How truthful is the government?
- Thread starter Brother None
- Start date
CC'll love this one:
Coalition of the Wild-Eyed Print Friendly Format
E-Mail this to a Friend
By Mark Goldblatt
Published 7/1/2004 12:04:38 AM
The traditional strength of American politics is that the two-party system encourages moderation by effectively marginalizing lunatics on both ends of the ideological spectrum. Republicans don't need to court twitchy backwoods militia types hankering for a return to legalized segregation, and Democrats don't need to get in bed with fist-pumping café revolutionaries who insist that every black man behind bars in the United States is a political prisoner.
But that tradition is now in jeopardy. For in its desperation to elect John Kerry president this November, the Democratic hierarchy is busy cobbling together what the Bush campaign recently, and accurately, dubbed Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-Eyed. Rather than putting forward a coherent platform of policy objectives, the Democrats have cast a net of free-floating political rage in the hopes of scooping up every amateur conspiracy theorist with a grudge against the status quo.
Their litany of counterfactual charges is by now familiar: the Republicans impeached President Clinton for committing adultery; the Republicans stole the 2000 presidential election; President Bush had sufficient warnings to prevent the attacks of September 11th; Bush's business ties with the Saudi royal family dictated his decision-making after September 11; Bush used the September 11th attacks as an excuse to invade Iraq, which he'd had in mind from day one, in order to line the pockets of his oil industry cronies; Bush sent off predominantly dark-skinned soldiers to die protecting predominantly white men's interests.
Senator Kerry knows each of these beliefs is false, demonstrably false, yet he cannot afford to disown any of them because he's made the paranoid fringe a key constituency. The problem runs deeper than the political reality that he cannot distance himself from mainstream-figures-turned-partisan-flamethrowers like Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean and the entirety of the Congressional Black Caucus; Kerry cannot even dismiss Michael Moore's loopy suggestion in his new film that the war in Afghanistan wasn't about overthrowing the Taliban government, which harbored al Qaeda terrorists, but about allowing the Unocal Corporation to build a natural gas pipeline through the country. Kerry cannot, in short, speak the truth without alienating his reflexively wary base.
These are perilous times -- and not only because loosely-knit fraternities of jihadists are dreaming up new suicidal schemes designed to kill thousands of Americans. For generations, the decision to vote Democratic or Republican has hinged on the relatively benign question of whether you favor bigger government or smaller government. But that choice no longer works for the Democrats -- who just can't win elections anymore by proposing big government solutions. Their fallback strategy now seems to consist of appealing to voters' worst emotions, tapping into their delusions, their fears, their passions and prejudices, accusing their Republican opposition not merely of being wrong on the issues but of thwarting democracy and engaging in genocide for profit.
No tactic could be more cynical. Or more dangerous to the future of political discourse.
Coalition of the Wild-Eyed Print Friendly Format
E-Mail this to a Friend
By Mark Goldblatt
Published 7/1/2004 12:04:38 AM
The traditional strength of American politics is that the two-party system encourages moderation by effectively marginalizing lunatics on both ends of the ideological spectrum. Republicans don't need to court twitchy backwoods militia types hankering for a return to legalized segregation, and Democrats don't need to get in bed with fist-pumping café revolutionaries who insist that every black man behind bars in the United States is a political prisoner.
But that tradition is now in jeopardy. For in its desperation to elect John Kerry president this November, the Democratic hierarchy is busy cobbling together what the Bush campaign recently, and accurately, dubbed Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-Eyed. Rather than putting forward a coherent platform of policy objectives, the Democrats have cast a net of free-floating political rage in the hopes of scooping up every amateur conspiracy theorist with a grudge against the status quo.
Their litany of counterfactual charges is by now familiar: the Republicans impeached President Clinton for committing adultery; the Republicans stole the 2000 presidential election; President Bush had sufficient warnings to prevent the attacks of September 11th; Bush's business ties with the Saudi royal family dictated his decision-making after September 11; Bush used the September 11th attacks as an excuse to invade Iraq, which he'd had in mind from day one, in order to line the pockets of his oil industry cronies; Bush sent off predominantly dark-skinned soldiers to die protecting predominantly white men's interests.
Senator Kerry knows each of these beliefs is false, demonstrably false, yet he cannot afford to disown any of them because he's made the paranoid fringe a key constituency. The problem runs deeper than the political reality that he cannot distance himself from mainstream-figures-turned-partisan-flamethrowers like Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean and the entirety of the Congressional Black Caucus; Kerry cannot even dismiss Michael Moore's loopy suggestion in his new film that the war in Afghanistan wasn't about overthrowing the Taliban government, which harbored al Qaeda terrorists, but about allowing the Unocal Corporation to build a natural gas pipeline through the country. Kerry cannot, in short, speak the truth without alienating his reflexively wary base.
These are perilous times -- and not only because loosely-knit fraternities of jihadists are dreaming up new suicidal schemes designed to kill thousands of Americans. For generations, the decision to vote Democratic or Republican has hinged on the relatively benign question of whether you favor bigger government or smaller government. But that choice no longer works for the Democrats -- who just can't win elections anymore by proposing big government solutions. Their fallback strategy now seems to consist of appealing to voters' worst emotions, tapping into their delusions, their fears, their passions and prejudices, accusing their Republican opposition not merely of being wrong on the issues but of thwarting democracy and engaging in genocide for profit.
No tactic could be more cynical. Or more dangerous to the future of political discourse.
That kind of an election campaign strategy is news in USA? Duh, Croatian parties do that all the time, except in our case, parties play the card of patriotism and strive to prove that the current government has somehow betrayed national interests (by granting demands from Hague, for example) and that their policies will at some point spell end for Croatian national being (something Croats are very sensitive to, same as Americans are sensitive when their way of life and their precious democracy are in jeopardy). I don't even need to point out what utter bullshit that is, particularly since those very same politicians who spent the entire mandate of the old government beating their bulging patriotic breasts and screaming treason inevitably continue with identical political practices, claiming that they are in national interest (!) and faking a collective amnesia whenever someone reminds them of their old rhetoric.
Man I hate politicians.
Methinks it's synonymous with "liar" worldwide.
John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
Kharn said:
Goddamnit. Now I need a new pair of underpants.
Yeah, that is great, and accurate.
Oooh, send me the old ones please!ConstipatedCraprunner said:
quietfanatic
Ancient One
Wooz69 said:
I am inclined to agree.
Our Media Watch program nailed our Prime Minister today again concerning the considerable propaganda election campaigns. The opposition leader pledged to cut all public funding to "Community Service Announcements" close to elections or out of public money. The PM would normally viciously defend himself in this issue, but in 1995 his planform was that he was going to also cut such wasteful funding. His government has quadrupled spending in that area.
Politicians are bastards.