If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Below is an article by one of my favorite current events writers, Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post. I think it is apparent to people on both sides of the political spectrum that the current environment surrounding political debate has been poisoned by incivility, death threats, bricks through windows, and other acts of open incivility that serve no legitimate purpose in a free society. Adding to this is a politicization of those very acts, with the Republican Party now refusing to even sign a joint statement with Democrats that would condemn these acts and call for more civil debate.
Robinson eloquently calls for the Republicans to step up in order to help end this madness. One question he does not address, which I feel is worth asking, is whether or not the Republicans feel they can. In the past several days I have seen some interesting analysis, from both sides of the aisle, that suggests that the Republicans have unleashed a genie for which they have no clue how to cram back into the bottle. The tail is now wagging the dog, as the Tea Party movement and hostile television and radio personalities have now set the agenda for an increasingly radical Republican base. Deeply troubling to me is the fact that the Tea Party now even finds Republicans to be “too progressive” – a surreal accusation coming from a fringe element that has been allowed by the GOP to believe that it represents the mainstream of America.
Indeed, David Frum’s own realization that the Republicans now work for Fox News is telling. While many progressives have known this statement to be factual for some time, the fact that intellectual Republicans are noticing suggests that the new Republican base is nearly out of control.
I do not make these remarks to criticize the average Republican. As a whole, Republicans are good, hard-working people who are respectful and just see the world a little differently than I do. Some of the readers of this site serve this example well. Today I had a younger Republican sitting in my office, and he was just as concerned about the disappearance of moderate Republicans as I am. But the “new” GOP is no big tent – it doesn’t even pretend to be. It increasingly caters to the three percent – the likes of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Anne Coulter, and Mike Vanderboegh. And politicians like Randy Neugebauer, Joe Wilson, John Boehner, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Eric Cantor, Jim DeMint and others serve as poster children for the radicalization of the right wing. What these people fail to realize is that their actions not only serve to embolden people that are inclined to carry out acts of violence, but may well split the Republican Party in two before all is said and done. Increasingly, self-described moderates are leaving the party, allowing it to drift further to the right.
It is my contention that America is better for having reasoned debate from both sides of the aisle. But the Republicans are now noticeably absent from this discussion, now refusing to engage in debate, and then citing words like Armageddon and Totalitarianism as a means for justifying their own unjustifiable behavior. And this only further fires up the wingnuts. In just this past week, those same wingnuts have spit on legislators, screamed words like “nigger” and “faggot” at those legislators, thrown bricks through windows and made death threats, some of which have been played on national television. In those calls, I hear hate driven by fear – the fear is driven by misinformation – misinformation that people like Neugebauer, Wilson, Boehner, Bachmann, Palin, Cantor and DeMint are responsible for promoting.
It is disappointing that our political environment has devolved to this state, and there is blame on both sides of the aisle. Alan Grayson thought he was being clever when he said that the Republican health care plan was to not get sick, and to “die quickly” if you do get sick, and I think most people understood the point he was trying to make in the absence of real Republican contributions. But it only served to further harden both sides of the aisle against each other. This madness must stop, and both sides must work together to stop it. But to the GOP I say, if the Democrats approach you to sign a joint statement or give a joint press conference to call for an end to the radical tactics, there is only one answer; sign the statement and attend the press conference. Any less does a disservice to your office, and to this nation. It’s time to cut the crap.
Anyway, with all of that said, here is Robinson’s piece…
How Long Can GOP Leaders Ignore Tea Party Death Threats?
by Eugene Robinson
Let’s not pretend anymore that the tea party movement is harmless. The right to protest is one of our cherished American freedoms. But there is no right to vandalism, no right to threaten our elected officials’ lives. Someone is going to get hurt unless those who lead the movement—and those who exploit it—start acting like responsible adults.
What are the chances of that?
It was Sarah Palin, the Eva Peron of the tea party crowd, who used Facebook to target 20 Democrats who voted for health care reform, indicating their districts’ locations on a map with the cross hairs of a rifle scope. It was Palin who wrote on Twitter: “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: ‘Don’t Retreat, Instead—RELOAD!’ Pls see my Facebook page.”
That anyone still listens to this person is one of the most unfortunate unintended consequences of social networking.
Read the entire article at Truthdig…
Recent Comments