If You Don’t Stand For Something . . .

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”

~ Malcolm X

I decided to do a little unofficial research before writing this entry.  What I found was less clarifying than it was confounding.  I have been curious as to what exactly the GOP, the Tea Party and the entire American New Right stands for on issues.  This is a complicated matter.

In some instances, you do find issues.  But more often than not, what the American Right stands for, is really what it stands against. This is a party that has built a platform on being opposed to things rather than proposing solutions.  I have long maintained that I am nonpartisan.  I do lean Left, sometimes to an extreme, but I am not opposed to a true dialectic.  I want to examine all sides of an issue before I formulate an opinion.  That is how you arrive at an educated opinion on a subject.

So, I roved around Conservative blogs and news sites.  What I find it highly immature rhetorical tactics and very little substance.  It is even frustrating that they do not attempt to utilize some type of Socratic rhetoric to prove their point, but choose to utilize adolescent arguments.  Can you have a rational discussion with someone who refuses to be rational?  Can you have informed debate without deploying any real information?

What I have concluded is that the New Right stands for: being against President Obama, being against the Democratic National Committee, stands against taxes on the wealthy, stands against entitlement programs to help the less fortunate, stands against government regulations on businesses (large and small), against Islam, against immigrants, and stands against anything the DNC claims to support.

The situation in America today is grave.  Record unemployment, record deficits, increasing poverty, decline in the purchasing power of the middle class, shrinking of global economic status, . . . the list goes on and on.  We turn to government to help us correct this situation.  What we get from the American Right regarding this situations is a bunch of talking points and attacks.   (Let alone no discussion on ‘what is the role of government in this situation?’) I suppose the ultimate goal would be to derail any conversations about recovery into discussing these attacks and launching counter-attacks.

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Tags: ad hominem, American Right, Barack Obama, Christie O'Donnell, conservative, Democrat, DNC, GOP, Islam, Joe Biden, Liberal, Michelle Malkin, Muslim, New Right, Republican, rhetoric, sarah palin, Tea Party
Category Neo-Conservative, New Right, news |

This Is Not A Prophecy, This Is Just A Warning

A victim in a system about cold cash
If you don’t make it then they treat you like trash
Dispose of you tonight if not in the morning
This is not a prophecy, this is just a warning

The Coup - Foul Play

The midterm elections are approaching.  So, what is really going on?  Conservative ads are flooding social media.  Politicians are spending unprecedented amounts of money on mid-term elections.  What’s at stake?  What could this all mean?

SUBVERSION OF DEMOCRACY

First of all, we have evidence of a subversion of the electoral process.  A story ran in the New York Times recently with the title: “Republican Runs Street People on Green Ticket.”  Many people respond with “So what?“  Well, this already came up in South Carolina with Alvin Greene.  This case in Arizona is even more egregious because there is evidence.  So what?  Well, this is a subversion of democracy.  Manipulation of elections is anti-democratic.

What really happened in Arizona? Well, it would appear that the GOP decided to elicit homeless people to run as (unqualified) Green Party Candidates.  We saw in the 2000 Presidential Election that a Green Party vote can diminish the turnout for a Democratic Candidate.  The people that are running on the Green Party ballot have a very unlikely chance of actually winning.  They are inexperienced and ineffectual.  This almost assures a Republican win in these elections.  It is also dishonest and manipulative.

When a politician can win an election by manipulating the voter turnout, or the voting results, the result is not democratic.  Democracy only works when people vote on representatives for their concerns.  The winner of an election is supposed to be the candidate that best represents that majority of voters. (Checks and balances provide for protection from the “tyranny of the majority.”)  If a politician is elected because they subverted this process, they do not represent their electorate.  (This also throws off the checks and balances.)

ECONOMIC BLACKMAIL

At the same time, we have a federal government that is refusing progress.  There are enough Republicans and “Democrats In Name Only” (DINO) that a large amount of proposed legislation by this Presidential administration is not getting passed.  This is hindering any progress made for recover on the national economy, and any other area that needs reform.
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Tags: democracy, democratic, disparity, Economics, fascism, Glenn Beck, Plutocracy, sarah palin, supply-side economics, trickle down, unemployment, vote, wealth
Category Economics, New Right, news |

“Rise of the New Right”

I was able to view Chris Matthews’ brief documentary on the “Rise of the New Right.”  My immediate  impression was that it was far too brief to give any detail.  It was only one hour.  Basically, Matthews’ discusses the rise of the Tea Party Movement.

A true, in depth view of the Rise of the New Right would have started before Reagan and discussed the theory that originated with a Pastor that “Satan wrote the Constitution” and the movements that ensued much before Reagan.  The rise of thought in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (C.E.) that the United States was a nation of Provincial Divinity.  (Long after the “Founding Fathers” had dispersed.) Also, and in depth documentary would have had to spend a good several hours just on Freedomworks, which I intend to discuss soon in the future.

I have already found a few critique of Matthews’ documentary that are in defense of the Tea Party.  None of them really respond to the specific critiques of the Tea Party Movement, namely that there was none of this outrage (from the same people) during the President G.W. Bush Era.

Watching the Tea Party footage, I thought of several things.  First, an anecdote:

I was in downtown Walnut Creek one evening, about a year ago.  I had a fresh latté and it was dusk, so I decided to go for a walk.  I happened to be near the park and hear a lot of commotion, so I ventured over to see what was going on.  I did not know at first that it was a Tea Party Rally.  I did notice the people in the park were not people that I have typically seen in this California version of Stars Hallow.  There was a man in the gazebo shouting and people with mullets were cheering.  There were confederate flags dispersed among the sea of Don’t Tread On Me flags, and lots of denim jackets with no sleeves.  I immediately felt like Richard Pryor in Bustin’ Loose, only I had no pointy hood and robe to wear.  I was in the middle of this mess.  The orator was screaming how President Obama was a muslim communist bent on destroying the country and other such nonsense.  The agitation and anger and lean towards violence were palpable.  I was genuinely frightened.  I guess I should point out that I grew up outside of Camden, New Jersey… so I don’t frighten easily.

I tell that story to demonstrate what this movement feels like to an outside observer.  And I can’t help but wonder how America would feel if this was a minority.  I would point out that the Black Panther Party used the Constitution and legal rights to stand up against a racist system, yet are regarded as “equals to the KKK” by much of White America.  And, in reality, the BPP were a small movement compared to the also small Tea Party Movement.  What if there were this many Blacks or Latinos that picked up guns and had public demonstrations about how “This government does not represent us!” or “taking the country” to a more representative government?  What if Latinos that are American Citizens in Arizona felt tired of being singled out and asked for documentation and decided to carry weapons and stage militia training to fight the “tyrannical government”?  Quite obviously, they would not have support of a majority of the Tea Party movement.

I mean, really, Black Americans’ ancestors constructed the White House, and most of the government buildings for the United States.  They have fought and died for this country.  Where is the concern for the Black community and the equal representation?  What about the Chicano population?  The Indigenous population?  If ANYONE has a claim to a lack of representation as American Citizens, would it not be these groups?  If they did mobilize and chant seditious commentary in the streets, how long would that last?  In the 1950s, Black Americans chanted in the streets peacefully for equal rights and were attacked with dogs and firehoses . . .

Well, the New Right claims they are not racist.  They claim their problem with President Obama is a number of things.  Most of them are actually not true.  They claim he is not an American citizen… but he is an American Citizen.  They claim he is Muslim . . .  so what?  They claim he is a racist . . . really?  I could go on, but these people are just raving loons and not worth the time.  None of these critiques are valid.  (I do find people on the far left have some VERY valid critiques of President Obama, but everyone ignores them, and I will too, as to not feed the raving loons.)

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Tags: commentator, conservative, Constitution, equal rights, fascism, fascist, Glenn Beck, neocon, neoconservative, New Right, sarah palin, Tea Party, United States
Category New Right |

Kick The Bums Out

So much going on today, I really do not know where to start.  I think the whole Alvin Greene situation is a great place to start.  It really says so much about the United States today.

If anyone has been living under a rock, or in American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and Lost world, here is a recap of the situation:  Alvin Greene won the Democratic nomination in South Carolina.  The amazing thing was that NO ONE had heard of Alvin Greene.  South Carolina has an “open primary,” meaning anyone can vote in the primaries.  Alvin Greene had no campaign at all:  no website, no materials such as buttons or stickers or leaflets.  He claimed he only knocked on a few doors.  Then, after winning the nomination, it comes to light that he was an unemployed veteran and has pending felony conviction charges against him.  Today, people are still demanding answers on how he got on the ballot (and paid the $10k fee) and how he won.

Many of the immediate responses to the desire for investigation was that the “industry” is angry that someone outside of the system was able to do better than the insiders.  I would typically be inclined to agree, but not in this case.  This is a very interesting predicament.

Let’s look at the felony charges:  Alvin Greene is a Black American male from South Carolina.  When he was 18 years old, he was a student at University of South Carolina.  As a student, Greene was in the library and showed the female student next to him “obscene” material on his computer screen.  He then made insinuations about going to her dorm room to have sex with her.  In South Carolina, this is punishable by five years in prison.

I also have a deep seated suspicion that the female student was a White American, but I read nothing that indicates this is true.  But we do have a Black male that made sexual insinuations when he was 18 and now is looking at a prison sentence and a life as a “convicted felon” because of it.  Way to pray on the stereotype of Black males as sexual predators.  (We’ll come back to the felony charges in a moment.)

I’m tired of dancing around my personal experiences and biases, so I’m just going to lay it all out.   (As it pertains to this entry.)  I have studied, in much detail, concepts and practices of democracy in Asia, Europe and Africa.  More specifically, I did an in depth analysis of democracy in Sierra Leone.  I also have examined democracy in Western Europe, East Asia and other parts of Africa, examining failures and successes, and what it means to “be a democracy.”

The overwhelming consensus of the definition of democracy is more then just “elections.”  Elections need to be “free and fair.”  This means, there has to be opposition to incumbents and that the population can vote without fear or intimidation.  The process is what is important.  There are plenty of countries that can vote, but we do not call them democracies.  Especially when the elected official gets 101% of the vote, or when dead people voted for them, or when the vote is “do you want to keep the Glorious Leader in power.”

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Tags: african-american, Alvin Greene, Constitution, democracy, electoral process, fascism, free and fair elections, Glenn Beck, sarah palin, South Carolina, Tea Party, United States
Category New Right |

Where to begin? Divine Providence!

I have a few issues that came up today.  I was going to talk about what Robert Reich put on his blog on Saturday. (link here)  Then I got annoyed at people trying to demean Professor Reich, when they really have no ground other than a “gut feeling” – to argue a person who has spent decades doing research on a subject.  I also read some excepts from Glenn Beck’s new book, and if you get a chance, check it out… just the excerpts, at least.  It is almost written better than Twilight.  (The twelve pages of Twilight that I read only had 3 spelling errors and one poorly constructed sentence.)

Then I came across the website for Constituting America. I decided to discuss Reich’s comments about the pending recession tomorrow.  Also, I’m concerned that Glenn Beck makes $32 million a year to write and speak so poorly, and I have made $3.03 so far this year.

This Constituting America website struck a chord with me.  It is really interesting.  It is run partly by Janine Turner, who most probably know from Northern Exposure – and not from her appearance on the 700 Club or publicity to help Sarah Palin fight the “Liberal Media Bias.”  (I would put a link to her webpage, but it automatically loads music and things that move around and stuff fitting for a 12 year old girl’s MySpace page, but you can Google it if you are inclined.  Hopefully, your browser won’t crash and you can come back.)

The mission statement of Constituting America states:

The American Constitution, signed on September 17, 1787, is as great a miracle as the ultimate victory from the British in 1782. Providence prevailed in both theatres. It was a monumental feat to beat the British in the Revolutionary War. Equally as awesome was the accomplishment of finding common ground amongst the varied American beliefs in writing the Constitution. Though our forefathers differed, they united in their mission, their vision: A republic; a democracy; America, the beautiful; America, the hope.

“Providence prevailed” it actually states… and then, goes on to state:

The American Constitution was the work of brilliant men with a vast knowledge of history and a thirst for righteousness. They believed that in order for American liberty to survive, her people must be educated. To quote John Adams, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge of the people.”

But then, it states:

Thus, the mission of Constituting America is based upon this principle: America will not and cannot survive unless her citizens, her children, and her students, are educated about the validity, necessity and Providential Divinity of the Constitution.

So here we have a mission statement that starts out with praise for the “Founding” of the United States, with overtures of divinity that are almost poetic.  Then a quote from John Adams and a claim to the benefits of “education.”  Then there is a claim, that “God wrote the Constitution.”

Really?

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Tags: anti, conservative, Constitution, Glenn Beck, Janine Turner, Robert Reich, sarah palin, Tea Party, United States
Category New Right |