The Political Value of Anger

Once again Glenn Greenwald hits the nail on the head:

Anger and passion are indispensable weapons for overcoming indifference and motivating political action. Particularly in a non-presidential election -- but, really, always -- people need a reason to care about the outcome. If a political party can't even muster enough conviction in its own views to articulate clear ideas -- if candidates like Joe Sestak had listened to the listless, fear-based advice from consultants "not to talk about pulling troops out of Iraq, arguing it would only encourage the image of Democrats as weak on national security" -- then Democrats are not going to motivate anyone to even care enough if they succeed, let alone take action to promote that outcome. Why would anyone?

This applies here in Canada as well of course, the mushy mainstream middle offered by the top Liberal leadership candidates does not offer a real viable energized alternative to the ideological right wingers of Harper's Conservatives.