Sunday, April 30, 2006

Dissent for Descent's sake

Mark Steyn has a great column today on what he calls "Thomas Jeffefakery," meaning the oft mistaken attribution of "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" by high ranking members of the Democratic Party and leftoid columnists. He also points out that, in the case of Democrats, they really don't have much to add except dissent for the sake of dissent:

It's not what you're for, it's what you're against. Their current denunciations of Big Oil have a crudely effective opportunism but say to them "OK, what's your energy policy?" and see what answers you get: More domestic oil? Ooh, no, we can't disturb the pristine ANWR breeding ground of the world's largest mosquito herd. More nuclear power, like the French? Ooh, no, might be another Three Mile Island. Er, OK, you're the mass transit guys; how about we go back to wood-fired steam trains? Ooh, no, we're opposed to logging, in case it causes global warming, or cooling, or both.

Dissent for its own sake is like the Democrats' energy policy: We're opposed to any kind of energy; we prefer to be mired in enervated passivity.


Dissent is the closest thing to a platform that the Democrats have right now. Do not expect them to give it up lightly. That would force them to actually fashion solutions to the problems the world faces today.

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