Big Talk

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my current way of looking at the current political conflict:

1. the pro-democracy coalition versus the crank coalition

2. dogged democracy versus demoralized downsizing (more on this later)

The pro-democracy coalition wants a system where everybody counts, and everybody has to account. The crank coalition does not need to have a coherent agenda, it can merely take credit for anything good, and avoid blame for anything bad. It also merely needs to point out that the pro-democracy people are hypocrites, who made a mess of things when they were in charge.

my acronym for the CRANK coalition: Conservative Reaction Against Niceness & Kindness

The crank coalition is reacting, not just against liberalism and leftism, but also against compassionate conservatism.

key elements of the crank coalition:

1. Ordinary conservatives and moderates, not necessarily on board with the cruelty and corruption, but who stay in it for the lifestyle, and for the sake of the children.

2. Reactionaries, not necessarily conservative, but anti-liberal and anti-leftist.

Reactionaries can be further sub-divided into:

    2A. Spiteful reactionaries, who hate liberals and leftists

    2B. Peevish reactionaries, who are annoyed by liberals and leftists

3. Nihilists seeking pleasure or profit from the cruelty and corruption.

4. Ordinary swing voters, sort of incorrigibly open-minded, who can be persuaded by the argument that they tried being nice and kind, and it didn't really work, so now time to try the other thing.

Only the spiteful reactionaries, and perhaps the nihilists, can be fairly described as evil. But even if the other elements of the coalition are not evil, there is nevertheless a sort of gormless complacency about them, which is at the very least infuriating, and may well be worse than that.

But enough about the cranks! We have been talking too much about them. We need to find time to talk about better things. Victory for the pro-democracy coalition requires:

1. An exciting pro-democracy agenda, which gives people energy, inspiration, enthusiasm, and incentives to organize.

2. Assuaging people's anxieties about liberal or leftist overreach.

3. Perhaps, a certain . . . je ne sais quoi.

What do I mean by liberal or left? Liberal means having a value for freedom. Left means having a value for equality. A member of the liberal-left is someone who has a value for both freedom and equality.

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The Reiner family tragedy reminded me of the Lamb family tragedy. Charles Lamb's letter to Samuel Taylor Coleridge is important to me:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lamb#Family_tragedy 

"     MY dearest friend – White or some of my friends or the public papers by this time may have informed you of the terrible calamities that have fallen on our family. I will only give you the outlines. My poor dear dearest sister in a fit of insanity has been the death of her own mother. I was at hand only time enough to snatch the knife out of her grasp. She is at present in a mad house, from whence I fear she must be moved to an hospital. God has preserved to me my senses, – I eat and drink and sleep, and have my judgment I believe very sound. My poor father was slightly wounded, and I am left to take care of him and my aunt. Mr Norris of the Bluecoat school has been very very kind to us, and we have no other friend, but thank God I am very calm and composed, and able to do the best that remains to do. Write, —as religious a letter as possible— but no mention of what is gone and done with. —With me "the former things are passed away," and I have something more to do that [than] to feel. God almighty have us all in his keeping.

— Lamb to Coleridge. 27 September 1796"

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Next post: January 29, 2026