Thursday, May 10, 2012

Imminent Demise


As today's Republican party divests itself of any trace of sanity, is it any exaggeration to say they'd rather usher in the end of the republic than compromise on anything? From the guy that just beat Dick Lugar, who was hardly a flaming liberal, but a senator occasionally able to see complexity, look for middle ground, if not go all the way to it:

"I have a mindset that says bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view," he said Wednesday on "Fox & Friends."

TeabaggR heroes, people of this sort, have neither any understanding of nor, other than as a campaign slogan, love for democracy. In what way is this not totalitarianism? How about the call for armed revolution if Obama is reelected? Does that sound like respect for the electoral process? (If you follow the link, you'll also be treated to the characterization of Obama as a "political socialist ideologue." The power of Fox "news" cannot be overstated, nor its willingness to deceive. Nor the ease with which it succeeds.)

The right, unabashedly, has adopted Orwell as its model (now that Ayn Rand has been outed): up is down, war is peace, lies are truth. And, as they see his facility with lying and rewriting history even as the blood of it hasn't yet dried, they'll rally around Rominee as they never thought possible. Anyone would have made the "easy" call to go after bin Laden, say Mitt and the RWS™. (Among the sayers is Donald Rumsfeld who, presented with much stronger evidence at Tora Bara and far less downside risk, feared and failed to give the okay.) Mitt claims credit for the auto bailout, as if his words at the time were never uttered. (Yes, he called for an orderly bankruptcy, but, showing his lack of understanding of the times and of how the economy works in crisis, insisted private investments be made, even though his former firm, like every single possible private-sector lender, refused to provide capital, leaving the US as the only viable source. So what was done was exactly what Rominee predicted would mark the end of the auto industry. But, see, it took me a few words to explain it: and teabaggers aren't much into sentences with that many meaningful words in them...)

As I watch it unfold, as we all are witness to the cynicism of the Republican efforts to deceive voters and to falsify the record, peddling lies about Obama, and as their befuddled followers show no sign of resisting it, let alone evidence of desire for truth, it's becoming clearer and clearer: in the unlikely event that Obama wins reelection, it'll only defer the inevitable. Because the right will never accept it, and they'll only redouble their efforts next time around, up the volume, lower the bar, say and do anything to get back their power, in complete disregard for the process, leaving integrity behind. Counting on haters and conspiracy theorists to add their votes to those of the deceived.

And here's the great irony: those who claim that if Obama is reelected we'll see the end of our democracy are exactly right. It's just that, having begun closing the lid decades ago when they hit upon the strategy of propagandizing and uneducating, they'll be the ones to pound the final nail.


1 comment:

  1. It appears that the RWS are hellbent on a "revolution" - but in their case, may include the military industrial complex siding with them. Here, their intent more closely resembles - not a "revolution" - but more of what they would, in retrospect, label the rightful management of an "insurrection".

    In spite of all the moralistic preaching and allusions to the importance of "diplomacy", the "rule of law" and the power of dissent and discourse, a review of
    American History reveals that it has ALWAYS come down to "Might Makes Right" where those with superior firepower have lied and employed trickery while simultaneously employing barbarous savagery to dominate and decimate those who attempted to pursue a more high minded approach.

    So, unfortunately, when all is said and done, those of us who strive to achieve something of a genuine and fair understanding achieved through dialogue rather than than dominance established with a big stick, need to appreciate that WE need to take steps to become better prepared to meet the military confrontation that WILL certainly come from those armed with everything but logic.

    It is similar to the paradox of the need to be absolutely intolerant of intolerance. But unless we take positive steps to adequately prepare, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to appreciate that only a bad end can result from the mindlessness being promulgated by the .001% who occupy the very pinacle of the American socio-economic pyramid.

    Never in world history has truly meaningful change toward a more equal sharing of resources been achieved by "convincing" those who hold the power to give it up without the exercise of might and spillage of much blood. I can't imagine why we should expect anythingt to be different now.

    Rick

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