Today, Occam's Hatchet posted a diary,"On Gettysburg, Impeachment, and the Left Flank", which begins as follows:
Once upon a time, a group of people on the Far Left side of a great battle took a stand, and it saved this country.
I recommended the diary because I think it's well-written, but in my opinion, Occam's Hatchet could not be more wrong. He falls into the error of mistaking a metaphor for what he hopes it will represent.
The condition progressives face at this time cannot reasonably be conceptualized as a military battle. Generally, people like those kinds of metaphors because we understand them, but OR's diary reflects a profound oversimplification of where we are, what our charge is, what our limitations are, and how we can--and can't--proceed toward our goals.
More on the flipside.