On Left-Wing Purism

"Purists" are usually defined by the phrase "letting the perfect be the enemy of the good."

The classic electoral example is the 2000 election, when liberals dissatisfied with Al Gore's DLC centrism (which today is far, far to the left) voted for Ralph Nader. Gore did win the election - both the popular and electoral vote - but Nader votes in Florida narrowed his victory to the point that the Supreme Court could steal it for Bush.

This is left-wing purism: Down With Tyranny writing:

(It's easy for me to say, living in California, but there is nothing that would ever make me vote for Obama again, not a Palin, a Bachmann, a Newt... not even Huckabee or Pence.)

Anything short of that - up to and including "Barack Obama is murdering the New Deal and condemning 99 percent of Americans to serfdom" - is patriotic defense of liberalism and American Values.

As for me, nothing could make me NOT vote for Obama again, if only because his being president drives the repugs completely insane.

But I don't have to - and won't - be a cheerleader.

Between the tax cut deal in December and the kill-the-middle-class budget deal on Friday, Obama has pushed the Overton window so far to the right that now we have purists defined as those who refuse to accept the absolutely, horrifically catastrophic in place of the barely acceptable.

A recessionary budget that contains nothing but economy-destroying program cuts and criminal tax cuts, that completely ignores the desperate need for massive spending to rescue the economy, that pretends the extinction of 10 million jobs never happened is not "good." It's not "OK." It's not even "the bare minimum."

It's a fucking class war crime. It's economic genocide on every person in this country who is not a millionaire.

How bad is the compromise budget for the rest of 2011? Down with Tyranny on just what Obama gave away.