That statement should come as no surprise to most. One year prior to its release The United States inaugurated for the first time an African-American President, a dyed-in-the-wool liberal from Chicago with Ivy League credentials. It would have been more surprising if there wasn't a surge of anger from the extreme right. But as primary season continues, a disturbing trend is emerging. It began with Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, and it seems that with each passing day a new, more conservative, more extreme, and more pissed off voice emerges.
Invoking the standard teabagger-approved bastardization of the basic principles of our nation and its founding document, Rick Barber, who is currently facing a runoff election against establishment candidate Martha Roby for the GOP nomination in the second Congressional district, appeared in a ridiculous campaign ad in which he rallies support from three of our founding fathers for impeaching President Obama and raising armies to take down the Internal Revenue Service.
Militia groups are usually easy to handle and don't evoke much fear. They're seen by most sane people as benign crazies who only occasionally become violent; when they do, we deal with them and tend to do a good job of it. What frightens me now is that the militia mentality has invaded the mainstream - it has become a part of our national political debate and those who subscribe to its views are more and more regarded as people with legitimate points to make. The same views that in the not-too-distant past were dismissed as the ravings of the extreme fringe are now being touted in ads by candidates for Congress. Think about that. A man who is campaigning to be one of the federal government's 535 voting lawmakers is running on a platform of sedition and believes that the founding fathers would support his cause.
Just wanna say: I have a theory about politics in the US. I've found that the swing from liberal to conservative is a highly reactionary system. You set up a timeline of our nation's political history (which I did in order to study for AP US Sophomore year) and you observe a distinct oscillation between the conservative and liberal parties of the time. We see with Obama a leader who unabashedly espouses his liberal views. In return, the conservative right shouts back with what some consider overly anti-progressive values. While this may be somewhat alarming, I'd like to point out that it's an expected and an historic reaction to the current political trend.
ReplyDeleteThis oscillation parallels the economic condition of the country. Rarely does the incumbent party lose if economic conditions are good. The fact that John McCain won as many votes as he did considering the core of his party disliked him and stayed home - speaks volumes about the endorsement of this President's credentials. The democratic party erred in thinking they had an overwhelming mandate of the people - what they had was a vote against Republicans - they went too far - America by and large is a right center country, move too far to the left(in the view of the center) and the pendulum swings way back to the right.
ReplyDeleteAs for the tea bagger reference - what do you know about the demographics of "tea baggers"? Take a look at some sources regarding this group - you might be surprised. As angry as they are with the current administration, they are also angry about the spending of the previous administration. Your characterization of them as "radical right" is inappropriate -- look at the data on social issues - this is not a radical right party. This is a reactionary group intent on state's rights and smaller federal government a la Jefferson and in the end Madison -- all these earthquakes are just the two of them rolling over in their graves.
Is it alarming that people are discussing armed conflict, well once you pay income taxes let me know if you don't feel like taking up arms and marching on Washington (BTW thanks to the Supremes the intent of the 2nd amendment has now been applied to the states which actually makes this scenario a possibility - John Locke would be proud). But I digress - back to the crazies - every political movement runs the risk of being hijacked by the the nuts of the world -- the same can be said about the environmentalist left (Green Party) and ELF and ALF. What is also alarming is that this administration just like the previous one wants to silence the opposition. The true beauty of a democratic republic is discourse - allowing others to speak regardless of how crazy or implausible their argument (remember that is all in the eyes of the beholder) enriches the greater body politic.
Sorry just couldn't resist
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/15/the-life-of-the-tea-party.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html
http://documents.nytimes.com/new-york-timescbs-news-poll-national-survey-of-tea-party-supporters - this one is the data itself - always look at the data