I’m glad Hillary declared herself a proud modern progressive in last night’s debate, because it brings people like me one step closer to being able to call myself what I really am: a liberal.  Libertarian is, and always has been, a word that should never have existed. Nor do I like calling myself a classical liberal, because no one understands what the hell that means either.
But I digress. I’m always amazed at the level of vitriol on a lot of progressive blogs. Sure, there are plenty of reasonable progressives out there, and some of them are blogging. Certainly there are plenty of loony right wing bloggers that go largely unread, I’m amazed that so many people read this garbage:
The NRA and its friends in the “militia movement†are into the same stock-in-trade: Fear. Their target audience: Those people, generally disenfranchised white males with at most a high-school education and middling to piddling income, who suspect they’re being screwed but either have no clue who’s screwing them — or who know but don’t have the guts to fight the real enemy. The NRA and its allies push fear in general, and fear of non-whites in particular, to these white males, telling them that blacks/liberals/Jews/women/unions/etc. (but never ever ever corrupt corporations or businesses) are the cause of the white guys’ problem (and that the problem is crime, not the hyper-rich bleeding everyone below them) — then promptly sell themselves as the solution.
Wow. I read stuff like this and think maybe someone needs to up their medication, or the voltage. First off, most milita types hate the NRA, and the NRA doesn’t pay any attention to them. The rest of that is just lunacy.  Seriously.  I have a college degree, and probably make enough money that most progressives would think I should pay more in taxes. Some of us have graduate degrees. Many of us are attorneys. My friend Jason, graduate degree in bioengineering, Jewish, and an NRA member, would be quite surprised to find out the NRA is hostile towards Jews. So would my girlfriend, a woman, college educated, and NRA member. I’ve met more than my fair share of African-American NRA members. Union members? NRA’s bread and butter around these parts, which is why this state elects a lot of pro-gun Democrats.
I don’t know if Phoenix Woman is aware of this or not, but what she wrote here is, correct me if you think I’m mistaken here, totally and completely batshit crazy. And this is one of the top blogs in the blogosphere! What’s wrong with you people, seriously? Shouldn’t you guys be paragons of tolerance? Or is that only for activity that you approve of?