Moving to the Center

There are a number of phrases, which, after this election, no media outlet should ever repeat: Sista Soulja moment, maverick, thrown under the bus, flip-flop, ad infinitum.

But the one I detest the most is the nonsense about Obama "moving to the center." This translates into an incredibly stupid reversal on FISA, appeasing the ultra-right wing Zionists, backing down on offshore drilling and a number of other things I am not in the mood to look up.

What has happened to the political center? Some of the most popular social programs like Social Security and Medicare are suddenly considered to be far-left, socialist ideas, which is ridiculous: people love these programs. And we are the only remaining industrialized nation without some sort of universal health coverage, despite the fact that it makes ridiculously good economic sense (healthy workers are productive workers, socializing the cost takes it off the balance sheets, fewer hours lost to disability) and the majority of Americans want some form of guaranteed coverage.

Other ideas like diplomacy are also leftist and dangerous. This is patently ridiculous -- diplomacy is very safe and can prevent war, which is actually a GOOD thing.

Why is all this stuff leftist? Probably due to the fact that the conservative fringe has moved so far to the right that normally "moderate" ideas are now socialist measures. And we've definitely seen that shift: Fox News and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, George Will, Charles Krauthammer and every other right-wing pundit represent that ideological shift among the media and its corporate interests to the extreme right.

And yet we are off fighting "extremists" in the Middle East, most of whom are so angry and willing to blow stuff up because of stupid policies crafted by the bona fide extremists in America.

We need to kick these people out of power. I've watched V for Vendetta multiple times in the past month, and all of America needs to realize something Hugo Weaving's V character says: "People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people."


Viva la revolucion...


Posted by pdmccaul [Op-Ed] ( August 12, 2008 04:42 PM ) Permalink | Comments[0]