Wilson Withdraws, Endorses Cantwell: Whither Peace?Mark Wilson has withdrawn from his bid for the U.S. Senate and has pledged to join Maria Cantwell's campaign. I saw it first on Northwest Progressive Institute's blog (NWPI). It's an abrupt move that mirrors Wilson's political shifts in the past -- from Libertarian to Green to Democrat. Wilson's long been condemning Cantwell using a language of moral absolutism. She's a bulwark supporting the corporate state that keeps us in perpetual war, he's been telling us.
As far as I know, Cantwell's essential stance has not changed. Evidently, however, Wilson's understanding of what it means has. In his email to supporters, Wilson says:
I have had a deep and personal one-on-one conversation with Senator Cantwell. I came away convinced we are on the same path when it comes to solving the crisis in Iraq and the potential crisis with Iran.
The Green Party, in its press release yesterday (linked to on the NWPI piece cited above) included the following response from Aaron Dixon, its Senatorial candidate:
"Either Mark Wilson has been bought out or he has played a good con-game in fooling us to believe that he was fervently against the illegal and horrific war and occupation in Iraq."
Really? How does Mr. Dixon know that? Is he psychic?
The press release also includes a statement by Brent White, Vice Chair of Washington's Green Party. Cantwell, he says, has "voted with the Republican majority throughout her tenure in the Senate.". Hmm, isn't that a clearly misleading statement about a Senator who has a progressive voting record of over 88%?
The listservs are abuzz with a sense of betrayal over Wilson's move -- the word, 'depraved' has been used. I'd likely feel betrayed, too, if I had been a Wilson supporter. I don't see Wilson as depraved but we are, as a nation, perpetrating a depraved war. We are still inside an economy that's running on blood and oil. Mark Wilson appears to have backed away from explicit recognition of this fact -- a recognition we must come to as a society in order to put our house in order. I'm interested to wait and see how this unfolds. Maybe Mr. Wilson's move here will end up making more sense to me. Some initial comments on The Left Shue this morning hint at other directions and interpretations. In the meantime, here's what I see. Mark Wilson careens between seeing Cantwell as pretty much thoroughgoingly badly motived to suddenly seeing her as a person acting on really good motives that match his. The Green Party accuses both Cantwell and Mark Wilson of bad motives because -- how could someone come to a different conclusion than they do in good faith? And, I see this morning, the same old same old's going on among some vocal progressives. Depending on how their cohorts respond to the changed circumstances, they get accused of, you guessed it, bad motives. Instead of speculating about other people's motives, progressives should be working toward encouraging respect for error and tolerance for differences in the pursuit of workable solutions to difficult problems. We have a larger goal: transitioning to a more peaceful world, to an economy that does not run on blood and oil. A productive response coming from the progressive listservs this morning is a call to work on cleaning up our election mess and reclaiming democracy. This includes reducing the impact of crooked money on elections (Washington Public Campaigns), demanding fair and verifiable elections (Voters Unite and WA Citizens for Fair Elections), and re-evaluating our current all-or-nothing system that forces people to either vote for least-worst candidates or to withdraw from participation altogether (Center for Voting and Democracy.)
Wilson Withdraws, Endorses Cantwell: Whither Peace? | 13 comments (13 topical)
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