The problem with paranoia

Political paranoia comes and goes. There is always some in any political group, it seems, but at times it blooms out of the background like a red tide, and dominates a locality before dying back. At the moment the Deaniac division within the Democratic party is undergoing just such a bloom. As James Taranto mentions in today's "Best of the Web", political paranoia can be confusing. Can you even trust your own heroes?

Suppose the Republicans and Democrats really were conspiring to keep the "repukes" in power and the Dems in the minority. What kind of DNC chairman would they want? Well, how about someone given to shooting off his mouth and drumming up the base while insulting vast numbers of voters? Isn't it clear that Howard Dean is in on the conspiracy? DemocracyInaction [ed: a blog commenter] isn't paranoid enough.

Not being prone to paranoid fantasy, I don't think that Howard or any Democrats are secretly trying to keep the Republicans in power and the Deaniacs in the distant minority. There are people who are trying to do that, of course, they're called Republicans. The DNC chairman and others in his party are doing what they can to reverse their fortunes in good faith. That they may, in fact, be helping the Republicans, is due to foolishness and bad strategy, which are much more common than crafty conspiracies.

The best strategy for the Republicans is to never attack Howard Dean. Just give him all the publicity, read that as "rope", he wants. I write about his antics because I do care about the Democrats. I also care about some of the issues they champion. I would personally love to see the party jettison the loonies and replace them with people who can command respect and influence minds. That would force the Repub's to do the same with their "screamers", and American politics would become less entertaining, but a good deal more effective.