today's required reading

[fox]

So the Christian center looks to the Left and looks to the Right, and the Right looks better. The Right at least looks familiar, a landscape it can understand. The Left not only is out of touch with the center, it disrespects the things the center believes. (I have never encountered as much arrogance from Christians as I have from, say, environmentalists. I believe in their cause, but the holier-than-thou attitude has Christians beat all to shit.) The center doesn't necessarily like the Right, but it likes the Left less.

Democrats have a choice. We can wrap our outrage around ourselves and continue to lose, or we can stop being so certain that we have all the answers and everyone else is a dumbass and start listening. And learning. And reaching out. We've been saying, "My way or the highway." And America's response is, "Highway's all yours." Politics is about consensus, and coalition building. We need to learn that again.

-- zoethe, here

Comments

[lexin.livejournal.com]

I'm a little surprised at the automatic equation of environmentalism with the 'left'. While a lot of leftists are environmentalists, it sometimes strikes me that there a lot of more right-leaning ideas among environmentalists.

At least, in European terms.

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

BUt the thing is that compromise, like terrorism, is a strategy. It's not a goal, or it shouldn't be. And when you make compromise your goal-- as the Dems have been for way too long now; zoethe isn't saying anything new-- and your opponants start with, you know, actual goals and they stand firm and refuse to give an inch, well, guess who wins, and guess who ends up rolling over.

Sorry if I'm being a little brusque, but I'm really sick of hearing calls for compromise as though that, in itself, is worthy.

Compromise is a way to get things done, no more, no less, and compromising too soon and too easily is a way to get nothing done.

[batdina.livejournal.com]

The problem when you look left isn't that they don't like what they see, it's that there's nothing there. If the Democratic party looked any further to the center, it would cease to exist entirely.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

BUt the thing is that compromise ... is a strategy. It's not a goal, or it shouldn't be.

no, you're exactly right. and even zoethe says so, here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/zoethe/271110.html?thread=3849990#t3849990).

the goal is to win, because if we aren't winning, the rest is just chatter.

[mearagrrl.livejournal.com]

Oof. Yeah. I mean, for example: I can definitely understand saying "yo, now is not the time to push gay marriage" and not making that the plank of the party....but it's NOT a plank of the Democrats. Democrats AREN"T out there saying "YES, go gay marriage!". But the Republicans ARE introducing measures to ban it...and thus casting the Dems into automatically sounding like they support it, whether they do or not.

I don't think that compromising on things is necessarily the way to go....OTOH I do agree that winning is. And given the states, "winning at any cost" almost is. And yet...