>Ooooo, Dennis, I think you're overstating your case. Or put
>differently,
>I agree - but you've mixed your causal sequence, need to be careful in
>the
>political groupings you're using, distinguish different levels of the
>police state, and don't confuse the short-term with the long term
>trends.
>In some ways, I'm surprised that the Democratic Party has taken so much
>heat recently. When has the Democratic Party been any different than
>they are now?
>
>Dennis Breslin
I don't think I'm overstating at all. There is movement on the right to protect personal liberty -- primarily Fourth Amendment issues, but First (and of course Second) as well. I don't think they come at it from the same angle as you or I would, or do. But there is common ground, and a growing hostility to the all-powerful corporate state. This, as other lefties like Hitchens and Cockburn and M. Moore have stressed, should be recognized and dealt with.
To be honest, however, I can't say that I'm completely comfortable with breaking political bread with some of these people. I am far more tolerant on social and sexual issues than many of them are, and this is indeed a sticking point. I live about 20 miles from the heart of militia country, where people arm their front yards with boobytraps and God knows what else in the event of an ATF assault. But I got into a conversation at a militia-friendly barber shop two days after the election, and some of the locals there were quite impressed with Nader, much to my surprise. Then I went out to the parking lot and saw on a black Ford pick-up a bumpersticker denouncing Clinton as a Communist agent, with the "C" in his name shaped like the hammer and sickle! Crazy.
As for the Dems, I remember a time when Jimmy Carter spoke about decriminalizing weed, as did a number of Dems in Congress. Then came Reagan and "Just Say No," and the Dems soon followed suit. Don't know of any Dems now who would make such a statement; but as I said, there are Repubs who have.
DP