As you know, I can - sometimes - have a tendency to go off like a firecracker on political issues. This is not one of those times, gentle and enlightened reader. Most of the time, however I have tried to maintain a somewhat neutral stance when it comes to presenting political information that comes my way. The reason is that I would like for you to read it no matter what side of the fence or road you are on. Even if you're sitting on the fence, I still want you to read it and thoughtfully and intelligently consider it. As you may also remember from a much earlier post - assuming you are a long time reader - is that I don't have the energy for all of the political fru-fur-all, bally hoo, mud-slinging and other election year BULLSHIT! The good news is that reading this column actually took no energy at all apart from reading it. That may have burned two calories if that. So - via earlier reading at Geren's site - I present to you a most interesting piece on the decline of the Republican Party, written by Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion. I will let you know up front that it is a fairly long column -too long for my main page - and so to read it you need to click the linky dink below. Peace, --Will
PS: I am not a Democrat and over the years I have become disenfranchised with both major political parties. I am registered to vote as an independent, however I have not found an independent party I fully agree with. Jenne says that I am a Marxist, to which I respond that Groucho and Harpo are my favorites.
PPS: I am also a Christian... Lutheran in fact, however I have never thumped any Bibles.
PPSS: I share some of the views in Keillor's column - no, I am not going to list them - but I do not share all of them.
By Garrison Keillor
Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships. They were good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of their party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element. The genial Eisenhower was their man, a genuine American hero of D-Day, who made it OK for reasonable people to vote Republican. He brought the Korean War to a stalemate, produced the Interstate Highway System, declined to rescue the French colonial army in Vietnam, and gave us a period of peace and prosperity, in which (oddly) American arts and letters flourished and higher education burgeoned-and there was a degree of plain decency in the country. Fifties Republicans were giants compared to today's. Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to feel a Christian obligation toward the poor. In the years between Nixon and Newt Gingrich, the party migrated southward down the Twisting Trail of Rhetoric and sneered at the idea of public service and became the Scourge of Liberalism, the Great Crusade Against the Sixties, the Death Star of Government, a gang of pirates that diverted and fascinated the media by their sheer chutzpah, such as the misty-eyed flag-waving of Ronald Reagan who, while George McGovern flew bombers in World War II, took a pass and made training films in Long Beach. The Nixon moderate vanished like the passenger pigeon, purged by a legion of angry white men who rose to power on pure punk politics. "Bipartisanship is another term of date rape," says Grover Norquist, the Sid Vicious of the GOP. "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." The boy has Oedipal problems and government is his daddy. The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil Armstrong's moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, Newt's evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks we're deaf, dumb and dangerous. Rich ironies abound! Lies pop up like toadstools in the forest! Wild swine crowd round the public trough! Outrageous gerrymandering! Pocket lining on a massive scale! Paid lobbyists sit in committee rooms and write legislation to alleviate the suffering of billionaires! Hypocrisies shine like cat turds in the moonlight! O Mark Twain, where art thou at this hour? Arise and behold the Gilded Age reincarnated gaudier than ever, upholding great wealth as the sure sign of Divine Grace. Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a platform of tragedy-the single greatest failure of national defense in our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government impotent, even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken for the president's personal satisfaction but sold to the American public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is to distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifully. The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is the death knell of democracy. No republic in the history of humanity has survived this. The election of 2004 will say something about what happens to ours. The omens are not good. Our beloved land has been fogged with fear-fear, the greatest political strategy ever. An ominous silence, distant sirens, a drumbeat of whispered warnings and alarms to keep the public uneasy and silence the opposition. And in a time of vague fear, you can appoint bullet-brained judges, strip the bark off the Constitution, eviscerate federal regulatory agencies, bring public education to a standstill, stupefy the press, lavish gorgeous tax breaks on the rich. There is a stink drifting through this election year. It isn't the Florida recount or the Supreme Court decision. No, it's 9/11 that we keep coming back to. It wasn't the "end of innocence," or a turning point in our history, or a cosmic occurrence, it was an event, a lapse of security. And patriotism shouldn't prevent people from asking hard questions of the man who was purportedly in charge of national security at the time. Whenever I think of those New Yorkers hurrying along Park Place or getting off the No.1 Broadway local, hustling toward their office on the 90th floor, the morning paper under their arms, I think of that non-reader George W. Bush and how he hopes to exploit those people with a little economic uptick, maybe the capture of Osama, cruise to victory in November and proceed to get some serious nation-changing done in his second term. This year, as in the past, Republicans will portray us Democrats as embittered academics, desiccated Unitarians, whacked-out hippies and communards, people who talk to telephone poles, the party of the Deadheads. They will wave enormous flags and wow over and over the footage of firemen in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and bodies being carried out and they will lie about their economic policies with astonishing enthusiasm. The Union is what needs defending this year. Government of Enron and by Halliburton and for the Southern Baptists is not the same as what Lincoln spoke of. This gang of Pithecanthropus Republicanii has humbugged us to death on terrorism and tax cuts for the comfy and school prayer and flag burning and claimed the right to know what books we read and to dump their sewage upstream from the town and clear-cut the forests and gut the IRS and mark up the constitution on behalf of intolerance and promote the corporate takeover of the public airwaves and to hell with anybody who opposes them. This is a great country, and it wasn't made so by angry people. We have a sacred duty to bequeath it to our grandchildren in better shape than however we found it. We have a long way to go and we're not getting any younger. Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece, and thank you, dear reader. It's a beautiful world, rain or shine, and there is more to life than winning.
Wow, I didn't think it was possible to fit that many unsubstantiated claims and ad hominem attacks into a single page of text. Another scion of the Party Of Tolerance vents his hateful spleen.
So here's the gist: "Don't think about 9/11! It's just a plot to distract you by those eeeevil Southern Baptists and their rich and powerful friends! Everything is OK! Really! It's safe to vote for Kerry! OMG they are really gonna re-elect Bush! Whaaaa!"
For all its abundant faults, the Republican party-even if Mr. Keillor's libelous thesis were true-more closely resembles my worldview than the Democratic party. Not to put too fine a point on it-as long as the Democrats retain their current platform I will never vote for them, no matter how many prize-winning authors look down their delicate little noses at me. If that makes me a bully or a hack or a "fundamentalist" in the eyes of the "enlightened" I care not at all.
Posted by: Jeff on September 28, 2004 07:28 PMI still wnt to vote for kerrys daughter!
Posted by: Joe on September 28, 2004 09:52 PMKeillor nailed it on the head. The republicans have shifted from fiscal conservatism to ratcheting up the hightest deficit ever, while simultaneously cutting the taxes of the upper crust. How is that conservative -- or Christian? Whose taxes would Jesus cut? I thought Jesus talked about helping the poor, not the rich. I must have read the wrong book.
The republicans have abandoned all of their noble principles and ply their voter base with appeals to the most basic of human instincts -- greed, fear, and hatred. It's appalling. Killing thousands of human beings in an unjustified war -- based on piles of lies -- is terrorism. When innocent people die unnecessarily, it doesn't matter whether it's a plane flying into their building or a bomb dropping on their house -- that's terror.
Jeff, I'm sad that your worldview includes fighting unnecessary wars, supporting cynical politicans who lie without any remorse, screwing the poor while enriching the elite, and appealing to the most base instincts in people instead of appealing to their higher values. History will judge Bush for what he is -- a pathetic failure, a liar on a massive scale, and a murderer.
Posted by: Professor Pan on September 29, 2004 09:39 AMMy, my, is there any longer such a thing as a Democrat who can speak a sentence without hyperbole or ad hominem? I guess not. Pardon me if I've gotten in the way while you beat your straw man!
The most amusing thing about this is all the wistful talk about the "noble old" Republicans and their "responsible" fiscal policies and love of small government. I was not born yesterday. When Republicans spoke of shrinking government and cutting the budget, all we heard from the left was "you're starving the children!" and "the poor/elderly/minorities/[insert victim class of choice here] will suffer!" All of it was calculated partisan malarkey, and so is the junk they spew now. You guys have changed the clothes on your straw man, but you don't hate him any more now than you did then.
BTW, you gave your tax rebate check to charity, right?
Ouch!!! I consider my self a "McCain" Republican (formerly a Ronald Reagan Republican). I still do not know who I am going to vote for. I think that Bush's entire cabinet has been a failure yet Kerry just has not demonstrated any "point". I may just vote none of the above.
Posted by: David on September 29, 2004 01:31 PMYou know not of who you speak, sir. And you address none of my points. What of the largest deficit ever? What of the bogus war, and the tax cuts favoring the top 1%?
I'm not a registered Democrat either, oh ye of quick assumptions. I'm voting for Kerry -- a flawed candidate, and certainly not my top choice -- because the alternative is to allow W. to further trash this country. If someone held a gun to my head and ordered me to vote for Bush, I couldn't do it. The man is a disgrace -- a brutish, immoral, elitist thug.
Are we better off with a president who lied about a blowjob, or a president whose lies resulted in thousands of needless deaths, loss of prestige in the global community, and the enrichment of the wealthiest people in this country at the expense of the poor and working class? Do you really think it's moral that the wealthiest people in this country don't carry their share of the tax burden?
And just because someone disagrees with you, and presents an alternative viewpoint, does not mean they are making ad hominem attacks or setting up straw men. Grow up. Address the facts and quit whining.
And no, I didn't give my lousy $300 to charity. Did you? I do give to charities -- several, in fact. I have probably given at least $300 in the past year to various causes.
And David, I ask you to consider one thing my father taught me about voting: it's not always about putting the right person IN office -- it's often about getting the wrong person OUT of office. If, as you say, Bush's cabinet is a failure, isn't it worth considering voting out that failure and giving someone else a chance -- even someone you might not agree with 100%?
Posted by: Professor Pan on September 29, 2004 02:16 PMThe words of Garrison Keillor and those being thrown back and forth in the comments are – to me – a clear indication of the major problem that is plaguing America today… divisiveness and defensiveness, and neither party is doing anything to bring the people back together. The Bush Administration has not helped the situation, but only continued to make it worse under his four years of Supreme Court appointed leadership. If President Bush was a true leader he would be working his ass off to end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy… I mean America and the world.
What really surprises me is that we all know what Bush is capable of. We have seen him at work for four long agonizing years. His administration has only further divided and polarized the nation; they have put the country into the largest national deficit EVER! Bush started an unjust war and he spit in the face of America’s allies. And although I agree that having Saddam out is a good thing the ends (getting Saddam out) do NOT justify the means (lies and deceit on a grand scale). We have more enemies abroad now, our clout with our allies has been seriously compromised, and North Korea and Iran are freely pursuing nuclear weapons. My fear is that if Bush has another four years he will only continue to divide the country, hand it over to the top 1%, and declare war on North Korea and Iran in the name of fighting the ‘war on terror’. We risk losing more allies and the destructive conflict will only escalate. Al-Queda and Osama-Been-Forgotten are still alive and we are no closer to winning an un-winnable war on terror than we ever were, and the thinking that because Bush is in power is why there have been no further terrorist attacks in America is specious! The economy is NOT strong or getting stronger under the current administration (we still have the huge deficit too). It's time for Bush to go and for someone else to lead. I firmly believe - based on Bush's track record to date - that our country will only be further damaged and the wedge of divisiveness driven even more deeply into America.
I really wish that I and my friends could all be eleven or twelve again when our only political concerns were whether we liked the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire better.
Peace and may the Force be with us, --Will
Yes, Pro Pan. You are correct that picking the lesser of the "two Evils" is probably the best choice. That is probably what my vote will come down too!
Will, you can bet that in the next 4 years "someone" will put a stop to the Iranian Nuke program.
Posted by: David on September 29, 2004 02:43 PMP. Pan,
I will address your accusations that I support the party of unjust wars, murderous robber barons and evil, immoral elitist thugs when you answer my accusation that you support the party of elitist snobs, race baiters, drug addicts, perverts and nihilistic anti-capitalist brutes that despise the legacy of western civilization and desire authoritatian control over the personal lives of every American, right down to the type of vehicles that we drive, the foods we eat and the faith we practice because only they know how our lives should be run.
My straw man can beat up your straw man any day.
Will,
I'm surprised at your surprise. Let me ask you this: you talk of unity, and how Bush has "divided" America, but where is the middle ground? Where would say, Professor Pan and myself meet? I'm talking about politics, about worldview. He and I are diametrically opposed.
This chasm was not created-or even exacerbated-by Bush, or even Clinton. It is a symptom of the cultural divide that began in the 1950s, and Professor Pan (for instance) and myself are on different sides. We desire both different means and different outcomes. How do you reconcile that? You want to be a neutral observer, but this isn't really true-ask yourself "is Pan's decision to vote for Kerry more responsible than Jeff's decision to vote for Bush?" My point is that there is no middle ground.
BTW, I have no idea what the solution is. I'm hoping that when the baby boomers are gone liberalism in its worst forms will fade away with them. But I'm not holding my breath.
Posted by: Jeff on September 29, 2004 03:31 PMWhat do the following words mean??
nihilistic
ad hominem
divisiveness (is that even a word)???
In the end, just get out and vote! Be an American! Exercise free speech!
Umm, Jeff, could you please use words that this lower life form and hated liberal (yeah, I'm a liberal white chick) can understand without constantly having to go to the dictionary? Your meaning is lost on me when I don't grock what you are trying to say. I'm just not as educated, holy and elitist as you come across. Sorry, but you do come across that way
Posted by: SuzieQ on September 29, 2004 04:03 PMGosh, I'm the hateful holier-than-thou one?! And all that stuff Garrison Keillor and PP said was sweetness and light? Ho ho! I was merely responding to a straw man argument with a straw man argument.
And Dave...get a dictionary. Gee whiz! BTW, divisiveness is Will's word...not mine! ;-)
Posted by: Jeff on September 29, 2004 04:23 PMJeff, I know. All you guys are using just too big of words for this simple scientist!!! Now I am not saying that I am a lower lifeform like "SuzieQ", but man!! And who the f$%^ is Garrison Keillor?!?!?
P.S. Will is still a loser and see you all at the range tonight!
Dave and SuzieQ, you can always go to www.dictionary.com Then you don't have to look anything up in a paper book. Just copy and paste the word you want the definition for, press or click enter and viola!!!
Jeff, The responsible decision is to go and vote... period. I am voting for Kerry, but you and long time readers know this. At the present time I deeply feel in my heart and soul that voting for Kerry/Edwards is the best decision for myself, my family, my friends, for America and for the world.
Peace, --Will
Posted by: Will Burnham on September 29, 2004 04:39 PMDavid, Suzie is light-years ahead of you, you old Cro-Magnon. ;-)
Garrison Keillor is the crusty old fart who used to do the "Prairie Home Companion" radio show and wrote "Lake Woebegoe Days". I remember he used to write really nasty hit pieces on Reagan for Harpers(?) back in the 80s.
Will,
Righto, remember to vote!
Jeff, will you please look up the phrase "ad hominem" in a dictionary and see what it means? Then again, I'd expect that kind of argument from someone who beats his wife.
Posted by: Thomas G. Atkinson on September 30, 2004 01:49 AMIt's Woebegon, Jeff. Wobegon! And it was a humorous look at simpler lives in simpler times. I had no idea Keillor, in reality, hated those kinds of people and the lifestyles they represent. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go change my bandages...
Posted by: The beaten wife on September 30, 2004 05:59 AMNo Tom, I'm too busy thumping my bible and paving over a nearby swamp to check the dictionary. Plus my wife needs beating!
Posted by: Jeff on September 30, 2004 08:47 AMHA! Good one Jeff!
Posted by: David on September 30, 2004 12:23 PMI think I'm glad I showed up late for this party. Jeff, I understood all the words you used, and all the ones Keillor used and the ones P. Pan used, but I was an English major. I understand the concern that the right has about the left's "disrespect" for the legacy of Western Civilization. But it's like this: One time I had a job where the boss said he was going to pay me $6.00 an hour. the girl who was already there made $6.00 an hour, and said she'd quit because I was making the same wage. The boss wanted to lower my salary! I told him, "I'm not taking anything away from the first person. I'm just getting the same thing. Also you can't lower my salary: we made an agreement" So he fired me. But that's not my point. My point is that when other ideas gain just as much weight in a society where conservative ideas have, for a long time been the "right" ones, it I can see where you feel threatoned. But check your pockets and see if you have really lost anything.
And, before I go, I have to say this: When The Hub and I both lost our jobs we didn't go looking for public assistance. We looked down at the ends of our own arms for a helping hand. I called not less than 25 insurance agencies, brokers, etc, and was told that NO ONE would insure me and The Hub without medical underwriting ( meaning they wouldn't pay anything on illnesses we already have or have ever had in the past - which in my case would be almost anything.)This is in the best interest of the shareholder & the company. It's fiscally responsible. No one would insure us no matter how much we were willing to pay: law of the jungle, law of the marketplace. Okay.
Now The Hub has been hospitalized. Not because he was leading an irresponsible lifestyle. Not because he did something wrong. The hardworking man got sick. The medical bills are in the thousands of dollars: everybody ought to get paid, I'm for it. I'm willing to pay as much as I can, but that's not enough for the for profit hospital. They want it all now. Law of the jungle, law of the market place. Okay.
So now I have to apply for Medicare. This is not my choice,but I can do with with a clear concience because I have paid into Medicare. Those taxes I paid, those taxes you pay go into programs to help EVERYBODY, not just minorities. And weather I get approved for medicare will be determined by one thing: our income. Not our ideas, opinions, or beliefs. You once said that private organizations did a better job of serving people in need than government. You tell me where to apply. Or come to my house and tell me what to sell on e-bay next to pay as much as I can, because I'm not some Welfare Queen. I'm working every day, and hard.
Jeff "the poor" are not some faceless people with no morals and no honor. I would not lie to some church, say I don't believe in continuing revelation, or sit through some service I don't agree with to get a buck. Because everyone puts something into government programs in the form of taxes it doesn't hurt so much when you have to be the poor schmoo taking something out.I can do it with my head up, and you can do it when you need help. Remember "The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike"
Thomas,
You have been my friend since I was a freshman in high school. We've been through a lot together and I love ya man. Your many comments to various entries on my blog have always been thoughtful and well written... until now. Making an unfounded and unsubstantiated personal attack by saying that Jeff beats his wife because he has vastly different political views from you is WAY OUT OF LINE and as far as I am concerned you owe him and Becky an apology! Jeff and Becky are close personal friends of ours and have been my personal friends for almost - not quite - as long as you and I have. Although my political and religious views differ from theirs we maintain a wonderful and fulfilling friendship and I love them and I love you. If Jeff made the same kind of unfounded and unsubstantiated personal attack towards you I would bust on him. I am not going to tolerate personal attacks like this on MY BLOG! Anyone who makes personal attacks against anyone on my blog risks being banned. Disagree over politics, religion, society and culture all you want to, but make it personal and I am gonna bust heads and then ban people. Nuff said. Now make up and play nice. Peace, --Will
Will-whoa, Tom was just kidding! "Ad hominem" is AKA the "wife-beater fallacy" as in "my opponent beats his wife!" We'll be ok, once my knuckles heal and all.
Gotta remember to use the belt next time.
Lynn-I'm not sure why you personalized my "hurting the poor/minorities" comment-after all, I was just repeating the hyperbolic attacks made against both Reagan and Bush 41 by the Democrats. Nobody wants to hurt the poor!
I don't accept the notion that just because ideas are new, or because they have gained credence over older ideas, that they are somehow better ideas. Innovation is not always good, and history is littered with the bones of civilizations that have innovated themselves out of existance (the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, the French Republic and the British Empire come to mind). The center must hold, lest the whole edifice topple. Slow, deliberate change is desirable; wholesale re-invention is a disaster. America has been re-invented on a sweeping scale in the space of 40 years. For the first time in our history, we are without any dominant social institutions, and the soul of our nation is teetering toward anarchy. Something will arise to fill this vaccuum, but will it still be America?
The baby is being flushed with the bathwater, and the young nurse has the nerve to scream and shake her fist at the old nurse with her finger stuck in the drain.
Posted by: Jeff on September 30, 2004 02:45 PMArgh... this is all so frustrating. I don't know all this Greek and Latin fallacy stuff so I did not 'get the joke', and my ignorance it that area is revealed. Time to go look it all up on the old Internet. Okay, I am taking a deep breath and calming down, and understanding settles in. Thomas, my apologies, I over-reacted. Ya know what? I am going back to playing Star Wars Battlefront on my X-Box. Those are battles I can deal with. Ewoks beware!! Peace and may the Force be with us, --Will
Posted by: Will Burnham on September 30, 2004 03:23 PMJeff writes:
"I will address your accusations that I support the party of unjust wars, murderous robber barons and evil, immoral elitist thugs when you answer my accusation that you support the party of elitist snobs, race baiters, drug addicts, perverts and nihilistic anti-capitalist brutes that despise the legacy of western civilization and desire authoritatian control over the personal lives of every American, right down to the type of vehicles that we drive, the foods we eat and the faith we practice because only they know how our lives should be run."
You're a sick puppy.
PP
Posted by: Professor Pan on September 30, 2004 04:58 PM