Want Some Wood

(This is the text of an email I sent to them recently.)

In MoveOn’s recent email encouraging members to donate to Illinois House candidate Ilya Sherman, you described him and Elizabeth Warren as progressives, as opposed to “establishment” Democrats. This statement seems to draw a strong dividing line between always-progressive insurgent Democrats and the always-conservative “establishment.” I think that this is unfair; there are Democrats in Congress who are inarguably part of the establishment, like Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman, John Conyers, and Barney Frank, and who are undoubtedly progressives as well.

I realize that there is a lot of disagreement among some liberals, especially in the blogosphere, as to who in the Democratic Party is or is not liberal, but the people I name above are widely regarded as such by people in and out of Washington. In addition, I realize that some liberals see themselves as rebels or outsiders railing against an establishment, but in my opinion, it is as good or better to take over and reform that establishment. The right wing has tried hard to do exactly this since 1980, and this is a major reason why they have been so politically successful since.

Thank you for reading my email.

Labels: Democrats, liberals, Nancy Pelosi, Washington DC

Many pro-gun conservatives have long claimed that gun control has racist roots; astonishingly, some anti-gun control liberals have been unwise enough to pick up this old and thoroughly discredited talking point. I guess they missed this.

Labels: Gun control, race

While I think it's a bit premature to declare the era of the car over, as this Talking Points Memo piece does, it is great news that public transportation use has gone up considerably, and is not waning as the economy improves. (Here is a link to the American Public Transportation Association report on which T.P.M. was reporting). This is yet another piece of good climate news to add to the ones I have previously posted.

No one (including me) likes high gas prices, but one silver lining is that people look for ways to ease the gas expense, and for many people, taking the bus or the subway is a great way to do that. It is a great relief that this is happening with what is, all things considered, a fairly modest rise in prices at the pump.

I take the bus to work often, and I am glad to report that I have noticed the same thing in my personal experience.

Labels: economy, environment, media, public transportation

Why do I keep seeing this stupid "Mention Machine" at the bottom of every page on the Post site? Where did the Post editors get this stupid idea that I care how often people have mentioned Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul on Twitter?

Labels: 2012 Election, conservatives, media, technology, Washington Post

Since I criticize the Washington Post quite a lot on this blog, I try to be complimentary when I find something that deserves it as well. Two recent editorials, one about politics and one about federal service, are both among the best things I've ever read in the Post. In addition, E. J. Dionne is as always worth reading, and this column includes one favorite sentence of mine: "...(S)ometimes complexity is simultaneously (1.) more accurate and candid, and (2.) not terribly effective politically."

UPDATE: To top it off, the Post may actually be reconsidering all the war cheerleading it did during the last few years; here's a very thoughtful David Ignatius column questioning the urgency of war with Iran.

Labels: 2012 Election, community organizing, government, Iran, Mitt Romney, politics, Rick Santorum, war, Washington Post

One of the strange ironies of Rush Limbaugh is that I would actually find him more offensive if I were a conservative, because I would be insulted by the stupid logic of his arguments and the idea that I'm supposed to rally behind them unthinkingly.

This argument by Rick Santorum, which seems to be based on the preposterous idea that wanting wider opportunities makes you a "snob," is another one that would bother me even more if I were on the right wing. Doesn't wanting more opportunities for more people make you the opposite of a snob? Is there any intelligent person who doesn't realize this?

Labels: 2012 Election, conservatives, education, media, Rick Santorum

The Italian movie "Open Doors" is about a local judge who crusades against the death penalty, even though he sits on the bench during the time of Mussolini and the fascists. The movie has always reminded me that fighting for the good, and for progressive goals, is important even when the environment for progressivism seems intractably hostile, as it often has in the last few years.

I was reminded of this while watching this slide show of local politicians and activists who are making genuine accomplishments in often-hostile territory. The list even includes one former federal official (Elizabeth Warren) and one Republican (Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who has promulgated a sensible and compassionate policy toward undocumented immigrants in his state, and who I think deserves his place on the list). The article goes out of its way not to lavish too much praise on the subjects, which is warranted, since some of the subjects (notably New York governor Andrew Cuomo) are genuinely accomplished people whose records are not entirely progressive.

Labels: anti-urban bias, crime, History, immigration, liberals, media, Republicans