The Left isn't dead. Their mourning, like everything they do, is childishly overwrought. Unfortunately they will be back and more hateful. Remember the wrath of Kahn. We need to stay vigilent.

Posted by: Mike at November 9, 2004 05:27 AM

"There is a whole host of things that this election has brought to an end, but I think the one thing that has come to an end is the leftist movement in America."
Its a beautiful dream, but I kind of doubt it.
I have been considering demographics, what kind of people tend to the left and the right. If you think about things such as where people live, urban or rural, or race, gender, age, some possible trends emerge. Do people who live in big cities vote democrat more often than people who live in rural areas? Cities are growing. I can remember when where I was growing up it was a 70 mile drive through the woods to the next town, and now its solid condos, golf courses and strip malls. Do people of certain races tend to vote certain ways? Michael Moore (/retch) seems to be counting on the racial makeup of this country changing. And what about age? The youth vote may not have clinched it this time, but it is no big secret why Carter lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
"Show me a 20 year old conservative and I will show you someone with no heart. Show me a 30 year old liberal and I will show you someone with no brains" - Sir Winston Churchill.
And then there is the elderly. I would imagine their vote hinges somewhat upon how the whole social security thing turns out. Personally I can't understand why they wouldn't be all for privatization, I would much rather the money they take out of my check go somewhere the government couldnt 'borrow' it all the time.
Anyway, I think alot of dems, at least the ones who arent nut jobs trying to move to Canada, are pinning their hopes on Hilary for next time. Can Cheney beat her? Will it even be Cheney? Maybe they will pass a new ammendment and it will be Ahnold.

Posted by: GyorgLyquor - American at November 9, 2004 07:49 AM

I, for one, would not only like to take off said "Uniform", but burn it and bury the ashes. Then, we need to put on our street clothes and become more acquainted with our fellow citizens.

It's bound to happen eventually, in one form or another. One of two things will happen. We Democrats might actually pull our heads out and take a few gulps of fresh air, and put together a coherent platform that middle America can get behind. Or, we'll continue on Mr. Toad's Wild Death Ride to oblivion, and the moderate half of the Republican party will calve off to fill the ideological vacuum.

Maybe the time is ripe for something like that to happen. The current two parties have lasted since the late 1850s. A major political re-alignment might not be such a bad thing, in the long run.

Posted by: T. McGaha at November 9, 2004 08:08 AM

actually, the cities are losing population. Red counties by in large are gaining population where blue counties are losing.

Take a look at This article by David Brooks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/09/opinion/09brooks.html?hp

Posted by: Frank Martin at November 9, 2004 08:12 AM

I recall when Republicans were screaming that Clinton stolen their agenda (welfare reform, free trade). I suspect that in large part that's why he was reelected. Most swing voters just don't care about the D or R, but rather what policies are actually put forth.

I'm not too concerned if the Democrats fade away. Americans are naturally contentious and competitive people. There will always be some kind of opposition. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the R's split into Big Government Social Conservatives (W Bush Style), and Small Government Social Liberals (VodkaPundit Style).

Posted by: RPD at November 9, 2004 08:12 AM

Not that I am an expert or anything but I actually see the Democratic party spliting first. Something like the "The Progressive Party" which will be the extreme left. They have already begun to try and change their labels from Liberal to anything else, Progressive being the front runner. The remaining Democratic party will absorb part of the Republican party, those who left the the Dem in the first place.

The "Progessive Party" will spin away into oblivion as they throw tantrum after tantrum.

Posted by: Alan Winship at November 10, 2004 04:55 AM

I kind of agree with Alan on a splitting of the Dem party, but there won't be a name change or anything until they get absolutely whacked, i.e. a Reagan '84 style victory coupled with 60+ Senate Repub seats. More and more moderate Dems have no home to go to, so they will line up with Republicans until this happens, and the Dems finally wake up to reality. I certainly agree with Frank's take on things, I often have discussions with people who tell me stuff, and I'll say, no, thats not reality, and here is why. Finally they will agree, but not before saying "but that's how it should be." And I'll say, maybe, but that's not how it is, and you are being intellectually dishonest by clinging to such beliefs. That's where the Dem party is now, and I think it will stay there for some time.

Posted by: Carl at November 10, 2004 12:12 PM

Excellent, Frank - great analogy, and I share your concern that a GOP in control of everything may be too much of a good thing. I'm going to link to you at my blog.

Posted by: TheAnchoress at November 10, 2004 12:19 PM

Ha! Perfect analogy, Frank. I still don't think that those loudmouthed whiners are the majority - they just make the most noise - and unfortunately some of them have wormed their way to the top. Their self-righteous attitudes and complete intolerance have alienated most of their fellow "Democrats." Although, these leftists are hardly Democrats. They aren't interested in a two-party system, and they certainly aren't interested working with the rules - rules that have been working for over 200 years. By the way, can any other system claim that?

Posted by: Maureen at November 11, 2004 09:17 AM

The more than 50 million people who voted for Kerry aren't looking to secede or relocate to another country. A tiny fraction of a percent are talking about it and it's gotten the attention of the media. The left isn't falling apart, breaking into factions, or embracing a delusional view of the world. We're just people with a different political perspective, wondering if there's a way to bridge the gap with those on the other side of the aisle. We represent almost half the people in the country. We're not going anywhere.

Posted by: Kathy at November 12, 2004 11:25 AM