A "Progressive " Blog To Watch

Back in my dark days when I was faced with a Divorce I did not want and had my world and faith turned upside down I pretty much turned to heavy drinking. Looking back it was not so much an Liquor problem but in my view a romantic and acceptable way out. THE FINAL WAY OUT. Suicide was of course a mortal sin and there was a stigma of hurting the family with such a recourse. I was going to check out but in a very southern acceptable way as it were.

Thankfully I came to my senses through God's grace and realized that on judgement day the Almighty would tell me I was full aware that what I was doing was with full knowledge and this avenue was the same as jumping off the Mississippi river bridge. In the end you can't fool God.

However even the bad had some good and my drinking crew were lawyers. In fact very liberal lawyers. I had no interest in hanging with people that agreed with me on everything. If I was going out at least the conversation would be good. They were not ACLU types who filed high minded suits against nativity scenes on Courthouse Squares but liberal lawyers that had to go to Court everyday on sundry matters and face life. Much like their conservative counterparts. In other words we find life was a tad more complicated than the Dicta in the Southern Second.

If there is a secular priesthood it is lawyers. Clients of good standing in the community have to confess things that their neighbors don't know. We were those secular priests. We could not give absolution of the Church but we listened and for most of us stood as their advocate. Being a Lawyer made me a better Catholic. I knew up close and personal man's faults but there was grace and forgiveness. I knew my struggles were much like my neighbors. I think I became a regular devotee of the sacrament of Confession partly because of that experience. In fact that devotion was what saved me.

I look back with some amusement that we must have bored the other bar patrons silly with extended heated debates over things such as the "unitary executive" and other political/legal matters. No wonder none of us got girls. But looking back I as the big conservative and they as the liberals we seemed to come to a solution on these matters and we all kept our integrity intact.

It was then I came to to huge conclusion I still believe. Most of this nations history has been governed by men that lets say settled things over the Drink. It might be disturbing to some but looking back at history I tend to think looking at the crisis of the day we were better governed by people that perhaps took much of the the drink than those that worried about how they would look on Rush or the liberal counterpart. It is hard to view your political foe as Satan over a beer.

For all I know DISSENTING JUSTICE is a teetotaler but he reminds me of my old crew. Sort of a guy that would have loved to hang out with Very honest. Neo Necon that led me to this blog said in this post

I’ve found a new blog that’s well worth taking a look at: Dissenting Justice. It’s written by Darren Lenard Hutchinson, an Ivy-educated law professor at American University.
Hutchinson describes himself thusly:

I am definitely a progressive, but I take pride in having an open mind, provoking debate, and welcoming criticism. In fact, I started this blog because liberals were absolutely uncritical of Obama during the Democratic primaries and unrelentingly harsh and hypocritical towards the Clintons. I believed that it was my responsiblity to try and shake things up, to challenge orthodox thinking, regardless of the candidate I supported. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a lack of debate and dissent. So, if you want honest and open political and legal discourse — and breaking news and commentary from news media and other blogs — then this is the blog for you.

His description of himself seems to be spot on; although I’ve only read a few things on the blog, they fit his description. Although we disagree on many points, he appears to be that rara avis, a “progressive” who dares to criticize his own party and its hypocrisy, who sometimes gives credit to the Right when he thinks it’s deserved, and who is capable of more than a little bit of critical thinking. Not only that, but he’s a graceful, clear, and fluid writer as well. A refreshing voice on the Left:

I agree. Besides Tapper of ABC news this country is very ill served by the Press so far as to President Obama. It largely goes unnoticed but President Bush had a very vocal and loud conservative peanut gallery that were opposing him on every move. I often opposed these voices but they served an important part of the debate. It is refreshing to see that the present day progressive movement might have the same needed function. Check it out.