Men with hats
April 19th, 2014 | 
Author: Mildred: Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?
Johnny: Whadda you got?
-The Wild One 1953
I used to be young and idealistic. Now I have no idea what to make of it. It’s not even policy or ideology anymore. It’s dogma fueled brinkmanship. Or, it’s a board game, but not chess. Whatever it was, it has devolved into Chutes and Ladders. Tic Tac Toe.
Let’s talk a little about the contemporary republican party.
They are now absurd. They get all air raid shrill on the very issues that are their demise. It confuses me. Social issues because they cannot get any traction politically? Then political because there’s no traction socially?
Thrashing with no embarrassment in sight.
So now we have about thirty state legislatures presided over by republican governors swinging ham fisted haymakers at the voting rights of minorities, women and anyone likely to vote democrat. There’s only one reason to do this. The GOP is no longer capable of winning a fair election because they are courting extinction. I’ve been saying it for years. What you’re seeing is a last grasp.
There is no animal more dangerous than a wounded one. There is no political party more formidable than one staring at its own departure. And they’re starting to figure out it’s by their own device.
Everyday in this country we vigorously debate climate change and evolution simultaneously. Abortion and the death penalty. We actually debate whether or not our tap water being flammable is a bad thing.
Really.
What I’m fascinated by these days is the brokeback reaction by the GOP to all progress. As in no fucking way to anything. I’m not surprised, definitely disgusted but still fascinated. Take marriage equality. Yet another right wing bastion of dogmatic christian conservatism falters because of just how fucking bubble ignorant they have become. Public opinion on this issue continues to burgeon opposite of their favor and their response is to foist unconstitutional legislation prohibiting it and every other attempt at decency.
And they keep losing.
Then there’s the ONE thing they always win.
Gun control.
Let’s talk a little about gun nuts.
We’re not talking about the normal, less than paranoid ones that just want to be able to own firearms. To potentially protect themselves and loved ones against evildoers. People who enjoy the visceral kick of an honest to god could kill a man, handheld appliance. I’m a liberal who likes guns. I grew up with them.
Who I mean is all that have visions of firing on our own army in the streets dancing in their heads. Them that can’t but help themselves to civil war drama. Jack asses thinking they would have a fat chance if it came to that today. I mean the ones devoting their daydreaming hours to a race war. This shit is really ringing my bell these days. NRA Fire is on scene and everybody is wobbling clueless and afraid.
All the jiptards are imploding.
We can’t even talk about it.
We can’t or won’t even talk about mental health or serotonin drug history. Whether people awaiting trial or those of us on a terrorist watch list should be eligible. We are paralyzed on this issue because of a douchenozzle lobbyist named Wayne LaPierre.
Far longer than the last six years they’ve been marching in lockstep under threat of some democrat king taking their pea shooters. Now it’s Obama. And yet it hasn’t happened. The American right is having a turbo charged, steroid fueled identity crisis. Because the apocalypse has not occurred as forecast.
So this is what you get. This is why you’re seeing what you’re seeing. This is how Cliven Bundy is allowed any real estate in the cable news cycle; because the tea party wing of the GOP needs a hero and there just aren’t any.
Look around.
You tell me.
These are the very people who have been foisting the “takers vs, makers” bullshit on us for the years. Cliven Bundy is the kind of guy they want us all to hate. They champion a wealthy rancher for essentially not paying his taxes and using public property for personal profit because he doesn’t recognize the authority of the federal government. He is, by their own definition, a “taker”. A deadbeat sucking of the government teat. Can you say shameless hypocrite? Can you say disingenuous asshole wrapping himself in the flag of a government whos authority he chooses not to recognize?
Is it ironic that his strings are being pulled by the people who would love nothing more than for the federalies to fill him full of holes? Does he understand the Koch brothers were involved in propagating his charade?
Despite a complete lack thereof, they found a reason to muster. To gather. To rattle muskets and sabers.
And then there’s the company misery like this attracts. Richard Mack. You can’t make these assholes up. “We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front. If they are going to start shooting, it’s going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers.” -TeaParty Taliban Leader Richard Mack.
How does anyone, regardless of ideological bent, suffer such an amoral fucktard?
There are those in the false equivalency vortex who would argue that these jackwagons in the Nevada desert are no different than the Occupy movement because of their allegedly shared anti-government platform. What these imbeciles just don’t get is the Occupy movement stakes its claim on the notion that big business and big government enjoy an appalling abundance of comity, collusion and cooperation as opposed to some form of antagonism on behalf of ordinary citizens. There’s that and the fact that they show up unarmed because they’re quite aware that bristling with the latest high powered weaponry may likely result in someone getting their head blown off, a media blackout and then a full blown cover up.
See, they’re just smarter.
The feds back off. Wisely. Better no blood spilled. The God, guns and liberty coalition declares victory. They compare themselves to badgers defeating bears. Grizzlies. Badgers. Sheezus. What the fuck?
This is what they take away from all this?
Liberty they screech. Liberty. Is liberty not paying your fair share? Is liberty using our land for your product and pocketing the profit?
I’m driving slowly by a freeway conflagration so hot it makes my forehead burn through tinted windows up and the air conditioning blasting. I don’t see Jesus anywhere.
I wonder at this. I puzzle over it. What I conclude is that they’ve gotten dumb. They used to be organized. Unified. Consistently on message. They have lost their way. Because they hate each other as much as the rest of us. They eat their own. They are dissolving. It’s actuarial. Inevitable.
The implosion will be televised.
That there is what I call a harbinger.
No matter what party you belong to, trust me when I tell you this means trouble for just about all of us. The whole focus now is on being primaried as opposed to anything that means shit because of dramatic and shameless gerrymandering in every county south of north. Citizens United. Abrupt, unprecedented and glaring concentration of wealth. Way too many roundheads fear someone with an even rounder head than their own constituents.
See, the GOP is the example, the paradigm for what is wrong with the whole system. They just beat us to it by being stupider, but we’re all stupid. What we need to do is heed their example. They’ve given us a gift. We need to look that gift very hard in the mouth.
Drinks for my friends.
Posted in Uncategorized
Hey, if they want to make a stand for a TRUE cause like war on the poor, environmental destruction, war or other things that are truly a threat to us all, then I’ll stand with them. As it is, they are a bunch of good ol boy reactionaries just looking for a fight over things the left could care less about. They need the left. They must accept that they are nothing but laughing stock without the true left.
Thanks. And you’re right. They just don’t get it and this is overt proof.
I can’t hear anhtniyg over the sound of how awesome this article is.
I have been saying do not mistake the federal government’s kindness for weakness. They could see the snipers on the bridge from miles above. They had the ability to flood the valley with fire from drones. They could have hit hard with the force of Green Berets, seals, and delta, all battle hardened from the mountains of Afghanistan. The federal government has learned from Waco and Ruby Ridge. They know better to make one quick move in front of an itchy trigger finger. They just walked away to spare the casualties on the ranchers side. They will be back. In the dead of night. No one will know, until it is too late. And that’s the way it should happen.
Yup. Regardless of the circumstances they will have no idea what hit them. Fools.
So few people recognize how much three decades of ever-evolving computer technology and automation are making human labor obsolete, and how the wealth inequality gap is growing because of it. Don’t blame just poor folks for being “lazy” or too dumb. It’s the technology in almost every facet of life that are taking away jobs and people’s ability to have a sustainable, living wage. People need to wake up. If you’re not technologically savvy or are a small business but can’t keep up with the exorbitant cost of maintaining and upgrading your technology, you are losing out to the multinational corporations who CAN afford to consolidate all their systems with the latest technology. You will need a higher power like federal government to be on your side, which is why democratic governments were “for the people” in the first place.
Although I agree with the sentiment, I’m not sure how much it has to do with the topic.
Although cloaked in a Luddite statement, I think the point is that we should be using the democratic process to redress grievances exactly the way our obviously socialist Founding Fathers intended, rather than trying to subvert it as the modern Right does.
Hmmmmm……
That was a very good article and you hit it on the head with “There is no animal more dangerous than a wounded one. There is no political party more formidable than one staring at its own departure. And they’re starting to figure out it’s by their own device.” That is exactly what is happening with the Republican party.
But unfortunately I don’t see much better going on with the Dems and average citizens in general. People are overwhelmed with all kinds of problems and financial ones as well as we all struggle to keep up and are quieted and hypnotized by technical gadgets and a media that only cares about ratings. The corporations are running our govt and us and most don’t seem to care or even care about privacy anymore.
As our country continually gets dumbed down all that black & white, right or wrong rhetoric from extreme right-wingers does appeal to a lot of frustrated people who don’t have the patience to involve themselves in calmer, more intellectual discussions about what is wrong with the country and what can be done. That is also why Ron Paul and libertarianism is so appealing to many young people. They hate both parties. At this point in time all I see is confusion, much frustration and suffering and an ineffectual govt although I do think Obama is trying hard. But he has to deal with a scared for their seats Congress and they get in his way too much of the time.
The Republicans are on the wrong side of history but I still think true progress is hopeless at this point. Not until the wealthy & corporations are put in their fair place; Congress disassociates themselves from all that money and the media stops trying to appeal to us with entertainment instead of real, honest, truthful and dry news. I wouldn’t even mind if the news was occasionally “boring”. I liked it that way originally.
Well said. Thanks for reading.
Good article – but the WND “Poll” on impeaching Obama is so offensive that I may not return to Brainspank.
I browsed the site (In Private) nad the poll is nothing more than a way to compile RWNJ supporters (& opponents?).
My site is monetized by google. I have no control over the advertising content. Don’t let that stop you from reading, it’s how I get paid.
OMG! Reading something like this just blows me away! Talk about being the problem and not the solution. Just take Bundy and the complete misinformation you have. Well, let’s say again, you’ve got the talking points down but little else. Do you extreme leftist ever, even for a moment, consider that you may not have ALL the ideas? That someone other than yourself and your rigid opinions may not be the end all for everyone, every where, every time? The arrogance is astounding coming from the left. The hate, the arrogance, the single mindedness is unbelievable. You really don’t have a clue about conservatives, what they stand for, what they believe in, who they are, etc. You got the msm and the talking points. You are a perfect soldier for the democratic party.