I know
that you know
the parallel universe exists.
Sorry to go all William Carlos Williams on you there for a second. But I want to make it clear that “I know, you already know” that a parallel universe of disinformation and false historical premises and twilight realities has already been constructed for Americans who call themselves “conservatives.”
But what I want to know is: are you looking inside that parallel universe? Regularly? You should be, because about twenty-five to twenty-seven per cent of American voters choose to live there.
I know you know about Glenn Beck, and I know you know about Michele Bachmann. But are you aware of the extent of the vast support network that exists, beyond those high-profile demagogues?
I am, because I listen to evangelical conservative radio broadcasting, where talk of an end-times apocalypse is regularly figures in the political analysis of evangelical current affairs programming. But I suspect that too many of you simply screen this out of your lives because it’s wild-eyed garbage (if garbage can be said to have “wild eyes.”)
That’s a mistake, if you do that–turn this stuff off. Because if you listen to it or read it: you will understand how paranoid nuts can get into Congress; how George W. Bush can be re-elected in 2006 by 3 million votes.
Here is another glimpse into that perverse world, where the assumptions on the legitimacy of elected government are those of right wing militia groups…
The author is political commentator Robert Ringer, the publication is WorldNetDaily (conservative evangelical news organ, big Bachmann fans…)
Ringer excoriates the Republican Party for living in fear of being labeled “extremist.” His opinion of the Constitution and constitutional law tracks Bachmann’s: that government has no right “to engage in activities that are not spelled out in the Constitution.”
The recent Senate debate over yet another extension of unemployment benefits was a perfect example of the RINO problem. Most Republicans were careful to say they supported the extension of jobless pay, but argued that the costs should be “paid for” rather than added to the federal deficit.Attention Republican senators: There is no provision in the Constitution for the government to provide unemployment benefits – period! Yet, this obvious fact was never part of the debate. And so it is with virtually every congressional debate. Such time-wasting debates are almost always based on a false premise – usually that the government has a right to engage in activities that are not spelled out in the Constitution.
The fact that this “legal theory” flies in the face of two hundred years of established American constitutional law does not slow him down for a second. You have to trust him on this one, not all those generations of federal judges and elected legislators.
Then Ringer gets down to the real question:
So, the big question remains: If we actually have elections in November (Editor sez: Jesus! See footnote.), and if Republicans can overcome Democratic fraud and voter intimidation and win both the House and Senate, will enough of them have the courage to stand up and talk tea-party language?If they are fearful, all they need to do is follow closely behind Superwoman (a.k.a. Michele Bachmann), Jim DeMint, Ron Paul and a host of other tea-party House and Senate members. Bachmann is a woman who never ceases to amaze me with her ability and courage to zero in on the real issues. She doesn’t buy into false-premise debates, which drives the far Left crazy. In a recent interview, she said:
“I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another, and expose all the nonsense that has gone on.” The only word I would take issue with is “nonsense.” I would be inclined to call it blatant criminal activity. But I agree with her that a tidal wave of subpoenas should be issued.
Footnote: Notice that the author is actually alerting his readers to the possibility that elections may not be held at all this fall–that the mythical criminal socialist conspiracy may crush the elections under its iron heel as early as this summer! This is the parallel universe, the dark backward that millions of Americans have been taught to live in. It’s not just the militia guys anymore: it’s the conservative evangelical political movement (representing tens of millions of votes) that has been taught to think this way.
It’s here; there’s a sizeable minority of millions of Americans who are nuts. They are being deliberately trained to stay nuts, to reject post-Enlightenment standards for knowledge and information–and they vote.
For me, that’s the American political problem of our time. I think that if you solve that problem, we can go forward. But I admit I’m prejudiced about identifying the American political problem of our time.
