Nontroversy
One could easily speculate that the first African American President would face extraordinary adversity perhaps ironically rivaling that of Abraham Lincoln as he took the hard stand against slavery and endured the brutality of a civil war. While the civil war we face now (and we do face one) thankfully consists more of words than muskets, the hatred and animosity is just as heart felt.
Sore losers to the core, and they are losers in a losing battle, conservatives choose fiction over fact, fabricating nontroversy into false controversy regarding birth certificates, death panels, dictatorship, fascism, socialism, racism, and most recently, allegations that a speech to school children on personal responsibility and scholarship was actually a plot to indoctrinate them into Obama's version of the Hitler Youth. I wish I were exaggerating.
I thought the end of Bush/Cheney would restore the sense of middle ground for my Independent inclinations, but the opposite has occurred. Instead of embracing the humility offered by defeat, usually leading towards the center, compromise and the willingness to work for common ground, those on the right have grown more extreme and obstinate. The shrill hatred hurled at President Obama is positively frightening. Clearly, they only believe in majority rule when they are the majority. If not, the other side are fascists.
Paul Krugman has an excellent nine page piece in the Times eloquently distinguishing the saltwater and freshwater economists. Summarizing, the financial meltdown last fall has permanently and irrevocably cemented the demise of free market worship. Game over. Smith and Friedman are dead. The free market gets you AIG. The new paradigm, behavioral finance, will end up farther from their positions than Keynes himself.
The GOP has a huge opportunity in the face of blue bungling, the opportunity to get out in front of the transformation that has to occur. If they really were about addressing the issues, they would seek to understand them and craft solutions. They are doing the opposite. Instead of grasping the new reality of economics, they're howling that Obama will seize our bank accounts. Instead of recognizing that status quo health care is unsustainable, they're screaming about granny death camps. Instead of considering the needs posed by changing demographics, they become more xenophobic. Wide eyed fanatical hysteria at nontroversies may jerk the chains of the drama addicted media and swing some polls a few points here or there, but it is not sustainable against the hard facts regarding who gets to see a doctor and who doesn't, who has a job at what pay, and the actual reality that the average American voter faces.
Why does the GOP attack every proposal yet make no proposals? Why NO to everything and YES to nothing? The answer is deceptively simple. Their YES is to a system now obsolete, disproved, and bankrupt. To grasp the new ideas required at the front, one must learn, grow, and adapt. The obsolete must be discarded. What one cannot discard one must protect and defend. The GOP is a cornered animal protecting and defending what no longer works. No wonder they're cranky and riled up.
If you want to lead people, you have to have somewhere to go.
Sore losers to the core, and they are losers in a losing battle, conservatives choose fiction over fact, fabricating nontroversy into false controversy regarding birth certificates, death panels, dictatorship, fascism, socialism, racism, and most recently, allegations that a speech to school children on personal responsibility and scholarship was actually a plot to indoctrinate them into Obama's version of the Hitler Youth. I wish I were exaggerating.
I thought the end of Bush/Cheney would restore the sense of middle ground for my Independent inclinations, but the opposite has occurred. Instead of embracing the humility offered by defeat, usually leading towards the center, compromise and the willingness to work for common ground, those on the right have grown more extreme and obstinate. The shrill hatred hurled at President Obama is positively frightening. Clearly, they only believe in majority rule when they are the majority. If not, the other side are fascists.
Paul Krugman has an excellent nine page piece in the Times eloquently distinguishing the saltwater and freshwater economists. Summarizing, the financial meltdown last fall has permanently and irrevocably cemented the demise of free market worship. Game over. Smith and Friedman are dead. The free market gets you AIG. The new paradigm, behavioral finance, will end up farther from their positions than Keynes himself.
The GOP has a huge opportunity in the face of blue bungling, the opportunity to get out in front of the transformation that has to occur. If they really were about addressing the issues, they would seek to understand them and craft solutions. They are doing the opposite. Instead of grasping the new reality of economics, they're howling that Obama will seize our bank accounts. Instead of recognizing that status quo health care is unsustainable, they're screaming about granny death camps. Instead of considering the needs posed by changing demographics, they become more xenophobic. Wide eyed fanatical hysteria at nontroversies may jerk the chains of the drama addicted media and swing some polls a few points here or there, but it is not sustainable against the hard facts regarding who gets to see a doctor and who doesn't, who has a job at what pay, and the actual reality that the average American voter faces.
Why does the GOP attack every proposal yet make no proposals? Why NO to everything and YES to nothing? The answer is deceptively simple. Their YES is to a system now obsolete, disproved, and bankrupt. To grasp the new ideas required at the front, one must learn, grow, and adapt. The obsolete must be discarded. What one cannot discard one must protect and defend. The GOP is a cornered animal protecting and defending what no longer works. No wonder they're cranky and riled up.
If you want to lead people, you have to have somewhere to go.
posted by x4mr at 6:29 PM
5 Comments:
Beautifully said.
This all makes my head and heart hurt.
What the hell did my dad fight -- and spend time in a POW camp -- for?
God help us.
Yes, Anon and x4mr. Great post that says a lot. It does make the head and heart hurt.
I think I know why you went a week without posting anything. This is a painful moment in American history. The stuff about Obama speaking to school kids really shows us (and the world) our own ass.
Even Laura Bush felt compelled to speak out.
Republicans are deer in the headlights. The global economy has completely gutted their positions.
Unburdened by the paralysis of our two party train wreck held hostage by stupidity on steroids, China is moving forward. It is slow, but it is forward. The same goes for India. Bush trashed our superpower status forever.
Sarah Palin is the poster child for Nontroversy. She's out there right now, insisting that the death panels are meeting as we speak to pick off grandma.
After grandma's toast, they're gonna fake a landing on Mars, just like the faked landing on the moon. It's all about the precious bodily fluids.
Observer, I actually know a guy who thinks the moon landing was faked.
Good post. I think it's amazing that something so obvious isn't seen by everyone.
Republican policies have totally screwed the voters that put them in power (the middle class). The middle class has gotten creamed. In addition to trashing the economy, they have totally screwed the pooch regarding demographics.
All trends show that whites will become a minority. The nation of immigrants will look like a nation of immigrants. The election math isn't difficult. The stuff posted here (earlier post) about the rural to urban shift also applies. Arizona is a perfect example of a state shifting towards blue due to the influx of people from other states.
They may get to have some push back victories in 2010, but all trends are away from the conservative positions. As x4mr likes to say, "It's physics."
Nav -- the Arizona Daily Star did a story about the moon-landing-hoax guy.
Anon 1 (from this string)
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