On Blog Catalog All (Political) Roads Lead To Canada

The post below originally appeared on The Thin Red Line on October 9, 2007.


As I have mentioned in passing, I have been using Blog Catalog more and more, and primarily to meet and socialize with the kinds of thoughtful, logical people who can make an online argument fun, for those of us who like that sort of thing. I lead two discussion groups over there, Skilled Political Debate (moderated) and Ron Paul For President.

Don't faint, Mom. I am not supporting or working for Ron Paul, and largely function as a devil's advocate to respectfully question supporters claims and lead discussion threads so that they become conversations worth remembering. I am, however, working for blog catalog as an intern. I think the site owner and I agreed on the job title Ambassador, but he is a brilliant mile a minute kind of guy who occasionally pops in to lavish praise or ask a few questions or share news but mostly says, I trust you, do what you think best.

So it was that Friday afternoon found me struggling to lead a discussion of Hillary's Presidential campaign. It was a slow day on the boards and we only had a handful of our most skilled debaters on hand and I painstakingly led the discussion to the point of getting someone to state what to me is SO obvious. That the only way the Democrats could possibly lose in 2008 is to nominate Hillary Clinton. Hillary is an INCREDIBLY polarizing figure. (shouting intentional). As many of us on the left dislike her as our counterparts on the right. Nominating Hillary would guarantee a replay of every bullshit trumped up scandal of the Bill Clinton administration, would guarantee we would see lots of us real Liberals who are sick to death of the same old do Nothing Democrats defect to third parties, or even God help us, Ron Paul who despite having a few policy positions that are enormously appealing to me-- ending the War On Iraq and ending the War On Drugs, is basically running on a platform of dismantling the social safety net that Democratic Party spent its entire history building up and is thus Not gonna get my support in November.

And having so laboriously gotten to having this point made, I waited in vane for anyone to pick up and run with it. And I thought to myself if we can't get Democrats to realize what a disaster Hillary is going to be, maybe I should just bag it and move to Canada where they've already won all the things we Liberals have to fight for here. This discussion was not one of our better ones,
like the one on Health Care Reform

So it was timely that I happened on Friday to scan a copy of WAIT! Don't Move To Canada! a strategy guide for despairing liberals to buck up, reclaim the word and the principles and reform the country by speaking out, blogging, writing letters and not giving up. And I shrugged and said to myself 'but I already do all of those things'. This one comes mildly recommended if you feel you need a book to tell you to write letters to the editor, get involved in the blogosphere, and speak your mind. Which may be the weakest recommendation I've ever given a book.

A final note, all across the Blogosphere on October 15th, that's one week from today, bloggers will unite to speak out on enviornmental issues. If you blog, please consider planning an environmental topic or theme for next Monday. More info here.