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In reply to the discussion: This is what hurts my brain a little bit. [View all]Generic Other
(28,979 posts)I keep seeing old DUers checking in to yell. Pre-Obama that's all we ever did. Yell. And we didn't take kindly to centrist apologists excusing this patriot act crap that allowed them and anyone else to abuse our right to privacy. Most of those who felt that way then feel that way now. They just aren't being heard.
No, that's wrong. I have heard a lot of DUers screaming about it actually. But it is hard to scream when people keep shushing us. Through Obama's whole term, we have been being cautioned not to second guess, question, criticize, disagree with or challenge Obama. To give him a chance. If there are things we wish he'd done differently, our opinions have been dismissed. We've had arguments with people whose politics we basically agree with. A lot of us don't post as much as we used to. There's nothing safe to talk about. We come across as disloyal, angry, on the attack whenever we open our mouths. And the other side comes across as ideologues who seem to want only to purge and punish others for unorthodox thinking.
Don't you think there has been a lull in vigorous debate because of this self-imposed vow of silence? Some might say it has not seemed silent that there has been constant bickering and maybe this is so. It certainly has distracted people from the actual issues. Divided us too. DU divided the day Bush walked out the door and Obama walked in. We've kind of been fighting ever since. But make no mistake, we are not all agreed that the ship of state is sailing in the right direction. Not at all.
Many of us believe we have a serious leadership problem. Our politicians are all largely controlled by powerful outside interests. And our government is run by a shadow government of agencies whose actions are mostly covert.
So what do we do about it?