WHY CONSERVATISM SUCKS RIGHT NOW
Some Freeper named Jim Robinson has an off the deep end post up at Free Republic that illustrates in a nutshell why no one is taking conservatism very seriously these days.
You have to read the whole thing to grasp the underlying hysteria, the exaggeration, the misperceptions, and the paranoia, but a few choice passages should suffice.
It is entitled “If we could get millions of Americans to march on Washington, what would we do?”
It cannot be denied that the central government has become destructive of our unalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and our rights to live free. The government is no longer responsive to we the People. They have stretched and shredded the constitution to the point that they have illegally seized for themselves virtually unlimited powers over the citizens and act as if we have no rights and no powers of our own. They are acting without our consent.
First, I could have lifted the exact same verbiage from any of 50 lefty blogs while Bush was in office. It was stupid then and it’s stupid now. Positing the idea that we are unfree or living under some kind of authoritarian regime is so far beyond the pale of rationality one wonders if this guy sits in the dark, cradling his gun, waiting for the secret police to bust down his door.
Gross exaggeration, hyperbolic, hysterical, paranoid, full of nonsensical statements that fly in the face of reality - and that’s just the second paragraph.
Our Founders established that when our government becomes destructive of our rights then it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
We have reached the point where the government’s long train of abuses and usurpations has achieved absolute Despotism, therefore it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our future security.
Therefore, We the People of America choose to exercise our right to throw off and alter the abusive government by peacefully recalling and removing from office the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States and all U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives effective immediately.
Oooh goody! A revolution. Can I play too?
An interim provisional Chief Executive and congressional representatives will be established as follows:
The Secretary of State shall immediately assume the office of interim Chief Executive. The Chief Executive shall appoint and the interim Senate shall confirm an interim Vice President.
An immediate election shall be held within each state legislature to appoint two interim senators to represent each sovereign state.
A special election shall be held by all states within 30 days to elect interim members of the House of Representatives.
Elections for regular government offices shall be conducted in November, 2010 as previously scheduled, except that elections will be held for all elective offices, including President, Vice President and all U.S. Representatives. U.S. Senators will be elected per class schedule by the various state legislatures.
I suppose Obama, Biden, the cabinet, 100 senators and 435 Congressmen are just going to take one look at that million crazies this guy wants to bring to Washington and turn over the government to…who? Who is going to appoint this “Provisional Chief Executive?” No doubt Mr. Robinson who, as the leader of this revolt of patriots, will also be responsible for “convincing” our elected leaders to leave town.
No matter. Just what kind of government does this new Founding Fool want to establish?
The Constitution of the United States must be kept intact and must be adhered to and strictly followed by all government entities as originally intended.
As it was originally intended? Well, that solves the Obama problem. Mr. Robinson can sell him into slavery.
We must restore and reestablish the sovereignty of the people and the states and restore the constitutional balances between the central government, the various states and we the people. The constitution severely restricts government powers and guarantees unalienable freedom and Liberty to the people.
For an ignoramus, he actually got pretty close - to a third grade understanding of the Constitution. Perhaps defining “freedom and Liberty” might be a start so that we can figure out what’s “unalienable” in those vague concepts, as well as telling us how to “restore and reestablish” states rights and the “sovereignty” of the individual (which hasn’t gone anywhere as far as I can tell). But of course, that would require a mind not entranced with its own lunacy.
Then come the specifics: Repeal the 16th and 17th amendments, abolish the IRS (hooray!), transfer federal land, buildings, and military bases to control of the states, kill social security, get rid of abortion rights, the Fed,…
Well, you get the picture. He concludes with this ringing call for revolution:
Need lots of help with this document, folks. Please chime in. Would love to see a committee formed of members of every state to complete and finalize it. Then we should form and send delegates to a special national congress to work out the kinks and plan its presentation and execution.
This concept is an entirely peaceful altering of our despotic government per our unalienable right and duty. No where do I call for violence. The only force I call for is the force of numbers. We need millions of our citizens to sign on to this petition and execute its provisions. Will require millions to march on D.C. to block the government’s ability to do business as usual. This is our right and duty as Americans.
Yes, every American has a right to make an utter, complete ass of himself. That right is protected by the Constitution as surely as the right to sit in the dark with a gun waiting for Obama’s goose stepping brownshirts to arrest patriots like Mr. Robinson is guaranteed by that document.
The problem with all of this isn’t that the guy is a loon whose understanding of what America is all about is that of a 6 year old. The problem is in the comments to this post, as well as comments I’ve seen on just about every big conservative blog out there that support and mimic these extraordinarily idiotic and laughably exaggerated claims of what the government has been doing since Obama took office and how these actions affect our personal liberty.
There will always be a certain portion of both the right and left who are basically nuts. The hysterically exaggerated dangers of a Bush putsch were written about endlessly by the left for 8 years. Now it’s time for righty crazies to crawl out from under the rocks and dark places where they’ve been hiding to make conservatism look like an ideal home for kooks, paranoids, and other unbalanced denizens who inhabit a creepy reality of their own making that bears little resemblance to the real world.
Conservatives will laugh this kind of thing off as an aberration. But I am telling my fellow righties that we ignore this crap to the detriment of the rest of us who oppose the administration’s actions. With pop-cons like Hannity, Beck, Coulter, and other conservative celebrities mouthing some of this nonsense (while implying even worse) on a daily basis, more and more of the base are turning into unhinged, screaming maniacs who believe America is being “destroyed” by Obama and the liberals.
This screed is symptomatic of the sickness of thought and reason that afflicts many conservatives today - more than we are prepared to acknowledge and far more than one would normally expect from a philosophy that supposedly prides itself on prudence, rationality, and probity.
You can dismiss Robinson and his unhinged followers. But they aren’t going away and their influence can only grow if we ignore them.
UPDATE
Ooooh my bad. Jim Robinson isn’t just any ordinary schmuck. He is founder of Freeperland.
If I were to seriously analyze Robinson’s thoughts in that post, I would say that anyone who advocated the kinds of changes he does would make Obama look like a piker in the “change” department. Robinson’s ideas are beyond radical — they are ill-informed, impossible, and reactionary.
How reactionary? Robinson posits a government that does not return us to our constitutional roots but rather to a pre-constitutional system not unlike the Articles of Confederation. Anyone who can’t see that in all of his state’s rights bullshit doesn’t know much about history.
Someone should wake Mr. Robinson up and inform him that we are a continental, 21st century industrialized nation of 300 million people and not an 18th century agrarian coastal republic of 7 million.
Not that it would make much difference to Robinson. We have to revolt to ban abortion and toss out social security and the IRS.
You really are a wuss, Moran. The country is being ruined in extraordinary ways by radical leftists and for you it’s just business as usual. I agree that something must be done before the economy is completely ruined, health care nationalized and the ruinous cap and trade tax imposed. Obama and the Dems are radical and crazy. If you are not concerned, it’s because you don’t understand the situation.
I am removing your link from my blogroll.
Well…there goes the three visitors a year I was getting from your site.
btw - it would be a pretty good trick to “ruin” a $14 trillion economy. Maybe you could tell us all how you go about doing that. Yes, cap and trade and national health care and Obama’s deficits will slow growth, cost jobs, and change the relationship between the citizen and the government.
But you’re an idiot if you believe that any one man or party can “ruin” an economy as large as ours. It’s too big, too diverse to “ruin.”
ed.
Comment by Stogie — 7/19/2009 @ 11:32 am
In 6 months Obama has got direct operational government control of the financial system and the automakers and is making a serious bid for direct government operational control of the energy and health care sectors. This is undeniable. Any conservative, heck any traditional liberal, ought to be worried by that. Sorry to hear you’re not.
“Direct operational control” of a $3 trillion dollar sector of the economy? Do you know how many people it would take to have “direct operational control of the financial system? Don’t be an idiot.
You’re loonier than Robinson.
ed.
Comment by Locomotive Breath — 7/19/2009 @ 11:40 am
Are you really as stupid as you seem? Your reasoning skills are flawed to say the least, oh wait! Your a liberal…that explains it!
No wonder 51% of the country is following ”
The Pied Piper of Marxism” off a cliff. All hail the Great Obambi!
Comment by Katherine Smith — 7/19/2009 @ 11:47 am
I know how many people it would take. That’s why centrally planning of the economy doesn’t work and why it’s looney for Obama to try. Or does firing and hiring CEOs not count?
Comment by Locomotive Breath — 7/19/2009 @ 11:52 am
“There is little room left for wisdom when one is full of judgement.”
(Malcolm Hein)
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.”
(Margaret Mead)
Comment by Laurie — 7/19/2009 @ 11:56 am
Jim Robinson is having a hard time getting his depleting herd of morons to give him money (Freepathon) .. this is another PR con-job by Rimjob.
Comment by Kevin — 7/19/2009 @ 11:58 am
That call to overthrow the United States of America was not posted by “some Freeper,” but by the owner and Founder of Free Republic.
Comment by Jack — 7/19/2009 @ 12:04 pm
[...] Little Green Footballs, Right Wing Nut House, and [...]
Pingback by Sounds like a good idea……But! | Political Byline — 7/19/2009 @ 12:08 pm
Where were all these people when I was trying to unload my GM stock!
Comment by kenavi — 7/19/2009 @ 12:09 pm
“Positing the idea that we are unfree or living under some kind of authoritarian regime is so far beyond the pale of rationality one wonders if this guy sits in the dark, cradling his gun, waiting for the secret police to bust down his door.”
Soft tyranny always precedes hard tyranny.
Obama calls for civilian paramilitary force
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHmecy94z-M
Comment by Nate — 7/19/2009 @ 12:10 pm
Excellent to outstanding post !!
I just signed myself out of FR yesterday - after debating the matter for a few months. (There was the matter of their tacit support of the “birthers”, their tendency to pile on anyone who disagreed with their increasingly fascist cant,and the never-ending deluge of disinformation from obvious corporate shills,etc., etc.)
When the site tried to spin a blatantly racist attack on Obama’s daughter,I was disgusted; but when Jim Robinson finally jumped the shark, I had had enough.
Comment by Gene Finneran — 7/19/2009 @ 12:11 pm
[...] Why didn’t I think of this to drive up the traffic count? I’ll bet this would even be better than running nekkid photos of Britany Spears (not that I [...]
Pingback by Imagination, Optimism, and Tolerance « Nuke Gingrich — 7/19/2009 @ 12:29 pm
Just for fun, this is how I signed out (assuming they haven’t pulled the thread).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2295713/posts
Comment by Gene Finneran — 7/19/2009 @ 12:34 pm
The problem is two-fold: there are nutters out there like Robinson calling themselves “conservatives,” and then there is a national media only too happy to put the Robinsons of the world front and center as representative of conservative thinking. The thing that always drives me nuts is that there is often an underlying truth to many of these hyperbolic rants, but it gets lost in the unhinged hysteria. For example, some of what Obama is doing — taking over car companies, appointing “czars” to bypass Constitutional checks and balances, limiting executive salaries in the private sector, threatening state governors who oppose his policies, etc. — likely is un-Constitutional, which we should be discussing, but we don’t because these nutjobs make such charges seem so incredulous with their absurd rhetoric. I still say, though, that righties do a far better job of calling out their nut cases than lefties do. Who’s the last liberal nutjob a la Robinson that any liberal site criticized or condemned? Most of ‘em get a slot on “60 Minutes.”
Comment by Anon — 7/19/2009 @ 12:43 pm
Moran, you are such a Poser.
Go ad hominem often? Thats a sure sign of a poor writer.
Robinson 1 Moran 0
Comment by Dianna — 7/19/2009 @ 12:52 pm
Gene,
The Nazi Facists are currently in power in D.C. right this minuit. You know, the ones that quite literally walking in the footsteps of the Nazi Party in Germany… supporting the murder of the innocent (abortion) and or undesirables (handicapped and elderly alike), forcing the people to work for the state instead of themselves. Nationalizing whole industries… you know THAT sounds exactly like what those in Power in DC are doing today!
Golly, I think you better look into the mirror before you go throwing such acusations about people who are so clearly not walking that path. Robinson and most FReepers are about FREEDOM, real freedom, not the kind that Government hands you.
You see, if the government has the power to give you something, it also has the power to take it from you. Thats not freedom, that’s totalitarianism
Comment by Dianna — 7/19/2009 @ 1:00 pm
Well, I’m glad somebody has finally identified Rick as the flaming liberal that he is. Clearly his unwillingness to take up arms and throw down the government demonstrates the Kerryist demons hiding in his rotten soul. Those who fear the paltry inconveniences of immediately dismantling our entire governmental, economic, social and security infrastructure are part of the problem, not the solution, and shall be the first against the wall once Robinson gets this whole thing organized. To the ramparts, citizens!
Comment by Jazz Shaw — 7/19/2009 @ 1:11 pm
RimJob and the 81st Chairborne Division would scare the bejeezus out of me if I didn’t know they are harmless 60-year old losers still living in their 80-year old parents’ basements. The closest thing to a gun a Freeper has is a picture of one on their hard drive.
Comment by jarjar — 7/19/2009 @ 1:30 pm
Invective from a moderate!
It seems Mr. Robinson has inspired you, Rick!
Perhaps this means more fire from your writing from now on? Perhaps you’ll bring your superlative skills as an essayist to the forefront to be a strong moderate voice? Engage us and tell us why we need not fear the things that the likes of Robinson are telling us we need to fear? I hope you’ll view this as a challenge to be a leading voice, rather than a Charles Johnson-esque finger-pointing laugher.
Comment by Paul Kroenke — 7/19/2009 @ 1:38 pm
Who is dumber: Rick Moran or Jazz Shaw? That’s a toughie.
Comment by bc3 — 7/19/2009 @ 2:02 pm
One expects a strong reaction from the public to any hint of change in the wrong direction for our constitutional republic. It is most likely far easier to head it off early, than it is to let it become ensconced in our way of life, and then try to extract it. It is far easier to seize the knife and heal the first hundred cuts than to wait until the thousand cuts Obama plans drain us dry.
To rid us of Obama, the main thing to do, besides objecting vehemently to his socialistic tendencies and policies every time they appear, is to vote him out of office in 2012, along with his marxist-oriented minions in the congress in 2010 and 2012.
The voters put them in; they must take them out.
Comment by mannning — 7/19/2009 @ 2:02 pm
Some Freeper named Jim Robinson…
As already noted, that some Freeper is the founder and owner of Free Republic.
The Nazi Facists are currently in power in D.C. right this minuit. You know, the ones that quite literally walking in the footsteps of the Nazi Party in Germany… supporting the murder of the innocent (abortion) and or undesirables (handicapped and elderly alike), forcing the people to work for the state instead of themselves. Nationalizing whole industries… you know THAT sounds exactly like what those in Power in DC are doing today!
Someone actually believes the stuff Jonah Goldberg writes I guess, though I suspect he doesn’t even believe most of it himself.
Many on the Right are truly becoming overwrought. This is what 30 years of listening to hysterical, over-the-top rhetoric on the radio and Internet, along with a steady diet of Sean Hannity and Mark Levin will do to a person.
Mark and Sean and, of course David Horowitz, one of the original SDS morons, are the new Jerry Rubin and Abby Hoffman, except with a bigger audience. They’re selling the same old snake oil, just from a different bottle and they wear ties. In the end, though, even the most radical Berkeley leftists realized these guys were a sham. It didn’t take nearly as long, either.
Right-wingers who agree with the Freepers better wake up because to most of the country thinks this stuff is loony. If “tyranny” really existed, Jim Robinson would disappear and no one would ever know what happened to him. For Dianna, with her Nazi comparison (always a bad choice), ponder what the real Hitler’s reaction might have been to a guy like Jim Robinson.
Comment by Pug — 7/19/2009 @ 2:14 pm
Rick, the comments here mostly prove your point, “help the world is ending! there’s a black commie in the white house”. It really does make conservatism look like it’s entered its own long dark night of lunacy.
Comment by yoyo — 7/19/2009 @ 3:46 pm
Moran complaining about being a conservative is like a fish complaining about air quality.
Comment by Right Wing Not — 7/19/2009 @ 5:16 pm
After reading most not all of the comments up here clearly proves the following “There will always be a certain portion of both the right and left who are basically nuts.” Anyone who thinks Obama has anything to do with the Nazis is totally deluded (and I’m German). However, I’m sure the ‘realist’ conservatives will be in charge after the crazies had their fun. I just don’t know when 2010? Hm 2012 maybe. BTW, this is the same thing that happened to the Democrats in 68. Radical insane people are not going to win elections.
Comment by funny man — 7/19/2009 @ 5:25 pm
I think it’s unfair for you the broadly defame popular conservatives, and state - without examples or evidence - that “pop-cons like Hannity, Beck, Coulter, and other conservative celebrities [are] mouthing some of this nonsense…”
Not true. I think - and no doubt Beck, Coulter and Hannity think - that if the Obama way moves forward without significant opposition, we’re headed for a soft tyranny, but all the figures you mention (and every other “pop-con” I can think of) advocate only constitutional measures to combat this trend; elections, perhaps Randy Barnett’s omnibus Federalism Amendment, etc.
You should retract your sloppy and broad libel.
Comment by Brian — 7/19/2009 @ 5:27 pm
Right Wing Not;
in what way is Rick Moran not a conservative?
Comment by funny man — 7/19/2009 @ 5:41 pm
I came from Moderate Voice and let me say upfront I am a democrat.
For one, Moran sounds like he has some good common sense. That is sorely missing these days from both sides.
When people on the right are seriously thinking a man who is a basic standard issue democrat with some moderate ideas and some moderate left ideas and is being thought of seriously as a communist or socialist, common sense has left the building.
Obama is not out to destroy your life or take over the country. He is trying to fix and strengthen our economy. In some cases, some important businesses need to be helped by our government because there simply is not anyone who has the money to do anything.
To think we should just let our banks collapse is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
We were at the point of hitting a depression. We were in serious trouble and our economy was collapsing. If we allowed the banks to fall, the world economies would have collapsed.
All Obama did was continue what was actually begun under Bush.
Obama nor any democrat wants to turn our country into a communist state (besides, does that even exist anymore?)
The right needs to get a grip. You guys are like kids camping and sitting around telling scare stories. Made up out of thin air and made to induce fear.
We on the left have lived with conservative rule for 30 years. Now that you have to deal with just 4 to 8 of a standard issue democrat as president the right has lost it’s mind and it’s bearings.
Really. You need to get some common sense and understand that in a democracy we will have one party leading and then another. And each side needs to deal with it and stop demonizing the other.
Comment by vwcat — 7/19/2009 @ 7:06 pm
Y-E-S!
Welcome to the fight against far right “independent” strangeness. I see you are getting the same nasty comments I’ve had at The Pink Flamingo when I criticize these adorable traitors. As far as I’m concerned some of these guys are snuggling terribly close to treason.
Do you ever get the feeling they don’t really want to defeat Obama?
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
Comment by SJ Reidhead — 7/19/2009 @ 7:38 pm
[...] And most importantly, Rick Moran has FINALLY discovered the real reason The Pink Flamingo has a serious problem with independents. You think The Pink [...]
Pingback by That ‘Interesting Times’ Curse & Politics : The Pink Flamingo — 7/19/2009 @ 7:48 pm
@Jazz Shaw:
Golf clap for you, good sir.
Sadly, I have a feeling judging from the tenor of the other comments in here your post got more “Hell Yeahs!!” than chuckles.
Comment by busboy33 — 7/19/2009 @ 7:49 pm
The Rightwing Nuthouse is looking increasingly sane in comparison to the real wingnuts. These wingers are out of their minds.
Comment by A Giant Slor — 7/19/2009 @ 10:19 pm
[...] Wing Nut House-Rick Moran bangs on a Jim Robinson, the proprietor of Free Republic, for his “manifesto” on how to change the United [...]
Pingback by Late Night Info-Warz Roundup « The Western Experience — 7/19/2009 @ 10:26 pm
The biggest threat to the tea party movement is that it would meet the fate of the anti-war movement. The first anti-war protests were authentic grass-roots expressions. Then after a while, the organized communists and anti-Israeli Palestinian supporters started dominating the anti-war protests with their numbers, chants and banners. Ordinary people stopped coming, and the movement died.
If the Ron Paul people start to dominate the tea parties, they will drive away anyone who is not a Ron Paul supporter, and the movement dies there.
Comment by jms — 7/19/2009 @ 11:41 pm
Conservatism sucks because it’s based far too much on pandering to a “base” that seems gullible, illiterate, and occasionally racist. If instead conservatism would become a movement of ideas and principles, it would likely be much more appealing.
Comment by Chris Baker — 7/20/2009 @ 12:33 am
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 7/20/2009, at The Unreligious Right
Comment by UNRR — 7/20/2009 @ 4:53 am
Sen. Tom Harkin said he wants Congress to use a climate bill to force auto companies to make new cars and trucks capable of running on 85 percent ethanol as well as conventional gasoline.
We own the automobile companies. Why not? I think that will be an easy one,” Harkin said Thursday, referring to the government interests in Chrysler and General Motors.
———
Operational control? Nah. Who’d think that?
Comment by Locomotive Breath — 7/20/2009 @ 5:38 am
Rick Moran seems to have hit on the line between conservative and reactionary. Very few conservatives left in the Republican party, most conservatives are Democrats, what they call “Blue Dogs,” while the Republican side is populated largely by reactionaries who are able to define themselves only by what they are against.
Reactionaries aren’t much use, they’re like a person who, at dinnertime, says “No you can’t have ice cream for supper,” but can’t conceive what you should have for supper.
Comment by Alan — 7/20/2009 @ 9:32 am
I think plenty of people take conservatism seriously, e.g., folks like Larison. But wingnuts like the freeper founder are not conservatives; they’re wackos. Most of the time they come here and approve of RM’s opinion. It’s only when he says flat out that they are crazy that they turn on him.
More popcorn!
Comment by HyperIon — 7/20/2009 @ 10:53 am
“The Secretary of State shall immediately assume the office of interim Chief Executive. The Chief Executive shall appoint and the interim Senate shall confirm an interim Vice President.”
So … Obama and Biden get kicked out, and it is preferrable to this guy to have Hillary Clinton (The Secretary of State) as the POTUS. He PREFERS Hillary to Obama. Hillary.
As far as short term memory loss goes, this guy is the freaking poster child. He can barely remember what his complaint is!
Comment by Stupidscript — 7/20/2009 @ 5:33 pm
Thank you for this small reassurance that not all conservatives are afflicted with insanity. I enjoyed some of the points you made, especially about Robinson’s 3rd grade understanding of the Constitution (and government, I might add).
For example, he imagines that there are millions of accounts with everyone’s Social Security dollars sitting in them that can simply be “refunded” to their owners? Or that he and his millions of Americans would be allowed to make these changes unimpeded by millions of other Americans who would not support the usurpation of our government?
And what about the irony of demanding our Constitution be restored and followed yet advocating for the overthrow of a Constitutionally elected president, selected by the majority of US citizens?
The responses you have received to your well-thought out post are a sad commentary on the state of conservatism in this country. I believe it is time for a third party to emerge from the ashes of the Republican party, leaving the crazies to destroy the GOP as the more sane Republicans distance themselves and become a viable political force.
Although I am a liberal, I do not believe it is healthy to have a one-party country yet the increasing irrelevancy of the republican party is making it inevitable.
Comment by CatM — 7/20/2009 @ 5:38 pm
CatM, it’s not the Republicans,per se. If you were to sit down,face-to-face, I think you’d find you had some conservative beliefs, and they had some liberal beliefs; and that-all things considered,there really wasn’t that much difference in your viewpoints.
The “new conservatives” represent 8-10% of the Republican party, but insist the party should get in step with them - instead of the reverse.
They are , in a word, NOT conservatives, but RADICALS; and, from what I’ve seen of some of them over the years, all they really need is some nice brown shirts, arm bands, and truncheons.(Oops ! I forgot to mention bibles.)
Comment by Gene Finneran — 7/20/2009 @ 8:31 pm
The problem with conservatism today is that it is so obsessed with limiting the size of government that it misses the opportunity it has. USAer want a certain level of government involvement in the economy (army, police, fire, infrastructure, schools, poor-assistance). But the Democrats do this so poorly. Conservatives should advocate better government, not just limited government. They come off as leave the poor to die and the children to be ignorant. A perfect example; the GOP should put education reform (charters, vouchers, ending the UFT and NEA) as it’s flagship program. Instead, nary a peep from McCain … who cares about a few meetings and associations with Ayers?
TMD
Comment by The Masked Defender — 7/21/2009 @ 12:34 am
I’m sure you can find all kinds of crazy stuff about Bush on the interwebs from a few years ago, but I defy you to find a single notable lefty who called for revolution. Yet here you have the founder of one of the largest right wing sites calling for it, as well a Republican running for office in Virginia and an inciting incident from the American Revolution (which is, after all, what the Tea Parties were meant to evoke.
Yes, as a lefty myself I was often embarrassed by some of those on my side of the aisle, but any thinking conservative has to see why anyone with a shred of love for this nation and two brain cells to rub together should be fleeing your movement at full speed.
Comment by nitpicker — 7/21/2009 @ 12:38 am
I meant to say “an entire movement based around an inciting incident from the American Revolution…”
Comment by nitpicker — 7/21/2009 @ 12:39 am
Tues. morning links…
Image above via Tim Blair
I heard on the radio news today "The US is the only of the advanced industrial nations without government medicine." I wondered "What’s wrong with that?" No NHS, Please. We’re Americans.
The O’s Gree…
Trackback by Maggie's Farm — 7/21/2009 @ 4:24 am
Wow, the loonies on the right are really coming out here. A part of me would love to debate them on their claims of “facism,” “totalitarianism,”"Nazism,” “Racism,” “Socialism,” … oh my God the list of “-isms” goes on and on!
Beside the illogical paradox of our government being ALL these thing at the same time (they are not all compatible definitions), I get the clear impression that these fringe “freepers” would be unable to factually debate ANY of this without using inductive logic (that’s right folks, look it up if you don’t know what Inductive Reasoning is, because you are all using it to prop up your flimsy arguments).
A great man once said “I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed person.”
See you at the ballot box next election paranoiacs!
Comment by D. Tree — 7/21/2009 @ 5:48 am
They should be made to explain Article I if they really think “limited = small.”
Article I (among other provisions) confers extraordinary powers on the federal government. Just go through the list. And they can quote the other writings of the Founders all they want, but there is no better clue to their intent than the actual text of the document itself.
Finally, it’s all well and good to thrash their revisionism, but we need to make the case affirmatively that the Founders intended a strong (albeit limited) federal government. Galbraith had it right: government is the only institution with enough power to stop the incipient corporate despotism pushed by the conservative movement.
Comment by shredder — 7/21/2009 @ 9:51 am
Forgive me if I repeat what’s been said (47 lengthy replies!). I do believe he has a point: The loss of personal liberty and the scope and breadth of government control in our time would shock the Founding Fathers, even though they KNEW it could happen and did their best to prevent it.
Comment by DoorHold — 7/21/2009 @ 10:29 am
The difference between left and right nutcases is that we lefties were proved right beyond our wildest nightmares. Even in my most fevered rants against Bush I never dreamed he would destroy the US economy, lose two wars AND get the food safety (peanut butter anyone), environment, FEMA, teen pregnancy and every other thing royally ficked.
If we knew, we would have revolted. And we would have had a lot of company.
Your most deranged brothers on the right do have a point: A bad US President can really ruin a country. We just had a very effective reminder of this undeniable fact.
But rest assured, we gay-abortion-effete-atheist lefties aren’t in thrall of kings like you are. If we see our guy going south, we will abandon him. We don’t do worship well.
Thanks for proving my point about crazies on both the left and right. Every single thing you said about Bush is exaggerated hyperbole - everything. I just got finished chastizing Robinson for saying that Obama was destroying the economy. And here you come saying the same thing about Bush.
To repeat: One person or one administration cannot destroy a $14 trillion economy. It is beyond the physical laws to do so. Like the crash of 29 and the stagflation of the 70’s, it took many years and many different factors for those earth shaking events to unfold. It is nutzo to blame it on one person. What we’ve experienced has been decades in the making.
And since you already recognize Obama can do no wrong, I suggest you won’t even abandon him when his numbers are in the low 30’s after he gets rightly blamed for his own bad policies.
ed.
Comment by lawnorder — 7/21/2009 @ 10:40 am
And the curtailment and abuse of civil liberties under the last administration would have roused them from their graves and made every damned one of them who voted for the Bill of Rights start acting like Tom Paine. But when Bush was accused of being a fascist (everyone’s favorite word for the person in power whom they don’t like), the left was calling for impeachment, not revolution. Last time I checked, that was the constitutional solution. That doesn’t matter to most of the reactionaries around here, but for the three or four sane and genuine conservative pundits still writing like Rick, the Robinsons and that ilk indeed make it hard to represent the classic American conservative ideas and values.
Comment by Your Brother Jim — 7/21/2009 @ 11:09 am
Brian Said @26:
‘I think it’s unfair for you the broadly defame popular conservatives, and state - without examples or evidence - that “pop-cons like Hannity, Beck, Coulter, and other conservative celebrities [are] mouthing some of this nonsense…”’
You want evidence?
http://lsori.blogspot.com/2009/07/sean-hannity.html
http://lsori.blogspot.com/2009/06/glenn-beck.html
There’s plenty more.
Comment by Snark — 7/21/2009 @ 11:50 am
In one of his columns earlier this year, Thomas Sowell opined that a military coup might be the last best hope for the USA. Do you think Sowell is some sort of looney tunes crank?
Comment by feeblemind — 7/21/2009 @ 1:44 pm
If Sowell did indeed “opine” that, then he is definitely a loony-tune crank.
Your Brother: “And the curtailment and abuse of civil liberties under the last administration”
The only actual abuse of civil liberties was when Bush signed McCain-Feingold. And on that, he had bipartisan support.
Comment by dmarks — 7/21/2009 @ 4:17 pm
Get used to it conservatives, as your stupid party comes apart because you don’t have the mental capacity to change. Those few who don’t lose their mind may see the light and come around. Of course you can always go to tea parties and whine with all the other nut cases, or march on Washington with your future leader.Those who still have any common sense will place their vote elsewhere. Who wants to vote with the conservative crazies who have come out of the woodwork since Obama was elected.
Comment by conservosnemesis — 7/21/2009 @ 7:04 pm
Your Brother Jim said:
“But when Bush was accused of being a fascist (everyone’s favorite word for the person in power whom they don’t like), the left was calling for impeachment, not revolution. Last time I checked, that was the constitutional solution.”
THIS.
Comment by busboy33 — 7/22/2009 @ 5:07 am
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