Last updated on March 14th, 2013 at 09:20 am
An ideology is a comprehensive vision, and a way of looking at things, that when practiced by an adherent who is uncompromising and dogmatic, although commendable in terms of integrity to a cause, can do more harm than good if left unchecked. Ideologues are the bane of pragmatists who take a practical approach to problem solving, and are concerned primarily with the success or failure of actions based on reality, and not an ideological abstract. The current incarnation of the Republican Party is defined by ideologues that campaigned on a platform of bringing government to a halt, and their governance abstinence has wreaked havoc on America, but they are only in power because other ideologues ushered them into the halls of Congress.
An argument can be made that EmoProgs are the Left’s answer to Republican’s teabaggers because their allegiance to causes that defy reality have not aided in advancing the greater liberal or progressive platform. Early in President Obama’s first term, what was labeled the professional left dug their heels in on issues that would never gain acceptance by mainstream politicians, or the American people, regardless how noble and altruistic their particular agenda may have been. The result was so-called liberal pundits actively campaigning for Democratic voters to sit out the 2010 midterm elections that gave the teabaggers easy victories and access to positions of power the country will suffer from for at least a decade, and that is not including the damage a non-functioning government has had on the economy and the people’s general welfare.
The 13-hour self-promotional Rand Paul filibuster on the floor of the Senate drew rave reviews from emoprogs who assailed President Obama for using unmanned drones to strike al Qaeda leadership and avowed enemies of the United States intent on indiscriminately killing American citizens on American soil. The controversy quickly morphed into accusations that the President would use drones to kill American citizens on American soil, and it was that issue Paul raised and railed on during his filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination as head of the CIA. Attorney General Eric Holder felt obliged to reply to Paul and said, “Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil? The answer to that question is no.” However, Holder said the President does have authority to use military force against American citizens on US soil—but only in “an extraordinary circumstance,” that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln exercised during the “Whiskey Rebellion” and Civil War respectively, but those were indeed extraordinary circumstances.
Pundits on the left railed on liberals for failing to embrace Paul’s promotional filibuster as being “embarrassingly hypocritical” because they cannot comport his position on most issues, but emoprogs are hypocritical because their ideological bent fuels support for conservative agendas they claim to oppose. This Rand Paul character liberal pundits claim progressives should join opposes the ERA, supports the religious right’s belief biblical law should replace the Constitution, opposed the VAWA, civil rights, and in a hypocritical outrage, opposes government regulations he preached were needed to hold the President accountable for killing terrorists intent on murdering innocent Americans. One has to wonder how targeting enemy combatants on foreign soil morphed into charges the President will use drones to kill innocent Americans on American soil.
There has been a phalanx of EmoProgs who have assailed the President for all manner of imagined sleights against their sensibilities, and it informs the sad state of many ensconced in the professional left. The President was hardly in office when outrage erupted from emoprogs because he failed to close Guantanamo, repeal DADT, strike down DOMA, include a public option in the ACA, and repeal NDAA that all necessitated Congressional action irrespective of the President’s wishes. The President has been, and still is, accused of single-handedly imprisoning and torturing Bradley Manning despite the soldier’s guilty plea of stealing and passing sensitive information he knew was a violation of military and intelligence security protocols. It leads one to wonder if Emos understand a President leads the Executive Branch and follows the Constitution’s provisions of government operation, or that the United States Congress makes laws, or do they believe the president is a dictator unaccountable to the Constitution he swore to “preserve, protect and defend” when he was sworn in office.
It is difficult to comprehend why Emos assail President Obama for following the Constitution’s mandates for governance, but it may be they misunderstand the political makeup of the population. Americans are not hard left Progressives, or even left-leaning Centrists, and although this country would benefit greatly if it were, Americans are at best right-leaning Centrists and expect their leaders to govern accordingly. If the President campaigned as a staunch Progressive, Willard Romney would have begun eviscerating the nation before Emos knew what hit them, and at the rate they assail President Obama, one would think he was Romney. What is curious though, is the support many on the left have given Rand Paul despite his well-known, and well-publicized, stance on issues that are repulsive to even right-leaning Centrists; but there they were, heaping praise on Paul and anointing his “so-called” bipartisanship that he rightly used in a fundraising letter as he weighs a run for president in 2016.
Regarding the use of drones to kill avowed terrorist hell-bent on indiscriminately murdering Americans because they are Americans, the world is a dangerous place, and there are national security issues EmoProgs, and most Americans, are not privy to and that is how it should be. If any American expects the President to run to the people and ask permission go forward on actionable intelligence before launching a strike on al Qaeda, they are as deluded as expecting him to unilaterally circumvent Congress and repeal laws, or torture soldiers guilty of stealing secret defense data and handing it to the press. It is not to say there are not legitimate concerns about the some of the President’s policies, or that it is not within the public’s purview to ask hard questions, but making an issue out of the “possibility” of him launching drone attacks on innocent citizens on American soil; that is what violent militias stocking their armories for civil war sit and fret about as they wallow in conspiracy theories promoted by the NRA and hate groups.
President Obama is never going to be all things to all people, especially emoprogs, but he is attempting to balance his agenda with the will of the people and despite perpetual harping by the professional left, he has followed through on most of his promises within the confines of the Constitution; even if they failed to occur within the first week of his first term. It is frustrating to sit and watch the same malcontents that handed the 2010 midterms to teabaggers support Rand Paul over a “hypothetical scenario” with no basis in fact, but it was also difficult watching emoprogs assail the President for not usurping Congress, issuing unconstitutional edicts, and sitting home while teabaggers gained control of the nation.
There are real issues the left can coalesce behind besides Rand Paul’s fundraising efforts, and with unified support for clean energy, jobs, saving safety nets, and increased education funding; real Progressive goals, it is possible even Emos would be satisfied. Emoprogs need instant gratification borne of ideological purity, but they will not find it in Rand Paul, Bradley Manning, or attacking President Obama over hypothetical scenarios and conspiracy theories, because they followed that route before and gave America ideologues that broke Congress and are on the verge of breaking America.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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