The Invective of Loss
Few things amaze me more than the
willingness of the reactionary right to use guttersnipe tactics to
voice displeasure when the tide of public opinion turns to
moderation. The column printed in this space a few days ago was
quite vitriolic and used a lot of unsupported statements disguised as
logic to make its point. I have noted that since President Obama was
reelected that the reactionary right has become even more rabid in
its use of adjectives to describe its disgust for him very few of
which actually have any bearing on his political performance. My
conjecture is that since it is apparent that the voters don't agree
with them they are just plain ticked off and refuse to consider that
they are just out sync with the majority of the American public.
I don't think you will find too many
who are satisfied with the performance of our Congress over the past
few years. During the first administration of our President the
opposition was content to just block any and all attempts at
governing by the majority. They misused parliamentary gimmicks to
create an environment that required a supermajority to pass any kind
of legislation just to deny the President's party any kind of success
being certain that the American people would awaken and refuse to
reelect the imposter in the White House. They were wrong. They
misjudged the mood of the public and didn't listen to anyone other
than people who felt the same way they did. A sure recipe for
electoral disaster. Now the American public has reinforced its
desire to govern from the middle and the certainties of those who
spew hate have been rejected.
One would surmise that would have writ
the final word on the matter and reasonable people could get on with
the business of governing but one would be wrong. Since the matter
could not be settled to the satisfaction of the reactionary right
through the electoral process it seems that it must suffice to stir
the flames of bigotry and invective. To accuse the President and his
advisors of being “power hungry” while trying to undo the attempt
to use military might to enforce American “exceptionalism” on the
world is laughable. When the Neocons marched us into Iraq to create
a democratic bastion as a shining example in the Middle East that may
indeed have approached the hubris afforded to another example.
I have long wondered how anyone who
sees the desirability of Medicare, Social Security and Veteran's
benefits can rail so vociferously against the Affordable Care Act and
claim it is a craven attempt by the President to create iron fisted
control over the federal government. Without going into the
rationale of the ACA is it not enough that the President campaigned
on universal health care, was elected, the people's representative's
enacted it, it survived a Supreme Court challenge and then the
President was reelected? How can anything be more indicative of and
subservient to the will of the American people?
Yet, this man who will voluntarily
relinquish his office in three years is out to use his cronies and
zeal to demolish the United States rather than do his best to make it
a more equitable society under the law. Just unfathomable. But what
would such rantings from the reactionary right be without the
condescending and pejorative adjectives used to describe the
individual at the top of our government. Take out the “Hitlers,
Himmlers, victim mentality, pencil-necked, Nazi and Gestapos” and
what is left to use as a rationale for condemnation? To compare the
leadership of the Congressional Democratic party with some of the
most despised of war criminals who were responsible for millions of
deaths is at the very least irresponsible. It is hopefully the
beginning of a dying gasp from a reactionary right that has driven
our politics for perhaps a dozen years now supported by the millions
of dollars from insanely wealthy people who strive in secret to
enforce their vision of a Malthusian state that endows the wealthy
with privilege and power while the remnants of the Middle Class work
their once proud hands to nubbins just to try and exist in a world
that is rigged against them. Into this world came the Affordable
Care Act that attempts to allow the people to have access to a
glimmer of the health care that is available to the wealthy. An
attempt to create iron fisted control over the economy? Oh no! It
is one of the very few victories felt by the Middle Class in the past
thirty years and it strengthens the concept of the Social Contract
that binds the American people in an indivisible union.
Many of us who have tried to stay above
the name calling and have tolerated racist and bigoted comments are
reaching the limits of tolerance and are beginning to complain when
confronted with such negative and demeaning remarks and this further
incenses the reactionary right which is used to being able to shout
down anyone who attempts an effort at reasonable discourse. For
instance, the accusations of having the shutdown in the planning for
months drawn from the availability of having signs posted is
ludicrous.
My take is this. Take into account the
results of the past two general elections. Consider the mood of the
country after this last Congressional debacle and witness the
disarray of the Republican party and think about what the next
general election will bring. It had been contemplated that the House
would increase the Republican majority but there is now some talk of
the Democratic party regaining the House though that would be
unlikely considering the gerrymandering and number of seats up for
grabs. The GOP once gloated openly of seizing the majority in the
Senate but that is quite unlikely now. And in the Presidential race,
if the national polls are to be believed, the GOP is likely to be
rejected again. The reactionary right needs to reconsider its
tactics and goals and find a membership that can create a national
narrative and toss out the bomb throwers. The American people do not
need them.
