Bob Dylan used to sing about people who said Hate Nothing But Hatred. That is pretty ironic, figuring that if you are hating hate, then you are essentially negating the concept of hate. Yet it does have a very nice ring for saying hating should not exist.

Yet, hatred does exist. We hate terrorists, we hate people of color, we hate people who are gay. Not to mention those who are richer or poorer, or somehow live their lives different then ourselves. Maybe none of us hate all of those things, but few of us don't have hatreds of one type or another.

Hatred is a good thing politics, except when it becomes so polarizing that we lose perspective on what we hate so dearly. Hate after all is a driver to action. You might not like how the KKK hates blacks, but you probably support people getting involved in the government, and picking up trash from the politics.

Carl Schmidt used to theorize about politics as being about friend-enemy relationships. He noted that nothing was non-political, and democracy could only continue to exist if hatred fueled passionate debates about public policy. Clearly we need hatred, abit hatred with action.

The largest threat to democacy is not racism or homophobia. It is another form of hate, general hate. It is embraced by the nilhlist and alienate-person alike, it is a product of an overally steril political culture, that does not encourage activism and participation. When people fail to see how their causes are taken up, sometimes they seem lost.

We see general hate in the eyes of terrorists and murders. We have failed these people, they have not gotten involved, they have not be allowed to have a voice in the system. We must overcome this alienation, turning such feelings into action, and ultimately love. Love will ultimately save us all.