[NewMusic] Indiana

[Matthew Goodheart]

>>
>>>> In all seriousness, I have noticed the bay area becoming more
>>>> conservative over the years.
>>

>> What we have in this country is a one- party system with two right 
>> wings.
>>
>> I don't know if the bay area or the entire nation is becoming more 
>> conservative, or if it just *seems* that way because of the  fascists 
>> in Washington in control. . . (also fed with a generous dose of 9/11 
>> inspired brownshirt fervor).
>>

In thinking about this today (as if I have nothing f#@king better to 
do. . . ), I think there are two additional reasons. First is the 
impact of 9/11, where a good number of anti-war people found themselves 
supporting the invasion of Afghanistan- the usual "no war for any 
reason" just did not fly: I remember this particularly telling moment 
when someone at KPFA was interviewing one of the women from RAWA; the 
interviewer was talking about the great work RAWA does, and then 
pointedly asked (with a clearly evident tone of derision) "well, what 
do you think about this invasion of Afghanistan?" to which the woman 
from RAWA replied "I totally support the invasion. It is the only way 
to topple the Taliban and stop the murder of women."  The interviewer 
was really thrown for a loop. . . they had no comeback. It was a 
telling moment of fragmentation for the more simple-minded and 
absolutist "left."

The second is that Bush and co. are SOOO BAD, that the lesser of two 
evils really is the lesser of two evils. In the Clinton era, there was 
a lot of talk from the so-called "left" about how the parties were the 
same, how both parties endorsed the neo-liberal economic policies of 
NAFTA and GATT, there was the Seattle WTO talks which were shut down 
for a short time by protests, etc. And then there was the Ralph Nader 
candidacy. But the seizure of the presidency by Bush and Co., along 
with the one-party rule in the congress, left no place for the folks 
who asked the deeper questions to go. It was telling that in the last 
election Noam  Chomsky endorsed Kerry: he said something like "Well, 
even though the parties only have minor differences between them, minor 
differences can have dramatic effects when so much power is involved.  
Since we haven't done the work to create real alternatives, we have to 
make a choice as to which will cause less damage, and this is one of 
those elections where it really does make a difference."

On the other hand, dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and the fact 
the health care and the environment seem to be on the table in 
political discourse gives one hope for the possibility of some positive 
change. But remember, political discourse is usually far and away from 
what most people actually think in this country. For example, public 
opinion polls are often at great odds with what the politicians of both 
parties say is "important;" health care has been ranked as extremely 
important for years. But then, a majority of Americans think the world 
is 6000 yrs old, too.