The new mafia -- or: No Republican ever called me racist

Forgive a rambling personal message, but it is the weekend.

I just received a "fuck off" letter from a former friend. A sad business -- but what made it infuriating was being told that I have not done anything in my life "that did not benefit you."

This, from a reporter who is paid for her efforts, as I am not.

Over the years, similar accusations have flavored quite a lot of the hate mail coming here. "I don't like you" isn't enough. People feel obligated to presume bad intentions, hidden motives and greased palms.

Nobody's intentions are entirely pure. One can scry selfish motivations into the most altruistic thing ever done by you, by me, by Mother Theresa, by anyone.

Still, this blog is not monetized; even the few Adsense dollars now head into someone else's pocket. I've turned down many requests to speak on the radio or to give lectures. I've refused offers of paid writing gigs (although I once was tempted, when hungry). I actively discourage all permanent links to this site. The one time I asked my readers for money, it went to someone else.

For four years, I've written about causes I believed in, writing for the sake of writing -- operating in the Gita-approved fashion, doing a perceived duty without thought of result. Does that stance count as altruism? Perhaps not. Obsession or habit may be considered ignoble motives. Nevertheless, the fact remains: I would be affluent if I had put my energies toward the fetching of lucre instead of insisting on fighting my miserably flawed idea of the good fight.

Yet I am routinely accused of taking pay-offs, and of being a shameless publicity seeker. If I had appeared on the radio, do you have any idea how much sheer shit would be thrown at me? "So now Cannon is spreading his disinformation in other media..." God only knows what kind of backlash would occur if I received even the smallest check for my keyboard-clobberings.

So why do these accusations hit me and not my former friend? She is paid; I am not. She seeks publicity (for good reason and good cause); I do not.

The answer finally hit me. Nobody accuses her of taking a pay-off precisely because she gets paid for her work.

The progressive movement has become a mafia. If you make a living from your writing, you have to operate within certain strictures -- you cannot piss off Da Mob.

The conservative movement is an even worse mafia, of course, and all writers on that side of the aisle must follow their own version of The Party Line. Of course, the pay is better over there.

I can name two prominent leftish writers who refuse to take a public stand on the current Obama/Clinton mess. If pressed, these writers will insist that they must remain focused on matters more important than a mere election. The real reason for their epic disinterest is, I suspect, money.

Left-wing political writers who eke out a living from their work dare not piss off the progressive mafia. If they do, they soon will be reduced to slurping down 39-cent mac-n-cheese while praying that the knock on the door is someone other than the landlord.

Savor the paradox, grasshopper: Those who write for free may write freely. That is why they stand accused of being purchased. Those who take money are never accused of doing it for the money.

I make this point not to criticize writers who get paid. Of course they deserve recompense for their labor; I know that my former friend deserves better payment than she receives. But writers who desperately need that undersized check understand that they had best not alienate the audience.

Hence, unconscious self-censorship. Hence, jealousy of those unfettered few who speak their minds.

I am uncensored, and thus I receive daily insult from progressive mobsters. This behavior has gone on for years -- long before the Obama/Clinton brouhaha. The prog-mob has taught me to hate the people I once sided with.

Remember when Muhammed Ali said "No Vietcong ever called me 'nigger'"? Well, no Republican ever called me 'racist.'

To be frank, I simply cannot hate Republicans any more, at least not on so visceral a level. Yes, I know that powerful conservatives do all sorts of evil under the sun. On the other hand, they don't insult me as the progs daily do.

Would the progressive mafia do less evil if granted power?

As you mull over that point, consider Arianna Huffington. If you don't know her history, look it up, or wait for my upcoming piece. When she was a Republican, she once had a bizarre plan for a power-grab -- ruling from behind the throne, due to her foreign birth. She also pretended to be an Orthodox Christian even though she was baptized into a particularly hideous cult.

Yet she has now become a queen within the Democratic Party. Lifelong Dems such as myself no longer are considered welcome, thanks to the "tiny tent" strategy favored by progs. Arianna lives in luxury but is never accused of being in it for the money. She adores publicity but is never accused of being a publicity hound. Those who know her true history understand that she once had her eye on the presidency itself, and that her ultimate intent was the total destruction of all social welfare programs -- in short, ultra-Libertarianism. Yet no-one now questions the purity of her motives.

The only thing that keeps me writing is hatred. Hatred of the mafia. Da Mob destroyed the left. I know I cannot destroy Da Mob, but I will nevertheless do what little I can. It's a Gita thing.