Predictably there has been a little soul-searching among Republican thinkers as the result of all the ground lost on Tuesday's election. Where did we go wrong, they cry! Some blame Sarah Palin; others think it was chiefly McCain. Nearly everyone blames Bush. If there's any concensus, it's that Republicans have to return to the Reganesque principals of small government and lower taxes. At the risk of sounding snarky, it's a hallmark of conservative thinking to look to the past for solutions. And often, it's valid. This time, I'd like to offer a view from outside the bubble.
You guys devote too much of your resources to hate and fear. If the Bush presidency will be defined by anything, I think it's going to be by the paranoid belief that the terrorists are EVERYWHERE, and we have to sacrifice everything to stop them. And if the race to the white house was about anything, it was fear of Obama vs. hope for Obama. And hope, in this case, wins.
The hate button (it's next to the fear button, and it might as well be it as well) is an easy one to press. There is a common behavioral experiment where you put an electrode into a rat's brain, then hook it up to a bar which sends a stimulus to the rat's pleasure center. As soon as the rat learns that pressing the bar causes pleasure, it never stops pressing it until it starves to death. The difference between the electorate and a rat is this: they recognize when pushing a button over and over again starts to become unhealthy. Also, the electorate won't gnaw through your wiring.
I've been watching the reds for a while now, and I've never seen them as wingnutty as the last week before the election. Obama supporters will riot in the streets, even if he wins! Obama will abandon support of Isreal! He's the illegitimate son of Malcolm X! Not a citizen! Tear up the constitution! Take our guns! Look you guys, I'm not going to tell you to stop thinking that way, because frankly I like the idea of a Democratic majority in all three houses. However, since I don't like a SUPERmajority, I'm counting on you to sober up, be realistic, and stop looking more extreme than Code Pink. Be fearful if you want, just try to LOOK calm in public.
Piker, ....
ReplyDeleteHate & fear?
BO's camp was the only one bringing up hate (racism).
And what party have we listened to for the past 22 months, telling us how BAD it is to be in America?
Dimocrats.
If it's so bad here, go live in France.
And if you really thin it was so bad living here, wait about 6 months with BO & the clinton-ettes in charge.
You ain't seen nuttin, yet, honey.
See? That's what I'm talking about. Hate, then fear.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of silly for a leftist to decry other people talking about "hate and fear." Your whole ideology is built on it. You hate religion. You fear the people. You hate the free market. You fear guns. You hate babies. You fear the Constitution.
ReplyDeleteFor a lefty to pretend HE doesn't "hate and fear" is an act devoid of introspection... but then again, introspection is another thing that lefties hate.
Look, both you guys, understand that I'm applying the hate and fear thing to the last campaign. Yours was more fear-based, ours was more hope-based, and ours won. Learn something.
ReplyDeleteSure the left has plenty of hate'n'fear too. Although Miss Coul-- er, Warner -- I have to take issue with a few things there. We don't hate religion - the majority of us believe in God. We do have a problem with forcing our religion on everyone else. Freedom from a state-mandated religion is one of the reasons why there IS an America.
Fearing guns? If you don't fear guns, what's the point of them? The only reason you want guns is to protect yourself from other people with guns. Anyway, enough Americans want guns that no one is going to risk their elected office railing against them. Not nationally anyway.
I don't think I want to go down the rest of the list because it's absurdist demagoguery, except to say that "the left" doesn't oppose those things any more than "the right" opposes minorities. Personally I do hate babies though. They're loud and annoying.