I love the internet

The internet is the only place I know of where I can be called a fascist and a leftist on the same damn day.

We spend a lot of time talking about left and right, but I am not sure there is not a more important political divide. Let's call it common sense vs. ideology.

For instance when I look at issues such as the toppling of Saddam Hussein. I ask myself what the alternative is. To me it seemed that Saddam Hussein was a costly problem that had to be dealt with before it became worse. I did not see it fixing itself or simply going away.

In regards to Dubai ports I felt that since 80% of the freight terminals were already in the hands of foreign companies, some of them much less friendly than UAE it seemed rather silly to interfere with that deal. Silly and self-destructive.

In regards to immigration I felt that since we pretty much looked the other way for 150 years and have not bothered to enforce our own laws the idea that we will somehow transport more than 10 million people out of the country in buses or cattle cars is absurd.

I keep getting stuck on absurd. To me Kyoto cannot work because it is absurd. Mass deportation is absurd. Believing that Saddam and AlQaida cannot be working together is absurd. Not dealing with the looming problems in programs like Social Security is absurd. Notice how much support Bush got from the conservatives on his private accounts. For a bunch of folks who call themselves fiscal conservative they were conspicuous in their absence.

This is not about some intense ideological fervor, it is just what makes sense.

I think I get this from my Dad. Years ago we were watching some show on TV about soldiers in WW2. I think Vic Morrow was in it.... Anyway a scene came when Morrow started to load his gun. That was it for my Dad. It was the wrong ammo. The illusion was shot to hell by this mistake and the story was ruined for my Dad. Well sometimes I think there are those of us who fit into this category more than any other.

It is the "that won't work" category.

When Sandy Berger can get away with stuffing classified documents in his pants and Democrats just kind of pretend that did not happen, they cease to be serious people.

By the same token when some conservative lawmakers pompously say we will make felons of millions of undocumented workers without even acknowledging the impact this will have on law enforcement, they cease to be serious people. These same kind of preening people also cease to be serious when they seem to believe than we can nationalize port terminals to save them from the clutches of foreigners.

So perhaps it is not just about left and right. Maybe there are some of us grumpy people who can not help but wonder, how will that ever work?