A couple of things have been swirling around my brain and I thought I'd throw them out here. If you think this is about you...well it may be, but it's meant with love, even if it's out of frustration.

[Gotcha wondering if it's about you, huh.]

Some may say this is a strength, some a weakness, but I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt when I meet a person and for a while thereafter. Now, there are exceptions, such as the "finger guy" I was talking about a couple of days ago, but generally I tend to assume everyone I meet is sane and has a clue. I get disappointed a lot this way, but this just seems to be the way I'm wired and it works for me.

So when I first started getting involved in progressive issues, I met a lot of people who struck me as being super-intellegent. They saw the world in ways I never had, knew stuff I couldn't comprehend. They spoke with a passion about Marx and other cats who I had never even heard of. They could quote this stuff, while I forget my own lyrics. (which is still the case) It was one of the reasons I continued to work on political campaigns that didn't have a chance of winning and went to protests in the rain and spoke to indifferent politicians...because I was with really smart people who wanted me to help.

Time does funny things to people. A lot of these folks have gone one of two ways. The people in one group have narrowed their list of acceptable solutions to the point where they've made themselves obsolete. The Naderites are an example. People in the International Socialist Organization are another. (there's some overlap there) The thing that separates these groups from the pathetic folks who think Howard Dean's shit doesn't stink, is that the Naderites & ISO folks see conspiracy at every turn. In fact, it's gotten to the point where they eat their own. Nothing ever gets accomplished because there is no compromise - you do what Nader says or you are the enemy. That means, cats like David Cobb are the devil incarnate. And even though where Ralph is concerned the last year has made me kind of sad, I still think Nader has some relevance.

And even someone like Medea Benjamin whose stance on the presidential election made my eyebrows go up a little...she still rocks. And just because she didn't put her head up Nader's ass, a ton of so-called lefties targeted her as a spy for the Dems. Please. While most of these people are on their computers finding all these conspiracies, Medea's on the street, getting into the Republican convention, getting arrested.

The other group that gets me frustrated and disappointed are the people who have decided to try to "fight" from the inside. What kills me about this is that when they were "outsiders" they saw how corrupt the system is and that change can't happen from inside - you get co-opted. I guess people just get worn down. They get tired of scrapping to take care of their families. They don't sell out, per se...they don't go after corporate jobs, but they join organizations, register in parties and take jobs that the establishment has deemed acceptable - thus allowing themselves to be a tad more comfortable.

These folks still are "lefties" but they've allowed themselves to have what they work on be dictated to them. Let me give you an example...

While in the past, people would be working on a single-payer health care system or ending corporate welfare they are now working to save medicaid and making corporate welfare more accountable & just. In the past, they worked for a living wage. Now they rejoice over a gradual bump in the minimum wage. Currently, progressive dems are spending all their energy over the War Criminal's Social Security plan - he's dictating what the progressives are focusing on.

The people I'm talking about know better. They should understand what is happening. These crumb they are calling victories have not put a dent in the inequitable social structure. Meanwhile, those "left behind" still deal with not having enough resources (i.e. people) to affect change in something other than a glacial rate of speed. And what are these "insiders" really getting done? The only thing they're doing is legiimizing a corrupt system.

If the loonies would take their meds and the lost sheep would come home where they belong there would be an amazing group of people that could get things accomplished. Until that happens, I guess we just keep on truckin.