The lefties I meet are getting angrier and angrier. Their hatred of "Bush" is growing steadily. Their hearts seem filled with hate, overwhelming hate.
I've figured out what is going on.
To understand my point you need two pieces of history. The first history comes from Paul Boyer's Salem Possessed. Boyer shows that the trials and execution of innocent young women in Salem was the result of Salem being outside the circuit court system of Boston. Had there been an official court system that covered Salem, the witch trials would have stopped immediately. The absence of an institution (official court) was the cause of the hysterical Salem behavior.
The second part of history begins in 1980. Americans became certain that young children were being kidnapped on a large scale (in the 100,000s) and that the managers of day care centers were believed to be widely involved in sexually abusing children in satanic rituals. The satanic ritual abuse the public believed in was always based on the authoritative testimony of children. The phrase "children don't lie" became a national truth.
Over 200 adults were sent to prison during this period. It was a period of hysteria, during which the back yard of the McMartin Pre-school was backhoed to look for the underground room where children, who were only in school for one hour a day, claimed satanic sexual abuse had taken place.
I was removed from the hysterical realm by my wife of the time who was a lawyer and knew several of the accused satanic abusers and got to know the network of falsely accused victims.
The hysteria died off slowly in the late 1990's helped by the publication of a powerful article by Prof. Frederick Crewes in the prestigious New York Review of Books on the absurdity of the recovered memory related to satanic sexual abuse. A leading journalist, who published many articles on actual trials that helped change opinion, was Debbie Nathan. There are several websites covering this hysteria, this is a good one.
Of course the hysteria is not over, as evidenced by people who think the Friedman's were guilty in the documentary Capturing the Friedmans.
I lived inside the hysteria with full awareness of its presence. It was incredible. Nobody, I mean nobody, including my parents and brothers could listen to factual information that contradicted the hysteria. No facts could penetrate. No love could penetrate it. Nothing could penetrate it except personal knowledge and familial tie to someone falsely accused and fighting for their life.
That is what we are in today. The deep hatred of "Bush" is hysteria, the same kind that I lived through once before.
By the end of the 1980's, those of us outside the hysteria understood the cause of it. The absence of government certified day care for children and the absence of government programs to help working women care for their children. The absence of a trusted childcare institution left working women with deep distress and anxiety about the safety of their children. The missing government institution that could have dispelled this fear was the cause of the hysteria, just as the missing courts in Salem were the cause of that hysteria.
What about the hate "Bush" hysteria today, where does that come from?
The hate "Bush" hysteria comes from the absence of a Howard Dean presidential campaign. If Howard Dean, or someone like him, were running for president, the millions of people on the left who are inside this hysteria would have the necessary institution to vent their anxiety and fears.
Our society must find a way for these millions of people to have a voice to represent them.
I have no idea how this hysteria will manifest itself and act out in the public arena. I know that it will.
One possibility for acting out this hysteria is the abandonment of the Democrats in favor of a mass movement to Ralph Nader. Its not impossible. I saw a similar thing happen in the mayoral race in San Francisco last year.