Dirty Drone Laundry

So you're an Obama supporter and you're wondering what to think about drones?

Start with this article from the New Yorker.

Last night over PBRs and some other things I had a conversation about drones with a progressive Southern hipster who came at it defending Obama. For my part, up to and including this six pack I've been fairly vocal about the current administration's hypocrisy.  But between the conversation and his whole family crashing at our place and the marathon cleaning session my wife and I did this morning to de-fratify our house, I now see clearly.

The idealism argument is slam-dunk: there should not be a secret effort to kill anyone without some sort of process, even bad guys or enemies. But the real debate is should Democrats give a shit?

If we were Republicans, we'd brazenly fall into line no matter how little evidence supported our assertion (remember weapons of mass destruction?). But Democrats love a good opportunity to tear themselves apart. Stick to ideals and lose the first opportunity in 20 years to not have to defend ourselves on national security again, or dig out our feel-good picket posters and megaphones and rip into our own party? The New Yorker knows this and that Democrats are tired of reading month after month of Republican stalwartness and that this issue will - as two arguments I've already had and a planned one for next weekend - alight with cocktail party din.

I say fuck them, and fuck the series of decisions that put us in this position. I'm going to treat this like family dirty laundry. It's a clear problem and among family I'm going to talk about the special nephew who humps the dog, but I agree with those that say we don't need to be publishing our vexation on Facebook. It's just a distraction from the real fights that the Southern hipster and I agreed upon: gutting of the middle class, corporate hegemony, and political rot.

After some consideration, I'm conceding my public anger on drones and stressing to all Democrats that if you need something to rail on, rail on the policies of conservatism that champion corporations over working people. And hope that soon we can all take a drone strike to that.