Politics, Vitriol and Idiots

by Daddy X

Yep, not much distinction these days, but lets get this over with.  Sorry, I took the bait and swallowed the hook. :>)

Suz- Thanks so much for your post yesterday. I won’t be alone in this. Much obliged.

Republicans have been betting on idiots for decades. Even their sainted Reagan reflected only a theatrical figment, shaped by his handlers. A cardboard cutout. Just a second-rate actor posing as president for eight years. Couldn’t rub two IQ’s together. Suffering with Alzheimer’s during the final years of his term, though nobody wanted to notice. That says something in itself. Heaven forbid they’d retire their buffed-to-shining figurehead just to put someone competent in office.

Speaking of idiots, it’s a pattern with these guys. This year’s not that much different than their tactics in the past. 1988 brought Dan Quayle within a heartbeat, without any sense of Republican kickback. (Rumor has it that Bush veeped Quayle so nobody would take a pot-shot at ‘his truly,’ figuring any assassin with half a brain would need to bag Quayle at the same time) 

Republicans stand by their mistakes; never apologizing for the shit they might roll the country in. Imagine—Palin as their best VP choice in 2008. (Dodged a bullet there.) Not to mention enabling the other disastrous buffoon—W.—to steal an election. Twice. He instigated a mid-east domino effect by attacking an ostensibly secular country that had not lifted a finger against us. That error in judgment set off religious and ethnic strife that the world is still dealing with. Let’s not forget that Bush presided over the biggest decline in our economy since the Great Depression. Where TF do they get the rep for fiscal responsibility?

Embarrassment just rolls off right-wing backs. Culpability morphs to bluster, blaming others for the breakdown. Like the economy didn’t get in the shit as the result of chipping away at banking regulations for decades. Just another mainstay of Republican theory. Theory without benefit of fact. Ignore the results. Theory sounds good enough. Sheep will never put cause and effect together; they just vote as told.

Money doesn’t trickle down. It percolates up. Consider how much of your monthly expenses go to someone less well off than you. Virtually every bill we pay goes to a larger, better-funded entity.

Trickle down indeed.  If you take enough from the bottom, nothing percolates to the top.

Rules and regulations originally set into place during the 1930’s functioned to ensure that an economic downturn on the magnitude of the Great Depression could never happen again.  As children in the 50’s and 60’s, we lived with that comfort and security. Then right wing greed began chipping away at those regs.

We got to see what happened in 2007-8 when deregulated US banks’ greed brought us perilously close to end-stage capitalism, something predicted as far back as Alexis de Tocqueville in the 19^th century. Writing counterpoint to Marx, Tocqueville absolutely loved capitalism, but he also recognized the need for strict oversight. If not regulated properly, the system would predictably eat itself. Witness gluttony now at its worst, either discarding or consuming our own spending class.

The classic Monopoly game quite efficiently illustrates how a pure capitalist system works. At the logical and inescapable end, one player wins. Everybody else loses. The game then gets packed away because even the winner can gain no more.

How can a party continue to be relevant with all the obvious mistakes stacked up behind this one?

Since the 1960’s, Republicans have not embraced any coherent platform beyond opposing taxes and economic regulations, while enacting voter suppression and whittling away at women’s rights. All this relying on a system perfected by a couple of their anti-saints, Grover Norquist and Newt Gingrich. Together, back in the 90’s, they established a culture of “No tax, No facts, No compromise.” Theory without benefit of fact.

They ignore obvious results such as the devastated economies of Kansas and Louisiana, states which have adopted ‘trickle-down’ policies discredited decades ago. Compare them to the booming economy of California, which raised taxes for the rich and got rid of practically every Republican at the state level.

In a state of shock and awe over losing the election to Bill Clinton in ’92, Republicans began throwing a tantrum that hasn’t let up since. Within a week, the scuttlebutt had it that Clinton was done. Imagine! His wife wanted to address health care.

So it’s no wonder Republicans, by choosing the golden elephant in the room, have invited a soul mate into their midst, if not by direct invitation, by supplying the obvious home for his hateful theories. Add to that, ignorant voters who understand (and respond) to nothing but anger and bluster.

Not much of what Trump has proposed is contrary to basic Republican theory. He just says it with less thought and more vitriol. That’s what the base expects.  It doesn’t have to make sense. Just say it loud. Just be insulting.  If you repeat something outrageous often enough, that’s good enough.

The right wing has captured the Republican Party and holds it hostage. An increasingly irrelevant party has courted every fringe group and whacked single-issue voter in an effort to be competitive. Be it abortion nuts, gun nuts, religious nuts, flat-earthers, birthers, racists, the disillusioned, deluded or the ignorant. The right wing needs anyone they can bamboozle into voting, by hook or by crook.

I once heard a retired Republican operative candidly explain why they don’t play fair.

He said: “Of course we don’t play fair. There aren’t enough voters who think like we do to win fair and square. We’re forced to use tricks and subterfuge to win. We certainly can’t tell voters what we’re actually about. Nobody would vote for us. After all, it is about winning. We don’t have the luxury to play fair.”

Hear the Donald’s comments on the undereducated: “The poorly educated love me. I love the poorly educated.”

What a fucked statement!

Republicans haven’t shown an interest in education for years except to discourage funding. They’ve cut resources while diverting federal dollars to local agencies to enable private charter schools (whether competent or questionable) siphoning existing resources from public systems. Dumbing down the citizenry who depend on strong public schools and leaving education of our kids to for-profit entities.

A candidate of Trump’s ilk wouldn’t have come this far, even considering the extraordinary field of laughable losers Republican primary voters had to choose from. It would be comical, unless you considered any of them as our actual president. One worse than the next, and the worst of the bunch is now the presumptive nominee. Go figure.

Next best vote-getter was Ted Cruz, of all people, the most hated member of the Senate. Not to mention he looks and acts like Elmer Gantry. Gives people the creeps just looking at him. How did he float (nearly) to the top of the heap? Who the fuck would he appeal to?

You couldn’t write a story like this. Nobody would swallow the bizarre concept.  

The situation is surreal in the face of its very existence. Makes the head fizz like a shook up 7-Up with the top popped. How much permanent damage can be done with a plethora of bluster coupled with a rejection of critical thinking?

Let’s hope we don’t find out.