The unity of the left, especially when narrowly constructed, pales in importance to the unity of the broad democratic coalition opposing Trump and the Republican right. Nevertheless, sometimes the former takes up all the oxygen in the room.
When I see cartoons these days mocking Nancy Pelosi for her supposedly slow walk to an impeachment inquiry, I can only think that, given the challenges that the democratic majority face, what is really cartoonish (or a good example of small circle thinking) is the politics of those who post them.
To reduce the impeachment fight to simply an intra class fight of competing elites is mistaken and could be dangerous if too many people swallowed this swill. But public opinion polls suggest that growing numbers of people are framing the matter differently, as they should. Leave it to some on the left to think that their role is to up the ante at every turn in class and democratic struggles.
From Springsteen’s Badlands: As someone who hoped and hopes for a socialist future, this remains good advice, for me anyway.
You wake up in the night
With a fear so real
Spend your life waiting
For a moment that just don’t come
Well don’t waste your time waiting
Badlands, you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you’ve gotta pay
We’ll keep pushin’ till it’s understood
And these badlands start treating us good
PS. Went on a whirlwind road trip, first to Michigan — 12 hours — then the next morning directly north to Sault Ste.Marie, Ontario then the next morning a 17 hour arc taking me through Algonquin National Park to the edge of Ottawa, then through the Thousand Islands region, and finally — and long last — back to Kingston. In the course this many hours trip, I listened to a lot of the Boss on my cd player in my new old car. The guy is a songwriter extraordinaire. And if you like Rock and Roll, he cooks!
First there was the leak. Then came the flood. That scenario could well happen in the next few weeks as government employees in important positions in the federal government come forward to testify to congressional committees about the nefarious practices of the Trump administration.
