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For the umpty-ninth time, tonight on NPR this time, I heard some belligerent-sounding asshole at a Nevada state Republican party convention bluster about how sick he is of government not following the Constitution. Predictably, he was speaking in the context of right-wing outrage about the "government takeover" of healthcare. The reporter, of course, failed to ask old Chamber-Of-Commerce Dick if he was aware that the legislation was passed and signed by a duly elected Congress and President, respectively, and has not been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.Well, OK, the guy is entitled to an ignorant opinion. Sound bytes like I described above wouldn't souse me with hate, though, if these same people were also blathering on the news shows about things like this --- Soviet-style security policies that vomit on due process (a Constitution thing, you know) when a licensed commercial pilot declines to submit to a "backscatter" full body scan after clearing an airport metal detector. These scans are capable of clearly imaging a subject's genetalia and other mammalian protuberances, and in the absence of reasonable suspicion related to smuggling nonmetallic weapons or ingested cocaine-stuffed condoms, are useless except for titillating bored TSA workers. So... why chorus of silence, wingnuts?
It's almost as if Republicans, libertarians, and Tea Partiers are angry only about things they're told to be angry about.
or the attorney in a Mississippi courtroom a couple weeks ago who stood for the pledge of allegiance but refused to actually vocalize it-- jailed for contempt.
ReplyDeleteOr Joe Douche-beard Miller's assault of a news reporter in Alaska yesterday.
These jerkoffs don't even comprehend the constitution-- as you stated, they're just yammering about what they've been told to yammer (by Kochs and Coors and Pinochet).
Nobody gives a shit! Well, maybe they are starting to because it's affecting their wallets.
ReplyDeleteWhile claiming a constitutional right to exit the nation (stage right), the resulting Confederate Constitution had no such provision. As it turned out, about the *only* way to quickly eliminate the last bastion of slavery in the Western world (at the time, and based on human ownership as "property") was to do EXACTLY what the south did.
ReplyDeleteBy noting a distinct similarity and "Tea Party filter" could one:
1. gain insights and advantage by examining the parallels, and,
2. develop strategy to ultimately and definitively end an onerous and morally reprehensible social institution?
The "institution" for #2 probably involves multiple candidates and could also include, instead, major reform. With luck, if the cries of "the teapartiers shall rise again", and "forget hell" come to pass it won't be as a result of a full blown fiery trial.
Shelby's Other Foot
Teabag Buster: here's what's making a maniac of me lately. When events like you point to occur, the most "serious" liberal site I follow (TPM) treats it like it's some kind of big fucking in-joke. 'Haha---isn't that Joe Wilson and his private security force crazy?' seems to be the most pertinent observation they can offer. Even though the ME of TPM, David Kurtz, is an attorney, we don't get a fucking word about the legality of people and corporations mustering private security forces to wield police powers in public places. It's not only Joe Miller in Alaska---it's BP along the Gulf Coast and a dozen other examples if one cared to search. Sorry, but this is not wacky: all levels of government should be zero tolerance for this.
ReplyDeleteAnon: regrettably, I'm afraid you're mostly right. When even "lefty" websites trivialize organized invasions of fundamental civil liberties (or, alternately, used such events as an excuse to sloganeer or spew tiresome "hippie" rhetoric), I yam disgustipated. But it's worse: I'm not sure two-thirds of Americans even recognize when their own oxen are being gored. The magic formula is scapegoat-ism delivered with the most modern techniques of propaganda and marketing.
Shelby Junior: interesting ideas, but not sure I agree with you that southern secession was the only way to eliminate slavery in the sort of bankshot, unintended consequences way you imply. Slavery as practiced in the U.S. was a doomed economic institution, and good arguments have been made for its own collapse. Atrophy wouldn't have gotten rid of the psychological root causes any more than defeat in the Civil War did, though. However, I take your general point that the Tea Party could be effectively discredited by an effective political response. Democrats don't seem interested though. What's so pathetic to me is that the Tea Party could never have gained as much credibility as a "legitimate" outpouring if journalists in this country bothered to do their jobs any more.