National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent took to Facebook to declare that President Obama and Hillary Clinton “should be tried for treason & hung,” and later that day appeared on Newsmax TV to continue to rail against Obama…. “He’s been groomed to fool the dumbing-down victims, the self-inflicted, dumbing-down victims of America,” Nugent said of Obama. “Nobody in their right mind, and I do mean correct-educated, conscientious, logical, self-evident-truth-grasping mind, will believe this punk. This guy does want an unarmed public. This guy does want to economically ruin America. This guy hates America, he hates the Constitution and he hates the Bill of Rights. I believe, as so many Americans are learning more and more every day, that the president of the United States hates freedom. He’s the enemy of America.”…. Nugent went on to claim that Obama is “the engineer and the ramrod for the worst clusterfuck in the history of America” who was “raised by Frank Marshall ‘Communist’ Davis and adheres to the Saul Alinsky book of destroying America.”
Yes, I get it; Ted Nugent is to reasoned, rational political discourse in the same way Jenny McCarthy wholeheartedly advocates for vaccinating children. He’s got nothing rational, interesting, reasonable, or defensible to say…not that it stops him from holding forth and airing his world-class ignorance and racism for the world to hear.
I could care less about ANYTHING Nugent has to say…about anything under the sun. What concerns me is his widespread and deep appeal to those who believe in racism and religious intolerance and who believe thinking outside their tiny little box is tantamount to treason. I have a brother who believes Nugent to be a prophet (he’s not alone in that belief), which is a level of delusion and lunacy I can’t even begin to understand. Nugent is symptomatic of the intellectual and moral sickness that’s infected so many low-information voters. These are people who refuse to avail themselves of their God-given ability to think critically. Instead, they default to reacting with scorn and hatred towards those they’re told by Fox News Channel and the Right-wing echo chamber are to blame for everything wrong with America today.
I’ve no real problems with Conservatives who merely think and believe differently. Back up your arguments with facts and evidence, and, while we may in the end have to agree to disagree, I can respect that you’ve done your homework and put some thought into your opinions. Nugent and his fellow travelers have no cogent, sensible argument. Even if they did, their default is rage, screaming, smug arrogance, and cheap personal insults. Why would any rational, reasonable person take that sort of thing seriously?
That’s not a discussion. It’s not debate. It’s the visceral expression that what you truly wish for is to utterly destroy those you’ve identified as “enemies,” loosely defined as those who think, believe, live, and/or love differently than you. That’s freedom? That represents the apotheosis of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? No, that’s the clear and concise expression of your firm belief that the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution- you know, that document you claim to revere- apply only to those who think like you- reactionary Conservative White heterosexual Christian males.
Authors Note: The following steps will only work if your subject has the capacity for rational thought. When speaking to a liberal progressive, using logic, facts, and reason to support your position will not have any effect. Liberalism is a mental disease and progressives further their agenda through lies. An attempt argue logic and facts with a liberal is akin to teaching a pig to ride a bike. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
This is characteristic of so much of the Conservative backlash I run into: smug arrogance combined with cheap personal insults slathered over an argument devoid of anything redolent of fact or substance. Normally, I wouldn’t even afford this sort of trash the courtesy of an acknowledgement, because the author has nothing of value to add to the discussion. Still, it’s representative of the thought processes of those Nugent appeals to- ideologues so convinced of their own moral superiority that they see no reason to support their arguments. They BELIEVE something to be true, ergo it is factual and absolute. What they believe is so clearly beyond reproach and question that supporting it with facts and evidence is superfluous.
Not that I care to spend much time delving into the rancid ramblings of Nugent, but I’ve yet to run across an accusation not bathed in hatred and rage. What he preaches is neither Conservatism nor love for and commitment to country or Constitution. What’s he really advocating for is a deeply authoritarian and inflexibly militaristic polity that brooks no dissent and tolerates no deviation from the dominant narrative- HIS narrative. It’s not the vision of America laid out by the Founding Fathers- a pluralistic society in which the rule of law reigns supreme and whose government is officially secular.
I won’t even get into Nugent possessing no evidence to back his charges. I WILL argue that his assertion that the President and former Secretary of State be executed borders on sedition. President Obama took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and there’s nothing to indicate that he hasn’t done exactly that. In fact, the real threat to the Constitution is Nugent and those who think like him, people who’d deny due process, who’d arrest and try leaders they disagree with on specious charges and try them before kangaroo courts. In what world is that considered freedom?
I’m not afraid of Conservatives, nor do addled, authoritarian, rage-addicted zealots intimidate me. Talk to me. Offer evidence to back up your claims. Sprinkle in a few facts just for giggles, and you might find that I’ll listen…but if all you have is self-righteous smug arrogance and cheap personal insults…well, let me quote Barbara Bush:
“It’s a waste of your time and my time…. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that.”
