It doesn't take much to figure out what President Obama will discuss in his State of The Union address tomorrow. Plans to freeze spending has already been leaked, and I strongly suspect intentionally to test public opinion. This is another attempt to appease conservative criticism and as usual it won't work. I for one, am just about ready to part company with the Democratic Party. Who wants to be associated with a watered down version of the republican party? This of course would force me into a political wilderness, because the way I see it, conservative ideology has no place in the modern world and although independents are often the deciding factor in presidential elections, they are typically low information voters (which I am not). Many young, first-time voters were enamored with Obama's message of change and if they are paying attention to what is shaping up to be an astounding lack of change, they must be feeling some disappointment right about now.
If I didn't have to go to work Thursday, I might be willing to do shots of tequila every time the President mentions "bipartisan support," "counter-terrorism," or some other tactic designed to divert our attention away from the fact that the middle-class in this country are very much like our manufacturing base which was once the envy of the world - "shrinking." But President Obama alone, is not responsible for squandering away the significant majorities in the house and senate; it takes several conciliatory democrats to do that. It is time for President Obama to stop pandering to his critics and drifting to the right; even after losing the White House, the senate and congress, republicans still seem to be framing every important debate.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Healthcare Crisis Enough To Make You Sick - Part I
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:35-39
Have the so called "religious right" completely abandoned the principles of Christ or worst, were they never really followers to begin with? Religious fervor has very little to do with following Christ; it was in fact, the religious community who fought most bitterly against him and his teachings; webs of conspiracies which eventually led to his public execution. For people who are so concerned about the right to life, they are suspiciously silent on the healthcare debate, and when they do speak, it is usually in defense of the status quo; a practice that is more conservative than Christian. I waited, and I waited, and I waited for James Dobson, Pat Robertson, or John Hagee, all highly influential pastors in the Evangelical universe, to repudiate those who are calling themselves Christians, yet choose to ignore the obvious moral conflict with a profit driven (pay or die)healthcare system. But then again, why would they? This brand of Christianity has formed an unholy alliance with the Republican Party and they have tried in vain to force the authority of scripture into this framework, not vice-versa. They do not speak for the majority of Christians, not even American Christians and I say it is time to call them out.
Most western democracies (except the U.S.) have acknowledged healthcare as the real right to life. Our system on the other hand, is still controlled and primarily exist for the benefit of the insurance industry. Joe and Jane six-pack siding with big insurance and big pharma is insane, but the end purpose of misinformation is usually designed to mobilize unsuspecting citizens to vote against their own interest. Like the sad, systematically deceived populace in Orwell's 1984, the American proletariat keeps drinking the kool-aid and the hypnosis continues. Can we at least admit that without a reasonable portion of our health and strength,that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are far more elusive?
The birthers, the tenthers, the crackers or whatever they are calling themselves today have gone way past insane in attempting to run interference for the Insurance and Healthcare industry; parenthetically, one has to be a special kind of stupid and a miserable excuse for a human being to fight against access to something that is so basic to human survival. I don't know whether to depise these people or feel sorry for them. Clearly they are clueless as to what is really at stake and probably couldn't define socialism if it met them on the way to a townhall disruption. The facts are usually inconvenient to this crowd, an angry bunch who refuses to understand that public education, social-security and medicare are all aspects of "socialism." I find it very hard to wrap my head around the idea of citizens against healthcare. Against healthcare? Really?
Many of us who consider ourselves to be rational, thinking and moral adults scratched our heads in confusion as we watched a small, but vocal lunatic fringe show up at town hall meetings with pistols and Hitler posters. They were armed with the talking points from Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck; just enough emotionally charged nonsense to be dangerous. They throw around words like "Obamacare," and make the most ridiculous allusions to Nazi Germany, President Obama of course, being compared to Adolf Hitler, one of the twentieth century's bloodiest genocidal maniacs. My advice to the our red-state fringe is to hear the stroke and heart-attack preventing incantation of of Q-Tip, which simply says, "Breathe and Stop."
Let's face it; the toxicity of racism, the unspoken component in the health care confusion, has a way of distorting one's perspective beyond anything productive, and isn't it sad that so much of public discourse in this country is tainted by the specter of bigotry, but that's another argument for another time. "The mainstream media" has been journalistically irresponsible in how they have presented the healthcare issue, primarily because they too are profit whores and profit whores stick together. Remember when it was just the media? I hope you do because the transition was anything but subtle, but then again you have to pay attention. Thanks to right-wing messaging on steroids and the fascistic influence of the republican echo chamber, our fourth estate has been rendered impotent by sacrificing accuracy for the sake of "balance," or in many cases, the documentation of fake outrage. The blurring of the line between news and entertainment had a dumbing down affect on Americans, as evidenced by our inability to explain basic economic principles, how capitalism works, or how our system of government works.
When we hear that 52 percent of people polled disapprove of the President's approach to healthcare, it is presented as though Americans no longer desire healthcare reform, which couldn't be further from the truth. It is important to know who makes up that 52 percent; these numbers not only reflect Obama's critics, but his progressive supporters as well. It is important to make this distinction, because these numbers are driven in part by people who supported President Obama's campaign, with energy and dollars. The President's progressive base is not satisfied with his approach to healthcare. While his opposition continues to level claims of socialism against him; progressives(the new majority)believe that his proposals for healthcare do not go far enough. Isn't it bizarre that we still find ourselves using terminology that should only apply to the campaign phase of Mr. Obama's presidency? But the term "opposition," is completely accurate. A small, but loud segment of the electorate has decided that they don't like the fact that Barack Hussein Obama, let them tell it "A Kenyan and a Muslim," sits in The Whitehouse; therefore, they will do anything in their power to weaken his presidency; the nation be damned. In short, they're having a hard time with hell freezing over.
At the end of the day, their opposition to healthcare reform is not really about healthcare but about the guy who spanked their ass in the last election. That being said, I must apologize if I offend the "Obama can do no wrong," constituency; I am not from that camp of voters either. I have been a political being far longer than Mr. Obama has been president or even a senator, and my allegiance is not to him, but rather the change that I thought he represented. I do understand as Mario Cuomo so eloquently put it, that "Politicians campaign in poetry, but must govern in prose." I am not so naïve as to believe that President Obama can or will keep all of his campaign promises, but because he was elected to the highest office in the land at such a time as this, he cannot be just another politician. "Dubbya," was able to do extensive damage in eight years; at the very least, we expect Obama to use the political cycle effectively and usher in a new era of progressive legislation.
My harshest criticism of the president is that he initiated the progressive version of healthcare reform from a position of weakness. Universal Healthcare/Single Payer was taken off the table before the debate began, so if the public option fails, we have nowhere to go in terms of cost containment or keeping insurance companies accountable, their parasitic behavior at bay, and their unethical practices illegal. FACT:President Obama backed away from Universal Coverage, which he supported during the campaign and it appears that he is backing away from the public option. Be careful Mr. President or you may find yourself backed out of office. FACT:President Obama was against mandated coverage when Hillary Clinton proposed it (check You Tube clips, news transcripts or whatever you have to do)during the longest presidential campaign ever. FACT: In his address to the joint session of congress, President Obama reluctantly, almost dismissively invoked the public option. He introduced it with so many watered down restrictions and conditions that it was left with no teeth. This is an appeasement to the insurance industry and its sadistic, adversarial, right-wing foot-soldiers. As Bill Maher so crudely put it; "Healthcare reform without a strong public option is just a blow-job to the insurance industry.” When you think about the millions of people who are struggling with real medical issues (sometimes life and death) of cost vs. care, all of the political posturing is enough to make you sick.
I am not interested in being fair; fair is a bedtime story of gum drops and candy canes, or a Disney movie. But if we are interested in being honest, then we have to call President Obama and The Democratic Party; blue dogs and every other kind of dog, on their bullshit. In addition to offering us a weak, watered down healthcare bill, the damn thing still doesn't kick in to 2013 on top of that. This is a death sentence to some people and simply unacceptable in a nation where we constantly claim to have the best of everything. Single Payer, which has been deliberately portrayed as single provider was never offered in the public debate and now every republican and democrat feeding at the troth of insurance industry largesse are trying every trick in the book to kill the public option. Middle-Class Americans working against their own interest is evidence of how diabolical a profit driven healthcare system can be, and the extent to which its benefactors will go to prevent real healthcare reform.
It is our responsibility (moral, truth-seeking people) to see past the antics, past the staged protest and expose the strings of corporate manipulation. Healthcare opponents have worked tirelessly to manufacture consensus against a strong public option (the best way to contain cost outside of a single payer system )and from the looks of it they are going to succeed. Against substantial public support, democrats are still timidly offering solutions that will only keep insurance companies in the driver's seat.
If the public option dies, we can forget real health care reform for a very long time. We can make it illegal to deny people on the basis of pre-existing conditions, but that won't really matter if premiums and deductibles are beyond our means. The French are laughing at us. Their government provides coverage for everyone; Americans continue to slide into bankruptcy over medical bills. They find it incredible that Americans are expending this much energy over an option. AN OPTION! WAKE UP SHEEPLE! As it stands, insurance conglomerates control our healthcare system and they are none too pleased about the possibility of losing their gravy-train of fat profits. Keep in mind that their profit margins increase when they deny coverage to the insured. Death panels my ass! If there is such a thing as a death panel, the insurance industry, with its layers of bureaucracy to stall and deny claims is it.
Shamefully, the very entities that has soaked the public for exorbitant premiums, while providing inadequate coverage, have in the past had a hand in writing healthcare policy and legislation. As a nation, we have reached a crucial moment in time and now have an opportunity to end their cycle of abuse and liberate them from their sense of entitlement. Let's get off our collective asses and drown out the voices of what appears to be medieval serfs who are loyal to a system of corporate feudalism. Look past the angry slogans, past the anti-Obama t-shirts and tea parties and there you'll find the corrupt misanthropic hands of insurance and healthcare corporations. Ed Schultz, syndicated radio talk-show host and host of The Ed Show on MSNBC was right to point out that religious leaders; the Dobsons, the Roberts and the Hagees, have been suspiciously silent on the issue of healthcare. Unfortunately, a great number of the so-called "religious-right," are not agents of God on earth, but are in fact extensions of the Republican Party, mouth-pieces of the conservative worldview and servants of authoritarian ideology; they worship at the altar of the white power structure and are openly resistant to the idea of a black man in the white house.
Responses from the few "conservative" religious leaders who were brave enough to come out of the shadows, have given predictably anti-government speeches that defend the status quo; justified of course in the guise of "free market" principles. Quite frankly, many of us have right-wing fatigue, especially those of the religious-right stripe. As philosophies go, I personally reject conservatism prima facie. I reject conservatism because it lacks an ideological soul. Upon close examination, its paucity of kindness or its indifference to the human condition inevitably stems from the fact that the adherents of this twisted philosophy despise humanity. I recently read an article entitled "How Conservatives Manipulate People Into Voting Against Their Own Interest," by Digby over at Alternet.org which I found to be a highly prosaic expression of my own sentiment regarding conservatism. I recommend reading the entire article when you have the time, but here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
American right-wing populism is an interesting phenomenon that's coming to the fore once again in its usual nativist and racist form, but also as smooth misrepresentation of "tax reform"; clever, misleading public relations messaging about fair trade; and some fairly outlandish paranoia about conspiracies to erase the borders. Various permutations of these fairly common right-wing themes abound among conservative politicians and thinkers alike. But conservative populism is an oxymoron. As Phil Agre wrote in this much discussed article about the definition of conservatism, "Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy ... [it] is incompatible with democracy, prosperity and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world." Modern conservatism's most successful strategy was to merge public relations and politics into a seamless operation in which it could use modern marketing methods to convince people to vote against their own interests. In that sense, right-wing populism is just another marketing campaign for the aristocrats. And it's working: (Digby, Common Sense - alternet.org) Can we stop pretending that the patrons of this cynical sewage have something life affirming to teach us.
In a recent interview with Ed Schultz, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was quick to point out that people of faith built the first hospitals and universities in the nation. Mr. Perkins is course absolutely right; The first hospitals and universities in the nation were established by churches and people of faith; believers whose compassion and concern for their fellow man reflected the very best of the Christian ethos. What is not right is how he is attempting to link “values voters” with the legacy and tradition of Christians whose gospel extended beyond the rhetoric of what they were against. I’m sorry Evangelicals, but Hard-line rhetoric against gays and abortion does not a Christian make.
Unfortunately, the preeminent voice of Christianity today, is very often one of Mr. Perkins variety; one of thinly and sometimes not so thinly veiled intolerance and open hostility, and the erroneous tendency to associate the conservativee message with righteousness and godliness. Mr. Perkins affabably recited the Republican mantra, "government is not the solution." Well, when is government the solution? The last time I checked, we were the government. If we are not the government, then we had better stop teaching that we are in history and civics classes. If we are not the government, then the U.S. Constitution is (to paraphrase "W")just a "quaint document," and one of pious plattitudes I might add. If we are the government, if we are fully enfranchised citizens,then surely we have some voice in how our tax dollars are spent. If the majority of Americans decide that we want to allocate a portion of our tax dollars to provide every citizen with healthcare, Why should our needs be weighed against the dividend expectations of stockholders? Obviously this is a rhetorical question because if we are honest with ourselves, we all know that real healthcare reform won't happen until we purge the house and the senate of representatives (Republicans as well as Democrats) who would rather take the quick buck from lobbyist than serve the interest of the people who elected them. Why do we put up with this?
The deliberate distortion of the public option as some evil plot to summon the elderly before death panels is absurd, but defense of the status quo i.e., slavery, lynching, anti-Semitism, genocide, requires a willful ignorance that hardens the heart and strangles the will to stand courageously. These men and their followers have chosen to ignore the preponderance of scripture which lays out the Christian responsibility to the sick and the poor. Consider the following scripture from the book of James: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. -James 1:27
The words of James is a far cry from statements made by people like Pastor Steve Anderson (I use the term Pastor loosely)of Faithful Word Baptist Church who are calling for President Obama’s teeth to be broken in his mouth; for him to contract brain cancer. I wonder if Anderson knows that this is biblical hyperbole and that he has disgraced himself before God when he wishes for the death of our president within what should be the sacred walls of the church. Is this what passes for Christianity in the warped minds of the emotionally and spiritually sick among us? Steve Anderson's bio boasts that he has memorized over 100 chapters of the bible, but obviously the living word has not penetrated his heart. God forbid that Steve should get brain cancer; but if he does, let's pray that the cult of haters he is breeding has purchased Cadillac insurance plan for him and that his policy will not be rescinded, or that his medical expenses are not so high that they bankrupt him and leave him in poverty.
Let's keep some perspective people. Be vigilant, be blessed and keep the faith.
Food For Thought:
Have the so called "religious right" completely abandoned the principles of Christ or worst, were they never really followers to begin with? Religious fervor has very little to do with following Christ; it was in fact, the religious community who fought most bitterly against him and his teachings; webs of conspiracies which eventually led to his public execution. For people who are so concerned about the right to life, they are suspiciously silent on the healthcare debate, and when they do speak, it is usually in defense of the status quo; a practice that is more conservative than Christian. I waited, and I waited, and I waited for James Dobson, Pat Robertson, or John Hagee, all highly influential pastors in the Evangelical universe, to repudiate those who are calling themselves Christians, yet choose to ignore the obvious moral conflict with a profit driven (pay or die)healthcare system. But then again, why would they? This brand of Christianity has formed an unholy alliance with the Republican Party and they have tried in vain to force the authority of scripture into this framework, not vice-versa. They do not speak for the majority of Christians, not even American Christians and I say it is time to call them out.
Most western democracies (except the U.S.) have acknowledged healthcare as the real right to life. Our system on the other hand, is still controlled and primarily exist for the benefit of the insurance industry. Joe and Jane six-pack siding with big insurance and big pharma is insane, but the end purpose of misinformation is usually designed to mobilize unsuspecting citizens to vote against their own interest. Like the sad, systematically deceived populace in Orwell's 1984, the American proletariat keeps drinking the kool-aid and the hypnosis continues. Can we at least admit that without a reasonable portion of our health and strength,that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are far more elusive?
The birthers, the tenthers, the crackers or whatever they are calling themselves today have gone way past insane in attempting to run interference for the Insurance and Healthcare industry; parenthetically, one has to be a special kind of stupid and a miserable excuse for a human being to fight against access to something that is so basic to human survival. I don't know whether to depise these people or feel sorry for them. Clearly they are clueless as to what is really at stake and probably couldn't define socialism if it met them on the way to a townhall disruption. The facts are usually inconvenient to this crowd, an angry bunch who refuses to understand that public education, social-security and medicare are all aspects of "socialism." I find it very hard to wrap my head around the idea of citizens against healthcare. Against healthcare? Really?
Many of us who consider ourselves to be rational, thinking and moral adults scratched our heads in confusion as we watched a small, but vocal lunatic fringe show up at town hall meetings with pistols and Hitler posters. They were armed with the talking points from Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck; just enough emotionally charged nonsense to be dangerous. They throw around words like "Obamacare," and make the most ridiculous allusions to Nazi Germany, President Obama of course, being compared to Adolf Hitler, one of the twentieth century's bloodiest genocidal maniacs. My advice to the our red-state fringe is to hear the stroke and heart-attack preventing incantation of of Q-Tip, which simply says, "Breathe and Stop."
Let's face it; the toxicity of racism, the unspoken component in the health care confusion, has a way of distorting one's perspective beyond anything productive, and isn't it sad that so much of public discourse in this country is tainted by the specter of bigotry, but that's another argument for another time. "The mainstream media" has been journalistically irresponsible in how they have presented the healthcare issue, primarily because they too are profit whores and profit whores stick together. Remember when it was just the media? I hope you do because the transition was anything but subtle, but then again you have to pay attention. Thanks to right-wing messaging on steroids and the fascistic influence of the republican echo chamber, our fourth estate has been rendered impotent by sacrificing accuracy for the sake of "balance," or in many cases, the documentation of fake outrage. The blurring of the line between news and entertainment had a dumbing down affect on Americans, as evidenced by our inability to explain basic economic principles, how capitalism works, or how our system of government works.
When we hear that 52 percent of people polled disapprove of the President's approach to healthcare, it is presented as though Americans no longer desire healthcare reform, which couldn't be further from the truth. It is important to know who makes up that 52 percent; these numbers not only reflect Obama's critics, but his progressive supporters as well. It is important to make this distinction, because these numbers are driven in part by people who supported President Obama's campaign, with energy and dollars. The President's progressive base is not satisfied with his approach to healthcare. While his opposition continues to level claims of socialism against him; progressives(the new majority)believe that his proposals for healthcare do not go far enough. Isn't it bizarre that we still find ourselves using terminology that should only apply to the campaign phase of Mr. Obama's presidency? But the term "opposition," is completely accurate. A small, but loud segment of the electorate has decided that they don't like the fact that Barack Hussein Obama, let them tell it "A Kenyan and a Muslim," sits in The Whitehouse; therefore, they will do anything in their power to weaken his presidency; the nation be damned. In short, they're having a hard time with hell freezing over.
At the end of the day, their opposition to healthcare reform is not really about healthcare but about the guy who spanked their ass in the last election. That being said, I must apologize if I offend the "Obama can do no wrong," constituency; I am not from that camp of voters either. I have been a political being far longer than Mr. Obama has been president or even a senator, and my allegiance is not to him, but rather the change that I thought he represented. I do understand as Mario Cuomo so eloquently put it, that "Politicians campaign in poetry, but must govern in prose." I am not so naïve as to believe that President Obama can or will keep all of his campaign promises, but because he was elected to the highest office in the land at such a time as this, he cannot be just another politician. "Dubbya," was able to do extensive damage in eight years; at the very least, we expect Obama to use the political cycle effectively and usher in a new era of progressive legislation.
My harshest criticism of the president is that he initiated the progressive version of healthcare reform from a position of weakness. Universal Healthcare/Single Payer was taken off the table before the debate began, so if the public option fails, we have nowhere to go in terms of cost containment or keeping insurance companies accountable, their parasitic behavior at bay, and their unethical practices illegal. FACT:President Obama backed away from Universal Coverage, which he supported during the campaign and it appears that he is backing away from the public option. Be careful Mr. President or you may find yourself backed out of office. FACT:President Obama was against mandated coverage when Hillary Clinton proposed it (check You Tube clips, news transcripts or whatever you have to do)during the longest presidential campaign ever. FACT: In his address to the joint session of congress, President Obama reluctantly, almost dismissively invoked the public option. He introduced it with so many watered down restrictions and conditions that it was left with no teeth. This is an appeasement to the insurance industry and its sadistic, adversarial, right-wing foot-soldiers. As Bill Maher so crudely put it; "Healthcare reform without a strong public option is just a blow-job to the insurance industry.” When you think about the millions of people who are struggling with real medical issues (sometimes life and death) of cost vs. care, all of the political posturing is enough to make you sick.
I am not interested in being fair; fair is a bedtime story of gum drops and candy canes, or a Disney movie. But if we are interested in being honest, then we have to call President Obama and The Democratic Party; blue dogs and every other kind of dog, on their bullshit. In addition to offering us a weak, watered down healthcare bill, the damn thing still doesn't kick in to 2013 on top of that. This is a death sentence to some people and simply unacceptable in a nation where we constantly claim to have the best of everything. Single Payer, which has been deliberately portrayed as single provider was never offered in the public debate and now every republican and democrat feeding at the troth of insurance industry largesse are trying every trick in the book to kill the public option. Middle-Class Americans working against their own interest is evidence of how diabolical a profit driven healthcare system can be, and the extent to which its benefactors will go to prevent real healthcare reform.
It is our responsibility (moral, truth-seeking people) to see past the antics, past the staged protest and expose the strings of corporate manipulation. Healthcare opponents have worked tirelessly to manufacture consensus against a strong public option (the best way to contain cost outside of a single payer system )and from the looks of it they are going to succeed. Against substantial public support, democrats are still timidly offering solutions that will only keep insurance companies in the driver's seat.
If the public option dies, we can forget real health care reform for a very long time. We can make it illegal to deny people on the basis of pre-existing conditions, but that won't really matter if premiums and deductibles are beyond our means. The French are laughing at us. Their government provides coverage for everyone; Americans continue to slide into bankruptcy over medical bills. They find it incredible that Americans are expending this much energy over an option. AN OPTION! WAKE UP SHEEPLE! As it stands, insurance conglomerates control our healthcare system and they are none too pleased about the possibility of losing their gravy-train of fat profits. Keep in mind that their profit margins increase when they deny coverage to the insured. Death panels my ass! If there is such a thing as a death panel, the insurance industry, with its layers of bureaucracy to stall and deny claims is it.
Shamefully, the very entities that has soaked the public for exorbitant premiums, while providing inadequate coverage, have in the past had a hand in writing healthcare policy and legislation. As a nation, we have reached a crucial moment in time and now have an opportunity to end their cycle of abuse and liberate them from their sense of entitlement. Let's get off our collective asses and drown out the voices of what appears to be medieval serfs who are loyal to a system of corporate feudalism. Look past the angry slogans, past the anti-Obama t-shirts and tea parties and there you'll find the corrupt misanthropic hands of insurance and healthcare corporations. Ed Schultz, syndicated radio talk-show host and host of The Ed Show on MSNBC was right to point out that religious leaders; the Dobsons, the Roberts and the Hagees, have been suspiciously silent on the issue of healthcare. Unfortunately, a great number of the so-called "religious-right," are not agents of God on earth, but are in fact extensions of the Republican Party, mouth-pieces of the conservative worldview and servants of authoritarian ideology; they worship at the altar of the white power structure and are openly resistant to the idea of a black man in the white house.
Responses from the few "conservative" religious leaders who were brave enough to come out of the shadows, have given predictably anti-government speeches that defend the status quo; justified of course in the guise of "free market" principles. Quite frankly, many of us have right-wing fatigue, especially those of the religious-right stripe. As philosophies go, I personally reject conservatism prima facie. I reject conservatism because it lacks an ideological soul. Upon close examination, its paucity of kindness or its indifference to the human condition inevitably stems from the fact that the adherents of this twisted philosophy despise humanity. I recently read an article entitled "How Conservatives Manipulate People Into Voting Against Their Own Interest," by Digby over at Alternet.org which I found to be a highly prosaic expression of my own sentiment regarding conservatism. I recommend reading the entire article when you have the time, but here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
American right-wing populism is an interesting phenomenon that's coming to the fore once again in its usual nativist and racist form, but also as smooth misrepresentation of "tax reform"; clever, misleading public relations messaging about fair trade; and some fairly outlandish paranoia about conspiracies to erase the borders. Various permutations of these fairly common right-wing themes abound among conservative politicians and thinkers alike. But conservative populism is an oxymoron. As Phil Agre wrote in this much discussed article about the definition of conservatism, "Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy ... [it] is incompatible with democracy, prosperity and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world." Modern conservatism's most successful strategy was to merge public relations and politics into a seamless operation in which it could use modern marketing methods to convince people to vote against their own interests. In that sense, right-wing populism is just another marketing campaign for the aristocrats. And it's working: (Digby, Common Sense - alternet.org) Can we stop pretending that the patrons of this cynical sewage have something life affirming to teach us.
In a recent interview with Ed Schultz, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was quick to point out that people of faith built the first hospitals and universities in the nation. Mr. Perkins is course absolutely right; The first hospitals and universities in the nation were established by churches and people of faith; believers whose compassion and concern for their fellow man reflected the very best of the Christian ethos. What is not right is how he is attempting to link “values voters” with the legacy and tradition of Christians whose gospel extended beyond the rhetoric of what they were against. I’m sorry Evangelicals, but Hard-line rhetoric against gays and abortion does not a Christian make.
Unfortunately, the preeminent voice of Christianity today, is very often one of Mr. Perkins variety; one of thinly and sometimes not so thinly veiled intolerance and open hostility, and the erroneous tendency to associate the conservativee message with righteousness and godliness. Mr. Perkins affabably recited the Republican mantra, "government is not the solution." Well, when is government the solution? The last time I checked, we were the government. If we are not the government, then we had better stop teaching that we are in history and civics classes. If we are not the government, then the U.S. Constitution is (to paraphrase "W")just a "quaint document," and one of pious plattitudes I might add. If we are the government, if we are fully enfranchised citizens,then surely we have some voice in how our tax dollars are spent. If the majority of Americans decide that we want to allocate a portion of our tax dollars to provide every citizen with healthcare, Why should our needs be weighed against the dividend expectations of stockholders? Obviously this is a rhetorical question because if we are honest with ourselves, we all know that real healthcare reform won't happen until we purge the house and the senate of representatives (Republicans as well as Democrats) who would rather take the quick buck from lobbyist than serve the interest of the people who elected them. Why do we put up with this?
The deliberate distortion of the public option as some evil plot to summon the elderly before death panels is absurd, but defense of the status quo i.e., slavery, lynching, anti-Semitism, genocide, requires a willful ignorance that hardens the heart and strangles the will to stand courageously. These men and their followers have chosen to ignore the preponderance of scripture which lays out the Christian responsibility to the sick and the poor. Consider the following scripture from the book of James: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. -James 1:27
The words of James is a far cry from statements made by people like Pastor Steve Anderson (I use the term Pastor loosely)of Faithful Word Baptist Church who are calling for President Obama’s teeth to be broken in his mouth; for him to contract brain cancer. I wonder if Anderson knows that this is biblical hyperbole and that he has disgraced himself before God when he wishes for the death of our president within what should be the sacred walls of the church. Is this what passes for Christianity in the warped minds of the emotionally and spiritually sick among us? Steve Anderson's bio boasts that he has memorized over 100 chapters of the bible, but obviously the living word has not penetrated his heart. God forbid that Steve should get brain cancer; but if he does, let's pray that the cult of haters he is breeding has purchased Cadillac insurance plan for him and that his policy will not be rescinded, or that his medical expenses are not so high that they bankrupt him and leave him in poverty.
Let's keep some perspective people. Be vigilant, be blessed and keep the faith.
Food For Thought:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
