Here's an amazing speech by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Republican war on America. The most amazing thing about this speech is how it recaptures the vocabulary of successful politics in America. He even says a few of his Republican friends are proud to be Americans...implying that most are actually unpatriotic...which they are! What he's saying is that they're putting selfish interests ahead of American interests. That's how to win elections!
Showing posts with label class warfare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class warfare. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Dumbing Down of the Presidency!
The most disturbing trend in American politics is the embrace of the average Joe as a leader. I'm not only talking about the sitting president—a disaster by anyone's measure—but Sarah Palin as well. After suffering through eight years of incompetency, how could the Republicans, and perhaps the country, embrace yet another know-nothing?
The answer, of course, is childhood anger at people like myself who think we know more than they do. The fact that we do is immaterial. As they used to say about dictators around the world, "He may be a bastard, but at least he's our bastard!" In the case of Bush and Pallin, that should read, "They may be airheads, but at least they're our airheads!"
Image:
Pende, Brad. (2008, August 11). President Bush prepares to 'tap that.'" (flickr: cc-by bpende, August 11, 2008). Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpende/2753981194/
Politics Springs from Family!
Politics spring from family! That's the unifying message in this blog. Both Republican and Democratic positions spring from childhood pain and the anger it stimulated.
In the case of Democrats, however, the basic position is less a victim than as an observer of victims—in my case my Mom. Having suffered through fifteen years of screaming fights as a child between Mom and Dad, I swore I'd never allow that to happen again. Thus was born a Democrat!
In the case of Democrats, however, the basic position is less a victim than as an observer of victims—in my case my Mom. Having suffered through fifteen years of screaming fights as a child between Mom and Dad, I swore I'd never allow that to happen again. Thus was born a Democrat!
I was a victim as well, of course, and reserve a well of hatred to this day for the stupid and cruel everywhere, but that's still unlike the basic Republican position in which hatred is reserved for the smart and cruel—those people who told them they weren't good enough!
The fundamental difference is success in school. Being smart and therefore successful in school, I resented schoolyard bullies, not bullying teachers. Thus the Democratic way: protecting the underdog!
We both hate bullies, but of different stripes. Unfortunately, we end up projecting that resentment on each other! That's why both bases—Democratic and Republican—hate each other so much. We recognize too many of each other's traits from childhood. They're the traits of bullies who made our lives miserable back then!
The fundamental difference is success in school. Being smart and therefore successful in school, I resented schoolyard bullies, not bullying teachers. Thus the Democratic way: protecting the underdog!
We both hate bullies, but of different stripes. Unfortunately, we end up projecting that resentment on each other! That's why both bases—Democratic and Republican—hate each other so much. We recognize too many of each other's traits from childhood. They're the traits of bullies who made our lives miserable back then!
Image:
Eddie~S. (2008, May 17). Bully Free Zone. (flickr: cc-by Eddie~S, May 17, 2008). Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.flickr.com/photos/pointshoot/2500644518/
The Republican Way: Turning Anger Loose in America!
It's the amount of anger in this election season that's so scary. We've finally seen first-hand the kind of emotions that produce dictators of all stripes as well as wars of genocide and mass destruction!
I'm talking about the McCain-Palin rallies, of course, the ones in which they inflame their audience by accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists." This has resulted in cries of "traitor," "terrorist," and most unbelievably of all, "Kill him!"
The amount of passion behind McCain voters cannot be underestimated. Consider this example published on postsecret.blogspot.com (October 18, 2008): pictures of JKF, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy—all with X's over their faces!—sitting beside a larger images of Barack Obama surrounded by the words, "It's only a matter of time!"
Some of my closest friends oppose Obama. Because the topic is so sensitive, we don't talk about him directly, but it obviously goes beyond dislike. They're passionate. They hate him. Frankly, it's hard to understand why they even continue to talk to me. That's how deep the emotions are runing in this campaign!
Such otherwise unexplainable emotion can be traced back to childhood humiliations for not being good enough. While that makes it understandable perhaps, it doesn't soften the blows that may yet land on me and others or stop the blood thirst that leads to war.
We've met the enemy all right. They're in our midst. We meet them everyday on every street in America!
I'm talking about the McCain-Palin rallies, of course, the ones in which they inflame their audience by accusing Obama of "palling around with terrorists." This has resulted in cries of "traitor," "terrorist," and most unbelievably of all, "Kill him!"
The amount of passion behind McCain voters cannot be underestimated. Consider this example published on postsecret.blogspot.com (October 18, 2008): pictures of JKF, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy—all with X's over their faces!—sitting beside a larger images of Barack Obama surrounded by the words, "It's only a matter of time!"
Some of my closest friends oppose Obama. Because the topic is so sensitive, we don't talk about him directly, but it obviously goes beyond dislike. They're passionate. They hate him. Frankly, it's hard to understand why they even continue to talk to me. That's how deep the emotions are runing in this campaign!
Such otherwise unexplainable emotion can be traced back to childhood humiliations for not being good enough. While that makes it understandable perhaps, it doesn't soften the blows that may yet land on me and others or stop the blood thirst that leads to war.
We've met the enemy all right. They're in our midst. We meet them everyday on every street in America!
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