Positives and Negatives

One of the rules of SPD (number one) is, "This is a discussion blog, not a place to bash. Keep it about ideas, not ripping the politicos you hate." I instituted that rule mainly because of the Bush-hating crowd, although it could also be applied the the Clinton haters as well. And I include myself in this rule. I found this in a journal I was keeping back in 2000, and it highlights my point:

In under 24 hours, we will have a president again. Meanwhile the rapist (President Clinton) steals the spotlight by copping a plea to not get indicted. Yay.

I read that for the first time in a long time late last year. And my thought on that is: I sound like someone with what was called Clinton Fatigue. I also sound angry and pissed off. Thankfully, I wasn't blogging that shit, as blogging hadn't really begun yet.

In hindsight, I realize that those kinds of angry attitudes serve no purpose. While I still do enjoy bashing people like Ralph Nader, who will officially be my running joke to replace Ron Paul, engaging in parody and satire to make a point, like in my "Super Happy McCain Slogan and Bumper Sticker Post", and occasionally hitting people who deserve it with unvarnished and fiery truth, the angry name calling and hatred that I see on both extremes makes cogent discussion impossible, as in the following example:

I agree, Ann Coulter is an ugly cunt who should be thrown under a truck or perhaps raped by Bush's chainsaw and Limbaugh is a hypocritical drug addict and Oreilly is a sexual deviant along with Ted Haggard, Mark Foley, Dan Burton, Vitter, Craig etc. And it’s always the ones who bark loudest about the sins of others who end up with cats up their asses in rest area toilet stall. That is what pisses liberals off. You say gays destroy marriage we say boning dudes in airport shitter destroys marriage, Bible belt divorce rate destroys marriage etc.

How do you have a discussion with mindlessly angry shit like that? I partially answered it a couple of days ago, and got, in part, the mental vomit you see above. But this is the difference between people who solve problems and make the world a better place, and those who blame others and seek to punish and drag down those who are making a difference.

Barack Obama has succeeded in large part because Obamamania is rooted in a positive-sounding message of hope. Our greatest leaders have dared us to believe that things will get better, not worse. They have pointed us in a direction, challenged us to go, and we have done it. And when they speak of our future, they tell us it is up to us to succeed, not to rely on the government for success. And in trying to elevate the Great Debate back to a discussion of ideas rather than a gathering of fools throwing invectives at twenty paces, I hope that I can help begin to turn the tide from negative attitudes toward positive ideas.