In your anger at the party, don’t forget the real victims. (Please vote.)

This post has a very narrow audience: those who say they will not vote unless the candidates are sufficiently in line with their personal beliefs, and think that by withholding their vote they will somehow “teach the party a lesson”. It is not targeted at any other people or groups. S’alright? S’alright.

Many of the party apparatchiks, leaders and candidates (for example, Hillary Clinton) are millionaires, and will not be hurt by your lack of participation in a hypothetical future contest. They should pay a price, but they will not. They might write books, consult, bloviate, become the ambassador to Lower Maylohda, or join the punditocracy: but one thing that they will not do is suffer. Not one wee bit.

No, the people who will be hurt by the lack of participation in a given race will be the poor. The children. The elderly. The minorities. The women. THEY will pay the price for your bitterness, defeatism and despair. You might not pay a price, the candidates might not pay…but nothing is free in this world. Somebody always pays.

In the last election, in one Ohio state congressional district, a (literal) handful of voters failed to vote for the Democrat in the race, and the Teapublican won. That state is now 100% Red. Dems have NO POWER OVER STATE GOVERNMENT.

Voting rights are being taken away. Women’s rights are being obliterated. Children are starving and dying. Millionaires are profiting and the rest of us are struggling. Because a very few voters made the choice you propose to make.

Think a bit before you decide to be dogmatic. Think of those four voters who did what you say you will do. Every vote counts. And every vote has a consequence.

Perhaps God should have mercy on those who abandon their fellow Americans to poverty, privation, and death; but the rest of us shouldn’t.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

To the Lazy Lefties and Slothful Centrists: F*** all y’all.

Once again, we see just how screwed we are as a nation: Dems and their lassitude lost another election because too many of them were too f***ing lazy to cast a f***ing ballot. So now we have a corporate whore, lobbyist, and proto-Teabagger winning the FL-13 special election. And he won because Teabaggers and “Republicans” turn out and vote in off-year elections, but Dem voters can’t be bothered to spend a few minutes to vote, once every couple of years.

And it’s not like Democrats don’t know about the problem; Hell, the punditocracy is constantly talking about it. Obama has been bringing the issue up ad nauseum. And when Dems get off their asses, they tend to win.

But this time, the lazy left and slothful center have once again screwed the pooch by inaction. Another corrupt, lying, partisan Wingnut is headed to a Congress that is already full of such creatures. And a sensible, factual, hard-working public servant is staying in Florida.

It is the fault of lazy voters who are so stupid, unmotivated, and useless that they can’t even scribble on a piece of paper and mail it; or drive a few miles and poke at a computer screen for two minutes.

F*** all “citizens” who let us down this week. And the same for all those who do the same later this year.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“But when you talk about destruction, Don’t you know that you can count me out.” (Centrism Defended)

John Lennon, as he so frequently did, nailed it to a tree in this lyric. And while he may not have agreed with this writer on political matters, this line effectively points out one underlying premise of Centrism: the renunciation of extremism, and the violence that extremism requires to achieve its ends.

People often demonize Centrism as “ill-defined” or “meaning nothing”. This is no more true of Centrism than  is of Liberalism or Conservatism. The plain and simple truth of all political “isms” is this: none of them are monolithic, and all of them have as many variants as they have adherents. Put another way, Dennis Kucinich and Abbie Hoffman have both been described as “extreme Left” or “Liberal”, but they aren’t going to agree on everything. Bush The Dumber and Dick Cheney didn’t agree on everything either. The Cranky One  almost never agrees with the DLC Dimbulbs with whom he is automatically associated when he describes himself as a Centrist.  Labels are useful tools, but like any tool need to be used properly: when misused or overused, they create more harm than good.

Your humble correspondent  describes his political philosophy as follows: antidisestablishmentarianism, maximum personal freedom, keeping his nose out of other people’s private lives, and contributing to the overall good of our society. Except for the first point, he figures most Americans are on board with those concepts to a certain degree. So let’s look at that first point (the one Mr. Lennon so perfectly captured).

Antidisestablishmentarianists, of course, come in various shapes, sizes and degrees: some are ossified individuals who reflexively cling to the status quo, regardless of whether or not it works. Others (like this cranky writer) see it as an incrementalist approach to change. One thing to remember: Martin Luther, often depicted as a revolutionary, was in fact an antidisestablishmentarianist: that is why he proposed a reformation, rather than a revolution. So it goes in politics.

Revolutions kill people. They destroy lives and the works created by those lives. They burn away the good along with the bad. And rebuilding from a revolution is far harder and  more costly (in all respects) than implementing a plan for gradual, consensus-driven change.

Yes, sometimes thick-headed jackasses make revolutions necessary: King George, for example. But had he pulled his head out of his extremist, orthodoxy-addicted, ideological, narrow-minded, blinkered arse, the revolution need not have happened at all.

And that, friends, is why your Radical Centrist, contrarian, curmudgeonly correspondent keeps braying away from his position on the Political Compass (bang on the center of the L/R axis, and far away from the Authoritarian pole on that axis. See the link below to chart yourself.). He brays, hollers, and throws bricks upside the heads of the extremist community at every opportunity, hoping to get his point across. (“Maybe being nice would be a better approach”, you might say, and that’s a fair point. But he’s tried it and failed, so he’s going the blunt route these days.)

Far too many extremists are willing to “break eggs to make an omelet”. Those “eggs” are human beings with lives and loved ones. The idea that anyone could see the inevitable destruction of the lives and loves of their fellow Americans simply as a “cost of doing business”  is truly vomit-inducing. Particularly coming from the political Left, who are allegedly devoted to the betterment of mankind.

Anyone who advocates revolution when their people and country  are not in imminent danger of being killed en masse is a sociopathic mother***er who views his fellow Americans as disposable resources to be destroyed in the pursuit of his or her ideological Utopia.

And people like that are worth fighting. This Radical Centrist stands firmly for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Revolutionaries do not. If they did, they would not advocate measures that would strip us of all three.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

http://www.politicalcompass.org/ 

Finally, An Inaugural Address for The Majority

Obama’s Speech is, in Mr. Blunt and Cranky’s ever-so-humble opinion, a great one for anyone with an ounce of Center in their bones.

Liberals are crowing and Righties are cursing, each wing flapping away as it hears what it wants to hear. Hardly unusual, if disappointing. But the speech (read it, peeps) is not some flaming Communist Manifesto, regardless of how the pundits may try to present it as such.

No, it is a sensible, fact-based, consensus-building appeal to the values in our Constitution and the involvement of the electorate. He is saying that we the people need to do more than vote every few years: we need to follow the law of the land, and hold our “Representatives” to account.

As a proud Radical Centrist, this writer finds a lot to like in Obama’s second Inaugural Speech. Now, if the clowns in The Dizzy City Circus can actually live up to the ancient principles espoused in said address, (and we citizens make them do it) we just might be able to have a government of, by, and for the people again.

Unlikely, but possible. And well worth the effort.

Mr. B & C

Purity and Perfection: Two Stupid Political Pursuits

A quick reminder of why Barack Obama won re-election (and a fair few other Dems got elected too) in 2012: it was in large part because the Teabaggers and other right-wing extremist loons revealed themselves to be, well, extremist loons. They rejected compromise, refused to consider anything but their “pure and principled” philosophical positions. And the voters kicked out (or didn’t elect in the first place) some of the most radical of these “purists”. The pursuit of ideological perfection turned out to be a really, REALLY bad idea.

So what did the RepubliBaggers do when they got to Washington D.C. this week? Why, they immediately started right back in playing the “purer-than-thou” card as if it were a smart card to play. Never mind that the voters clearly said “knock that crap off and act like grown-ups”, no, the Raging Righties in their Tightie Whities are doubling down on what has been proven to be a losing hand. In the immortal words of that great philosopher Bugs Bunny: Maroons. Imbessiles. Tar-rar-rah-goon-dee-yays.

And to prove that the Right has no monopoly on idiocy, lots of people on the Left are doing the exact same thing, just with a different set of principles to judge the insufficient purity and perfection of their politicos in the Democratic Party. Yes, these zeebs are saying “ya know, being uncompromising zealots totally got our opponents’ wedding tackle kicked in. We should do the same thing they did.” Even Bugs Bunny hasn’t got words to describe THAT level of stupid.

Our nation is not of one mind, and no single set of purist, extremist principles will ever convince us all. Hasn’t happened. Not gonna happen. Extremists are a minority, and however perfect and right their ideas may be, the vast majority of Americans will not buy into those ideas completely. So insisting that, say, the Prexy institute a Socialist Paradise is just as doomed to failure as expecting the Speaker to create a Libertarian Utopia.

This nation is just too diverse, too vast, and full of too many contumacious jerks to ever reach a consensus on anything pertaining to ideology, religion, philosophy, or one of such. We are a nation built on compromise – in fact, our very system of government is a compromise. There is no chance of either the Far Left or the Extreme Right convincing 100% of Americans to follow their path.

That being the case, and having seen the recent failure of extremists who hewed the Right-Wing Tea Party line, one has to wonder why anyone with half a brain who choose to emulate the Tea Party’s 2012 strategy. This writer has concluded that some on the Left possess stupidity in truly epic quantities.

Mr. B & C

Why America Keeps Getting Kneecapped by “Republicans”

Mr. Blunt and Cranky grew up in the sort of town where one could see “retired” men spending a lot of time going from store to store on a daily basis. Until the state created its own lottery, thus effectively ending the illegal numbers racket, after which these men seemed much less active. Just getting older and slowing down, no doubt.

A key lesson learned from one of these oh-no-not-a-gangster-not-at-all gentlemen, overheard while he was talking with another of his ilk: “You are looking for good will. There is no good will for people like them: there is only advantage”. Words to ponder, and words many Americans have evidently never heard.

As we have seen over the past few years, the “Republican” party has abandoned any small remaining shred of goodwill, of comity, of cooperation, of respect, or any of the virtues that allow people of divergent backgrounds to live together in reasonable peace and relative harmony. They do not care about anyone else’s viewpoint and indeed, wish to stifle and suppress such viewpoints. If possible, they’d dearly love to imprison or deport anyone who does not march in lockstep with them, 24/7/365.  Good will? They have no use for it.

Within the past ten days, a few examples of this attitude and how it hurts the rest of us:

Number A: Michigan “Republicans” just rammed through a union-busting bill in a lame-duck session. Why? Because in January a few Democrats will replace a few Repubs, and they will lose the ability to do such partisan s***. For right now, they have complete control and are using it for their own greedy, power-hungry benefit.

Letter 2: Michigan’s “Republican” governor has just been granted emergency powers that are not subject to the approval of those governed. He can take over cities, school districts, etc. and do whatever he likes to whoever and whatever he likes. Or give the job to a crony of his. Either way, he and his party have complete control and are using it for their own greedy, power-hungry benefit.

Thirdly: “No worries”, you say, “we can recall the b***ards”. Ummm…no…you see, the “Republicans” of Michigan just passed a law that makes it incredibly difficult to recall an elected official. This makes it easier to have complete control and use it for their own greedy, power-hungry benefit.

Fourth Item: Michigan “Republicans” rewrote their concealed carry policies to allow people to carry guns into schools and other such places. Never mind what the cops think, the legislators want the cash that the gun lobby is bribing them with. In other words, again, they have complete control and are using it for their own greedy, power-hungry benefit.

That’s just part of what these partisans have done in just a few days, in just one state. Get the picture, folks? 

You. Can. Not. Negotiate. With. These. People.  “Republicans” don’t believe in compromise: to them it is profanity. They openly say things like “bipartisanship means coming around to the Republican point of view”.   They are not like you or I; they don’t give a happy monkey fart about your point of view, and they are after each and every bit of power, wealth, and control they can get. 

You can go to the well of “mutual understanding and cooperation” and drop in a bucket as many times as you wish, and you’ll always come up dry. So stop, okay, just stop pretending that they are reasonable people.

These people do not understand good will: for them there is only advantage.

Monday – the only way to solve the problem.

Mr. B & C

Note to the Hard Left: Calm the F***ing F*** Down

To hear a few crazies on the Left tell it, this week’s election results are a sign of the impending Social Democratic Paradise on Earth. News flash: uhhhh, ermmmm, not really, no. What it was was a repudiation of the Teabagging, Randian AMFYOYO dope dreams of the Radical Right. That is something quite different from an endorsement of the Hard Left.

The majority of the American electorate is and has always been Centrist.  This despite the earnest efforts of generations’ worth of extremists of many persuasions: alas, the sad reality is that most humans don’t really give a monkey’s about the nuances of political theory. What they want from politics is to have safety, security, and to do their own thing.  So when their wealth is redistributed beyond what seems an equitable extent, they get pissy. When their freedoms are infringed beyond the extent that seems required for their security, they get a wee bit ticked off. When they are insulted, condescended to, or abused, they get hugely pissed off.

All three things were done unto them in the past few years by the Radical Right; and so they gave the Teabaggers a humiliating kick in the groin. Well-deserved it was, and quite entertaining to watch. What they did not do was to endorse a wholesale shift to the Left.

What does that mean? If the Left wants to achieve their goals, they’ll have to do it slowly, carefully, respectfully, in consultation with the Center, and above all in a way that enhances the overall freedom, safety and security of the nation. That requires a calm, grownup approach, peeps.

The last thing anyone in the Center wants to hear right now are the words “radical” or “revolutionary”. They have had a bad experience with that sort of thing of late, and anyone who tries to peddle it now will wind up with their nether regions  feeling a lot like those of Akin, Mourdock and Company.

Mr. B & C

Hey, Wingnuts who are Freaking Out over the Election Results: Waaaah.

Both times Bush The Dumber managed to get his butt planted in the Oval Office, Mr. Blunt and Cranky heard lots and lots of people on the Left and in the Center losing their gourds. Threats, despairing recriminations, and of course, lots of bitter gloom-n-doom; all of these were present and accounted for in 2000 and 2004. Not much came of them, and the country limped along until that jackass exited the building.

Now, it’s the turn of the Raging Righties in Their Tightie Whities to barf out their weeping, wailing, useless and pathetic diatribes. Not much will come of their declarations, and the country will survive another four years of this Prexy, as it has dozens of his predecessors.

News Flash: sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t. That’s what happens in contests. The only people who get a pass for acting like two-year-olds when they lose are, well, two-year-olds. The rest of us are quite reasonably expected to act like, well, grownups. Suck it up, Buttercup.

Mr. B & C

Note to the Radical Right: Wake the F***ing F*** up

During this week’s election, the electorate’s centrist majority whupped a lot of ass upon the Radical Right. Mr. Blunt and Cranky was quite pleased to see how many of these teabagging nimrods received their walking papers: he was not pleased (though also not surprised) that the “Republican” leadership is determined to live in denial. Thus, the ever-so-gentle title of today’s post.

Listening to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell’s comments (let’s not even think of the rantings of others like lil’ Donnie Trump) over the past day or so, it is plain that they still think that the Radical Right has the blessing of the majority of Americans: never mind that many of the Tea Party’s poster children went down like the Hindenburg yesterday. Never mind that the billions of dollars’ worth of dark money they spent to buy elections made not bit of difference. Never mind that their frantic efforts to suppress the vote had all the effect of a snail’s fart in a tornado.

No, regardless of the facts on the ground and what they signify, there are entirely too many of these zeebs who still think that today is the first Wednesday of November 2010. News flash: it is 2012, and the Right today must acknowledge that fact. But the Radical Right is unwilling to see the will of the people for what it is: a repudiation of partisan zealotry and excess.

The candidates that lost were, in the main, those that were perceived as having ties to the Tea Party, Social Darwinism, the 1%, pick the term you like. For the “Republicans” to deny this is to seal their doom. They need to climb out of their comfy little bubble and look at this basic fact: the more extreme they get, the more often they get kicked in the wedding tackle.

The Dems, on the other hand, have moved to the middle and scored some big wins.  The Teabag-slurping Repubs must wake up, search their souls, learn from the ass-whupping they endured this year and likewise move towards the center; not continue to move farther towards the fringe. If they can do that, they can win elections and gain the power they lust for. If not, well, pleasant dreams to them as they sleep their way past the end of their brief period of relevance.

Mr. B & C

Centrism, Vindicated

As a Radical Centrist, Mr. Blunt and Cranky is over the moon about yesterday’s election results. In quite a few cases, the American people kicked the wingnut loons to the curb while electing more moderate politicos to office.

In the race for President, Mitt’s Tea Party-esque statements hurt him badly. In a fair few Senate races, ditto. In a good number of House races, issues, local and state offices, likewise. The American electorate, in the main, picked center-right, centrist, and center-left candidates and incumbents over fire-breathing zealots.

Of course, not everyone has gotten the message. Boehner and McConnell in particular seem to think that they still have a mandate to rape, pillage and plunder the 99%, for example.

This means that we can’t relax now that we’re done voting. The Centrist Majority needs to stay engaged and in the faces of our “representatives” if we are to see any results from the divided (but more moderate) government we elected.

Mr. B & C