Letter from Michael Moore

The Coffee Shop
1

I figured all you Michael Moore lovers would appreciate this. Instead of the typical right wing chest-beating this kind of thing usually provokes around here, I’m interested in what you think on the abuse analogy the woman uses to describe the two parties. Please, no more lame “this letter shows why the Democratic party will lose” responses.

Subject: It’s Time to Stop Being Hit… a letter from Michael Moore

Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 01:33:11 -0800

12/13/04

Dear Friends,

It is no surprise that the Republicans are sore winners. They have spent the better part of the past month beating their chests, threatening to send to Siberia any Republican who doesn’t toe the line (poor Arlen Specter), and promising everything short of martial law if the Democrats don’t do what they are told.

What’s worse is to watch the pathetic sight of the DLC (the conservative, pro-corporate group of Democrats) apologizing for being Democrats and promising to “purge” the party of the likes of, well, all of US! Their comments are so hilarious and really not even worth recognizing but the media is paying so much attention to them, I thought it might be worth doing a little reality check.

The most people the DLC is able to get out to an event of theirs is about 200 at their annual dinner (where you have to pay thousands of dollars to get in).

Contrast this with the following:

  • Total Members of Move On: More than 2,000,000
  • Total Attendance at Vote for Change Concerts: An estimated 280,000
  • Total Union Members in U.S.: Around 16,000,000
  • Total Number of People Who Have Seen “Fahrenheit 9/11”: Over 50 million
  • Total Number of You Reading This: Perhaps 10 million or more

The days of trying to move the Democratic Party to the right are over. We lost a very close election (a one-state difference) by running the #1 liberal in the Senate. Not bad. The country is shifting in our direction, not to the right. But the country was attacked and people were scared. They were manipulated with fear. And America has never thrown a sitting president out during wartime. That’s the facts. Oh, and our candidate could have run a better campaign (but we’ll have that discussion another day).

In the meantime, while we reflect on what went wrong, I would like to pass on to you an essay that a friend who works with abuse victims sent to me. It was written by a woman who has spent years working as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse and she sees many parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to last month’s election. Her name is Mel Giles and here is what she had to say.

Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the ‘new’ language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, “Why did they beat me?”

And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.

They will tell you: Every single day.

The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.

As victims we can’t stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can’t seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.

Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior. Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance. Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won’t; we will never be worthy).

And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See the Democrats cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.

How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.

First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less if you don’t resist and fight back.

Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 57 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you’ve learned, and that you aren’t going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 57 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it’s better than the abuse.

We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for, our core, must not be altered. We are 57 million strong. We are building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying, because we are trying to break free and we don’t know how.

Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: Stop responding to the abuser.

Don’t let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he’ll win, not because he’s right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders, reform the election system to make it fail-proof, stick to our message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless, cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, “loose,” irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.

Even if you do everything right, they’ll hit you anyway. Look at the poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted environment and a shoddy education.

And they don’t even know they are being hit.

How true. And that is our challenge over the next couple of years; to hold out our hand to those being hit the hardest and help them leave behind a party that only seeks to keep beating them, their children, and the kid next door who’s on his way to Iraq.

Yours,

Michael Moore

www.michaelmoore.com

MMFlint@aol.com

2

I guess he overlooked the part where the Democrats spent about $200 million dollars in ads abusing Bush. This guy is totally divorced from reality. A major career is waiting to be made by the Democrat that tell Moore and company to take a hike, much like the Republicans finally got rid of McCarthy. Bill Clinton would, and has done such things.

This bit about the Democratic Party being the victim of abuse is just precious. I hope the party runs with it. That sounds like the path back to power in a world where the major issue is terrorism. Not.

3

I enjoyed moore’s film ,as a documentary - comedy.The last few elections were the same as pushing the button at the crosswalk signal, You don’t know if the wires are connected or if you have any control, but you push it anyway because it makes you feel better. You always need a ying for the yang. Moore over looked his films entertainment value, as what got him the big box office numbers. Republicans are sore winners

4

I don’t see the analogy. I don’t really see dems apologizing or wondering how they got beat, what I see is dems saying “how could so many people be so stupid”? They don’t think they are wrong or need to change but rather they are too smart and sophisticated for what someone here referred to as the NASCAR crowd. I also don’t see Republicans as being abusive, not to mention that those being abused allow themselves to be abused. If Dems are being abused it is because the party leaders are weak. Mr. Moore has used up his 15 minutes and now he needs a way to keep himself paid so this is what you get.

As for the country moving more left than right, we’ll see, but doesn’t look that way to me.

6

while it may be interesting to note how the post-election reaction of dems is similar to an abused person, the analogy completely fails in terms of characterizing the republicans as abuser and/or prescribing a future plan of action for the dems for one simple reason: the real “abuser” of the democratic party (and apparently their 57 million believers) in this analogy is not the republicans, but the (evidently more than 57million people) who did not vote for the democrats!!! the abuser-abused analogy is thus a crude rhetorical device to frame the dem-rep debate as one between good and evil, bush as darth vader, moore as han solo, blah blah…

7

I guess he overlooked the part where the Democrats spent about $200 million dollars in ads abusing Bush. This guy is totally divorced from reality. A major career is waiting to be made by the Democrat that tell Moore and company to take a hike, much like the Republicans finally got rid of McCarthy. Bill Clinton would, and has done such things.

This bit about the Democratic Party being the victim of abuse is just precious. I hope the party runs with it. That sounds like the path back to power in a world where the major issue is terrorism. Not.

I read it differently than you. The abuse analogy is meant to illustrate the way the many Democrats reacted to losing the election. It not to be used as something to run on, but a reminder that Democrats shouldn’t try to appease their “abusers” by being more like them and abandon their own ideals. I agree with that and I, for one, will never embrace the current Republican ideals, no matter how many elections they win.

8

I am all for sticking up for your principals and advancing them in the arena of ideas. Problem is, the Democrats aren’t doing that either. They are mostly, Bush is a liar, Bush is a traitor, Republicans want to put your grandmother out in the cold, blah, blah, blah. Don’t change SS, it will destroy it. Don’t change the public education structure, it will destroy it. Don’t change immigration policy, it is racist. Don’t appoint judge so and so, he is religious.

Go ahead and advance some positive ideas. Sooner or later, their merits will prevail, if they have any merit that is.

Heck, I lost elections my entire life until 1994. After decades of attack and failure, conservatives finally learned how to advocate their policies so as to persuade a majority. Democrats haven’t hit bottom until they follow that path, rather than the path of personal destruction and fear.

9

I think AJ nailed it on the head…if you strip away the ad hominem rhetoric including the rather clumsy attempt at reframing the issue as abuse…it seems to me the Democratic policies, seem, well, kinda stale. Lets be honest, have they really progressed in any discernable way?

Peter Beinart argues that the Democratic Party will reemerge from its political exile only if it recovers a clear vision for protecting democracy and freedom from their enemies. In “A Fighting Faith,” published in the December 2, 2004 edition of The New Republic, Beinart asserts that the Democrats have been taken over by Michael Moore and MoveOn.org and is now in the hands of leaders who refuse to support the war on terror and have instead associated the party with far left positions on social and domestic issues. As a result, the Democrats have lost both elections and political capital.

10

Hmmmm. Clinton’s advisors listened to the DLC and won two Presidential elections. Conservative Democrats actually picked up seats in state legislatures this year (according to an article in USA Today). National Democrats listened to people like Moore and lost their Senate leader, three other Senate seats, and several House seats. What am I missing?

Why do Democrats like Moore mock people with “values”? What ever happened to Democrats with values? What ever happened to Democrats who believed in welfare and public school reform? What ever happened to Democrats who were not willing to sacrifice America’s small businesses at the altar of the trial lawyers? They are out there - in great numbers. When the National party starts listening to them they will start winning elections again.

11

The real problem is not with the Democrats or the Republicans, its with the American people. The American way of life has become all about thinking you can get rich someday and to hell with anyone and everything else. Its about getting your gas guzzler Ford Excursion just because you can or eating your ultra-sized EXTRA value meal because its there. People see no repercussions for what they do, and if they do, they don’t care…just get the hell out of their way!

The Republicans have simply been more opportunistic and have capitalized on a movement of people who do what they want, when they want, how they want, as big as they want. The Republican party does less to get in their way and that is why they win elections. Terrorism is just viewed as another threat to this American way of life. To me, a better analogy than abuse is parenthood. The American people are teenagers and the Democratic party is trying to be dad and tell them the responsible thing to do. The majority of voting Americans would rather be irresponsible because it is simply a hell of a lot more fun. The next generation can worry about responsibility right?

Again, its not a Republican thing or a Democratic thing, its an American thing. We don’t take care of our people because we are too busy taking care of ourselves. Only when we fall from power and mature as a nation and as a people, will we truly have the ability to become a great country. For the sake of the rest of the world, I hope that day comes soon.

12

I guess I don’t get the bit about Democrats telling the people the “responsible thing to do.” The Democrats are the party opposing any religious influence, any consequences for promiscuity with free abortion on demand and the making of all morals relative.

I think a more accurate description of what you are driving at is the national Democrats think people are stupid (teenagers as you put it) and need to be sheparded by the much smarter, self appointed elite (parents as you put it) that know what is best for them. Thus we can’t allow parents to choose what school to send their children to because the parents are too stupid. We can’t allow people to control part of their own retirement accounts because they are too stupid. We can’t allow people to control the healthcare system, we must nationalize it instead, because they are too stupid. We must tax away more of their income and allow the government to spend their money because the government is wise and people are stupid. We must let the trial lawyers take care of people because they are too stupid to take care of themselves. We must provide preferences to favored minority groups because they are too stupid to make it on their own.

As you put it, the problem is with the American people. They are apparently too stupid. I wish you would occasionally just consider that collectively and on balance they are far wiser than any one of us.

Hey, maybe the Democrats are right about some or all of the above. So go ahead and articulate policies and form arguments to persuade people of the merits of your wisdom. Spare us the Bush is a traitor, Bush is a liar, Bush is trying to stave old people, blah, blah, blah.

I am still hoping you will give us Lieberman.

13

Michael Moore is to the democrats what Pat Buchanan is to the republicans. A fringe player who vocally speaks for a very, very small minority of the party. The democrats I know do not follow or trust Moore. They enjoyed farenheit 9/11 just as i did: as the funniest comedy fantasy of the year.

14

Various demographic trends, moral issues, and social trends have been offered as explanations for America’s voting patterns. Missing from most of these discussions is something very obvious, very important, and very controversial–the “baby gap.” Writing in The American Conservative, Steve Sailer identifies the baby gap as the factor almost no one mentions, even though the baby gap is “correlated uncannily with states’ partisan splits in both 2000 and 2004.”

Sailer summarized the correlation between fertility rates and voting patterns in the 2004 election. “The three New England states where Bush won less than 40 percent–Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island–are three of the four states with the lowest white birthrates, with little Rhode Island dipping below 1.5 babies per woman.” On the other hand, “Bush carried the 19 states with the highest white fertility (just as he did in 2000), and 25 out of the top 26, with highly unionized Michigan being the one blue exception to the rule.” Sailer went on to identify West Virginia, North Dakota, and Florida as the red states reporting lower fertility rates.

Parenthood, fertility rates, and voting patterns correlate so closely precisely because voting patterns reveal values and worldview commitments. The “baby gap” phenomenon draws attention to two related realities. In the first place, conservatives tend to have more children than liberals. Secondly, parenthood tends to influence voters in a more conservative direction. The responsibilities, experiences, and disciplines of parenthood–along with a parent’s obvious concern for the future–tend to move child-rearing voters to the right.

15

I guess I must have seen this analysis before. It is hard to argue with.

As an example, Democrats do well with women voters in general, but it is only because they do so well with single women. They fare poorly among married women.

The hand that rocks the cradle really does rule the world.

16

– I guess I don’t get the bit about Democrats telling the people the “responsible thing to do.” The Democrats are the party opposing any religious influence, any consequences for promiscuity with free abortion on demand and the making of all morals relative.

I think Dems draw the line between religion and morality. You don’t need to pray to god and attend church every Sunday to care about your fellow man. And just because you go to church doesn’t make you a better or more valid part of society, like I think many believe. These two distinctions are obvious. I am not religious, never attend church, never even read the bible, and I would put myself up against any religious person I know in terms of moral decisions. Why? – simple parenting! Many go to church but they don’t follow any of the teachings (well, except the one about gays being bad). I think this is so prevalent that it is a fair stereotype. In terms of abortion, that is one area where social conservatives think people are too stupid to make a decision. They can make every other decision in life but that one — WTF?

– I think a more accurate description of what you are driving at is the national Democrats think people are stupid (teenagers as you put it) and need to be sheparded by the much smarter, self appointed elite (parents as you put it) that know what is best for them. Thus we can’t allow parents to choose what school to send their children to because the parents are too stupid. We can’t allow people to control part of their own retirement accounts because they are too stupid. We can’t allow people to control the healthcare system, we must nationalize it instead, because they are too stupid. We must tax away more of their income and allow the government to spend their money because the government is wise and people are stupid. We must let the trial lawyers take care of people because they are too stupid to take care of themselves. We must provide preferences to favored minority groups because they are too stupid to make it on their own.

Its not that people are too stupid, its that people don’t give a rip about the greater good. Bottom line is conservatives don’t want to give their money for the greater good. To make themselves feel better about it they claim that government is big and clumsy and government needs to slim down and fix itself. They don’t care about healthcare for all people, they don’t care about the environment, all they really care about is how much money they can stick in their wallet. They don’t trust government. Whatever you do just do not tax them, as they would rather, harbor that money and decide best how to spend it! Its not that people are stupid, they are just very predictable.

– As you put it, the problem is with the American people. They are apparently too stupid. I wish you would occasionally just consider that collectively and on balance they are far wiser than any one of us.

I disagree, collectively and on balance, this country is a bunch of spoiled brats. We have it well off in this country, and when you have it so well off human nature tends to continue to want it more well off and the greater good goes out the window, and so does compassion for other humans. But at least you are attending church every Sunday so you are ok with god.

– Hey, maybe the Democrats are right about some or all of the above. So go ahead and articulate policies and form arguments to persuade people of the merits of your wisdom. Spare us the Bush is a traitor, Bush is a liar, Bush is trying to stave old people, blah, blah, blah.

Its not about either party being right or wrong its about priorities. Conservative priorities now seem to center around money in the wallet and about freedom to live life as they see fit (unless you want an abortion, are gay, don’t want prayer in schools, etc.). For many, I think the Democratic party has really become a bit of a drag always talking about responsibility to people, the environment, and other nations.

The government is only as responsible as its people. Until there is a compelling reason for personal responsibility to this nation, irresponsible government will prevail.

17

– The responsibilities, experiences, and disciplines of parenthood–along with a parent’s obvious concern for the future–tend to move child-rearing voters to the right.

If this is true, then the big question is why does parenthood move a voter to vote Republican?

19

– That is the closed minded, condesending bullshit that will have you guys losing everytime.

Maybe instead of thinking that it is a competition and that you are a winner and the other party is losers you could try thinking about what is actually right?

And who are the “you guys” you always refer to is? Americans? The human race?

– For fucks sakes man reread what you just wrote. Who are you tell me what the greater good is and how I can effect it. That just pisses me off. What the fuck have you done for the greater good of the world to put you on such a high mountain to tell people what they do is wrong and you know what is right.

I reread it and I like it better the second time around. I’m on no high mountain, but I’m not afraid to open my wallet up for things that benefit our country as a whole. I don’t see that mentality from the other side as they will vote for whoever is less likely to raise their taxes.

– You are a prime example of why your kind are a dying breed. Thank god.

I guess the rest of the world is a dying breed too then. Only right-wing Americans will survive. That is laughable. Dude, wake up, your type is a minority in the world. Thank god or science.

20

If you asked a conservative if they want health care for everyone, I doubt you would find any who would say no. The problem isnt the want, it’s the means. How do you pay for it? The quality and quantity of socialized medicine would be a step back in a lot of cases for the United States.

Do I believe that people need help from time to time. Absolutely, I wouldn’t be where I am today without the help of a lot of nice people. But the government didn’t have to step in to help me.

Living in a very large city I see government waste every day. I ride public transportation past the lumbering, burned out social experients of the 60’s and 70’s that democrats said would save the masses. The housing projects that were so nicely depicted in Good Times just made more of a social mess because the government couldn’t control them for what they were intended for. They started out as places for people to get back on their feet and off of welfare. They ended up being places where some people, not all, languished for generations living off the system that was supposed to be helping them.

FWIW I think the democrats are more into taking my money and giving a man a meal for a day instead of teaching that man how to make his own meals for the rest of his life.

21

Well, fair enough, but like Dean and Moore, I still don’t see any policy articulated and defended in which you are promoting the greater good and even trying to persuade people of the merits of your positions.

I do see attacks against those with differing opinions, however. Where did you get the bit about conservatives not caring about others? The red states are nearly all at the top of the list in terms of charitable donations as a percentage of income. I have always thought the term compassionate conservative was redundant.

I also miss the bit about people not caring about the collective good. I can’t remember the last time I saw a land conservation proposal or bond issue fail. These proposals are explained and advocated. People see their wisdom. They pass. Funny how that works. Maybe there is a lesson there. Maybe democracy even works pretty well most of the time. Imagine that, even with all those dumb, spoiled people.

I think you oversimplify even about abortion. A more precise statement of the conservative position would be that this should be a legislative matter left up to the states and the people. As in most issues, conservatives trust the people to get most things right, most of the time. Liberals don’t. Instead they prefer policies be dictated by elites, in this case, by the courts.

22

First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less if you don’t resist and fight back.

Instead, you walk away.

How about the 45 million and counting victims of abortion? They can’t walk away and they can’t speak up for their rights. They’re dead. This is abuse at its worst and it’s being promoted by these very people.

Perhaps the Dems are simply killing off their own supporters.

Don