Mutiny on the Donkey - How the Third Way wrecked the Democratic Party

One definition of a politician is someone who sees which way the wind is blowing and goes in that direction. OTOH, it is possible to sail against the wind. Methods for doing this are called tacking or beating. However, even these methods one cannot sail directly into the wind. (BTW, the whole essay is one big nautical analogy. You have been warned.)

Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing vessel, whose desired course is into the wind, turns its bow toward the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction...No sailing vessel can move directly upwind, though that may be the desired direction, making this an essential maneuver of a sailing ship. A series of tacking moves, in a zig-zag fashion, is called beating, and allows sailing in the desired direction.

The opposite maneuver, i.e. turning the stern through the wind, is called jibing (or wearing on square-rigged ships).

Wikipedia Tacking(sailing)

Normally, political parties sail "before the wind", that is, the goals of their membership determines the direction of the party. Figuratively, the party has the wind at its back. But, the Third Way crowd, who foisted Captain Bill Clinton on the Democratic Party (DP), had a radically different goal in mind.

Historically, the wind in the DP's sails had come from the working man and minorities. But, from the minute Clinton came onto the quarterdeck, he started sailing into the wind. He betrayed the labor constituency, which had been the backbone of the DP, with NAFTA and GATT. He trashed the black constituency, another unfailingly loyal part of the DP, with an end to welfare and a Draconian crime bill. These tactics earned the name triangulation, which isn't so far from "tacking".

The next time the DP got its hands on the tiller of the ship of state, the captain was Third Way Obama. Obama's campaign represented that part of a jib maneuver (see above) where the stern was momentarily pointed into the wind while turning between tacks. A lot of people got fooled into voting for him by how his campaign rhetoric sounded. (Nothing but the best rhetoric. It was voted Best Advertising Campaign of 2008.) But the campaign was only a brief moment in the broader jib maneuver.

As soon as Obama arrived in office, he gave Wall St. a get-out-of-jail-free card and shoveled $13 Trillion their way. Talk about sailing against the working class wind! Obama also sailed into the wind of two other classic DP constituencies - civil libertarians and the anti-war crowd. Obama prosecuted whistleblowers with abandon, started killing US citizens with drones, and ran nation-destroying wars in Libya and Syria while running coups in Honduras and the Ukraine.

In between Clinton and Obama, Pelosi made sure "impeachment was off the table" and reactionary SCOTUS justices were confirmed, because sailing before the wind is not how the Third Way rides. The only thing progressive about the 25 year captaincy of the Third Way is that it progressively (i.e., in stages) destroyed every decent policy of the DP. In nautical terms, the Third Way became more and more "close hauled" - more and more in oppostion to the goals of its membership.

Close-hauled

A sailing craft is said to be sailing close-hauled (also called beating or working to windward) when its sails are trimmed in tightly, are acting substantially like a wing, and the craft's course is as close to the wind as allows the sail(s) to generate maximum lift. This point of sail lets the sailing craft travel diagonally to the wind direction, or 'upwind'.

Wikipedia Point of Sail

This opposition to the rank and file translated into a falling off of membership. From a nautical POV, this makes perfect sense. You can only sail so far into the wind before you lose headway:

No-go zone

Sailing craft cannot sail directly into the wind, nor on a course that is too close to the direction from which the wind is blowing. The range of directions into which a sailing craft cannot sail is called the "no-go" zone. In the no-go zone the craft's sails cease producing enough drive to maintain way or forward momentum. Therefore, the sailing craft slows down towards a stop and steering becomes progressively less effective at controlling the direction of travel...

Wikipedia Point of Sail

The DP entered the No-go zone in the 2010 elections This happened because there was a general disgust with Obama's tactics on healthcare, with his reliance on his arch-neolib chief of staff, the widely-loathed Rahm Emmanuel, and with his failure to go to the mat for labor against Scott Walker and ALEC. After two years, it was quite clear which course Obama was steering.

When the 2016 election came around, the DP ship was in bad shape. It had lost big again in the 2014 midterms; and it lost massively at the state level in legislatures and governorships. This was a combination of being too close-hauled and focusing only on key states - abandoning the "50 states" tactics that had served well.

The crew of the DP had had enough of the Third Way, and staged a mutiny, led by Bernie. But the mutiny was put down by the corrupt DNC, and Hillary was acclaimed the new captain. A lot of sailors simply jumped ship. Despite this vote of no-confidence, Hillary tried to sail further into the wind, adding neocon attitudes to the existing neoliberal stance of the DP leadership.

At a certain point of sailing into the wind, a ship begins to heel. That is, the wind starts to blow it over. You have seen a remedy for this problem in movies and in broadcasts of sailing races. The solution is called "hiking", where someone or several people literally hang off the side of the boat to counteract the heeling.

In sailing, hiking (stacking or stacking out in New Zealand) is the action of moving the crew's body weight as far to windward (upwind) as possible, in order to decrease the extent the boat heels (leans away from the wind).

Hiking is most integral to catamaran and dinghy sailing, where the lightweight boat can be easily capsized or turtled by the wind unless the sailor counteracts the wind's pressure by hiking, or eases the sails to reduce it. The heavy keel on larger keelboats means that it is rare to capsize them due to wind alone,

Wikipedia Hiking_(sailing)

The DP is catamaran-like in that it has a Wall St./technocrat pontoon and a working class/minority pontoon. It was the working class/minority pontoon that had lifted out of the water. So, the DP sent in Identity Politics people to "hike" that pontoon back down. They leaned way out and said you must vote for Hillary because its her turn. Bernie Bros must get in line or they are racists.

But, they didn't have enough weight to pull it off; and the DP simply capsized.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI2iIY61Lc8]

And that's the story of how the Third Way wrecked the DP. Nine months later, the officer core of the DP is lashing itself to the mast of the sinking ship - doubling down on violent IdPol protests and street confrontations that are guaranteed to generate severe rightwing pushback and could easily lead to martial law. They are more like Ahab pursuing the Orange Whale of Trump than a sane captain.

The Democratic Party is dead. The current leadership killed it. The sooner it sinks and takes the leadership with it, the sooner we can build a new boat.

Other sailors should feel free to expand on this analogy.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Pricknick's picture

that I will ever see a more robust and clarifying description of the DP put in nautical terms.
The main mast is broken and there are no suitable timbers to be had. Time to abandon the ship or row.
Damn well done!

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

arendt's picture

@Pricknick

It didn't break of its own accord.

But thanks for extending the analogy, mate.

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(Title of an essay I wrote about Trump some months back, riffing off The Caine Mutiny and the "Ship of State.")

Supposedly, the Democratic Leadership Council was the brain child of Al From, who hails from the red state of Indiana. And corporations funded it, while one of the Koch brothers sat on the Executive Council. However, I suspect From was a front man, much as was Dick Armey. I think the DLC may have been the brain child of the Koch brothers.

In any event, Clinton won the Presidency twice and nothing succeeds like success. Lost in the annals of time is the fact that Clinton is the only President to have been elected twice by only a plurality.

Supposedly, Rachel proved that Perot cost Clinton as many votes as Perot cost Bush. However, I have to believe she did that on the same theory Democrats always use for newer party votes: That they would have gone to their candidate, rather than to no one or to another newer party candidate. Nonetheless, the myth grows unabated, though unaided by proof: liberals are not electible.

Sorry, I can't help with the seafaring analogy. For a long time, I saw the DLC as the Trojan Horse that ate the Democratic Party. More recently, I changed my entire POV about the Democratic Party, namely, that it wasn't that all great before Clinton: The New Deal and the Great Society were aberrations. As for unions, they were the Party's biggest funders. One thing New Democrats did consciously was wean the DP from its independence on union donations, leaving the DP free to concern itself only about the 1%.

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arendt's picture

@HenryAWallace

something to do with the DLC and their only success story, Clinton.

I did not go into who appointed Clinton (appointed, not elected, because it has been all about the "wealth primary" since that time) because it would have distracted from the mechanics of the DP's course setting towards disaster. But, yes, someone wanted this to happen, someone paid to get Clinton into office - bimbo eruptions not withstanding, Mena, AK not withstanding. The Koch Brothers are a good a villain as any for who bankrolled Bill.

The Koch Brothers hide in the dark, bribe and threaten, collect likeminded aristo sociopaths, and have been running a slow motion coup for thirty plus years. To get into their inner circle, you have to be the libertarian equivalent of holier than the Pope.

To fit into the analogy, could we say that a rival shipowner got a bad captain appointed to the DP ship to run it aground?

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@arendt

posters add. I don't think we need to strain it to accommodate my post.

I'm not sure what you consider adequate proof of Koch involvement in the DLC. I was going to link you to Democrats.com and americablog.com, two links I have used often. However, I saw this post, which links to both. https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4399320

Apparently, the page was taken off Democrats.com or moved, but, as stated, I've consulted that link many times and know what the poster quoted is accurate.

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arendt's picture

@HenryAWallace

It is certainly plausible. I guess one could dig through the records of the DLC, if they are available and if they haven't been sanitized.

Are you saying you have done that? Or are you asking me to do that? Not sure what point you are trying to make. I agree its well within reason.

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@arendt

As is obvious from the post itself, my prior post came nowhere near claiming that I had looked through the DLC's records or asking you to do so. Are we playing some kind of game? If so, why and what are the rules? Or are there any rules?

The records of the DLC are at the Clinton Library and, yes, I'd bet my home that they were sanitized.

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arendt's picture

@HenryAWallace

Why do you attribute malign intent to a simple inquiry?

I did not understand the thrust of your argument. I gave you some guesses as to your intent. It is that simple.

You are a very difficult person to communicate with.

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@arendt

I was not making any argument at all. You said you could not prove Koch involvement in the DLC. I said, essentially, "Here are links to two sources that say Koch was involved, but I don't know if you'd consider them proof." From that, you got that I was claiming to have scoured the DLC records? Or was asking you to do so?

What you say were your guesses at to the thrust of an argument I was not making were so far from anything my post actually said or implied that playing games was my only guess at what might explain your response.

BTW, comparing "Are we playing some kind of game?" with your response to it, which seems more ad hom to you?

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arendt's picture

@HenryAWallace

I am not going to get into anything more with you. You make mountains out of molehills.

This board is supposed to be friendly. You have knives out over nothing.

Goodbye. If I could put you on ignore, I would.

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Big Al's picture

it was wrecked long ago if not from the outset.

“The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles.”
Eugene Debs.

It's always been this way, each generation thinks they fight different battles but it's always the same.

The question is, how many people on this site will continue to vote for the "right" democratic party politicians to perpetuate the cycle? Such as a Bernie Sanders?

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arendt's picture

@Big Al @Big Al

Those of us lucky to be white/male/hetero boomers got a pretty good deal.

That leads me to two questions. They are not meant to be critical, but are merely asking you to unpack your statements.

1) Do you agree that that category did OK for about 40 years? Or do you think the system has never done much for anyone but the rich? (I consider myself to be a member of the WMH Boomer lucky sperm club.)

2) If you think there was such a good deal, why did it happen and what ended it?

Another question:

If our so-called democracy has always sucked (a position I am quite open to after reading Howard Zinn), what do you think might work for a majority of folks; and how might such a system be created short of violent revolution and social collapse, given the ever-tightening grip of the computer-enabled, media-indoctrinated police state?

Sorry to ask you for the history of the world, but I'm not familiar with your position.

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Big Al's picture

@arendt But, I'm into the big picture and the criminals that run the show. I tell people all the time I grew up in the heyday of the American empire and reaped the benefits accordingly. I believe the system has always served the rich but conditions allowed and necessitated a rise of the middle class and serf standard of living.
Another example to go along with the Debs quote is the establishment of the federal reserve in 1913, a year many point to as the ultimate control over this country.
I think it changed because of basic human greed and lust for power combined with increasingly complex global conditions and the insane New World Order agenda of the super rich.
What can we do? I agree with many that the only way is a national/global working/lower class movement independent of the electoral political system (but concurrent with it) to demand the end of rule by the rich. I consider seeking fifteen bucks an hour and Single payer, as needed as they are, more alms for the poor considering we do not live in a democracy.
Nice essay, just rambling on.

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arendt's picture

@Big Al

I believe the system has always served the rich but conditions allowed and necessitated a rise of the middle class and serf standard of living.

My take, which is the same, is based on Max Weber, the historian, who claimed that mass democracy was needed to support mass armies. That is, if military technology made large numbers of soldiers the best tactic, then the soldiers needed to feel they had a stake in the fighting. Genuine voting plus some bit of prosperity were enough motivation to get them to fight. That's what FDR gave them.

But, with H-bombs, ICBMs, precision guided bombs, cruise missiles, and billions of CPUs run by a few thousand geeks at Google, we don't need mass armies anymore. Hence TPTB have dispensed with democracy and cut back on the sailors rations.

Piketty's analysis of "wealth destruction" during the European Civil War (1914-1945) is another reason for the "Great Compression".

Truly, the boomers were lucky. But our only hope today is to transfer our experience of genuine democracy and prosperity to the millenials and reignite a push to get the capitalists back under control, if not completely disempowered. If they can raise a whole generation to accept the shit gig economy, the sharing (sharecropping) economy, and the diversion of their taxes into endless wars and subversions, then any hope for recovery is over.

I think that environmental destruction must weight strongly on the millenials. Left politicians can harp on that and avoid all the IdPol stuff. (Or they can point out how all the polluting factories are placed in the poorest neighborhoods.) The massive propaganda campaign to deny climate change demonstrates that TPTB think it is a very serious threat. They are willing to demolish the scientific objectivity that anchors our material well-being to achieve that denial.

Anyway, I see your rambling and raise you. Smile

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Cassiodorus's picture

@arendt where the interests of the owning class were aligned with the idea of "pump-priming" -- having the government spend money on ordinary people so as to stimulate consumer demand (according to Keynes' precepts) and thus "grow the economy" in the interests of all-round profit. Thus the general lot of the working class improved between 1948-or-so and the Seventies according to quantitative indexes of consumption. (Whether the working class was actually happier for all this is another question -- of course certain portions of the working class began to pursue their own happiness in the Sixties, which is what made that decade so fun.)

"Pump-priming" and Keynesian economic orthodoxy (as reflected in the universities) was appropriate to a youthful capitalist economy in which other means of stimulus (primarily the boom-bust cycles of the 19th and early 20th centuries) were no longer effective in stimulating profits among the owning class, and to a political arrangement in which war preparation (as an economic stimulus) did not have the catastrophic effects it had during the two world wars. Thus US and Soviet proxies could duke it out in Vietnam without risking nuclear war and while increasing the overall measures of "economic health."

Two events moved the capitalist economy past the Keynesian stage: 1) America's departure from the gold standard in 1968 and 2) President Nixon's declaration that the gold standard was null and void in 1971. At any rate, the relative economic disorder of the Seventies, combined with global elite consolidation (the World Economic Forum and the Trilateral Commission are both products of the Seventies) set the stage for a new order in which the class compromises of the Fifties and Sixties were no longer viewed as necessary and in which the Keynesian order was to be gradually abandoned in favor of "dollar hegemony" and neoliberal economic restructuring. That's the order which predominates to this day.

Thus the working class was an incidental beneficiary of Democratic Party elite policies for a period in the middle of the twentieth century. But the Democrats have meant nothing to working class interests for a long time now, and a revival of the Democratic Party of 1972 hasn't been possible for decades. As regards Bill Clinton, well, Bill Clinton gave the Democrats what they'd wanted throughout the Eighties.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

arendt's picture

@Cassiodorus

I agree that they were important. But, they were caused by massive deficit spending during the Viet Nam War. That spending piled on top of the Cold War spending. It drained the US Treasury - literally, other countries were demanding payment in gold, as Bretton Woods allowed.

When you widen the focus, it was so predictable. The US was the only economy left standing at the end of WW2. They could sell whatever they could make. So, they made a truce with the unions and everyone did well for twenty years replacing all the stuff that got blown up in WW2. The dollar was literally "as good as gold". Still, they were too greedy. The ease of selling caused TPTB to scrimp on upgrading their manufacturing facilities; and Germany and Japan roared back with brand new, modern facilities. This is another cause of the balance of payments crisis and the gold standard events.

Another thing that happened is that TPTB decided to take over the old colonial empires of Britain and France (the only countries with massive overseas possesions) - oh and Indonesia (for the oil). To "pacify" all those ex-colonies who wanted democracy cost us a lot of military spending and graft (foreign aid) to the neocolonial compradors we put in charge. See my first para for how that worked out.

----

Another way to look at the causes is "Peak Oil". From 1900 to 1970, the US was pretty much self-sufficient in oil - the most important input to the economy. When the oil got depleted, we were vulnerable to OPEC. But, what really killed us economically was how the banks managed to recycle all the money OPEC grabbed into Wall St. securities. That was the rocket-assisted takeoff of financialization.

I'm not clear it's possible to disentangle the neocolonial wars from the OPEC shock. History is messy. Either way, something clearly shifted in the 1970-1980 time frame; and we have been going downhill ever since.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@arendt without remembering that the elites used to be mere national elites, and that the twentieth century saw an increased consolidation of the social coherence of the global owning class as a class. This is to say that, as the twentieth century moved forward, the elites (TPTB if you will) found it easier to agree on particular ideologies and particular policies.

Thus the end of the gold standard was both effect and cause. No doubt the fact that the US didn't have enough gold to cover its dollars was a cause of the end of the gold standard, but the end of the gold standard itself obliged elites to reconstruct the world economic order around "dollar hegemony." Because of the increased consolidation among the elite class at that time, the reorganization of the Seventies did not repeat the political result of the early Thirties, in which the various national elites did not agree upon a solution to the Great Depression.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

arendt's picture

@Cassiodorus

the elites used to be mere national elites, and that the twentieth century saw an increased consolidation of the social coherence of the global owning class as a class.

Yes, it is true that the "cosmopolitan" globalizers have increasingly marginalized national elites. I think part of the reason for this was the overwhelming dominance of the US in the postwar era.

Europe was flat on its back then. We had all the money, and we went berserk about communism. (But we didn't care about the remaining fascists in Portugal or Spain.) So, we made sure that any national elite that did not react to communists like the plague was educated into cooperation. In short, the consolidation happened by US browbeating, bribery, the backing of the most anti-communist parties we could find in Europe, and the installation of comprador elites throughout the Third World, or the installation of Chicago Boys fascists across South America.

the end of the gold standard itself obliged elites to reconstruct the world economic order around "dollar hegemony."

I would argue that it was the oil shock and the recycling of Petrodollars through Wall St. banks that created dollar hegemony in the post-Bretton Woods world. Yes, going off the gold standard made waves; but the oil shocks kicked over the table for everyone. When they got the game going again, the US had done a deal with the Saudis and the dollar was king because oil was sold in dollars. (Of course, this deal had nothing :sarcasm: to do with the Safari Club.)

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Cassiodorus's picture

@arendt It was obvious that something had to change by 1968 already, when the US originally went off the gold standard (see Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism for more). And the Bretton Woods agreement came to an end in 1971. Now the oil embargo sealed the deal to be sure, but that was 1973-1974.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

arendt's picture

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arendt's picture

@arendt

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lotlizard's picture

@arendt  
Isn’t it remarkable how things work out so well? Biggrin

(Wording in imitation of a Snoopy soliloquy in the 1967 musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.)

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thanatokephaloides's picture

The crew of the DP had had enough of the Third Way, and staged a mutiny, led by Bernie. But the mutiny was put down by the corrupt DNC, and Hillary was acclaimed the new captain.

Went to see the captain
strangest I could find

A lot of sailors simply jumped ship. Despite this vote of no-confidence, Hillary tried to sail further into the wind, adding neocon attitudes to the existing neoliberal stance of the DP leadership.

At a certain point of sailing into the wind, a ship begins to heel. That is, the wind starts to blow it over.

Laid my proposition down
Laid it on the line;
I won't slave for beggar's pay
likewise gold and jewels
but I would slave to learn the way
to sink your ship of fools

To which I might add:


Ship of fools
on a cruel sea
Ship of fools
sail away from me

lyrics source

[video:https://youtu.be/7HTcet_BgYM]

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides @thanatokephaloides when a ship is shifting from one tack to another, it can get caught pointing into the wind between a starboard and port tack.
This is called being in Irons and the ship comes to a dead stop and actually drifts Backwards with the wind.but pointing into it.
At this point it's necessary to do whatever you can to 'fall off' the wind and get your sails filled and the boat moving again.
This can also happen when you sail too 'close to the wind' and 'pinch' or backfill the luff of the sail which can result in an unintended(and possibly violent) tack. The boom swings to the opposite side of the boat uncontrolled which can result in breakage to the boat and injuries to the crew.
When sailing Downwind, this can result in an unintended Jibe that Can be even more violent and sudden.
The turd wayers are in irons right now because they've been caught trying to have it both ways. They got 'pinched' and didn't 'fall off' the wind in time and now they're stuck.

Stop These Fucking Wars

peace

Edit for typos and lack of punctuation.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

arendt's picture

@Tall Bald and Ugly

The "sailing into the wind" thing is just so good a description of the DLC/3rd Way policies that you could write a book on the topic.

Thanks.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

arendt's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

To see the "Earl of Grantham" transmogrified into Peter the Pillager - hilarious.

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Alphalop's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

But it sums up my thoughts towards the right bastards...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th4Czv1j3F8]

(Keep in mind they are from a different culture where some of their profanity does not have the same impact or meaning as it does here)

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

arendt's picture

@Alphalop

I can only make out the chorus, which is absolutely obscene, and hilarious.

The lyrics are hard to understand.

Great find.

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Alphalop's picture

@arendt

We are talking about Alestorm here.

(Sorry, been trapped in R/L and just saw that, lol!)

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

@thanatokephaloides the DNC hanged a passel of mutineers--Tim Canova, Joe Sestak--because he said no to Lt. Schemer--and many others, see Down With Tyranny for the details of courts martial, with the Lamestream Media playing the Rogue's March.

Unity my ass!

NMFW! (Thank you, TB&U)

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Mary Bennett

Meteor Man's picture

That's an age old question:

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Can you imagine that how much of the slick that will bubble to the surface? A few thousands or millions, and billions? if you said yes, i will hurl in a bowl of soup, as your reward. If you guessed no, your reward is a nice hat, fitted for your comfort. Best option: Walk past the shit pile, if it is in-flames, consider a direct stream of urine. Do not consider reviving it, if it is found dead in a shallow pool: Known to attack living hosts in last ditch efforts.

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

Calmer heads (or even a third party) would board the boat, throw the captain and first mates overboard, strap a motor to it, and chart a course for calmer seas.
Seas that were more amenable to the needs of us all.

On the water, you do what needs to be done.
Sometimes, that is called mutiny.
Time will tell if the decisions were right and just.
But we've very little time.

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arendt's picture

@peachcreek

Calmer heads will commit mutiny.

But, I agree that we have to get rid of these people, and as JFK said:

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@peachcreek Starbuck has a hard row to hoe.

On the other hand, he actually was friends with Ahab, and that's why he couldn't bear to do what needed to be done.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

the sailing metaphor fits so well.
inspired choice.

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If you have ever sailed to windward in strong winds and heavy seas you can appreciate why it's called "beating", which is what happens to you. Even with good foul weather gear you will be soaked to the bone, near hypothermia, and your eyeballs will be bright red and swollen from the salt water. That describes the current condition of the Democrat Party.

But it's even worse than that. They are beating to windward in a poorly designed ship, one which is bound to capsize and sink. So what's their motto: "everything is just fine, row harder!"

Here's another good analogy of a sailing ship, the Vasa, that failed because of greed and incompetence,
from Wiki:

The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated in a war with Poland-Lithuania (1621–1629). It was constructed at the navy yard in Stockholm under a contract with private entrepreneurs in 1626–1627 and armed primarily with bronze cannon cast in Stockholm specifically for the ship. Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However, Vasa was dangerously unstable and top-heavy with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull. Despite this lack of stability she was ordered to sea and foundered only a few minutes after encountering a wind stronger than a breeze.

That is an apt analogy of today's Democrat Party.

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

Lily O Lady's picture

@The Wizard

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

arendt's picture

@Lily O Lady

Just like roid-heads, they are so muscle-bound they can barely stand up.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Lily O Lady

.... is actually a more apt metaphor for today's Democrats, as she actually worked properly for decades (much like the FDR - LBJ era New Deal Dems) but then was destroyed by the so-called "improvements" by the 0.1%......

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

arendt's picture

@The Wizard

The English language is saturated with nautical references. As you probably know, "The whole nine yards" refers to hoisting all nine of the sails on a three masted ship. Of course, there is "walk the plank" and "up to the gunwales".

However, I surprised myself about how far I was able to push the analogy of "sailing into the wind".

But, cuteness aside, many respondents have focused on how it came to be that the Third Way got put in charge of the ship. There is no nautical analogy for that. It was brazen, money-driven subversion of the media, subornation of the political class, and bamboozlement of the electorate.

Nevertheless, whatever the origin of the disaster, we are best off to let the ship - and its officers - sink.

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lotlizard's picture

@arendt  

I shovelled it so well, they rewarded me
By making me the Ruler of the DNC

http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/firstlor.htm

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Lily O Lady's picture

This can happen when sailing before the wind with the mainsail/boom extended out over one side of the craft. If the wind shifts and picks up, it can get behind the main and swing the boom suddenly and violently across the boat, possibly hitting crew members and potentially even snapping the mast in extreme cases.

The DNC might have thought it was sailing before the wind only to experience an accidental jibe. Or maybe it's all just Kabuki meant to distract us while TPTB continue looting what's left of our economy.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

arendt's picture

@Lily O Lady

But, did you mis-speak?

The DNC might have thought it was sailing before the wind only to experience an accidental jibe.

Pardon my nautical naivety, but don't you have to be sailing into the wind to be tacking or jibing?

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Lily O Lady's picture

@arendt

wing on wing. That is with the main extended over one side and the jib extended over the other side. Hillary had rounded the buoy of the primaries and was sailing to the finish and imagined glory. She wasn't paying attention to her telltales/polls just as Romney four years before. She failed to watch her sails when the wind continued to shift swinging the mainsail out of control and hitting her upside the head. Bam! President [gag] Trump and Vice President [yikes!] Pence.

My husband and I learned to sail on Lake Chimsee in the Alps in Germany. Inland sailing is tricky due to trees and mountains which can block the wind.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

arendt's picture

@Lily O Lady @Lily O Lady

And the extension of the analogy - "rounding the buoy".

Its nice to see sailors on (the) board. I think we must go back in that direction to deal with climate change. New technologies could make sailing competitive - satellite weather, buoys and other sensor chains to chart wind and tide, kevlar sails, composite materials.

I have heard that the average container ship from Asia proceeds at 7 knots or so, because that is most fuel efficient. I'm sure sailing ships could beat that time. It is an interesting exercise to see how far you can scale up a sailing ship with modern materials and computer design before the masts snap off in a high wind.

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@arendt
was about 45mph.
mind you, that's speed. if you're beating upwind at 25 mph, your effective velocity to your destination is only about 12.5mph.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

arendt's picture

@UntimelyRippd

Of course, I'm sure people would sail with the wind and current and not against it. If your speed is doubled, you would still be ahead if your wind-at-your-back route was 50% further.

In my un-informed thinking, the competitive issue would be cargo capacity. Its all about surface area to volume, as I.K. Bunnel demonstrated 150 years ago. The question, to my thinking, is how big can you make the ship before the mast and sails will break under load.

BTW, a little googling shows that plain (acrylic) carbon fiber is preferred to kevlar by racers. OTOH, some prefer a mixture, with acrylic providing shape stability and kevlar providing rip-stop. Other people say carbon fiber masts give more bang for the buck in terms of sailing performance.

Have you heard anything about large, carbon-masted, cargo-carrying sailing ships?

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arendt's picture

@arendt

a three-mast fore-and-aft sailing rig. The freestanding carbonfiber rotating masts were manufactured by Magma Structures at Trafalgar Wharf, Portsmouth.[5] Doyle Sailmakers USA manufactured the three fully-automated carbonfiber/taffeta full roach sails. The furling booms were built in Valencia by Future Fibres.

The "A" yacht

I can't make it embed; but the picture is here:

"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(sailing_yacht)#/media/File:White_Pearl_A_Seite.JPG"

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Lily O Lady's picture

@arendt

with seven different types of green sailing ships. One has spinning rotors in towers that work due to something called the Magnus Effect. One ship has sails that use both wind and solar power. The technology is there, but as on land the will seems to be lacking.

I don't know how to post websites from my tablet. Sorry.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

arendt's picture

@Lily O Lady

You can always just copy the URL and paste it in. For example:

http://www.marineinsight.com/green-shipping/top-7-green-ship-concepts-us...

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@Lily O Lady not so much danger as a broad or beam reach for a jibe. Unless you're just not paying attention At All.
Hell, we could go on all Day discussing sailing, and boats, and wind, and . . .
Friendship Sloops! One of the prettiest boats ever designed!

Stop These Fucking Wars

peace

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

Lily O Lady's picture

@Tall Bald and Ugly

just like rMoney four years before. She was totally winning--until she wasn't. And Dems mocked Romney mercilessly for the same sin they would engage in in the future.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

detroitmechworks's picture

DNC is trying the "Commissar" approach to picking representatives to get the rank and file in line. Take somebody with a bit of college experience and the "Right" attitude, stick em in OCS, and with no further experience whatsoever make em responsible for keeping essentially conscripts in line. Those who have joined up not in service to the cause, but rather in fear of NOT signing up. Then they gave em the "-ist" machine guns and told them to shoot anybody who showed any cowardice or sympathy to the "enemy".

Whereas Bernie worked because he was a "Mustang". He did his time in the trenches, and when he got his commission, the troops believed that he would fight with them. People don't fight for vague ideals, they fight for the person next to them. They fight for people they trust. Bernie at one time had earned that.

Of course, then he was cracked down on by the DNC for not sticking to the battle plan. You can't attack your ALLIES, even if your allies are shooting your side!

I dunno, maybe it will work. Worked for the Russians.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

arendt's picture

@detroitmechworks

I'm sure you know that Stalin had the NKVD stationed behind the front lines to shoot anyone who retreated. This was even dramatized in that shitty movie "Enemy at the Gates". Hitler had SS troops behind the lines for the same purpose. The Eastern Front was absolute hell. And we think we won the war single handedly.

I'm sure I'm prejudiced, but the "into the wind" analogy is a bit cleaner than this one. Nevertheless, yours is valid and may speak to a different audience than mine.

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Equinespectre's picture

"A letter from a retired admiral said the country resembled a rusting battleship holed below the waterline"

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fuck it up, and you can tear the rigging apart -- possibly even tear the mast out.

you'll then find yourself dead in the water.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

arendt's picture

@UntimelyRippd

I will let the sailors carry on this technical debate. I am learning a lot. Maybe after this I will go rent a sunfish and take a lesson.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

arendt's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

Its impossible to track the level of response on C99. Can you say which post this is in response to? And, what is this Lifeboat you refer to?

Thanks.

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CS in AZ's picture

@arendt

which a small group of wise people built here, as a place for people to go when they foresaw that the ship had started going down.

Fascinating coincidence with your essay, that they actually called it a lifeboat!

And it has been that, for a lot of us. Thankfully it's a magical lifeboat that keeps getting bigger and expanding as more people climb aboard. (Thanks to extraordinary work of the wizards who make it happen.)

Another interesting coincidence, trump tweeting that the country is going to "heel" - yikes! While everyone is joking he means like a dog to its master, I read your essay and thought OMG, we are going over! Trump accidentally told the truth. Haha.

Excellent essay. Thanks for writing!

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CS in AZ He must have been hanging out with his friend Hillary. She likes using the metaphor of bringing dogs to heel too.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

arendt's picture

@CS in AZ

I hadn't heard that before. It does fit right into the essay's metaphor.

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arendt's picture

@CS in AZ

I hadn't heard that before. It does fit right into the essay's metaphor.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

this is why we started a Lifeboat.

Which has become a beautiful Good Ship in and of its own right!

A sane Captain and a Crew of good heart and will: it works miracles!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Wall St without a bailout for homeowners, the absence of a Jobs Bill, and, more than anything, the refusal to investigate, prosecute, or in any way punish Wall St is why the Dems lost big in 2010.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

arendt's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

bailouts for me and not for thee; and criminals? on Wall St.? what criminals?

Obama showed his Third Way colors, and it cost the DP big time.

The health insurance melodrama was just more of the same. Ignoring his own side. Trying to be bipartisan with a wolf that wanted to chew his arm off. He looked stupid, and had to be rescued by that great defender of the working class, John F-ing Roberts. Obamacare (rMoneyCare), as many here predicted, turned out to be a goldmine for the insurers, and a pretty poor deal for those who couldn't qualify for subsidies.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@arendt Oh, god, John Roberts.

I had the worst anxiety when he got confirmed. I had to keep convincing myself, over and over, not to get together all the money I could, get all of my friends and family who would come, and flee the country.

I kept getting this message from my gut:

Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

arendt's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

They have locked down just about everywhere except Russia, China, and Iran - not places I would want to go.

As for the rest of the world, there are FBI field offices everywhere. We have military presence in over 100 countries. The SWIFT financial transfer system is a weapon. Google and Facebook track your every move.

Where to run is the question of the day.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@arendt At the time, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Iceland, and even Brazil were all reasonable choices.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@arendt Really, Obama, Holder, and the Dems on Capitol Hill could not have come up with a better way of saying:

HA HA! YOU THOUGHT WE WERE ON YOUR SIDE! FUCK YOU, YOU STUPID LITTLE SHITS!

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

earthling1's picture

Riveting.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Wink's picture

differ. He suspects that should the party lean toward (Berniecrats) then Third Way would be "relegat(ed) to the scrapheap of history."
If only.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

What a PERFECT way to describe the DP.Its past the time for GENERAL QUARTERS its time to ABANDON SHIP!

BIG AND GREY AND UNDERWAY!ITS THE NAVY WAY TO SPEND THE DAY!EVERY MEALS A FEAST!AND EVERYDAY A HOLIDAY!BOHICA OUR SCREWS NEVER STOP TURNING!

"FIRST IN DEFENSE" USS FORRESTAL CVA59 1976-1980

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DW

gulfgal98's picture

I really enjoyed this essay.

I have a small analogy with hiking out. Many years ago when I was young and not as smart, my first husband and I bought a 15' day sailer. We would take it out on the weekends and when the winds would come up, we would sail in the bay. The boat had hiking straps for your feet. So when we headed into the wind, it was my job to hike out. Sometimes my ankles would get tired, and suddenly I would find myself slipping into the water when I could no longer hold on. My then husband had to turn around and pick me up which he did. We were both terrible sailors and when we sold that boat, I did not miss it one bit.

The analogy for me is the poor people were the ones charged with the job of hiking out on the Dem's boat. As they got weary trying to keep the Democratic boat upright by hiking out, the poor also slipped off into the water. But instead of turning around to pick them up, the Democratic boat simply sailed on leaving them to fend for themselves and drown.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

thanatokephaloides's picture

As a member of a long-time New Deal/Great Society Democratic family, I have considered the situation of all such people carefully. As our beloved gulfgal98 put it so very well:

The analogy for me is the poor people were the ones charged with the job of hiking out on the Dem's boat. As they got weary trying to keep the Democratic boat upright by hiking out, the poor also slipped off into the water. But instead of turning around to pick them up, the Democratic boat simply sailed on leaving them to fend for themselves and drown.

I feel very much this same way. And still, many of these same people swim like mad to struggle back on board anyway.

The Grateful Dead (via Bob Weir/John Barlow) has a song which fits these poor souls to a "T". It's called "Lost Sailor" :

Compass card is spinning
Helm is swingin' to and fro
Ooh where's the dog star
Ooh where's the moon
You're lost sailor
You've been too long at sea (note 1)

Some days the gales are howling
Some days the sea is still as glass
Ooh reef the mainsail
Ooh lash the mast
You're lost sailor
You've been too long at sea

Now the shore-lights beckon
Yeah there's a price for being free

Yeah the sea birds cry (note 2)
There's a ghost wind blowin'
It's calling you to that misty swirling sea
Till the chains of your dreams are broken
No place in this world you can be

You're lost sailor
You've been way too long at sea
Now the shore-lights beckon
Yeah there's a price for being free

Drifting yeah drifting
Yeah drifting and dreaming

'Cause there's a place you've never been (note 3)
Maybe a place you've never seen
You can hear her calling on the wind
Go on and drift your life away
Yeah just drifting and dreaming
Maybe drift your life away
Drifting and dreaming
Yes I'm going on a dream
Maybe going on a dream
Maybe going on a dream
Maybe going on a dream

(1) Bob Weir often sang "Been way too long at sea"

(2) It sounds as if Bob Weir sometimes sang "Hear the sea birds cry"

(3) The end is largely improvised.

lyrics source -- official Grateful Dead

[video:https://youtu.be/W0LWGspyy1o]

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

thanatokephaloides's picture

I see only one scant hope for restoration of the Democratic Party as our New Dealer grandparents knew it; and it fits the nautical theme of this Essay, too.

It's to stage a full-scale mutiny and go completely Pirate:

[video:https://youtu.be/vDP6MUsqGYQ]

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Coming soon to a DNC meeting near you.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

I'm trying to think of the nautical term for abandoning a bad captain on an island and can't seem to recall it... Started to look through the Pirate's Glossary but couldn't even recall the first letter, may FSM forgive me!

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.