Anger is Good

Glenn Greenwald has a good post this morning The Virtues of Anger and Passion, that discusses a couple of important issues – first, how totally disconnected the supposed Democratic political experts are from the reality of America's citizens and second, how being angry is good when thinking about the disastrous condition Bush and his thugs have put America in. Some excerpts:

The single most erroneous and destructive premise among the Beltway political class -- which includes the Democratic consulting class along with their intellectual twins in the David-Broder-led punditry circles -- is that anger and passion are the enemies of successful political movements. They preach a mindset of fear and defensiveness -- never articulate a view too strenuously and never be driven by principle or passion because to do so renders one an unmoderate extremist who will alienate normal Americans........

Democrats so rarely mold, shape or drive public opinion because their consultants and pundits operate from the premise that passion and principle are to be avoided at all costs. Stripped to its essence, the core advice of these consultants, which most national Democrats have been embracing, is to follow, not lead. But Americans -- understandably -- want to elect leaders, not followers, and that is why nothing has been more damaging to the Democratic Party brand than the self-consciously clever, soul-less, fear-driven advice of their consultants to abandon their own beliefs............. (emphasis added)

The Democratic consultants who told Joe Sestak not to advocate troop withdraw from Iraq -- even though, as a military veteran and national security expert, that is what he believes is best for his country -- suffer not only from a serious character defect but also towering strategic stupidity. Everyone other than the most self-deluded Bush followers recognize that the core impetus for the collapse of the Republican Party's popularity is the public's anger and disgust over the deceitful way we were led into Iraq and the subsequent ineptitude and dishonesty that has characterized our ongoing disastrous occupation............

Why would anyone advise a Congressional candidate -- let alone a military veteran and national security expert -- to sound as much as possible like the embarrassingly unpopular George Bush when talking about the equally unpopular war in Iraq? It's because they have an intrinsic and by-now instinctive fear of their own political views and have adopted, as their guiding principle, the mandate that all strongly-held (and, even more so, clearly articulated) convictions must be avoided at all costs......

But all of this happens precisely because Republicans want Democrats to be afraid of advocating their views and to think that they have to run away from them. The Rovians know what the hapless Democratic consultancy mystifyingly fails to see -- that anger and passion are the keys to political success. Several months ago, I wrote a post about the virtues of anger in response to a worried, fretful column by Richard Cohen lamenting (based upon some mean e-mails he received) that the Democrats will be doomed by anger. This is part of what I wrote:

Most successful political movements need passion. Anger, when constructively directed, is a potent and inspiring passion. It is noble to be angry about dangerous situations and corrupt leaders, and there are few passions which can compete with anger for inspiring oneself and others to meaningful action. Conversely, those who are entirely devoid of anger are often lifeless, limp, uninspiring figures who seem to be drained of soul and purpose. . . .

. . . That is why the Right encourages this idea among Democrats that anger is fatal and to be avoided - even as they perfect the art of using it themselves. They know from lots of experience that a political party that coalesces around its impassioned anger can be very successful. The sooner Democrats figure that out, the better off they will be.

Get angry America, let it boil. Then go vote!!

Posted on The Human Stain