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Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 5:22:30 PM   
FirmhandKY


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Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal in Berkeley

Dear friends, family, loved ones, conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, my brother in law, Sam, and my cousin Joe: I am sorry and you were right.

These are not easy words for anyone to utter, much less a leftist from Berkeley, or a recovering leftist, that is. Even though I've been in recovery for 14 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days, leftists are always right in your face, in an I-hate-you-if-you-disagree sort of way. Hence, this letter of amends to all the people I've lectured, scolded, ranted and raved at, and otherwise annoyed during my 30 plus years of "progressive" politics.

...


In February of 2008, I saw a new client, a bright and sensitive young woman who came in looking like she just escaped a war zone. In some ways she had; she had innocently shared with others at her job that she voted for Hillary rather than Obama. Immediately she was being targeted for abuse that put her in fear for not only her job, but her life.

We both suddenly became aware that something had grown really dark in the Democratic Party. I started hearing about many other incidents where loyal Democrats were being physically and emotionally threatened for supporting Hillary. A woman in Berkeley had her front window broken because it displayed a poster of Hillary. Randi Rhodes, an Air America talk show leftist, called Hillary a f______ witch. (Rhodes was recently promoted to a national talk radio show, illustrating another disturbing trend: the deafening silence about what Rush Limbaugh has dubbed the new "thug-ocracy.)

An acquaintance had her car broken into, and the only item stolen was a NoObama bumper sticker. A South Park episode featured an episode where a nuclear weapon was being aimed at Hillary's genitals. My local greeting card store sold very flattering cards about Obama, insulting ones about Hillary, and a Hillary "nutcracker." When I complained, the young male manager literally laughed in my face.

Things went from bad to worse when Sarah Palin entered the scene. When Geraldine Ferraro ran for Vice President, there was no debasement of her character, no sexual threats. But with Palin, a full scale "wilding" ensued that chillingly reminded me of the random sexual attacks on women by gangs of men in New York. She was called every vile name in the book by both male and female liberals.

Actress Sarah Bernhardt hoped a gang of black males would rape her. When Palin's church was torched with children inside, the press was missing in action (somehow I imagine the press would have been all over this if Obama's church were torched). Not only was the misogyny disgusting, but the classism was abhorrent. The Democrats, by ridiculing Palin's voice and her education, were acting like arrogant snobs. The party had changed, I had changed, and the differences looked irreconcilable.

Read the whole thing.  Pretty interesting point of view.

This is pretty much what I see on a daily basis, and have seen from many "progressives" (although not all), even here on CM.

Is this an accurate summary of where the Democratic Party is going?  Or is the writer just a whiny baby?

Firm


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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 5:41:41 PM   
samboct


Posts: 1817
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Status: offline 		I know I'm going to regret this....

The latter.  Both parties have their fringe elements- but at least the whackos aren't running the Democratic show.  I hope that the Republicans get their act together soon, but it looks like they need to fall further.

Sam

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 5:51:11 PM   
slvemike4u


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Status: offline 		I'm not sure the Democratic party need worry where it's going.Unlike the Republican brand it is hearty and hale.......does the large tent allow for the presence of excess at times,of course it does.
That is a consequence of being the party of inclusion,rather than exclusion.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 6:33:40 PM   
ThatDamnedPanda


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quote:

Is this an accurate summary of where the Democratic Party is going? Or is the writer just a whiny baby?


Hopefully, neither. The writer has a valid point, in identifying what I find to be a disturbing and very disappointing self-righteous streak among a lot of my liberal brethren, but I think I'd stop way short of calling it an indication of the direction the party is going. Al Franken being the apparent and unfortunate exception, very few of these people really manage to attain positions of genuine power within the party. They're usually relegated to catcalling from the bleachers. I don't see any reason to believe that's going to change.

As for the writer being a whiny baby - no, I don't think it's so much that she's a whiny baby, but by her own admission a naive, unbalanced flake prone to ideological excess. She spent 30 years as a self-described "member of the far left cult of the People's Republic of Berkeley," "a rabid, sanctimonious liberal whom you steadfastly avoided at family gatherings," so obviously she's an extremist by nature. Now she's decided she's not comfortable being that kind of extremist (which is good), and her reaction is apparently to become a conservative extremist (althought that's only implied, not explicitly stated in the article.) Apparently she didn't get the memo that it's possible to live a happy, well-balanced life by being an indendent thinker who evaluates each issue on its own merits, on a case-by-case basis.

The issue is not that she  was a liberal, but that she was a nut who happened to be a liberal. So now instead of being a liberal nut, she's a conservative nut. Now democrats are the scourge of Satan, instead of republicans. Fuck her, good riddance. You guys can have her!

Edit: Just so she undersatnds, though, that she loses all her seniority.


< Message edited by ThatDamnedPanda -- 5/11/2009 6:39:48 PM >

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 6:55:13 PM   
MarsBonfire


Posts: 1034
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Status: offline 		Want to take bets the letter is a fake?

I have no doubt that people took heat for being Hillary supporters. Hell, lots of people took heat for being a supporter of "that n*gger" running for office. Rush Limbaugh himself was spewing hate for McCain, if you recall. Personally, I dropped off this forum, and only came back well after the election, changing my sig, because I was getting threatening cmails because of my opinons here. (all from some of the more extreme neo-cons here, I might add.)

But, one person decides to flip their beliefs, and it's supposed to somehow be a lesson for us all?

Please...

By that logic, Firm, you should resign from the NRA, the GOP, the John Birch Society,  and join the Franken candidacy because Spectre flipped. Or that Jeffords wanted to stop Bush's steamrollering of legislation.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 7:03:41 PM   
CruelNUnsual


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quote:

ORIGINAL: MarsBonfire

Want to take bets the letter is a fake?

I have no doubt that people took heat for being Hillary supporters. Hell, lots of people took heat for being a supporter of "that n*gger" running for office. Rush Limbaugh himself was spewing hate for McCain, if you recall. Personally, I dropped off this forum, and only came back well after the election, changing my sig, because I was getting threatening cmails because of my opinons here. (all from some of the more extreme neo-cons here, I might add.)

But, one person decides to flip their beliefs, and it's supposed to somehow be a lesson for us all?

Please...

By that logic, Firm, you should resign from the NRA, the GOP, the John Birch Society,  and join the Franken candidacy because Spectre flipped. Or that Jeffords wanted to stop Bush's steamrollering of legislation.


A fake in what respect? There is no real "Robin"? The events a real Robin posts about didnt really happen?

given your experiences (though somehow droppping from posting because of "threats" via cmail is somewhat ludicrous) I dont know why you would doubt the letter.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 9:08:06 PM   
TreasureKY


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quote:

ORIGINAL: MarsBonfire

... Personally, I dropped off this forum, and only came back well after the election, changing my sig, because I was getting threatening cmails because of my opinons here. (all from some of the more extreme neo-cons here, I might add.)


Sorry, but I find that extremely hard to believe.  I've been posting on these forums for over three years and during that time there has always only been a very small handful of conservatives who post, and none at all that I could even remotely imagine making any kind of threats.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 9:11:36 PM   
popeye1250


Posts: 18104
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Status: offline 		As an Independant why would I *ever* want to be involved with Democrats or Republicans?
All they want to do is argue, no, bicker back and forth!
Why would anyone want to get involved in that crap?

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 9:45:40 PM   
Owner59


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Status: offline 		I don`t know Pop....How about to stop the wasting of our military personnel?

Are they worth "bickering" over?

< Message edited by Owner59 -- 5/11/2009 9:46:05 PM >

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 9:59:09 PM   
Lorr47


Posts: 862
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Status: offline 		CBS asked a talking head after Obama was regaled by a critic whether Obama should worry about such shots.  He said that a solid 30% of this nation would never back Obama; hated him; wished an Obama failure and that Obama should simply ignore them.  The other 70% appeared to the talking head as still backing Obama in varying degrees; would give Obama the benefit ot the doubt; felt Obama was trying which republicans were not doing; and were basically saying that it was too early to tell; four months in office is too early to leap to an conclusion.  This is a conservative area and the worst I have illicited is "it is too early to tell"  and "Ok, I guess."

Dick Durbin while criticizing both democrats and republicans noted that all republicans in the senate voted against an amendment and that it was impossible to tell why?  However, Durbin did comment that the banking industry is by far still the most powerful lobby on the hill. Durbin felt that republicans may have an agenda, but darned if he knew what it was and had some questions whether republicans themselves knew what their agenda was.  Charlie Munger the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (Buffet) called banks who lobbied against the amendment everything from venile (sic) to loathsome. The amendment would have allowed bankruptcy judges, in certain circumstances, to cram down home mortgages to the house's present fair market value.  At the present time the banks after bankruptcy sell the property for its fair market value anyway.  What irked most is that there already is the same cram down feature for ranches and cottages.  Thus, the cram down feature already exists for the rich but not the John Doe home owner.

Of course, the whole new bankruptcy code came under scruntiny again. MBNA credit card company had donated $41 million to Bush's campaign about four years ago (how I do not know) and demanded a new bankruptcy code as repayment; favoring credit card indebtedness of course. Now, when orders for repayment come out of court it is not a unique event to see the first item that must be repaid are credit cards followed by child support and alimony.  Many see that as ass backwards as to prioities.

Finally I saw a discussion of where  Obama was heading in regard to health care.  Obama's goal is a government plan in competition with private insurers.  Since polling shows 130 million citizens would sign up, the present insurance cartel is fighting it tooth and nail.  When asked what the republicans were doing in this regard, the uniform answer was that the republicans were not offering a single alternative plan; not one; not even a partial plan.  However, republicans are vociferous in their opposition to Obama's plan.

It is difficult to criticize Obama when there is no alternative; or the so called alternative is in the lobbyists' hip pocket.  Obama thus far has little to worry about.






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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 10:05:31 PM   
DomKen


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Status: offline 		I read the whole letter and it rang fake throughout. This passage in particular showed an outsiders contempt for Berkeley:
quote:

To my cousin Joe for calling you a traitor when you became an MBA, started holding a real job (as opposed to most of us Berkeley types who are psychotherapists, massage therapists and aromatherapists), and became a conservative, my bad.

Also Alameda county, the county Berkeley is in, went for HRC by a 10% margin in the Feb. 2008 primary.

All in all it sounds like a fake by a poorly informed right winger who didn't even bother to do some basic research.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 10:47:10 PM   
TheHeretic


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quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

I read the whole letter and it rang fake throughout.



          I agree with you, Ken.  Yet it speaks of the very things that ultimately led me to sever my last ties to the Democrats.  Too many of them have become worse than the Fundys. 

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/11/2009 11:14:23 PM   
DomKen


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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

I read the whole letter and it rang fake throughout.



         I agree with you, Ken.  Yet it speaks of the very things that ultimately led me to sever my last ties to the Democrats.  Too many of them have become worse than the Fundys. 

Worse than the Fundies? I'm quite frequently at odds with my liberal neighbors, I live in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in the country, and strangely no matter how much I may disagree with them on matters of gun control, drug laws and matters of woo I've never been spit on or punched or had my tires slashed. However in the last two years when I've made presentations at school boards opposing fundies trying to force creationism or abstinence only or posting the ten commandments or some other religious woo into the public schools I've been spat upon and have had to dodge punches and had to replace all 4 tires on my car.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 5:49:59 AM   
FirmhandKY


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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

I read the whole letter and it rang fake throughout.



         I agree with you, Ken.  Yet it speaks of the very things that ultimately led me to sever my last ties to the Democrats.  Too many of them have become worse than the Fundys. 

I agree that there are idiots on both sides.

I think that I am more comfortable with the religious fundamentalists because I understand their world-view, and am often successful in being able to get some of them to consider an alternative point of view (or at least practice some level of tolerance) because of my basic understanding.

"Committed lefties" however, I have a much more difficult time in getting to consider that any other valid point of view exists.

I will say however, that in this thread, I'm impressed with the quality of comment from both sides, for the most part.

Firm


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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 7:17:54 AM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline 		Let's face it, both sides cherry pick their issues.  And intelligent "fundies" of both sides, capable of twisting words and issues.  I'd say it was a 'summary list' of those cherry picked issues, rather than an honest letter.

Doesn't mean the issues chosen didn't happen...just means that it is an interesting choice of issues.

I'm still for two term limits:  One in office and one in prison, both of equal length.




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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 9:48:17 AM   
OrionTheWolf


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Status: offline 		~FR~

As far as it being a fake, I am skeptical of most things I cannot verify or debunk. I have been watching snopes since yesterday, in hopes they can dig something up on it.

As to the spitting and such, well just last year a friend that is in the military had his car trashed with permanent marker. Apparently he is solely responsible for all the death in Iraq. Sorry but I do not see a Republican doing that. So the craziness happens on both sides of any issue/s, and why I have been saying that the extremist in both parties are hurting all of us caught in the middle.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 1:04:21 PM   
Crush


Posts: 1031
Status: offline 		My opinion too, Orion....those beyond three standard deviations from the mean, well, are those we find are the most convinced of their own opinion as truth, from either side.

Whether ELF or Westboro Baptist Church, extremes have a place, but usually as a contrast to reason.

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 1:18:25 PM   
rulemylife


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quote:

ORIGINAL: CruelNUnsual

quote:

ORIGINAL: MarsBonfire

Want to take bets the letter is a fake?


I dont know why you would doubt the letter.


I had the same feeling about it being fake and I can give you a number of good reasons.

The best is this statement from the link:


To my leftist friends, with whom I agreed that 9/ll was the US's fault, you and I were all such jerks.


I don't know anyone who is a liberal who identifies themselves as a "leftist".  That's generally a term used as a derogatory remark to compare liberals with Marxists and communists.

I also don't know anyone who has seriously agreed that 9/11 was the fault of the U.S.

This one was also hilarious:

To my cousin Joe for calling you a traitor when you became an MBA, started holding a real job (as opposed to most of us Berkeley types who are psychotherapists, massage therapists and aromatherapists), and became a conservative, my bad.

Yes, all of us liberals hate those "real jobs" and we only do the touchy-feely things to make money.

And those were just two.  I could literally pick apart every sentence in this work of fiction.

It's a ridiculous attack piece on liberals quite obviously written by someone wallowing in conservative dogma.


< Message edited by rulemylife -- 5/12/2009 1:19:18 PM >

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 1:20:06 PM   
kittinSol


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quote:

ORIGINAL: rulemylife

It's a ridiculous attack piece on liberals quite obviously written by someone wallowing in conservative dogma.



A tragically obvious piece of prose.

PS: the letter, I mean, rml, gaaad.

< Message edited by kittinSol -- 5/12/2009 1:40:00 PM >

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RE: Letter of Amends from a Recovering Liberal - 5/12/2009 1:45:50 PM   
Kirata


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quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

A tragically obvious piece of prose.


There have been (at last count) 236 comments posted to that letter, some critical, most not, and some that say things like, "you just told my story," and, "your letter of amends could have been written by me." So it would appear that regardless of whether or not the letter is a fake, what's "tragically obvious" is that the sentiment it expresses is not.

K.






< Message edited by Kirata -- 5/12/2009 1:48:37 PM >

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