the mojowire

Hippy Punching in Lakeside

So it's been a couple of days since this incident and I have been trying to figure out what I want to say about it.

Disclaimer.1: Please understand that this is not boasting or bragging or just telling "war stories." This was a real incident that I think illustrates something important in our current politics; something becoming increasingly dangerous.

I guess I should start at the beginning then... See, Mrs. Mojo and I went to the rodeo here in our little town of Lakeside in east San Diego County the other night.

Disclaimer.2: I like rodeo and my wife has forgotten more about horses and riding than most any three people will know in a lifetime.

God as my witness, all I wanted to do Friday night was go out with my wife, have a beer and watch some rodeo...

At the beginning of these things nowadays, there is a bit of pro-patria political theater, and they usually ask veterans in the grandstands to stand up and get a round of applause, and when they do, I stand up. It is usually a fairly innocuous and benign display.

About 30 minutes into the first round, the rodeo clown/arena field announcer (as opposed to the booth announcer) starts bantering to kill time while they're loading more bulls into the chutes. And he starts in with a schtick he probably does at every rodeo he clowns at: "So I wanna take a poll... since it's an election year, how many proud conservative Republicans are here tonight... stand up, let's hear ya..."

There is a lot of folks jumping up and shouting and clapping and all that; then he starts, "okay... now let's see if there's anyone..."

And I'm thinking "oh just don't...please just don't," because I know what comes next.

"...dumb or brave enough to say they're a Democrat."

Through the smattering of laughter a huge voice booms out "YEAH... RIGHT HERE!" And I'm only a little surprised to find that the voice is coming from me and I'm on my feet.

And I look around... and in a rodeo stadium of about 2,500 people, I am the only person standing.

The look on the clown's face was priceless. Like I said, he probably does this schtick at every rodeo he works, and he is looking like this is the first time someone's called him on this...

Now, I won't say there wasn't a little bit of calculation here. Right now people are looking at me and thinking this all a joke bit, or that I'm some kind of space alien. But after I said that there were cartoon crickets... seriously... you could hear a pin drop.

There were two choices for me here: 1. Punk out and just sit down sheepishly, or 2. Throw Down!

My calculation was that most of these people there were just like me in one important respect: all they were looking for this evening was to have a beer or two and watch some rodeo, and they were not emotionally, psychologically prepared for this.

But if I punked, then I would have run the risk of inviting the reaction of any typical bully. So I chose option two.

I spread my arms out and started looking around, digging down and finding the command voice I learned in the military and some later training, I started in: "What?! Who's got something to say about that?!" And as I turn around facing the rest of the stands and I find I am staring down some 2,500 beered up rodeo fans...

At this point, my brain is furiously pumping rather unsubtle doses of combat preparation hormones as this odd little drama is nearing some kind of endgame.

The clown/announcer looks like he saw the potential for something bad to happen in regards to his attempt to play the crowd, so he quickly regathers his compsure, and tries to continue the bit to get me to sit the hell down, "well, how about that... hey... so how about that Obamacare... you in favor of that?"

My answer (still in command voice): "You mean the Affordable Care Act? Hell yes... we need health care for everyone." Another calculation; he wants to bring this up, fine. I dare him even on the most simplistic and base level to engage. It had the desired and expected result. This was a rodeo, not a healthcare policy debate roundtable and that was clearly where I was prepared to take this...

He said something like "well okay then..." joked it off and moved on to the next thing and I sat down.

A few minutes later, he invited me down to the arena edge to shake my hand and thank me for being a good sport. I said something that took him aback a bit:

"Hey, if I can stand up as a veteran, then I can stand up as a Democrat." He seemed to like that.

A few more minutes later I'm back in the stands, and the guys starts in again: "I don't mean to get philosophical here but..." and again I'm thinking "Oh God, just don't. I just wanted to come watch the cowboys and have a couple of beers,"

"...but that fella who said he was Democrat just said something pretty powerful to me, and I thought it was worth repeating..." There was a small knot of applause, mainly from others in the stands I saw standing up earlier as veterans.

Well... that happened, I thought. Then had to go grab a beer and walk off some of the adrenaline for a minute.

While I was walking around, I was asking myself: "what the hell got into you up there?" Turns out the answer to that question is actually pretty easy. If you are reading this, chances are you have read the Wire before. You know who we are and what we are about and we make no pretense to anything else.

I exhort people to a particular point of view, sometimes pretty stridently. I use this space as a place where I can take a public stand for those things I believe. 

If I didn't stand at that moment, I could never write another word here ever again.

Oddly enough, I was feeling bad about all this because this was horribly mortifying for Mrs. Mojo, who is uncomfortable in crowds to begin with, and hates massed attention, much less hostile massed attention.

And make no mistake... there was a genuinely dangerous moment or two of a "Chinese standoff;" where this could have all gone very bad, very fast.

Because the joke here was this: The point wasn't to see if there were any "Democrats" in the crowd. He knew there were probably a few. This was just garden variety social "hippy punching." The point was to tell anyone identifying as "liberal" or "Democrat" that we are hopelessly outnumbered so just sit down and shut up. Just lie down.

That's not me. Not ever.

And on an evening when I just wanted to go out and do something fun with my wife, to be put in that position, kind of ticked me off. Sure, you can criticize my choices here with a perfectly good argument about "choosing one's battles."

But I fear we are entering a time and place where we are increasingly not afforded that luxury. I felt like I was being asked at that moment: "you gonna put up or shut up; where are you at?"

I suppose I have my answer...

mojo sends

Amendment VII: In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States

Okay... that headline is out on a bit of a limb here, but...

Usually this would be the space where I or one of my two fellow editors engage in further outrage at the extrajudicial murder of American citizens by their own government. And you might well be justified in asking: "And this has what to do with the right of Americans to engage in at times not-so-civil litigation?"

The ACLU and their fellow travellers have filed suit on behalf of the survivors of Anwar al-Aulaqi and others Americans toad-cranked in the last year by the Obama Administration without any due process in the name of the so-called war on terrorism.

I tweeted this excellent brief yesterday from Justia.com's blog... it's a short read; check it out, I'll wait...

All done? Very well... then as you will know from your reading, the point here is that the original attempt to prevent the government from doing this was never heard on the merits.

This is a critical point, because the Stalinist right wingers currently waging an increasingly hot culture war against our traditional pluralistic values all hold up that previous decision as some sort of greenlight for extreme government sanctions against its own citizens without any kind of oversight or review that makes a functioning democracy... well... a functioning democracy.

But the judge in that case only ruled that the plaintiff at that time lacked standing to bring suit on the grounds as a proxy stand-in for other family members in jeopardy; at no time did he address the question of the legality of state's actions.

That may be about to change.

In filing what are essentially "wrongful death" suits against the government, a judge may now get to hear those arguements brought by plaintiffs with proper standing to sue.

The Obama Administration has a couple of ways around this: Ask for demurrer or summary judgement based on 1. The Political Question Doctrine for wonks only and 2. The State Secrets Privelege only slightly less wonky.

Either one is a probably a way out... as Democrats and progressives we need to let this administration know that we are watching this one carefully.

Yeah... I know, we have taken a pretty abrupt turn into electoral politics, but hear me out... right now, most professional pollsters and political bookmakers are pulling their hair out on how close this race is tightening up. At any given hour of the day, it could be either guy's race and anyone who tries to say with any definitive authority who the winner will be is a rube or a con.

The one thing they all agree on though is this: turnout will be the definitive factor.

Right now it looks like turn out will favor the Republicans. Even if Independents and swing blue-dog Dems decide to sit this one out and not vote for anyone, that will still be a net gain for the GOP, given that GOP turnout estimates for November are better than 85 percent while Dems are hovering in the mid 70s.

Now might be a good time for us to let the Obama campaign and Democratic Party at large know that if they want another turn at the wheel, then they can't ignore the turn out of their electoral base and will think twice about trying to kill this case in the crib if they want our money or votes (and yes, I am aware of some of the legal-ethical considerations here, such as failing to provide a complete and zealous defense for your client...).

Given the time it takes a suit to wend its way through the federal court system, the election will probably be done by the time we get into any meaningful litigation. But they need to know -- now -- that we want this one.

And then, of course, even if we get a short term "win," we need to come up with political leverage to get the Administratio to maintain a litigation posture that allows the case a full and fair hearing.

Polyannic? Yeah, probably... but if this is truly a "political question," then perhaps it's time to bring politics to bear. To quote the great Toby Zeigler from the West Wing: "I don't mind the fights we lose, I mind the ones we don't even suit up for."

If we can't suit up for this, then we really have lost already...

 

mojo sends