Fight Fight Fight

Very seldom do issues get resolved so that fairness rules the day. More often, the powerful throw a concession or two and call upon the rest of them for worship them for their magnamity.

Americans are unhappy, I believe, because we don't express our emotions well. We fear anger. We believe that there can only be one of two outcomes to a verbal duel: either you get all the chips or s/he gets all the chips. Violence and emotional banditry characterize our fights. We dread them because there is too strong a chance that we will lose. And losing means everything.

The partisanship among Democrats who base their votes on who they think can beat Bush is but another symptom of this malaise. They who ride the winds of opinion polls when choosing a candidate fear losing too much. So they end up selecting candidates who champion the status quo. In our lust for a win over the Republicans, we lose our principles and, even worse, our goals.

Much was made of Howard Dean being "too angry" for the presidency. I have found that those who claim to like anger the least often do the most to provoke it and to hide their own insecurities behind accusations of "boat rocking". I think we can stand more anger, more outing of the manipulators among us, more frank talk about the state of the economy, the war in Iraq, and the banal, undifferentiated conservatism of the corporate media. We need to be permitted to be angry, to fight for resolutions with others, for new agreements. We need to rethink how we fight and for what ends. If we pay better attention to the means, avoid name-calling, work on the immediate situation, and join in a search for the best cure -- the greatest good for the greatest possible number -- our fights will yield better results. - Pax Nortona