...it is impossible to understand Conservatism in America AT ALL unless you understand that millions of Conservatives wear this special pair of glasses through which they filter everything they see.
If you continue to pretend these special glasses do not exist, or are politically trivial, you are lying.
If you continue to pretend that the GOP has not been deliberately manipulating and amplifying the warped, paranoid perceptions of these Conservatives for political gain for the last two generation perceptions, you are lying.
If you continue to pretend that there is anything remotely similar going on on the Left -- either in the breadth or degree or level of destructiveness -- you are lying.
Long ago American Conservatism was engineered by men with money and vision into an opportunistic disease designed to relentlessly attack democracy's immune system -- our courts, our schools, our free press, our electoral process, labor protections, etc. -- until the nation became weak enough to be knocked to its knees, chopped to bits and sold for parts.
And whether you like it or not, you are either a carrier of that disease or you are part of the cure.
And no, stepping aside and letting the Cliven Bundys win on the theory that, after unspeakably awful shit happens and everything falls apart and million die and Democrats have been sufficiently chastens, the Underpants Gnomes will arrive on their Libertarian unicorn cavalry to save the day is not a "viable strategy" --
And no, stepping aside and letting the Cliven Bundys win on the theory that, after unspeakably awful shit happens and everything falls apart and million die and Democrats have been sufficiently chastens, the Underpants Gnomes will arrive on their Libertarian unicorn cavalry to save the day is not a "viable strategy" --
-- so much as it is an "infantile tantrum" thrown by privileged children who have the money and connections to skip out on the horrorshow once their grand social experiment turns to shit and the Kochpocalypse reaches escape velocity.
14 comments:
Oh I say, well said sir. Well said indeed.
"Unicorn Cavalry" would be a great name for a rock band.
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The USA falling apart would be a bad thing for the common people of the USA, but for the common people of the rest of the world? I'm not so sure about that.
I doubt any other nation could take Uncle Sam's place as Darth Vader to Global Capital's Emperor Palpatine.
If so, such a collapse of the USAmerican Warfare State would leave Global Capital with no effective means of suppressing revolutions against Global Capital.
Babylon's own lords and barons will have chanted down Babylon.
At least then the other commoners of this world would have the chance possibly to build something better out of the wreckage of capitalism.
Of course Greenwald is OK with subjecting the poor to the torments of a Republican administration, for he and his cronies will easily find some way to weasel around the difficulties.
And the purity trolls will never, ever accept their share of the responsibility for enabling the Iraq War and great tax give-ways, along with the other horrors of the Bush regime. They can squeal as much as they like about feckless Democrats, but at the end of the day none of those horrible would have been thinkable without Republican operatives in control of the levers of power.
So, the Republicans are just a little bit worse than the Democrats? Fuck that noise: Democrats are the ordinary disappointments in this vale of tears, where the Republicans are a biblical plague of locusts.
Vote accordingly, and definitely vote.
Rock on, Dg.
You've no master.
No peer.
Voting the "lesser evil" has been a proud American tradition since we decided to have a two-party system. I've carried on this tradition, having voted for plenty of conservadems in the last dozen years. This is a tradition which must be upheld now more than ever, no matter how "conserva" the Dem is. The GOP must be voted out of power no matter how "feckless" the only alternative.
That said, when you lose a battle, you blame the inept generals first and the troops (for not fighting hard enough) last. Most of the responsibility for 2010 rests with the Democrat leaders. My favorite boneheaded move was when Obama bitch-slapped his base, telling us to "buck up and stop whining". Great moment in leadership. Let's hope they've learned their lesson and don't repeat their 2010 strategy in 2014.
Rest assured, I'll be holding my nose at the voting booths if they do.
Droneglass always whines about no longer having a 'responsible' conservative movement to debate with. But there is - it's called the Democratic Party.
The handwringing lesser-evilism so well represented here simply underwrites the Dems' permanent rightward trajectory.
@DP, and other "Lesser Evilists":
As long as Obummer and his fellow Dinocrats know you will always hold your nose and vote for them, no matter how many times they bitch-slap you, why shouldn't they go on bitch-slapping you as much as they please?
@ Cirze
What Cirze said. I hope you do not compare yourself unfavorably with Pierce and Digby. You're much more insightful than either of them. And my intent is not to demean either of them as they both have their strengths.
Horace Boothroyd III,
That wasn't the purity trolls who enabled the Iraq War and great tax give-ways, along with the other horrors of the Bush regime.
That was the bipartisanship of the Democrats you insist the purity trolls should be voting for.
Berto
@Monster from the Id
The solution is to take note of successful Tea Bagger tactics and primary the conservadem asses.
I'm just saying that after the primary, when the general election comes around, you have only two choices, like it or not. The Tea Baggers hold their noses when that time comes and vote for someone they're not happy with, like Romney, and we should copy that strategy as well.
Sorry, DP, but NO.
I have too much self-esteem to go back to a party which disrespects me (not that I was ever a formal member of any political party).
We have to let the Republicans takeover the entire Federal government, that way something something mass social uprising, something something utopian social democracy.
Because purity!
Also: Droneglass
The key to Greenwald's bullshit is the false choice in ``short-term interest'' versus some fairy-tale long-term reward for letting the Republicans junk the last vestiges of democracy. concept. Hand the government entirely to the Republican Party and it won't be your ``short-term interests'' that will be sacrificed. It will be your short- intermediate- and long-term interests that will be flushed away.
How many elections has Glenn Greenwald lost for the Dems, driftglass?
How about Jane Hamsher?
Right. None.
Now how many have been lost by the cynical, right-wing shitheads who control the party? And they're going to do it again in 2014.
And they'll blame the Left, because that's what Rahmbo and his associates do.
A million times, you've repeated this message? Just imagine, if you got a dime each time you'd have $100,000. But you don't. These guys get much more than that from billionaire Pete Peterson for saying the very same thing.
We have all witnessed the devastating effect that the politics of purity can have, as the Republicans grapple with the toxic impact of the Tea Party on their candidates, their congressional leadership and their governing philosophy. Let’s not become them.
Matt Bennett and Jim Kessler are both co-founders and senior vice presidents of Third Way, a think tank in Washington.
Why don't you grow up and stop humping their legs.
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