{"id":3137,"date":"2008-04-24T07:40:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-24T13:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/off-and-running\/"},"modified":"2008-04-24T07:40:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-24T13:40:00","slug":"off-and-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/off-and-running\/","title":{"rendered":"Off and running"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Jim Scarantino<\/span> <\/p>\n

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Hello to Heath\u2019s readers. I am excited about this opportunity to make a biweekly contribution to one of the finest state political sites you\u2019ll find on the Web. I hope my participation might make it even better.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

You may have seen my work elsewhere. I write for Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s Weekly Alibi<\/a>. My op-eds have been published in newspapers around the country. I am also a regular panelist on KNME-TV\u2019s<\/a> public affairs program, \u201cIn Focus.\u201d I once debated Oliver North<\/a> on his radio program. That was fun. He called me afterwards and we had a nice talk. But like Apollo Creed to Rocky Balboa, he said there would be no rematch. You can find more of my bio here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As for \u201cOff the Leash,\u201d the name of this column, does that suggest an attack dog snarling and snapping every two weeks? Maybe. If you don\u2019t agree that many of our politicians deserve to get chewed on, you either haven\u2019t been paying attention or political writers haven\u2019t been doing their job.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cOff the Leash\u201d also implies freedom to chase an idea wherever it goes. That requires keeping political ideology and partisanship out of my paragraphs. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans have any claim on my vote or opinions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I do believe words matter. Words, as George Orwell<\/a> observed in \u201cPolitics and the English Language,\u201d can be used for either \u201cexpressing (or) for concealing or preventing thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Orwell also wrote this, better than I could ever put it: \u201cPolitical language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.\u201d Orwell was challenging writing crafted to disguise British imperialism and promote Stalin\u2019s totalitarianism, both of which needed dull minds and political conformity.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

American political discourse contains many words Orwell would condemn because they dim the brain: \u201cliberal,\u201d \u201cprogressive,\u201d \u201cconservative,\u201d \u201cright-wing,\u201d \u201cleft-wing,\u201d \u201cmoderate,\u201d \u201cneocon,\u201d \u201cpatriot,\u201d \u201cradical,\u201d \u201cextremist,\u201d \u201cracist,\u201d \u201cpro-choice,\u201d \u201cpro-life,\u201d \u201cevangelical,\u201d \u201cenvironmentalist.\u201d Without these words, some television political shows would be half as long.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sometimes words strangle dialogue. \u201cThe worst thing one can do with words is surrender to them,\u201d Orwell insisted. Words can also distort reality. What of \u201cpatriotic\u201d \u201cconservatives\u201d who opposed the invasion of Iraq<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>? What of \u201cpro-life\u201d \u201cliberals,\u201d like the 40 percent of registered Democrats who oppose abortion on demand? Or \u201cprogressive\u201d \u201cevangelicals\u201d who call for fighting global warming and poverty as fervently as they oppose same-sex marriage? Or \u201cracist\u201d \u201cprogressives\u201d who invoke skin pigment and ethnicity to explain every injustice and inequity?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We can miss the truth of what is happening in the world unless we take our minds and language off the leash of phrases and ideas others have manufactured for us.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Enough already with the philosophy of political commentary. \u201cOff the Leash\u201d also means I get to be playful, like a frisky pup loose in a park. Thank goodness. For the mental health of the author, political writing can\u2019t always be serious. The absurdity of politics and its practitioners is a resource not to be wasted. In New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>, we\u2019ve been especially blessed with this resource.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This introduction gives some idea of what to expect in future columns. See you in two weeks. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Scarantino<\/a> has been recognized as one of the country\u2019s best political columnists by the American Association of Alternative Newsweeklies<\/a>. His work has been published in more than 50 newspapers. You can contact him at jrscarantino@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jim Scarantino Hello to Heath\u2019s readers. I am excited about this opportunity to make a biweekly contribution to one of the finest state political sites you\u2019ll find on the Web. I hope my participation might make it even better. You may have seen my work elsewhere. I write for Albuquerque\u2019s Weekly Alibi. My op-eds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scarantino-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}