Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Feeling Moore'ish

Lisa cherry picked 9 and 11 which are, on balance, the best of the lot but I also have a soft spot for number 6 in Michael Moore's 'A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives':

"6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water."

And before you chime in - like Lisa - I know that Michael Moore can be problematic in the politics he puts forward and the link falls outside of the remit of revolutionary socialism but I can't help myself in enjoying the schadenfreude feeling when anything bad befalls the Republicans. It's the Tory Party all over again.

As a counterbalance to my creeping reformism, check out Bill's 'Open Letter to Michael Moore' which appeared in the Socialist Standard a few years back. One of the best articles Pik Smeet ever wrote for the Standard.

1 comment:

fear_and_hate_9_11 said...

He he. You were listening to "The Sin of Pride" when you posted that (very good) open letter to Mike. Socialism is a... "Luxury", man.

Michael Moore is not a reformist. He's the Jiminy Cricket of the Democratic Party. And he wants to see change in his lifetime (like myself). Notice the 12th and last point : "We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich." Last but not least...

This apparently humorous piece of gloating is in fact a subtle lecture on ethics addressing the Democrats (grassroots and not) and binding them both together and to the values that they like to forget or can't remember. Notice the equation Liberal = Democrats = We beneath the surface. He wants to make left-wingers out of the Dems and place the party under the control of the people - and the people under the control of their own morals. It's VERY ambitious.

All that, with his usual natural glee and sense of humor - of course.