Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Why I Concern Troll

I spend a lot of my time (less than before the election, but still plenty) concern-trolling rightwing websites, pointing out what I consider obvious logical flaws and strategic missteps. And sure part of my motivation is revenge for the Clinton years and the Bush years, but there's more to it. The other part: I really am concerned.

Santa Cruz, the loin of my birth, was home to the most extreme hippy socialists I've ever seen. The kind of extremists who scared off the Miss America Pageant by throwing meat at the contestants. The far left, the REAL far left, is bad news. They're unpleasant, strident and annoying, and they'd bring down the American way of life in a hot minute if they ever got into power.

Similarly though the far right, the REAL far right, would accomplish the same thing from another angle. America, like it or not, is optimized to work best as a compromise. The whole constitution is constructed to keep too much power out of the hands of one man or group of men. Negotiation forces a path toward the center of the road.

The Right as it operates today is hell-bent towards extremism. They're actively trying to force out the moderates. This would be great for schematic if there was a comparable strong crazy left but the truth is there is a broad wishy-washy left, a broad moderate vote and an increasingly tiny group of solid conservatives struggling to become more solid and more tiny. Ideologically pure perhaps but useless as a voting bloc. The useful right is making itself less so. So it will become a country where policy ranges from center to far left, with a handful of impotent screamers whining on the sidelines. Once in a while they'll be correct but I'd rather have them actually preventing the excesses of my side.

Plus, I have to say it'd be nice to have conservatives who act like adults again.

26 comments:

Johnny Appleseed said...

"...but the truth is there is a broad wishy-washy left.."

This is your simple opinion of the truth, not truth itself.

"Plus, I have to say it'd be nice to have conservatives who act like adults again."

Are you kidding? Name any of your "wishy-washy left" who act remotely like adults.

Strike that.

Name one.

piker62 said...

Sure I can name lots of them, but to you? A guy who sulkily hides behind the name of a children's hero? If I give you a name, you might burst into tears like Glenn Beck or John Boehner.

Boo-Hoo said...

If you can't tell what the truth is, what does it matter what ghost name I use?

And are you insinuating by your comment you don't cry? Ever? What a manly-man you are!

People who claim they never cry really scare me.

And your extreme liberal views, like those of BO, scare me even more.

piker62 said...

You're pretty astute, Spongebob. A lot of people would read the post and not see my obvious affection for the extreme far left.

SquarePants said...

Like who?

And yes, I know you won't answer this direct question, either.

Just like you didn't directly address Johnny's statement above, either.

Very boring.

Dog chasing it's tail. Get's old.

piker62 said...

All right, this is interesting. Do you think I'm lying when I say "The far left, the REAL far left, is bad news. They're unpleasant, strident and annoying, and they'd bring down the American way of life in a hot minute if they ever got into power." I mean, what's my motivation?

I can't really argue with you about this until I understand what you think I'm saying.

just wondering said...

why do you think voters in NJ and VA voted for Republicans yesterday?

piker62 said...

You already know what I think... there is no need for me "say" "things".

Just kidding. I'm glad you guys won a couple of governerships, it's a shame you lost a couple of congressional seats. You're not concerned about Jersey, where your people handed a seat to a Democrat by splitting the Republican vote? That's what the post is about.

Sorry, it's about whatever you want it to be.

still wondering said...

Jersey, or New York?

Why do you think voters went for Republicans in VA and NJ for Gov?

piker62 said...

You're right, I meant New York. New Jersey, I mean let's face it, who WANTS New Jersey?

Aw who am I kidding. As yesterday's elections clearly proved, the Democrats are over. No Democrats won yesterday, nor will they ever win again. And Sarah Palin will be the next president, probably getting the office in 2010, two years early. Kings X, My Little Pony.

third time is a charm said...

Why do you think voters went for Republicans in NJ and VA?

piker62 said...

I believe the majority of those voters preferred those candidates.

it's because over 85 percent of voters in both States feel the States were/are headed in the wrong direction said...

I didn't ask how they got elected, I asked why they got elected.

piker62 said...

I'm afraid to venture an opinion... if its different than yours you'll call me names. Why do you think?

Sticks and Stones said...

Actually, I remember Dingy Harry & Princess Pelostit being the ones to call others names.

Like Nazi's.

Like Un-American.

Like racists.

Like Right-wing extremists.

Like angry mobs.

Oh, and then there was former Gov. Cortizine, when all else failed & he ran out of ideas for the people of his State, started calling his opponent fat.

How did that work out for ya, Cortizine?

It's one thing for average American's to call each other names, altho I don't condone it.

It's another thing when our highest elected officials do the same to the average American.

Yeah, watch out for those name-callers.

piker62 said...

You don't condone it? You must be very disappointed in yourself.

Not perfect. Just forgiven. said...

I've never claimed to be perfect, Lefty. Far from it. Thankfully, I have a Saviour who has forgiven me for all my transgressions.

However, I am not in front of cameras each day, as your movie-stars, er, leaders from the left are, calling the American people degrading names.

No wonder their numbers have sunk so fast - so much faster than your whipping boy Bush's EVER did.

In what took 7 years for Bush's number to tank, it has only taken 10 months for your stinkin' leader.

Say, what did you think of btox Pelostit's comment that the (D)'s actually won last night?

Publius said...

Well, I'm having fun.

Seriously, though, I REALLY hate it when after an election people say The Democrats are finished (or the Republicans are). It is just idiotic to ever make that proclamation. Both the GOP and the Dems have been "finished" 100 times since 1858, fer cripes sake.

Our system is built to act as a pendulum and it has swung back and forth with almost clock work regularity for the last nearly 100 years. Even before that there were regular swings. Only the Civil War locked Washington as solidly GOP for a good long time (and who cannot understand that anomaly, eh?) Just as WWII gave the Dems a good strong position for a long time (and even then the GOP made serious gains quite often in Congress of not the White House).

So, much as I'd love to see the utter destruction of the current Democratic Party (to be replaced by the proper Democratic Party, the one the hippies killed in the 60s) I have little hope that Americans will realize how anti-American the Democrat Party has become.

The Democratic Party is un-American. It is European, not American. The Democrats are anti-capitalist, anti-patriotism, anti-religion, anti-Constitution, anti… well, anti everything that IS American. Democrats hate the United States today. They love what they WANT it to be, but they don;t love what it is or what it ever has been.

Round n Round said...

Publius, great coment, but our dear lefty will igonre that last paragraph of yours.

He's done the same thing over at Where Are My Keys, and I listed several more (D) anti-American items.

He won't - he can't - intelligently address them.

So we watch him chase his tail...

piker62 said...

Of course I'm not going to address that last paragraph - the idea that a majority of Americans are un-American is crazy. The idea that everyone who voted for Obama is a terrorist, or hypnotized (or whatever other dehumanizing characteristic you want to apply to people who disagree with you) is similarly crazy.

Politics boils down to this - both sides want to make the country better and disagree about the best ways to do it. People who hate America don't do politics.

Who am I? said...

You know, at least I can admit that Bush lost something of himself along the way of his POTUS, which he had when he started.

Most reasonable peole can take a look at the face value of a situation, and come to somewhat of a sane conclusion that sometimes things now aren't the same as they were 'then'.

Is there anything - anything at all, Piker - that you can say about BO the campaigner, and BO the POTUS, that has you questioning who this person is?

piker62 said...

http://keepinitrealyo.blogspot.com/2009/06/reason-to-be-ashamed-reason-to-be-proud.html

In response to that last question:

http://keepinitrealyo.blogspot.com/2009/04/you-created-monster.html

http://keepinitrealyo.blogspot.com/2009/03/gift-that-keeps-on-giving-to.html

http://keepinitrealyo.blogspot.com/2009/02/hope-for-comics-who-cant-find-handle-on.html

http://keepinitrealyo.blogspot.com/2009/02/good-idea-bad-idea.html

And it took you guys SEVEN YEARS to find fault with Bush (okay, maybe earlier if you count that crazy Harriet Meyers thing) while I was lowering expectations before he was even elected. Don't make me look it up.

Publius said...

Your saying "the majority of Americans" is itself crazy. Democrats are in NO way "the majority of Americans." Besides, I always sound too all inclusive when I do that... I want to be sure and point out that when I was saying "Democrats" I mean the elected officials and the party leaders. NOT the average Democrat voter. Most Democrat voters are merely uninformed. The leaders, however, are anti-American to the core, they know it, and they want it that way.

Speechless. said...

Amazing.

piker62 said...

Usually Caspar the Friendly Ghost here becomes speechless when he doesn't have a counter-argument.

I don't consider the majority of Americans Democrats (though judging by our representative government, that argument could be made) but you guys do. You consider moderates to be far left. That's why you're kicking them out of your party, yes?

Publius said...

I'd also like to say that most Republican voters are uninformed, too. In fact most Americans are uninformed about politics, history, world affairs, and our political system. That is the left's fault, of course. THEY control our horrid schools.