Tony Kushner: Elections aren't about Moral Purity. Forget that and lose!

[BurtWorm]

http://www.motherjones.com/arts/qa/2003/11/ma_586_01.html



TK: Anyone that the Democrats run against Bush, even the appalling Joe Lieberman, should be a candidate around whom every progressive person in the United States who cares about the country's future and the future of the world rallies. Money should be thrown at that candidate. And if Ralph Nader runs -- if the Green Party makes the terrible mistake of running a presidential candidate -- don't give him your vote. Listen, here's the thing about politics: It's not an expression of your moral purity and your ethics and your probity and your fond dreams of some utopian future. Progressive people constantly fail to get this.

The GOP has developed a genius for falling into lockstep. They didn't have it with Nixon, but they have it now. They line up behind their candidate, grit their teeth, and help him win, no matter who he is.

MJ: You're saying progressives are undone by their own idealism?

TK: The system isn't about ideals. The country doesn't elect great leaders. It elects fucked-up people who for reasons of ego want to run the world. Then the citizenry makes them become great.

[baggypants]

1. I can't believe you consider

Jimmy Carter as one of those "f....ked up people" who want to run the world due to his ego.

[redqueen]

2. Hi baggypants

Welcome to DU!
:hi:

And btw, I agree... the author of that editorial was a bit cynical, to say the least.

[BurtWorm]

3. Remember, it's Tony Kushner talking.

But why is that so hard to believe, anyway? The point is that we don't elect saints. We elect human beings who have to work in the real world. Even Jimmy Carter fit that mold, and believe me, he was no saint when it came to foreign policy. We have him and Zbig Brzezinski to thank for the Afghanistan mess, which was a direct predecessor of the Taliban/al Qaeda mess. I point this out to demonstrate that even Carter got the blood on his hands that comes from being President of the US. It's in the nature of the job.

[newyawker99]

4. Hi baggypants!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: