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For any entry-level liberal, say an angsty young 13-14 year old reaching out for the arms of Papa Bono and Mama Greenday to lift them up into the simplistic world of catchy revolutionary slogans, publications like Rolling Stone often provide kindling for the fires of righteous adolescent fury. But once you grow up a little and do your homework, you find out that the Rolling Stone reporters, the Nader freaks, anarchists, and yes, even the opinionated pamphleteers-turned-bloggers(thanks to the advent of technology to quicken the pace of kvetching worldwide), have always been in the losing corner of the losing side, flanking the port on the half of the boat that is first to sink. One such recent article, entitled “The Chicken Doves,” offers some lopsided reporting in the way of first-hand accounts of

anti-establishment fringe elements, paired with a healthy helping of expletives to balance it out, and finally coming to this conclusion: Democrins or Republicrats, the establishment is out to get us. The establishment will always lie to you, and every time Nancy Pelosi blinks (that’s 103 times since you’ve started reading this post), an angel loses its wings. My point? My point is to ask columnist Matt Taibbi, or any cynical nihilistic young gun running his mouth off, what his point is. What is the point of cyclical logic and endless bitching about blockades in progress. That’s democracy, constant back and forth until you arrive at a compromise. The Reid and Pelosi team may have stopped fighting to end the war prematurely, but it does seem logical to focus energies on installing a Democratic president for four years, then ending the war in the next 8 months, and it does not constitute a betrayal of the American people as Mr. Taibbi suggests. Ok, Taibbi isn’t the worst example, as a writer for Rolling Stone, being cynical and foul-mouthed is practically in his job description, but this particular column is a step down from his coverage of the 2004 campaigns.

This is what’s so great about Barack Obama. Though he’s seen much of the world, much of the misfortunes of working class people all over the world, he’s come out relatively free of cynicism. He has the audacity to hope. He’s a mensch in every sensch. But if and when he gets into office, the American people can expect the same kind of political stagnation they can expect from any new leader, and even with a majority in the house and senate, progress will be slow. And it should be, because hasty moves are for dicatorships and autocrats, and that kind of governance-by-mandate has an efficiency that is always short lived. What we can hope for in the leaders of tomorrow is competence. Not inspiration, not a new dawn, but competence and an understanding of the issues that stems from the New School of Politics. The idealism of Free Love and social revolution turned out to be a failure, but our generation, with its overexposure to information and media and suffering in the world is as prepared as any to deal with the oncoming crisis of terrorism and an economy so interconnected that on ripple can send global shockwaves in days. Just because we didn’t live through the poverty of the Great Depression or the fear of Nuclear Holocaust doesn’t mean we’re uneducated and unprepared for dealing with the issues of the rise and fall of the market, and nuclear nonproliferation. We’ve had experiences of our own. We know fear, we saw the towers fall. We know failure, we invaded Iraq on false pretenses, alienating our friends and allies of the world. And we know that far flung idealism and a huge government organ that mandates what it thinks is best for the people will never get far. We’re pragmatists. We’re the New School of Politics. So shutup, dig in your heels, stop dreaming, and start working.

I recommend reading all of Matt Taibbi’s article here.

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