As Antiwar.com struggles with another fund-raising campaign – which seems to be failing even as I write – I was struck, Tuesday morning, by cartoonist Ted Rall’s piece detailing the slide in his career:
“In the late 1990s my cartoons ran in Time, Fortune and Bloomberg Personal magazines and over 100 daily and alternative weekly newspapers. I was a staff writer for two major magazines.
“Then Bush came in. And 9/11 happened. The media gorged on an orgy of psychotic right-wing rhetoric. Flags everywhere. Torture suddenly OK….
“McCarthyism–blackballing–
Early in the “war on terror,” Rall was the target of a smear campaign in the blogosphere carried out by idiotic partisan hacks like Glenn Reynolds and Charles Johnson (of the anti-Muslim hate-site “Little Green Footballs”), who attacked his opposition to the Iraq war and the Bush regime’s assault on civil liberties as “pro-terrorist.” And, as we can see, they were successful in turning Rall into a “radioactive” cartoonist without much of an audience or an income.
This is how the Smear Brigade works: they run in packs, and turn their fire on the intended target in unison. Their weapon of choice: the argument ad hominem. Rall is an “extremist,” a “Bush-hater,” a “left-wing terrorist-loving radical” whose opinions must be summarily dismissed because of who and what he supposedly is. It’s a logical fallacy, but an effective “talking point.”
Surely, then, with the election of President Barack Obama, the “progressive” beacon of Hope & Change, Rall’s long dark nightmare was over – right?
Wrong.
“It was tempting,” writes Rall, “when Obama’s Democrats swept into office in 2008, to think that the bad old days were coming to an end. I wasn’t looking for any favors, just a swing of the political pendulum back to the Clinton years when it was still OK to be a liberal…. I didn’t count on the cult of personality around Barack Obama.”
Rall goes on to detail rejections from the Nation, Mother Jones, and other “progressive” outlets. The reason?
“Now there’ s a new cause for refusal: Too tough on the president. I’ve heard that from enough ‘liberal’ websites and print publications to consider it a significant trend. A sample of recent rejections, each from editors at different left-of-center media outlets:
“’I am familiar with and enjoy your cartoons. However the readers of our site would not be comfortable with your (admittedly on point) criticism of Obama.’
“’Don’t be such a hater on O and we could use your stuff. Can’t you focus more on the GOP?’
“’Our first African-American president deserves a chance to clean up Bush’s mess without being attacked by us.’
“I have many more like that."
“Can’t you focus more on the GOP?”
Translation: Why can’t you follow the party line, comrade?
At least the attack dogs of the Glenn Reynolds -“warbloggers” crowd were upfront about their motives and methods: they disagreed with Rall, and sought to isolate and punish him for his views. These “progressive” editors and publishers, however, assure Rall he is “on point” in his critique of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, but complain that their readers’ delicate sensibilities might be offended. One even plays the race card – now isn’t that a cheap shot!
At least during the Bush administration we had a “mainstream” media that was partially awake, if only in order to ambush a Republican White House – not that their bias allowed them to see through the “weapons of mass destruction” con game, or challenge the “evidence” that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They came in late in the game, when sites such as Antiwar.com, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, and former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter had already exposed the hoax at the center of the War Party’s propaganda, but in the end they came around.
Today, however, as Rall’s example dramatizes, things are worse: much worse. The intellectual and political atmosphere of lockstep conformity – especially, I would argue, in the realm of foreign policy – is just as strictly enforced as ever, as Rall has found out.
As for us here at Antiwar.com: our nominal allies, the “progressive” antiwar movement of yesteryear, have deserted us in droves. As long as it’s not a Republican President slaughtering innocent civilians, as long as it’s “our first African-American president” invading the Muslim world, as long as their team is in power – well, then, it’s okay, everything’s hunky-dory, and please don’t rock the boat.
I imagine my politics are quite different from Rall’s, but we both face the same conundrum: how to speak truth to power when the powerful control the media, the money, and the “mainstream.”
Oh, so you want us to get out of Afghanistan – well, that’s just not “mainstream,” don’tcha know?!
You say you’re sick of endless war, and America’s emerging police state? What are you – some kind of rabid “extremist”?
The smear campaign against me I don’t mind so much: it’s too absurd to be taken seriously, and, besides that, I never sought to become a “mainstream” media “star.” I have to say, however, when I was purged as a blogger from the Huffington Post, the reasons given to me by cult–follower Arianna Huffington were quite explicit: I’m too hard on Israel. A letter-writing campaign to get me off the site was apparently quite successful.
I can live without being one of Arianna’s unpaid blog-slaves: the point is that, in Arianna’s world, the arbiters of political correctness and good taste have divined that I’m a purveyor of “conspiracy theories,” to use her phrase. That’s code for any opinion that holds our elites responsible for the present state of the world. If Arianna wanted to stay a member in good standing of that elite – she once boasted about having the President’s personal phone number ensconced in her legendary Blackberry – I had to go, and go I did.
Antiwar.com has never gotten a blessed dime from any big foundation, left or right. A recent attempt by someone affiliated with a major libertarian foundation that sponsors interns to work with us was vetoed by “headquarters” – no names here, but you get the idea. One would think that a web site of this type, with an entire stable of articulate and readily available writers, would garner lots of face time in the cable news universe, where foreign policy matters are now all the rage: and you would be wrong. There’s only one side of the “debate” that’s allowed to appear in television, for the most part, and that’s the War Party’s side.
Aside from the media blackout, however, there’s another side to the dominance of the Obama cult in “progressive” circles that is having a significant effect on Antiwar.com’s fortunes: fund-raising. Our current fund-raising campaign is, so far, an absolute disaster. On the morning of the second day of the campaign, we had less than $3000 raised. If this goes on, we will be forced to close down in the very near future – it’s as simple as that.
The intellectual atmosphere of this country, especially when it comes to the question of war and peace, is absurdly narrow: we are faced with a “choice” between partisan brands of interventionism, between the unilateral belligerency of the neoconservative right and the self-righteous “multi-lateral” interventionism of the Obama crowd. The two factions, however, are variations on a single theme of American (or Western) global hegemony, a “world order” ruled from Washington, London, and Paris. A multinational “elite” which owes loyalty to nothing but its own power and privileged existence has detached itself from the common herd: while the rest of us struggle to survive at the bottom. The aristocrats of the global order, who live in state-supported– and-subsidized luxury, are concentrated in the Imperial City of Washington, D.C., where they hand the media their “talking points.” These pundits and “journalists” are little more than servitors of the royal court.
Indeed, the media is part and parcel of this elite class. Here’s Andrew Sullivan, the noted blogger and former “warblogger,” now a big Obama fan, writing about the elite’s knee-jerk defense of accused rapist and IMF chief honcho Dominique Strauss-Kahn:
“Elites find it hard to believe the worst of our own – just as families do members of their kin.”
I read this, and thought: “Our own?” Is this alleged journalist, supposedly committed to “no party or clique,” really coming out as a full-fledged, self-conscious member of The Elite? Well, as it turns out, yes:
“I think of my own initial refusal to believe that someone I knew and liked and whose hospitality I had enjoyed – Don Rumsfeld – could have approved freezing human beings to near-death or drowning them to near-death repeatedly or slamming them against walls or contorting their bodies into soul-breaking stress positions, honed by the Gestapo. But the evidence is clear: he approved these things. Even now, one wants to believe he didn’t really understand what he was doing. But friendship – and an elite’s sense of its own decency – distorts the judgment.”
So while Sullivan was approvingly writing about the policies Rumsfeld and his gang of gung-ho neocons were carrying out in the name of the “war on terrorism,” the pundit who supposedly models himself after George freakin’ Orwell was cavorting with Rummy, and considered him – still considers him – a “friend”! So what’s a little war waged under false pretenses among friends? C’mon, give Rummy a break – after all, he’s one of us. One of the Washington Elite. Sullivan only turned against his former “friends” when their views became too unpopular, and another Leader took the old Leader’s place.
The media-government industrial complex – hey, I’ve coined a new catchphrase! – is a force to be reckoned with in today’s America, and make no mistake: it sets the agenda, it defines the issues, it smites its enemies and rewards its sycophants. During the Kosovo war, Christiane Amanpour – an alleged “journalist” – was “covering” the war her husband (James Rubin, then the State Department’s spokesman) and his bosses were prosecuting. These days, reporters swoon over Obama, party with administration bigwigs, and then go out and “report” on the president’s policies. With perfect “objectivity,” to be sure….
Without independent journalism – that is, journalism free of cant, of “elite” connections, of corporate control – there can be no democracy, no liberty, and certainly no peace. We won’t have a change in our crazed foreign policy until and unless we have a news media worthy of the name.
The lack of such a media is the reason for Antiwar.com’s existence. During the Kosovo war, we found that the facts just weren’t being reported – and so we undertook to do the job ourselves. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, we saw how the media simply repeated the government’s official line and reduced itself to acting as a mere stenographer of Power – and so we filled the gap and did the job of ferreting out and reporting the facts ourselves.
For fifteen years, our readers have supported us in our efforts to present the truth about Washington’s foreign policy of global intervention to the American people. We don’t depend on eccentric billionaires or big foundation grants to pay our bills, we don’t spend millions (like the big pro-war think-tanks do) pushing our agenda, we don’t have Friends in High Places pulling strings and writing checks – we just have you, our readers and supporters, normal average everyday people who care about the issues and want to get the truth out there.
Have you deserted us?
I’m not actually supposed
to be sitting here at this computer, typing madly away: my doctors have
told me to take a rest, or else face unspecified-albeit-probably-
Antiwar.com is quite an achievement, and it isn’t mine: it belongs to our very hardworking staff, our perpetually besieged Webmaster, and to you. Yes, you – because, if you’ve ever given us a dime while trying to pay your own bills with some difficulty, you’ve earned the title of “owner” alongside the thousands of others who have donated their money and their efforts to promote this web site.
This is your web site – are you going to let it go down?
The blacklisting and smear campaign Ted Rall writes about is all too real, and it is very effective. The War Party has a lot to lose if their plans for perpetual conflict are somehow overturned, and they aren’t about to let a bunch of “amateurs” and Little People like us stand in their way. They, after all, are The Elite. Just ask Andrew Sullivan.
We all remember what happened to Marie Antoinette, and the same fate hopefully awaits our own would-be royalty and self-proclaimed aristocrats. In the meantime, however, they are not only on top, but it looks like they’ll stay on top unless us plebeians begin to fight back. Yet we can’t fight unless we have a platform, a means to spread our message of liberty and peace – and that has been our task at Antiwar.com, a task we have carried out faithfully and – I would say – quite successfully. We reach hundreds of thousands of people all over the world with our message that there is another way to conduct American foreign policy, one that doesn’t transform the greatest liberal democracy on earth into the world’s greatest threat to peace.
We’ve done our part – and we’ve been doing it for many years. Now it’s your turn. We need your tax-deductible contribution, and we need it now.
Don’t let the self-described “elite” monopolize the media: let the voice of peace be heard. Contribute today.
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
Oh yeah, before I forget….
I was riffling through my archives the other day, and came upon a series of 1999 pieces on the mysterious crash of EgyptAir flight 990, which I had completely forgotten about. In three columns, I wondered aloud if the alleged “suicide” of the Egyptian pilot was an act of terrorism, in spite of the US government’s denials, and I raised a number of questions about the strange gaps and anomalies in the official story. Here is an excerpt from one of them:
“These questions will lead to others, which will lead directly to – Antiwar.com. Not that we have all the answers. What we do have, however, is a good deal of the information that can lead you to your own answers. Whatever the ultimate answer to the growing problem of terrorism, it must be preceded by the following realization: the American people cannot and will not live in terror just so our rulers can flaunt their arrogance on a global scale. If the downing of EgyptAir flight 990 is an act of terrorism, there ought to be hell to pay – not in Afghanistan, but right here in the good old USA. For as the war in Kosovo and the martyrdom of Iraq have made all too clear, the world capital of terrorism is not the mountain fastness of Osama bin Laden, but the imperial city of Washington D.C.”
At the time, the feds were saying they didn’t have the resources to translate the pilot’s final radio transmissions, to which I responded:
“The idea that the federal government lacks translators to review the voice recording is laughable – for those whose sense of humor is definitely on the mordant side. You can be sure that the feds know what is on that recording, and are even now deciding how and when to tell the rest of us. More ominously, they are deciding what action to take in response to what is clearly a terrorist attack. Don’t be surprised to see a sudden US military strike against the forces of Osama bin Laden – or individuals and groups described as such – and possibly a full-scale assault on Afghanistan. Stayed logged on to Antiwar.com for fast-breaking developments. And fasten your seatbelts – we’re in for a bumpy ride.”
As indeed it was, and still is.
The above was written two years before 9/11, and there’s more where that came from. Back then, Antiwar.com was pointing to the threat of terrorism as “blowback” from US foreign policy when practically no one else was. The Arianna Huffingtons of this world may disdain realist analyses of State actions as “conspiracy theories,” the brunt of jokes around the bar at Davos, but then again these are the same people who were caught flat-footed on 9/11.
Go read those old columns of mine – and tell me you haven’t been getting the very best analysis, the kind that opens a window on the all-too-probable future, right here at Antiwar.com. And send us that donation today.
I for one always give for Antiwar.com's donation drives. In the past, I'd give on the first day or two. But a pattern emerged: several days in, some generous donors would match donations above a certain threshold. But it was never clear: were the donations submitted before the "matching" announcement also subject to matching? If so, then I'll give right now. If not, you'll understand why I'll wait a week or so.
Thank you so much for your support. We may not be able to get the matching funds this time, I'm not sure yet, so sooner is better. But in any case, your support is MUCH appreciated.
That's why I was holding off as well. Donor greed? Also, if I wait until the 20th, I don't have to pooch out for the credit card for a month. Cheap? I prefer "thrifty" – Worst Excuse Ever.
What "we" are up against just might be a PTBSD America. Post Traumatic Bulls*#t Disorder. America has been beaten about the face and neck with bulls*#t political hyperbole for one grindingly long time. Humantarian war Balkans, USS Cole, 9/11/01, Afghaniscam, Iraq, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bushco, Obama, more "special Obama humanitarian intervention", and infojournalism that reeks of suck-ass. Please to forgive the vulgar.
Hey emsnews, are you listening? And an antiwar movement that is NONEXISTENT! By the by, Antiwar.com is NOT about organizing. That's the job of emsnews. Get it now? Criminy, talk about thick as a brick. Sorry, I digress.
I sent mine in today. DID YOU SEND IN YOURS???
I deeply sympathize with your plight. And I mean that seriously.
But "telling truth to power"?
You CAN'T be serious.
There are theological Truths that you do NOT care about–as evidenced by your use of the word "Mohammedanism". And they are at the FOUNDATION of the 'justification' for the wars in the Middle East. Yet, you simply IGNORE those theological errors.
So contact, especially, the CHURCHES for money.
NOTHING you say threatens the RELIGIOUS elite; who, through their SATANIC theologies, have made these religious wars between Muslim and Judaeo-Christian society possible in the first place.
They should be MUCH more 'appreciative' of the 'truth' that you propagate: that there can be Peace without Truth
And GOOD LUCK with that. I mean that seriously.
Great column.
Indeed this is a battle of the smug imperial elite huddled together in DC, on Wall Street and at Harvard's Kennedy School versus the peasants with pitchforks, whether they are Tea Partiers or truck drivers or construction workers or school teachers. The latter can stop the wars; the former love the wars whether they are neocons or "humanitarian" interventionists or just plain ol' hedge fund managers.
> one that doesn’t transform the greatest liberal democracy on earth into the world’s greatest threat to peace.
I'm sorry Justin but: are you kidding me? It has NEVER been a democracy, not for one day.
The US has ALWAYS been a super-authoritarian country. They only had a slightly better propaganda show to cover that.
Oh, and as to your beloved "freedom": You never had it. Can't lose what you don't have.
There are so many ways in which you are not free that it seems almst pointless to list them all.
A country in which you are not even allowed to grow certain plants for your own pleasure? And you blather about "freedom"?
Freedom and the USA: They're polar opposites.
I do not see how working yourself into an early grave will do anything to help Antiwar.com. It seems to me the prudent thing to do would be take it easy for as long as needed for your health to recover. I think most people here would understand if your article ony appeared say once a week instead of three times a week because of your serious health issues. As to donations, I do plan on making a very modest donation, but it will have to wait until Monday. I work in the resturaunt business and I make most of my money over the weekend,
Thank you, Ira, for your support. I appreciate it for than I can say. I'll try to talk myself into taking it easy — after this scary fundraiser is over.
Wow, talk about a little sunshine on a rainy day. Ted Rall is having trouble making a living! Unlike Mr. Rall who hates anyone with differing political views, it’s his lack of talent that makes me think he’s undeserving to call himself a cartoonist.
He draws like a 3rd grader who has never had an art lesson, and he attempts to pass off anger as wit. Calling Pat Tillman an “idiot” just isn’t a funny (or witty) punch line no matter what side of the political spectrum one is reading from. Rall truly is the worst “cartoonist” I’ve ever seen printed in a major publication.
The fact that he hates America (just look at the title of his latest book) and calls for its violent over throw just adds icing to my cake of joy when reading about his financial troubles. Thanks again!
Wish I could help but all of my comments are deleted.
I can only donate $50 because I really don't have any money (probably less than $500 in my bank account, and I believe I donated $200 to your last fundraiser). I'm in college and I only work part time. I truly wish circumstances were different. Still, it would be heartbreaking to see this site go down. All I can say is fight the good fight, I truly appreciate what you do here, and if and when I have additional money to spare down the road and in the future, this is the charity I will be proud to support.
Kevin, you are heroic. Your contribution is doubly appreciated. People like you are the reason I continue to write: comments like yours are my gold.
Justin, you, your site, your staff, and your heroic anti-war efforts are among the few remaining parts of what passes for media today which are worth saving.
If you haven't already, read the introduction of Christopher Hedges's newest book, "The World The Way It Is" for a very hard hitting indictment of the rest of the gutless, complicit media that is actively help hide and promote this global corporate/finanical/militarist EMPIRE which has now almost fully taken over our former country.
Antiwar.com is foursquare "Against Empire (Parenti) and that's top's in my book. I'll contribute what I can.
Thanks for all your fine efforts,
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Liberty & democracy over violent empire — New America People's Party 2012
Been with you since Serbia War days. It was a more modest website then but completely adequate. No one has time to read all you post every day. Scale back on the News section and save time and money.
I guess you want to stay respectable so you don't let anyone question some of the bigger lies. In 1999 you implied the government was lying about Egypt air to justify military action but you don't allow anyone to question whether 9-11 was the false flag operation you implied would happen or whether the same liars who gave us Iraq WMD's, Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman and a zillion other lies are maybe lying about the "killing" of Osama Bin Laden. This despite all the contradictions, story changing, lack of evidence and tainted evidence. We only know that Osama is dead because the guvmint says so. So why do you repeat this as if it is a fact. Maybe staying "respectable" gets more money than going "Alex Jones" even if Alex Jones is sometimes closer to the truth. But maybe not. Back in the Serbia War days you didn't mind printing stories of how the bombing of the Chinese Embassy was in fact intentional and the lie an elaborate conspiracy. Thats how you hooked me.
I guess I'll scrape some money from my famished account. Here in Peru, we appreciate your heroic task in the face of attempts from the prostitute media to trivialize what is outrageous, to ignore what is urgent and to report on what is irrelevant.
Justin, just before your fundraiser, you spent precious capital, attacking all leftists. Virtually none of us came out of it unbloodied. You then wonder where the donations have gone? Why are you surprised?
As I keep on saying, if only Antiwar.com truly was 'central station' for information on WHAT TO DO, we would see more support here. That is, you should have a running list of incoming demonstrations, for example! You should mention the anti-AIPAC demonstrations in DC next week!
You should be calling for action, not just money. Right now, another 'freedom flotilla' ship was shot at offshore of Gaza by the IDF. While it was being organized, I saw little here in support of the people doing this, for example.
You need to build a true movement, not a webpage. Or at least stop bellyaching about liberals not putting their own lives on the line, on the street, protesting.
Attacking all leftists? No way! He proudly cites Alexander Cockburn, Jonathan Pilger, Tom Engelhardt, and many others. He explicitly criticizes leftists who recently were actively antiwar, but now give Obama a pass on some truly outrageous behavior. Does that description fit you? I hope not. He also regularly criticizes self-avowed "conservatives" who worship the Empire.
I don't think he's criticizing people not putting their lives on the line. I don't think he shares your hopes for direct action. I think he/they are aiming to be more of a news source/idea source.
Wrong. His criticisms are all about how we are not constantly demonstrating against Obama whereas we did against Bush. But I see no libertarian demonstrations and Antiwar.com never calls for any demonstrations, either. So what gives here?
The proof is in the pudding: either the libertarians get off their computers and actually do what we leftists have done over and over again, or stop attacking us for not doing it all the time.
I think Justin is calling out the "flower children" leftists that kowtow to the Obama War Machine — all for the love of Party and Handouts.
This doesn't change the sad fact that the street actions of the libertarians is presently around zero so going after us lefties is kind of crazy, to put it mildly.
Justin, I love your site. It used to be my favorite website in the world for so many years.
But I feel something's gotta change. The times are changing, the world is changing. America is changing. This is 2011, year of change.
America is drowning, and it seems like you slowly drown with it.
I really don't like being the doom sayer here – not my style usually -, but I feel right now, right here, it has to be done.
Justin: I want to see you flourish again. You are one of the most impressive people on this earth. But I don't see that happening yet. You're still bent on doing business-as-usual. Look at you, you're working 110% even though you should really take some time off.
Yes, we miss your columns when you're on vacation but hey, that's our problem not yours. :-)
I hate this. Not you–I love your column and Antiwar.com–but the situation I'm facing. I'm one week post-op, and paid my $200 copay for my surgery. I am spending as little as possible for the rest of the month, hoping to begin giving *something* again in June. As Antiwar.com knows from my anguished emails at the time, I had to cancel not only my monthly donation to you, but to all the dozen organizations I cherished and regarded as allies and friends. Horrible! And July is the dentist and August the opthamologist…what to do? I don't want you to go down the tubes, and Justin, I want *you* to see a doctor and chill out. It's not acceptable that this site survive at the expense of your own life. Seriously. If worst comes to worst, we will *all* go on to create and do what we can. But–please–don't do as the crazies of SDS did at the end, and immolate yourselves for The Cause. The struggle continues…and maybe, just maybe, there are enough people out there who aren't going through medical travail just now, who can step into the breach. I don't know why it's such a trauma every four months, but I sure as heck hope this isn't *it*. Is it? Say it ain't so, Raimondo.
I guess you've already tried the Kochtopus. What about the Koch-Squiddly-Diddly?
Justin probably draws a lot of donations from the Kochtopus's proxy — just guessing.
We may not be the Kochs' particular cup of tea. Each to his own.
I'm sorry, I just put that in as a joke. The image of Squiddly Diddly (the cartoon character) tied to a shadowy, powerful organization struck me as humorous.
No, I was replying to the courageous 'Who Knows?'
It's all comedy now. Soros spoke at Cato last month. Why do we even pretend that we can escape the tentacles of the Kochtopus?
Yes, the progressives have (temporarily) deserted the anti-war movement. Should it be surprising that they have taken their donations with them? They're on the "hope" train now and their misplaced trust in Obama is (for the time being) impervious to argument, however righteous or painstakingly constructed.
But take solace in the knowledge that antiwar is necessary, albeit insufficient to impact change; in the certainty that their hopes are well intended and fleeting; and in understanding that the nature of antiwar has always guarenteed the ebb and flow of support in correlation with political climate.
Progressives have not deserted the anti-war movement but many have abandoned anti-war.com probably because they are tired of Raimondo's abuse and deceit like pretending pro war Dems are "the Left" while he pimps the corporate backed Tea Party as a "grassroots" challenge to GOP imperialism.
Many progressives have realized that their trust in Obama (like Raimondo) was misplaced and are now some his fiercest critics. Pay attention – Cornel West just called O a black mascot of Wall Street and imperialsm for chrissake and there are plenty of other examples.
I wish Justin personally the best but this site seems to have run its course. There will be no unity of the anarcho-capitalist right and the anti-capitalist left even though they do both sincerely claim to be anti-war. I used to believe otherwise when I just read the front page but have came to a different conclusion after participating in this forum.
Ironically one of the biggest reasons I have concluded that the anti-war left and right can not unite is because of the health care issue. I, like Justin, am going through a medical situation which could be serious. I feel thankful and fortunate to have high quality insurance but also feel that every person in the wealthiest country in the world should also. Libertarians on the other hand are fine with millions of Americans having no health care. They think health care for all is evil and immoral while leftists like myself view the current situation of for profit health care which excludes millions of Americans and incentives dropping sick patients as evil and immoral.
How can people with such a different world view unite? The same goes for most every other topic (except war); taxation, regulation, pollution, global warming, abortion, corp funding of candidates, etc, etc.
Recently, I had to put my ex-husband temporarily in a nursing home. If the GOP and libertarians have their way, they would have dumped him into the gutter to die rather than let him use Medicare to stay alive.
This is a top life and death issue, big time. Connecting hatred of social care systems with being antiwar doesn't disguise the fact that a libertarian world has a lot more dead people who are citizens here at home if they ever succeeded in destroying our civilization in the name of 'freedom'.
If you are sick, how, pray tell, can you be free? And the goddess of libertarianism used Medicare to take care of her carcass when she wasn't a superwoman anymore! What a moron she was! A lying moron.
As for Justin: I seriously doubt you are paying cash for care. And if you have health insurance, just remember, they have upper limits for care! This is why Medicare was created in the first place. I remember back when the elderly, if they ran out of money and couldn't be insured, were left out to die. I cared for my grandpa when he was paralyzed after a stroke.
Why bring healthcare into this? You and I and probably everyone on this forum agree that we don't want our tax dollars paying to kill people abroad. Isn't that enough?
I want to be part of a meme critical mass to that effect.
I think the others who posted about healthcare were doing so by way of explaining how the left/right antiwar unity espoused by Mr. Raimondo and this site overall, is in their view unlikely to occur. It's not my place to put words in someone else's mouth, but that was my understanding.
The problem I see with this is that it is hard to unite around any major issue when it is (perhaps understandably) also viewed and tied to other issues; the unabridged form of this is "vanguard syndrome," where there must be agreement on so many issues that it ends up being a vanguard that will fit inside a phone booth…or, more generously, one living room.
It's a real issue and the discussion will continue…but I for one think it would be a terrible loss for us all if part of the price of that discussion were the loss of this unsurpassed antiwar resource. That's what Antiwar.com is–there is nothing else comparable on the entire internet.