Posted on 05/09/2006 6:40:43 AM PDT by Quilla
America’s Left and the political party it calls home, the Democrats, have been seized by anger ever since the disputes of the 2000 presidential election, with its razor-thin margin, judicial intervention called forth by Gore, and the ultimate victory for President Bush. Intoxicated by the endocrine-like jolts of energy, the Left has become addicted to anger.
The Left has been self-administering a daily dose of derision, bile, and venom in an effort to keep its energy levels high in the face of a continued Republican hold on the presidency and Congressional majorities. But these are dangerous drugs. Whatever satisfying kick they provide, the side effects are so serious as to threaten the survival of the organism itself.
The toxicity has become so potent that some of the cooler heads on the Left are starting to notice. Richard Cohen, writing in his Washington Post column today, describes his email, traffic after a mildly critical reference to Stephen Colbert’s unfunny performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner:
It seemed that most of my correspondents had been egged on to write me by various blogs. In response, they smartly assembled into a digital lynch mob and went roaring after me. If I did not like Colbert, I must like Bush. If I write for The Post, I must be a mainstream media warmonger. If I was over a certain age—which I am—I am simply out of it, wherever “it” may be. All in all, I was—I am, and I guess I remain—the worthy object of ignorant, false and downright idiotic vituperation. [….]
But the message in this case truly is the medium. The e-mails pulse in my queue, emanating raw hatred. This spells trouble—not for Bush or, in 2008, the next GOP presidential candidate, but for Democrats. The anger festering on the Democratic left will be taken out on the Democratic middle. (Watch out, Hillary!) I have seen this anger before—back in the Vietnam War era. That’s when the antiwar wing of the Democratic Party helped elect Richard Nixon. In this way, they managed to prolong the very war they so hated.
The hatred is back. I know it’s only words now appearing on my computer screen, but the words are so angry, so roiled with rage, that they are the functional equivalent of rocks once so furiously hurled during antiwar demonstrations.
Presumably Cohen writes to warn his ideological brethren of the dangers and possibly deflect or diminish the anger. This will not work. Anger is a self-reinforcing addiction when it is shared with others in the same community. Anger is a terrific motivator. Angry people contribute money, go to events, wear buttons, t-shirts, and funny hats, and readily slap bumper stickers on their Priuses, Volvos, Beetles, mini-vans, and Lexuses. They enjoy meeting and spending time with others who are in tune with their particular emotional orientation.
And President Bush, by his very persona, triggers the very wellsprings of anger and resentment on the part of the secular fundamentalists who dominate the contemporary Left. A large segment of the American intelligentsia and its hangers-on has found an object wholly outside their framework of affection. People who obtained their status and income partially from the ability to speak articulately, and master a body of learning, find it troubling when one who gives no evidence of even caring about reading books and newspapers, or developing a large vocabulary of eloquently-spoken words, rises above them in status. It is an insult to the personal values they have embraced, and on whose rightness their own sense of self-worth depends.
His open Christian faith is an affront to their pretentious embrace of denatured religion, agnosticism or atheism. That such a man should be the head of state for the political entity they regard as the vehicle for transformation of humanity is both prfoundly embarrassing and infuriating to them.
The energy generated by the resulting anger intoxicates those who have no solace in the ability to command others to conform to their vision, lacking access to the instruments of state power. But like the thrill brought on by amphetamines or other nervous system stimulants, the short term surge comes at the cost of longer term damage to health.
Americans tend to favor optimism and a sunny disposition in their political leadership. Ours is a nation built on the pursuit of happiness as an inalienable right granted us by our Creator. More than two hundred years after this right was articulated in the Declaration of Independence, Ronald Reagan won overwhelming electoral support running on the slogan “Morning in America.” Aside from its limited electoral appeal, anger is operationally a tricky, even dangerous force to harness. “Blind anger” is a common expression precisely because anger tends to render its carriers insensible to the complexities and subtleties of their environment. Particularly when the angry gather together, their anger feeds on itself and multiplies its force. It is precisely for this reason that mobs are recognized as dangerous. Even if the shared anger is nonviolent, it still is capable of blinding the angry to the probable reactions of others. Convinced of their utter righteousness, seriously angry political movements readily overplay the cards they are dealt. Haters of Bill Clinton learned the hard way that the middle/majority of Americans could not be mobilized to share their passion, even when they held an ace, in the form of their enemy’s false testimony under oath.
The current decade sees the Democrat Left even more dominated by anger than conservatives ever were in the 90’s. When Nancy Pelosi promises investigations of Bush, should voters hand a House majority to her party, she may energize her adherents, but she also alienates the swing voters who will determine that majority. As Charles Krauthammer (creator of the Bush Derangement Syndrome diagnosis) noted yesterday on Special Report with Brit Hume, they are in essence promising voters that they will make sure that Bush goes down in history as a failed president.
The appeal of such a promise is minimal, even when the stakes are “only” national prosperity and domestic policy. When the nation is at war with an enemy that seeks our destruction, the promise becomes a mutual suicide pact, a platform with extremely limited appeal.
The left has always been the party of anger. They hated Reagan. The left was just a little less open about their anger. The left always projects on their enemies their own traits.
Excellent article by Lifson - as usual. He is a brilliant writer and thinker!
A profound insight, there.
The left can not accept that on Jan 21, 2008 Bush will not be POTUS. They have too much anger and hatred invested in him.
I thought it started with FDR's attempts to have the Federal government set all prices and wages?
"The current decade sees the Democrat Left even more dominated by anger than conservatives ever were in the 90's."
"Anger" is putting it mildly - it is more like blind hatred of anything associated with GWB as he is a constant reminder of their 2000 and 2004 losses. We can only hope that this hatred will drive the Dems ever further left. Selecting Gore as standard bearer would be the icing on the cake.
.....The energy generated by the resulting anger intoxicates those who have no solace in the ability to command others to conform to their vision,......
He describes the force as intoxication. When I viewed the recent clips of Pelosi gushing about the future it seemed orgasmic in origin.
"The kind of hate that the Democrats have is the kind of hate that kills millions. It is the hate of the Socialists and Communists everywhere."
Now that bears repeating. It really is that simple.
It is just that kind of mind-set, filled with paranoia, and hatred for those who choose not to follow their doctrine, that thinks up the gulags and death camps, and secret-police.
Uncle joe stalin comes to mind.
Without insane leftwing anger I wouldn't have a source of great material for the DUmmie FUnnies.
"It is just that kind of mind-set, filled with paranoia, and hatred for those who choose not to follow their doctrine, that thinks up the gulags and death camps, and secret-police. "
Agreed. And just to expand a little bit on the thought... the leftists, in general, tend to paint conservatives as stupid. When your enemy is seen as that stupid, you dehumanize them. Dehumanize a group, and all sorts of atrocities suddenly become possible.
"The left always projects on their enemies their own traits."
Maybe the right does too.
Look at Clinton (either one), Kennedy (pick one) or Kerry.
Can you honestly say you haven't seen plenty of hate for them around here?
"Without insane leftwing anger I wouldn't have a source of great material for the DUmmie FUnnies."
I've gone to the DU and seen their restrictive policies. There have been times I wanted to debate one or two of the more rational posters. No way. If you don't follow in lockstep, you're gone, banned. At least here, as long as you're rational about it, you can explore more than one side of an issue. (More than once I've been called a socialist, or DU escapee here, but never banned).
"Can you honestly say you haven't seen plenty of hate for them around here?"
Total seething hate for the Clintons, Jimmy Carter and Swimmer Kennedy. However, the right doesn't project traits on to those people. The hate around here is largely generated by the people in question. Earned, if you will.
"Dehumanize a group, and all sorts of atrocities suddenly become possible"
Yes, that's very true. It has been S.O.P. for these people.
Excellent point.
Once they get the masses all worked up in a tizzy, they can begin their work.
Totally agree.
"The kind of hate that the Democrats have is the kind of hate that kills millions. It is the hate of the Socialists and Communists everywhere."
Dittos to that! We need to remember this and keep repeating it! (Would make a good bumper sticker, too.)
ALSO
Look at their women -- almost all of the RAT/lib/socialist women have hate-eaten faces! All of the botox in the world can't get rid of that!
Please, not before breakfast.
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