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The time has come to rise up and take this country back and make it safe for people who actually completed the seventh grade.
- Keith Olbermann
I feel as if I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but I never cease to be amazed at the sheer lunacy that seems to grip this country today. Polarization is not a new or unusual condition in American politics, but when you combine it with willful, aggressive ignorance and the refusal to recognize reality...well, welcome to where we are today. That hateful bigots like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, etc. have such sizable followings can and should be taken as proof that reaction, fear, and racism have become the currency of the day. Rational thought, realism, and the willingness to deal with things as they are? Well, that's for losers, Liberals, and all those America-hating scum who really should leave the politics to the adults and the REAL American patriots who recognize the truth that Obama's a Socialist who would sell this country out to terrorists, illegal immigrants, and Communists.
It seems that truth ain't what it used to be....
The problem with leaving politics to "REAL American patriots" is that most of these folks are so steeped in reaction and racism that they've lost the ability to think for themselves. They're so afraid of what they don't understand that they no longer bother thinking. When you're convinced, despite all evidence to the contrary, of your absolute correctness, what good is rational thought when reaction will get you to the same place with a lot less effort? Not that I'm intimating that these people are stupid, mind you (I'll leave it to others to do that). Nonetheless, when you do whatever Glenn Beck tells you to do...well, do you really have any claim to intellectual independence?
The worst aspect of the wingnuts on the Far Right is the fact that so much of their hatred and vitriol is steeped in a strong brew redolent of nothing more than common, garden variety racism. If you don't believe me, all you have to do is to listen to these folks and check out the signs that many of them are carrying. The vast majority of the wingnuts are frustrated, angry, and White. The virulent racists may be only a small but vocal minority, but the lack of voices being raised to slap these folks down is prima facie evidence that racism is a widely approved underlying theme.
What amazes me about the virulent anti-Obama racism is that the folks denigrating him for his race seem to have completely forgotten that the President is half White. Yes, he looks African-American, but President Obama grew up with his feet in both the White AND Black worlds. Nonetheless, there are those sign-carrying bigots who believe with all their heart that the White House is and should be the province of White Males. The mind fairly boggles at what might have transpired had Hillary Clinton been elected President. Would we be seeing people carrying protest signs with tampons affixed to them? And would the Mainstream Media have treated these protests as legitimate, genuine, and intelligent?
Of course, this lunatic movement could likely be derailed in fairly short order, if only the leaders of the Republican Party were willing to denounce those who traffic in lunacy, racism, and hatred. If there's one thing the GOP leadership has demonstrated, though, it's that they're not above using anything that they think they can gain traction from. Not only are GOP leaders not distancing themselves from the loons, they're celebrating them and actively encouraging the madness. THIS is leadership?
Michael Steele and others who portend to speak as leaders of the GOP would do well to recognize that those who live by the sword all too often die by it. There are those who fear, not without reason, Republicans will come to be, if not known for, than certainly defined by crackpots. When you soundly lose an election and then throw the doors open for any wingnut who happens to be off their medication, it's not exactly a stretch to think that the party will eventually come to be known for those loons who make the most noise.
Here's the problem with all the Sturm und Drang, though: it's working. For reasons I fail to understand, Democrats from the White House on down have begun caving to the wingnuts. If you look at the debacle surrounding health care reform to the firing of Van Jones to...well, the list continues to grow...Democrats are acting as if they're afraid. Of what, I'm not certain, but when you have a President who seems more concerned with collaboration than leadership...well, this is what you get, eh?
Barack Obama rode into office promising change and leadership. What we've gotten thus far is a President trying to make omelets without breaking any eggs. Because of this, his Administration is reacting to the constant stream of lunacy instead of working to advance their agenda. Compromise is all well and good, but compromise normally implies willingness on both sides to find something resembling middle ground. If you listened to the wackjobs letting loose during the August town hall season and the loons who marched in Washington as part of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project, you'd recognize that compromise is clearly not on their agenda. That being the case, it's time for the Obama Adminstration to recognize the truth behind Keith Olbermann's words. It IS time to rise up and take back the country for those of us who actually completed the seventh grade. It's time to remind the loons and the racists that they lost in November and in this country the majority still rules. They had their time- eight years under George W. Bush- and look where it got us. Given that reality, wouldn't any reasonable person think it's time to set aside and let the adults get to work?
If you honestly believe that Barack Obama is a closet Muslim, if you seriously believe that he's not an American citizen, if you with believe all your heart that he's fomenting Nazism and Socialism, I truly feel for you. It must be absolute Hell getting through your day without being able to construct a coherent, rational thought. While I'm loathe to suggest that anyone be denied their rights under our democracy, sheer unbridled and unhinged racism and lunacy would seem to be good arguments for doing just that. If you're so angry and unhinged that the only way you can interact is via yelling and unfounded character assassination...well, why don't you just save us all a lot of trouble and turn in your voter registration card? Democracy works best when people of all walks of life get together and debate. Those of y'all who think that Glenn Beck is some sort of Great American Patriot are probably going to be more comfortable in a Fascist system, anyway. It's not like you've displayed any sort of willingness to recognize the rights of those who think differently.
Yes, 'tis better to be thought a bigot and a fool than to go to a Tea Party and remove all doubt....
WE DESERVE BETTER.
