February 13, 2013 6:16 AM

America: Land of the free, home of the fearful, the addled, and the intransigent

Politics is the art of the possible.

  • Tip O’Neill

I had no idea that the tipping point would come so soon - or that it would have so much to do with guns. But here we are, with an ex-Marine accusing Sen. Dianne Feinstein of treason for her proposed gun control legislation in an open letter that went viral; a scary-looking gun instructor telling his YouTube audience that he’s about to “start killing people;” father-and-son-Republican elected officials throwing loaded words around like “secession” and “nullification;” and at least one governor signaling his intention to defy federal law. Former Attorney General Edmund Meese has even weighed in, telling Newsmax that any presidential attempt “to override the Second Amendment in any way … would be an impeachable offense.”

It’s sad and pathetic that the massacre of innocent children and their teachers in Newtown, CT, has been reduced to an emotionally-charged political football, but the American body politic is in a sorry state these days. It seems we’re reached a point where the divide between those working to move America forward and those constrained by fear, anger, and prejudice borders on unbridgeable. It’s difficult to make progress when one side is consistently screaming “NO!” as they dig their heels in and obstruct everything their fear might present the President with a victory. The debate over gun control is merely the latest and most divisive example of this unfortunate and ever-growing trend.

American politics has always been a contentious undertaking, but what we’re seeing now is the complete breakdown of anything resembling civility. Some may take issue with this assessment, but from where I sit, it’s clear that this breakdown is the result of the Far Right’s decision to forego anything that smacks of compromise. Politics used to be defined by the tension of determining where two sides could meet and agree. Now it’s become a zero-sum, winner takes all, show no mercy/take no prisoners propostition for the Right side of the ideological spectrum. It’s no longer about compromise, because the Far Right equates compromise with treason. No, it’s about destroying your opponent and grinding their bones into dust. It’s about never giving an inch on your agenda as you wear your opponent down and bend them to your will.

The advent of the Tea Party in 2010 marked a sharp downturn in civility, though the signs have been evident for some time. On the one side, we have a party willing to lie, cheat, and steal if that’s what it takes to seize and maintain power, ethics and morality be damned. On the other side is a party that lacks the cojones to act like the majority party. The result is a complete and utter breakdown of Congress. Add a President who seemingly lacks even a whiff of a killer instinct, and you can understand how and why Washington has devolved into a three-ring circus, where demagogues and fool hold court and nothing of value is accomplished.

Making matters even worse is a popular culture in which one person’s ignorance is considered to be equivalent and sometimes superior to another’s knowledge. Faith trumps empirical truth, and logic is without value. Conspiracy theories become the coin of the realm, and not being able to disprove something means that it must be true.

Welcome to our new idiocracy.

The Sandy Hook Shooting - Fully Exposed is a YouTube video that has had more than 10,000,000 views; it was produced by filmmakers who learned their craft putting together 9/11 “Truth” videos when they were in high school. It questions whether Adam Lanza was really the shooter - and whether some of the victims even died. Of one thing, however, it has no doubt - that Newtown was a Psyops, a False Flag - and that the fingerprints of the government are all over it.

James Tracy, a tenured professor at Florida Atlantic University, has suggested that the suspiciously calm parents who were interviewed by broadcast journalists outside the school were “trained actors working under the direction of state and federal authorities and in coordination with cable and broadcast network talent to provide tailor-made crisis acting that realistically drives home the event’s tragic features.”

We live in a world in which this sort of pure, unadulterated crap is endowed with a degree of credibility that far outstrips its absence of truth and reality. Government is viewed with such a jaundiced eye that all manner of evil intent is ascribed to it, as if the black helicopters and jack-booted thugs are just over the horizon, waiting for their orders so they may deprive us of our freedom and liberty. No reasonable, lucid person would believe such nonsense for a nanosecond, and yet there are untold thousands, perhaps millions, out there convinced that it’s Gospel.

What such lunacy ignores is that WE elect our government. Government is US. If we fear a “tyrannical” government, perhaps we’d be well advised to pay closer attention to who we vote for…and to be certain we’re voting for the right people and for the right reasons.

At times like this, I find myself fearing for the future of the country I love. As we creep ever closer to a place where critical thinking is rejected as “elitist,” I can’t help but wonder how long it will be before the stupid and inattentive are ruled by those steeped in evil and demagoguery. Sometimes I suspect we may already be there.

Welcome to our new idiocracy.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 13, 2013 6:16 AM.

When you can't be bothered to check your facts, you must be Fox News Channel was the previous entry in this blog.

Today on "Irony Watch".... is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 5.2.2