Stewart longs to revive the traditional liberalism many of us remember from our childhood, a time when the civics teacher could talk about the Constitution and the virtues of a system that put the law before man... without being sued by a birther, or picketed and verbally assaulted by a gun-toting end-timer; a time when the majority of a state school board didn’t assert that Karl Rove was a more important historical figure than Frederick Douglass; a time when kids whose dads were pipefitters, plumbers and bank clerks considered themselves middle class, etc., etc. Of course, traditional liberalism was based on some false assumptions and a healthy dose of denial, but there was a humaneness and tolerance at its heart. Then along came Vietnam, the assassinations, and the wispy lattice of good feeling started to fray...
More below.
There’s an endearing naivete’ at work here. I’m not being sarcastic. I love these guys and, in spite of myself, share their longing for a time gone by, because the liberal version of America (however illusory) is so much better than the alternative. In a way, liberals want their country back, too. But:
Today’s crisis doesn’t arise from the woman with the Obama bumper sticker disagreeing with the guy wearing an NRA baseball cap. It’s not about right or left. It’s not even about politics anymore. It’s about who owns this country. To what lengths will they go to maintain their wealth and power? The malefactors of great wealth own our media, our financial system and to an increasing degree our government and political process. They can create movements like teabaggism out of thin air, and do so because keeping people afraid, angry and confused works to their benefit. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always a new war. We’re never going to make progress until we recognize the reality of the situation. We almost certainly will not get out from under this behemoth in my life time, but we can perhaps find a way to force it to give us some breathing space a la Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt. Sadly, group hugs and endless incremental pining for the fjords is not going to accomplish that.
Also:
While I appreciate the appeal of foolish consistencies, there really is no equivalence between scumbags like Limbaugh and Beck, and the occasionally over the top Olbermann and Schultz. Sorry. There just isn’t. And who are the "Marxists working to undermine our Constitution" Jon mentions in the same breath with Palin and her gang? Other than the occasional slam poet at an ANSWER rally, I haven’t encountered such a creature in many a moon, while the baggers and their infotainment front men are a constant presence.
Again, I love these guys. Their hearts are in the right place, and that’s rare these days on the national scene. John Oliver appearing as Peter Pan was perhaps more telling than it was intended to be. Just wishing will not make it so...
That being said, if you haven't already, VOTE!