Reason Writers Around Town

At Salon (ad view req.) Matt Welch urges those tenderfoots in the Democratic Party to go west.

Comments

[Stevo Darkly]

I'm sorry, I've never been able to see the Democrats as the "live and let live party."

[Matt Welch]

Stevo -- To quote that great cowboy poet Robert Plant, this is a song of hope. Or maybe it was "does anybody remember laughter?" ...

[Stevo Darkly]

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who standing looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

[Howard Dean]

We're going to win in Montana! And Arizona! And Nevada! And Wyoming! And New Mexico! And Idaho! And Oklahoma!

Yippie kai-yay, motherfuckers!

[6Gun]

Dems already went west and erected Dingy Harry, the next Daschlized US senator.

Come to think of it, pathological career mendacity would tend to go in Deadwood...or Vegas, or Reno, or...

[Matt Welch]

Stevo -- So ... who is the Piper??

[spur]

" the home of scary old creeps like Jesse Helms to "Star Trek"-quoting smarties like Jonah Goldberg."

When did Star Trek or, god forbid, Jonah Goldberg become cool or culturally trendy. He's smart, but so are all the liberal party poopers you cite. If Jonah Goldberg, a washington insider hack if there every was one, and Dennis Miller whose show just got cancelled for only being able to pull in 100,000 eyeballs an episode, I say your thesis about conservatives being cool is crap. Both maher and Stewart bring in more of an audience than that by a long shot -- I'm not a big fan of either, but at least they make me laugh with them from time to time; quite the opposite with Goldberg and Star Trek.

And where all these South Park Republicans you talk about? I haven't read the link yet, but the only South Park republicans I know are at Bagram airforce base serving our country rather poorly.

[Stevo Darkly]

Stevo -- So ... who is the Piper??

Dunno?

[Akira MacKenzie]

Oh my GOD! An immodestly dressed hussy drinking ALCOHOL from a tube in PUBLIC while naked harlots cheer her on???

Why, if they were good, Christian, Republican youths, they'd have a glass of grape juice after Bible study and then go to bed at a Godly hour (i.e. 5 p.m.).

[gaius marius]

the republican: "We might have long hair, smoke cigarettes, get drunk on weekends, have sex before marriage, watch R-rated movies, cuss like sailors -- and also happen to be conservative, or at least libertarian."

read: reject convention, look inward and follow your spirit.

the democrat: embrace what a show about what is described elsewhere in salon thusly: "... vile, chaotic and frightening place... the forces of good and evil battle within each man... even the well-intentioned, upstanding citizens inevitably possess dark inner selves, or they're cajoled into selfish behaviors that go against their values, or they're forced to abandon their ideals in order to survive."

read: look inward, reject the lawful world, submit to your fear and use it -- live the life of conflict.

anyone else wonder about the future when neither side is rooted in society, reality and compromise? when both have adopted the neitzschean ethic which mussolini described as the "doctrine of conflict"?

"Humanity is still and always an abstraction of time and space; men are still not brothers, do not want to be and evidently cannot be. Peace is hence absurd, or rather it is a pause in war. There is something that binds man to his destiny of struggling, against either his fellows or himself. The motives for the struggle may change indefinitely, they may be economic, religious, political, sentimental, But the legend of Cain and Abel seems to be the inescapable reality, while brotherhood is a fable men listen to during the bivouac and the truce."

[Todd Fletcher]

joe,
"The question becomes, is the current Republican ruling coalition (theocrats and big money) sufficiently large, scary, and out of step to convince Democrats western independents to similarly join forces?"

That, and what is the Democratic base going to do to convince the gun toting "leave me alone" westerners that they will in fact be left alone? There's more parity between the Dems and the Reps everyday on this ground, because the Republicans have abandoned small government almost completely. If the Democrats can creep over to take their place, and convince me that they aren't doing it for purely cynical reasons, they might get my vote.

But then, I don't actually own a gun.

[Mo]

Did Jonah actually try to coopt the Simpsons for the right? That's fucking rich! People in the Simpsons go to church and love their families. Oh my God! Only Republicans do that! They make fun of the current Democratic Party, they must hate them and be one of us.

South Park:Republicans::Simpsons:Democrats

If referencing sci fi and the Simpsons is cool, then consider me Miles Davis (and I ain't no Miles Davis).

[malk]

If quoting star trek and being a smartie makes you cool or politicaly ascendant, than why isn't the Libertarian Party in power and Reason the Weekly Standard must read of DC?

[Stevo Darkly]

Because DC isn't cool, man.

[Don]

There is little doubt that the Democratic base + gun toting "leave me alone" westerners, would form a solid majority if they joined forces.

After Bill Clinton, and his '94 AWB, Brady, his import bans, etc., not to mention his heavy handed handling of western lands, it is highly unlikely that "leave me alone" westerners like myself will lean Democratic anytime soon.