I don’t think the people saying that Revolution is impossible and winning a war is impossible, is thinking about winning a war via Life and Death.

So while it may accelerate in degree, that’s not what people are doing. The Left will accelerate it. Everyone else will just debate until their head comes off, cause they aren’t ready. They won’t be ready until certain things trigger.

So the people who are right now, here or there, talking about politics and reform as a way to stave off a war they think they won’t win… they’re going to somehow accelerate to the DEGREE of using lethal force later on when their back is against the wall and their assets have been destroyed?

That’s more like desperation than strategic gamery.

The competitive activist and war mentalities differ in degree, not kind, per setting.

It’s the same as being in a cult. People don’t notice this either because they’ve never been in a cult or never looked at the consequences to people being in a cult like Jim JOnes’.

Yes, it is. In 2004, a cousin and his family were in my city on a business trip. We had dinner together. His wife, whom I have met maybe three times, sent me a Christmas card. There was nothing written about enjoying the dinner or about what they had been doing since the dinner. Instead, there was a political note: “I am so sad that Kerry lost.” Her assumption was that of course, like nearly everyone else she knew, I was a diehard Democrat.

As I had last voted for a Demo Presidential candidate in 1976, gradually shifting from Independent to Pub, I found her assumptions about me to be rather amusing. I later sent my cousin and his wife a short letter outlining my political changes. Never got a reply.

Thank you for the accolades everyone. But I should give credit where credit is due. While much of what I posted had been floating around in my disjointed mind for years (even before my own shift in socio-political outlook), it was really reading Neo’s early blog posts that clarified and crystallized much if it for me.

In regard to the “demographic” I described, I do want to add two elaborations:

First, the insularity. It really is amazing. I understood this a little even when on the left. In a social setting, among a relatively homogenized group, when conversation turned to politics, the tacit assumption everyone largely agreed was palpable. When a lone wolf expressed a conservative viewpoint, rarely did it ignite spirited, yet civil, debate. Occasionally it elicited outraged indignation and mockery, but only occasionally. Most often, silence. Confused, awkward silence. A restrained respect for alternative opinions? Ha! Usually, a genuine astonishment that anyone in “their” social circle could hold such a viewpoint.

Second, the racial factor. I am uncomfortable discussing it, as a white male, but it cannot be ignored. Simply put, if Obama were white, everything else about him unchanged, I am sure this demographic would defer to him far less. The best comparison I can think of is Howard Dean in 2004. Dean was likewise beloved by this demographic. He seemed “one of them” on many levels. Had Dean become President, he would have received more deference than Clinton, or Gore, or Kerry. But, not nearly as much as Obama. Simply put, this demographic is so inculcated with “white* guilt”. They seem to honestly believe, consciously or subconsciously, that African Americans are entitled to almost categorical deference in their behavior.** As such, most passionately support affirmative action, uncritically support the “correct” view in the Zimmerman and Brown/Wilson controversies and refuse, stringently, to acknowledge even minute criticism of Obama The possibility that in so doing they are, even unintentionally, condescending to blacks, implying that the latter needs special consideration, is often utterly lost on them
*As I mentioned, my experience is this demographic is overwhelmingly white, non-Hispanic. But the minorities among them are almost entirely Asian, East Indian and a few Latinos. The African American segment is minuscule.
**This reality was best exemplified years ago, when I was still very much on the left. On the day of the OJ verdict, a professor of mine (who was white) announced, with only the thinnest of veneer, that it really didn’t matter what OJ actually did. He should have been declared innocent to, in some way, atone for the sins of the race of his victims against his race. If I were to pinpoint an event which first lit the spark of doubt in progressivism in my own mind, that would be it.

In regard to the “demographic” I described, I do want to add two elaborations:

First, the insularity. It really is amazing. I understood this a little even when on the left. In a social setting, among a relatively homogenized group, when conversation turned to politics, the tacit assumption everyone largely agreed was palpable. When a lone wolf expressed a conservative viewpoint, rarely did it ignite spirited, yet civil, debate. Occasionally it elicited outraged indignation and mockery, but only occasionally. Most often, silence. Confused, awkward silence. A restrained respect for alternative opinions? Ha! Usually, a genuine astonishment that anyone in “their” social circle could hold such a viewpoint.

Second, the racial factor. I am uncomfortable discussing it, as a white male, but it cannot be ignored. Simply put, if Obama were white, everything else about him unchanged, I am sure this demographic would defer to him far less. The best comparison I can think of is Howard Dean in 2004. Dean was likewise beloved by this demographic. He seemed “one of them” on many levels. Had Dean become President, he would have received more deference than Clinton, or Gore, or Kerry. But, not nearly as much as Obama. Simply put, this demographic is so inculcated with “white* guilt”. They seem to honestly believe, consciously or subconsciously, that African Americans are entitled to almost categorical deference in their behavior.** As such, most passionately support affirmative action, uncritically support the “correct” view in the Zimmerman and Brown/Wilson controversies and refuse, stringently, to acknowledge even minute criticism of Obama The possibility that in so doing they are, even unintentionally, condescending to blacks, implying that the latter needs special consideration, is often utterly lost on them

*As I mentioned, my experience is this demographic is overwhelmingly white, non-Hispanic. But the minorities among them are almost entirely Asian, East Indian and a few Latinos. The African American segment is minuscule.
**This reality was best exemplified years ago, when I was still very much on the left. On the day of the OJ verdict, a professor of mine (who was white) announced, with only the thinnest of veneer, that it really didn’t matter what OJ actually did. He should have been declared innocent to, in some way, atone for the sins of the race of his victims against his race. If I were to pinpoint an event which first lit the spark of doubt in progressivism in my own mind, that would be it. hank you for the accolades everyone. But I should give credit where credit is due. While much of what I posted had been floating around in my disjointed min