It was a pretty good day here in the woods. While I posted a few things, mostly about the continued Republican Insurgency, I mostly caught up on a bunch of stuff I’d been putting off for the last three weeks while obsessed with the War in Washington. I still can’t believe that they think that they can keep things like they’ve been for the last eight years, though their outrageous behavior suggests they think it’s possible. But I never would’ve imagined in my wildest fantasy that Dick Cheney would be still talking about Guantanamo, torture, or rendition after the inauguration, citing following the Geneva Conventions as meaning that you didn’t want to keep America safe. And as much as I abhor Rush Limbaugh’s very existence, I was unable to imagine that he was hawking Waterboarding teeshirts on his web site. And I couldn’t have guessed that the Republicans would use what Congressional power they retain to undermine the modest Stimulus Bill Obama introduced – minimal by the standards of any Economist of note. Fox News piling on is to be expected. But a NYT op-ed from the PNAC/AEI set proposing military spending for the Stimulus Bill was unimaginable. They’ve certainly done their damage – to Obama, to the Stimulus Bill, and to America.
But the reason it was a good day is that I’m sort of over the assault. Whatever they think and whatever they do, it can’t be like it was. For one thing, our economy is sliding in palpable ways. As they attempt to blame that on Obama, their logic becomes increasingly bizarre. We’ll have a real DoJ, and a real State Department. Independent of our disasterous wars abroad and at home, we’ll have rational, honest people dealing with them. Sooner or later, either the Republicans and their media will settle down, or be marginalized in the country’s affairs. Short of a Right Wing Coup, we are no longer governed by these people who are currently acting so badly. Any notion that they are going to join in the attempt to deal with the mess they made is simply a waste of time and energy. And keeping up with their antics is simply demoralizing – it interferes with my world view and mental health. I hope others are beginning to feel that too.
We don’t hear so much from the Religious Right these days. That’s a breath of fresh air. They rippled a bit over the lifting on the ban to fund family planning abroad "broadly," but otherwise, they’re being pretty quiet. But the thing that strikes me most here in the heart of rural Republican Georgia is that I don’t hear the litany of Republican Talking Points on the street. The local paper has a couple of letters to the editor about the "liberal" Stimulus Bill echoing Rush Limbaugh, but even they are soft considering. As we slide into the Recession/Depression that’s coming, I expect the noise will get louder. Our unemployment is well above the national average already.
And so today, feeling a little beyond the din of crap coming out of Washington, I had some time to wonder "why?" Why would anyone think that we could continue the way we have been going without literally perishing? I don’t know the answer to the question, but I was able to begin to think about it more rationally. I don’t mean the Republican Congressmen, or the Business/Financial Community, or the Religious zealots. They’re on their own power trips. I mean the people who live here in rural America. They’re very decent people who go on local mission trips to help others in the community who are less fortunate. They’re solid citizens involved in local politics. They’re patriotic. But they really don’t like big government – which they see as "liberal." This letter to the editor in our local weekly paper expresses the groupthink:
I know that the Democrats are in power and can do as they wish, but give the bill an honest name like the “2009 Vote Buying and Social Agenda Bill”. Most of the money is not spent immediately and will have little impact on the economy. Call your Representatives and Senators and make your voice heard. Every family will owe $69,000 because of this spending. Can we really afford that kind of money? and it won’t work! Lower taxes, reduce spending and get the hell out of our way!!!
It’s that last line that’s the key. Government is in the way. While the letter has the Limbaugh/Republican Talking Points in it, and it clearly ignores the last eight years of deficit spending and intrusive government, that last line is really what the people around here feel, independent of the propaganda. That’s the part I want to understand. And I don’t…
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