Sadly, some shallow roots methinks

I’d like to think of myself as a “progressive,” probably because I really don’t want to think of myself as a “regressive.” It’s an ego thing, I guess.

But somehow, right now, with all that is going on, these folks  should seriously consider a “time out” for some rebranding, because I’m thinking that maybe they need to go with “Obsessives” or maybe “Obtusives.”

I say this because of her:

At the largest progressive gathering ahead of the 2010 elections, liberal activists huddled Friday in a session to plot strategy to protect Social Security from renewed Republican efforts to privatize the program. A woman stood up and asked: “Why is it with a Democratic Senate, a Democratic House, and a Democrat in the White House do we need to be worried about this?”

Hint to lady: Uh, maybe because in less than 8 months, you’re probably gonna find out — to skewer Mr. Meat Loaf — that One Out of Three is Bad.

And why is this? Apparently, the “netroots” are all enraged because the President and the Democratic Congress did not ram through gay rights laws, cap-and-trade emission regulations, more massive stimulus aid, some undefined dewy notion of “universal healthcare”  — and on and on. One “leader” said this:

“There’s a lot of Democrats I’ll be happy to see go,” Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos blog said in an interview. “I’ll celebrate when Blanche Lincoln is out of the Senate. There is a price to be paid for inaction and incompetence. We’re not getting much done with 59 [Democratic senators], so if we’re down to 54, who cares?”

I do. I think tens of millions do. People who can define “progressive” as something that makes progress toward worthy things by placing one good brick upon another until a stout, even course is done. 

Not some wild-eyed barky so wrapped up in his own rightness that he would banish from the discussion anyone with a view even a shade away from his own angel-touched pearls.

You know folks, most of us “Obsessives” are trying to pay the bills out here, trying to make sure our kids grasp what they’re calling “math” these days and when we have a moment, do what we can for folks who got tossed to the curb when the economy and most of our future plans got hit with the Blue Screen of Death and we had to go to 1995’s System Restore Point.

And we all also are gasping for breath whenever we see THAT NUMBER — $1.7 Trillion, which is the current U.S. government operating deficit.

We are grappling with choices; in our own households and in the Common Household. That’s Job 1, even for those who would LIKE to avert global warming right now, make sure everyone who needs medical care can get it right now or snap our fingers and “deem” into reality “liberty and justice for all.”

I like to bay at the Moon as much as anyone in Etherland. And maybe I share a dream or two with you. But sorry sports fans, I don’t want you in charge at the moment. Nope.

Because you just aren’t paying attention to anything much beyond the sound of your own voices.