February 16, 2010 5:21 AM

Ignorant, racist, dishonest...and built to stay that way

Coming soon to a hearing room near you: "Are you now or have you ever been a Socialist or member of the Socialist Party?" Sound familiar? "Socialist" has merely been substituted for "Communist," but all of the same techniques are in play. I may be overstating her importance, but Sarah Palin frightens me. With her cutesy little homilies that spew venom and lies like "death panels" for the elderly, she appears to be acquiring a substantial following. She is touting fear of socialism in the same way that Joe McCarthy used fear of communism to disparage his enemies and divide the country.

OK, so mentioning Sarah Palin in the same breath as Joe McCarthy may seem a bit on the hyperbolic side, but it may not be as far-fetched as you might think. In an era when angry, screaming White Folks think that vitriol and racism make for a viable political movement, and when ideological "purity tests" are taken seriously...well, it does set one to wondering.

Democracy, despite what Palin and her erstwhile followers might think, is not a neat, clean, black and white phenomenon. You shouldn't be able to brand people as "Good" or "Evil" based on your narrow, ever-changing, angry (and yes, racist) ideological measuring stick. Neither is good governance something that results from simple bromides and pithy asides (Youbetcha!!). It's easy to deride President Obama, but at least he's DOING something. Palin and her teabagging compatriots can kibbitz all they want, but they bear no responsibility for outcomes, because they're on the outside looking in, a reality unlikely to change any time soon.

I'll begin taking teabaggers serious when they actually come up with a program that doesn't feature racism, anger, and popping blood vessels. Show me what you stand for. Tell me what you intend to do and how you intend to do it. Better yet, tell me how you're going to pay for it; THEN perhaps we'll have something to talk about. Until and unless that happens, not a likelihood I'm banking on, y'all are merely caricatures engaging in self-parody...and poorlyl at that.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 16, 2010 5:21 AM.

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