Moving On

I actually planned a long, Pulitzer Prize eligible piece to end my blogging career on this blog, complete with citations to Paul Kennedy, Jared Diamond, Barbara Tuchman, the latest books by Fred Pearce on water crises and on the speed of our warming. I was going to list all the areas, from corrections to infrastructure, from habeas to imperial, from debt to fiscal paralysis, from Iraq to China, all the areas that we have demonstrated ourselves incapable of dealing with effectively and which will require far more than any of the announced candidates (notice I left out Gore) will be able to get done even if our election "system" manages to produce the right outcome in 2008. I was going to tirade on the sold-out media, the main-streaming blogworld (you were right, Billmon), the general breakdown of our major institutions, and, of course, the unforgiveable and monumental failure of the Democratic Party at this key moment in time.

But usually it's the little things that finally push you over the edge. I'm not a member of MoveOn, don't really care that much about them. But the fiasco that was the Senate resolution to condemn them--which should never have gotten to the floor, which should never have received a Dem vote, which came when all the other things above are stalemated, simply epitomized everything wrong with our media, our blog world (good god, bloggers saying Petraeus didn't deserve it, it was harmful to our side????), and most of all, the one institution that once again caved to people who barely represent the views of a third of the public--well, it said it all.

I appreciate all the people saying not to give up or even those who condemn those of us walking away. But they're wrong. I've been watching this happening for 35 years, and hearing responses change from "it can't happen here" to "it's not happening here" to "we can stop this" to "good god, people, get off your asses and get out there." Please. There are times when nations lose control of their fate. The US has. And only external events and perturbations have forced those nations off the courses they were on, through trauma, yes, but that's where we are now. We do not have the personal or institutional capacity to right what has been made wrong. That's not giving up. It's what any outside realist or any unvested observer would fairly conclude. It's time to wait for the swirl of the uncontrolled to open up opportunities for change. Working within this decrepit and corrupted system is a fool's game, and the old methods of taking communal action have been effectively shut off and obstructed. Our hope is from without, not within.

So I'm moving on. No point in the daily depressions anymore. Just watching and planning my options as the events unfold. For the weather, water, energy stuff, hit Terra Daily or Grist or Climate Progress on a regular basis. Erik Loomis at AlterDestiny has been hitting some nice riffs lately. For the politics, well, I haven't had much to say because, really, others have better fire. For the reviews and such, I may be turning up elsewhere at some point in the future. For those who have checked in regularly, thank you very much. There will still be good stuff here supplied by the others, so don't give up on the blog. They will keep your humor stoked, your interests peaked, your thoughts provoked.

And just so you don't think I have no hope at all for the future: Salma (!!!!) has just had a baby. And it's a girl!!!!!