The practical minded President of the USA, Barack H. Obama Esquire, the ever confident and thoughtful leader, the gracious gift for us all, again proves himself to be well above his detractors, political adversaries both home and abroad, and executes the duties of the most powerful governmental office on this planet with distinction and valor. Bravo Mr. Obama, as I remarked in a previous blog, the gift to this country in the act of execution of required modern form of leadership, is the Citizen Obama story.
The notable detractors have obviously been the republican party elites and their uninformed but vocal pundits. It was not long ago when former Vice President Dick Cheney, after his failed prosecution of what he had preached to us all, "the war on terror", had the audacity and the gall to have incessantly decried and criticized Mr. Obama on foreign policy and national security. Mr. Cheney had been the right wing monstrous thrall who had captivated the imagination of the republicans and the discredited neo-conservative war mongers who had plunged the US into the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses and outright lies and mis-truths, and for some reason no credible experienced political conservatives with stature had questioned Cheney's credentials and tenure with the Bush administration over the years. Mr. Cheney and others had aggressively and publicly decried President Obama as being naive and inexperienced and not up to the commander in-chief status. Remember Cheney referring to the the thoughtful and deliberative approach of Mr. Obama as being indecisive and went as far as referring to Mr Obama's deliberative leadership style as 'dithering and indecisive'. It was sad to me that Gen. Colin Powell and others were somewhat slow to come to the defense of President Obama for a long while until prominent statesmen like Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff of Sec. of State Collin Powell, wrote that: "Cheney is 'evil', his fear mongering is 'assisting' al Qaeda." Remember, brain-dead operatives like Sarah Pailin kept the mantra of 'dithering' as a rallying cry for their failed political and ideological positioning.
What has been mystifying to most politically astute people in the USA over the last almost ten [10] years, has been the dexterity of the Bush-Cheney administration's political spin and communication machinery that has been able to divert attention from their colossal foreign policy and national security failures, but have been able to ride the fear of terrorism as a political strategy against a stunned and fearful nation and further exploited the sympathetic and supportive electorate through the 'us-against-the-world' mantra and imagery the administration has presented to us without blame or public admission of culpability in any form...!! Remarkable.. I say remarkable indeed!!
The reader should follow this observation: The Bush-Cheney administration is inaugurated into office on January 20, 2001. Richard Clarke [a bonafide non-partisan republican], the counter-terrorism coordinator, a veteran member of the US National Security Council under both G. H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations, and a hold over from the Clinton [until 2003], provides detailed briefing to the new administration's national security team, and stresses the utmost importance of Usama Bin Laden's al Qaeda, the same group that the Clinton administration has had as the top of their national security action items list, and Clarke further emphasizes the intelligence about the potential and eminence of a possible al Qaeda attack on the USA mainland. Mr. Cheney and his cohorts in their classic arrogance and disdain for opposing views, essentially ignored the urgent call for utmost caution and vigilance towards the anticipated actions of al Qaeda. [Read this in a detailed account revealed under oath in Richard Clarke's book 'Against All Enemies' and this link: Richard A. Clarke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and the section entitled 'Early warnings about Al-Qaeda threat']. Now with an open mind, imagine the Bush-Cheney being a democrat instead of republican administration, the blaming and vilifying of the democratic administration will be merciless and vicious to put it mildly. Some people might remember that in the early days, the Bush-Cheney media punditry tried but failed to put the blame on Clinton-Gore. The timid democratic party and their operatives, as usual did not exploit to their political advantage, but deferred to the republican party explanation, thereby completely seeding the subsequent formulation of appropriate response to the despicable terrorist act, to the same people who had been negligent in their sworn duty to maintain our national security, and the subsequent adventure and misguided pursuit of the Iraq invasion underscores my disgust. It reminds me of the creation of alternate reality of existence by incompetent leaders who are always convinced they can control their own definition of reality and get away with it, oh yea, the Bush-Cheney administration showed us all how to operate a failed government and still claim victory!
The question most of us keep wrestling with is, how is it possible that the Bush-Cheney administration under whose trusted custody 9/11 attacks happened, is never held accountable for their negligence and incompetence, but are able to ride the outpouring of benevolence from the citizenry of the USA, and subsequently embarks on the extremely expensive Iraqi invasion based on the same level of incompetence perpetrated by the same people in leadership that had shown heightened levels of ineptitude, lack of prudent and thoughtful execution of their sworn solemn duties, and their flawed understanding of foreign policy and national security, prior to and during the 9/11 nightmare? That is what I call the arrogance of stupidity and the price we all pay for rewarding ignorance and incompetence in the mindless and corrupt political infrastructure we allow in the USA. Mindless because the entrenched special interest controlled political structure that dominate the political landscape is more interested in protecting and concealing their incompetence than being truthful about their limitations. This in turn exacerbates manageable national difficulties into practically intractable problem monstrosities which devour our precious national resources and in turn leave us less secure. When will we the electorate learn to discern between flamboyant proclamations of grandeur in contrast to calm, resolve and thoughtful leadership? The later is what a great nation requires and should cherish.
The redeeming value for a resilient and exceptional nation as the USA is the built-in correction for our system, which eventually allows competence to rule the day. This leads to President Barack Obama, the most competent, steely resolve and accomplished leader to date [in most of our adult political lives] by any objective measure of leadership and 'can do-ism' required by the greatest nation on earth, called USA.
On my April 18, 2011 previous blog [ http://koamac-critiquepolitics.blogspot.com/2011/04/obama-foreign-policy-doctrine.html] I theorized a possible Obama foreign policy doctrine, which I should confess was on the money. We have all marveled about the level of determination, resolve and competence President Obama has shown, the result of which is the hunting down and killing of Usama bin Laden in the prophetic delineation of the promise he [Obama] made during the presidential election campaign of 2008. Mr. Obama's campaign promise was widely and publicly mocked and ridiculed as being naive and coming from inexperience, proclaimed by Mrs. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]. To now know that one of the first tasks Mr. Obama undertook after his inauguration speech on January 20, 2009, was to write a top secret memorandum instructing the director of the CIA Leon Panetta to provide him [Obama] with a detailed plan to capture and/or kill Usama bin Laden as the top priority for his [Obama] administration, a true mark of a strong leader who understands his solemn oath and utmost obligation to protect and maintain the national security infrastructure required for the USA. It is remarkable the doggedness, resolve and steely determination, calm and confidence that Mr. Obama has shown all through his presidential leadership on practically every issue he has had to confront and resolve with flying colors but without fanfare and brassy bravado, compared to at least the previous administration, and not to hold back my glee and approval for his leadership, I can say President Obama is a gracious gift for us all, I surmise, the likes of which we have not experienced in the USA for many years.
Now that Mr. Obama has proven himself beyond any doubt for his domestic policy solutions' acumen, his foreign policy effectiveness and global impact [note the Arab/Middle East awakening], and his well defined and showcased credentials on national security bolstering his commander-in-chief leadership mastery, all citizens and admirers of the exceptional USA should not be shy for expressing pride in our choice of Barack Obama as the President and leader of the USA, without reservation but admiration.
I am sure many detractors and especially the right wing and republican pundits would want to deflect attention from the proven successes of President Obama, and in some cases attempt to ascribe his national security performance to the incompetent Bush-Cheney administration and their inept policies, honorable citizens will forever be indebted to President Obama's leadership in restoring the strength and credibility of USA. I whole heartedly have a renewed level of utmost respect for Senator John McCain [R-AZ] for his stalwart portrayal of class and honor in his vehement rebuttal against the Bush-Cheney misinformation and false claims of credit for Usama bin Laden's demise. The citizenry of the USA are forever proud and grateful for President Barack Obama and his Tactical Prescription for US National Security..!!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
An Obama Foreign Policy Doctrine..?
From my previous blog posting: "Obama, a practical-minded politician? I believe so..!!" President Obama is living up to my perception of him as a practical minded person and definitely as a thoughtful Chief Executive of the USA. The US electorate should be rest assured that finally we have a real leader in the White House, a leader the world respects and nations states are willing to follow, which should make us all proud that the USA has finally taken its rightful leadership place on the global stage, and Mr. Obama deserves all the praise and credit for his leadership. It is ironic that critics of Mr. Obama are in complete disarray in their thoughts, proclamations and understanding of the intricacies and of the complex nature of foreign policy formulations and implementations, and the evolution of foreign conflicts and our ultimate involvement on any scale appropriate to serve our national security interests.
We have all heard from prominent critics like Mr. Newton Gingrich and the loose-mouthed right wing media pundits, and I am not surprised that they offer the confused and incoherent proposals for situations they have no understanding of, and are not prepared to spend the time and effort to do some research and educate themselves on the issues before offering un-workable and sometimes inept solution mantras that border on political lunacy. Most right wing pundits and some of their liberal counterparts seem to profess how smart Mr. Gingrich is, but he has been so thoughtless lately, I think his psyche and probably his fantasies, must be evaluated. It seems the media tries to equate loose tough political talk with being smart and having strong conviction, and denote thoughtful, cautious conviction and quiet but firm resolve as being weak and indecisive, a pattern that has historical not resulted in good outcomes when it comes to foreign policy and USA's involvement in foreign conflicts.
Mr. Obama is a highly educated individual who actually took his Ivy education in subjects like world history, social change, US and international politics, US and international law, specializing in US Constitutional Law, very seriously, unlike some of the privileged few who attended schools of higher learning just for social branding but paid no attention to the content and value of what they were taught. It is well known that our President is a great student of history, and judiciously considers the lessons of history in his decision making, especially when it comes to our military involvement in the Middle East. I was therefore not surprised that after days of criticism from apparently uninformed but loud-mouthed republicans and their mindless pundits, we all learned that Mr. Obama [The President] had already engaged the CIA into their rightful role in the Libyan crisis, weeks before any military action was ever taken, underscoring the thoughtfulness of our President and his fact based decision making approach to leadership, which is expected from a practical minded leader! We should all be thankful that, finally we have someone in the white house who thinks through unfolding events in relation to our historical involvement in foreign conflicts, before plunging our beloved military into unnecessary and evolving conflicts especially in the Middle East [Iraq rings the bell].
Most political analysts in the media are accustomed to pigeonholing US Presidents into simplistic and uncomplicated foreign policy positions and pronouncements they call 'policy doctrines' and sometimes succeed in coaxing some Presidents into untenable policy positions when complex foreign conflicts erupt and thereby limit themselves into impractical but seemingly decisive military commitments, which have historically been detrimental to this nation. The military invasion and further occupation of Iraq by President G. W. Bush, is the classic example where the neo-conservatives of the republican party and the unabashed war mongers, if I may be permitted to be blunt, were able to steer Mr. Bush, remember the self proclaimed compassionate conservative and the evangelist of freedom and liberty, into pursuing one of the worst foreign policy blunders in US history, costing us the lives and serious permanent injuries to thousands of US soldiers and their support diplomats, and many more thousands of Iraqi civilians, in addition to the trillions of dollars in war spending and associated expenditures, which is directly responsible for a large portion of the exploding US debt and deficits, that helped to plunge the US economy into the deepest recession [almost depression] ever! I hereby offer a facetious gratitude and a thank you to the thoughtless and non-deliberative neo-conservative foreign policy doctrine [unilateralism] that was whole-heartedly embraced by President G.W. Bush!!
I would love the opportunity to describe my perception of an 'Obama foreign policy doctrine', which I intend to attempt. My suggested rendition of 'Obama Foreign Policy Doctrine' would simply go something like this:
We have all heard from prominent critics like Mr. Newton Gingrich and the loose-mouthed right wing media pundits, and I am not surprised that they offer the confused and incoherent proposals for situations they have no understanding of, and are not prepared to spend the time and effort to do some research and educate themselves on the issues before offering un-workable and sometimes inept solution mantras that border on political lunacy. Most right wing pundits and some of their liberal counterparts seem to profess how smart Mr. Gingrich is, but he has been so thoughtless lately, I think his psyche and probably his fantasies, must be evaluated. It seems the media tries to equate loose tough political talk with being smart and having strong conviction, and denote thoughtful, cautious conviction and quiet but firm resolve as being weak and indecisive, a pattern that has historical not resulted in good outcomes when it comes to foreign policy and USA's involvement in foreign conflicts.
Mr. Obama is a highly educated individual who actually took his Ivy education in subjects like world history, social change, US and international politics, US and international law, specializing in US Constitutional Law, very seriously, unlike some of the privileged few who attended schools of higher learning just for social branding but paid no attention to the content and value of what they were taught. It is well known that our President is a great student of history, and judiciously considers the lessons of history in his decision making, especially when it comes to our military involvement in the Middle East. I was therefore not surprised that after days of criticism from apparently uninformed but loud-mouthed republicans and their mindless pundits, we all learned that Mr. Obama [The President] had already engaged the CIA into their rightful role in the Libyan crisis, weeks before any military action was ever taken, underscoring the thoughtfulness of our President and his fact based decision making approach to leadership, which is expected from a practical minded leader! We should all be thankful that, finally we have someone in the white house who thinks through unfolding events in relation to our historical involvement in foreign conflicts, before plunging our beloved military into unnecessary and evolving conflicts especially in the Middle East [Iraq rings the bell].
Most political analysts in the media are accustomed to pigeonholing US Presidents into simplistic and uncomplicated foreign policy positions and pronouncements they call 'policy doctrines' and sometimes succeed in coaxing some Presidents into untenable policy positions when complex foreign conflicts erupt and thereby limit themselves into impractical but seemingly decisive military commitments, which have historically been detrimental to this nation. The military invasion and further occupation of Iraq by President G. W. Bush, is the classic example where the neo-conservatives of the republican party and the unabashed war mongers, if I may be permitted to be blunt, were able to steer Mr. Bush, remember the self proclaimed compassionate conservative and the evangelist of freedom and liberty, into pursuing one of the worst foreign policy blunders in US history, costing us the lives and serious permanent injuries to thousands of US soldiers and their support diplomats, and many more thousands of Iraqi civilians, in addition to the trillions of dollars in war spending and associated expenditures, which is directly responsible for a large portion of the exploding US debt and deficits, that helped to plunge the US economy into the deepest recession [almost depression] ever! I hereby offer a facetious gratitude and a thank you to the thoughtless and non-deliberative neo-conservative foreign policy doctrine [unilateralism] that was whole-heartedly embraced by President G.W. Bush!!
I would love the opportunity to describe my perception of an 'Obama foreign policy doctrine', which I intend to attempt. My suggested rendition of 'Obama Foreign Policy Doctrine' would simply go something like this:
- "My fellow Americans, I believe my beloved USA, under my watch and leadership, will continue to be the beacon for unrivaled hope and the ultimate fulfiller of human aspirations. We the USA will be the leader of the world but will also consider ourselves as part of a world that strives towards the ideals and values consistent with those we cherish, thus looking for cooperation as our first instinct, but utilizing all means necessary to achieve the desired end result. Potential foreign conflicts and primary encroachments on our national security will be dealt with swiftly, effectively and decisively as humanly possible, with no ambiguity and/or second guessing. The rest of the world will be vigorously courted to adopt our noble ideals, ideas and approaches, and where deemed appropriate, a well thought out and forceful coercion will be applied, wherever the USA's interest can be shown to be affected. Unilateralism, as a sanctioned policy of the USA, will not be our first instinct when our national security is NOT directly affected by prevailing conditions of foreign conflicts. If a foreign conflict shows the potential for immense humanitarian disaster, a concerted effort of coalition building among all civilized nation states of the world will be engaged in, embarked upon and seriously pursued as the preferred cause of action, and a consensus remedy will be formulated and promulgated, respecting the required contributions from all nations involved in order to minimize the overall comprehensive cost to the USA. In short, my foreign policy doctrine will be deliberative and well thought out; it will be rational and measured in its application; consensus and coalition building with our allies will be a major component in its formulation and promulgation, and very strong and decisive in its implementation, to completely ascertain to ourselves and the rest of the world that, USA is and will remain the most powerful nation on this planet, and will forever be enduring and strong."
Monday, April 11, 2011
The 'Run Government as a Family' Absurdity..!
I hear politicians, especially the republicans, always saying this: paraphrase: 'The American people want their Government to operate they way their families ran their economic lives; the government has to learn to live within its means just as ordinary families in the USA do everyday...', and shockingly I do not hear the democrats and sensible independents respond appropriately at all, as usual allowing the exaggerated myth and absurdity impregnated in the statement stand as factual and reasonable, and imply glorious applicability of purported equivalence. I say ridiculous, ignorant and childish statements, the ones I think Ms. Sarah H. Pailin and Ms. Michele Bachmann will perceive as being perfectly logical and sensible. To be fair, I have heard this from notable republicans: Speaker John Boehner, Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Mitch McConnel, Rep. Ron Paul, Sen. Rand Paul, Newton Gignrich, Mitt Romney, Bill Kristol, Jon Cornyn, and tea party republicans: Rep. Allan West, David Webb, Dick Armey, Donna Loech and the like.
I hope the democrats and political independents recognize the absurdity contained in the subject matter coming from the right wing and tea party republicans. The question is, how many families plan their economic lives and also are required to maintain the budget and the responsibility for any or all of the following critical aspects of our civilized society?
I hope the democrats and political independents recognize the absurdity contained in the subject matter coming from the right wing and tea party republicans. The question is, how many families plan their economic lives and also are required to maintain the budget and the responsibility for any or all of the following critical aspects of our civilized society?
- Department of Defense [DoD] to defend our freedom and security. People should not confuse having guns in the home to be equivalent with maintaining a military or a militia. The government of US is required to maintain the DoD, the US Constitution specifically delineates, and I am sure the right wing republicans who profess their love for national defense and constantly encourage unilateral military interventions in foreign conflicts and wars, will be happy to know the financial requirements for such constitutional obligations is not left to their individual families, but the government retains this critical function, no matter the misguided rhetoric from the right wing politicians and their surrogates. Individual families do not have direct responsibility for responding to situations that affect our national security, and with that comes the complex budget item called defense expenditures, which is probably the most difficult financial and economic responsibility that the government is least able to predict, because a lot of the activities of the DoD is dependent on our foreign policy and external foreign forces mostly beyond the sovereign borders of the USA. I am grateful, this task is not left to individual family's whims and caprices. Remember this humble rendition on defense budget allocation and spending!!
- Department of Transportation [DoT] to construct the streets, highways, railways, waterways, bridges, airports and all associated transportation infrastructure, and by the way the budget should include costs for continuous improvements and maintenance. This should be a very important economic factor for our families, since our modes of transportation in these modern times, primarily determines most of our livelihood endeavors, because we need this transportation infrastructure to get to work so we can provide for our family needs. The benefits for the functions of the department of transportation are numerous and become more so in times of tragedies and transportation related incidents. For example, funding cuts in the state of Minnesota DoT became important in August 1, 2007 when the devastating bridge collapse over the Mississippi River occurred, and the world was shocked and devastated. National Transportation Safety Board [NTSB] is one of the obscured but important government agencies associated with transportation that becomes empaneled to investigate auto accidents, airplane crashes and other transportation infrastructure emergencies caused by natural events as earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, a government agency function that help identify measures needed to mitigate such mishaps. These emergencies are handled by government, and I am grateful, this task is not left to individual family's whims and caprices. Remember this humble rendition on department of transportation budget allocation and spending!!
- The US Treasury Department [US DT] to manage our monetary policy and currency to assure international trade and commerce required for the definition and functioning of our overall economy. We should remember the US Treasury exists to formulate and manage measures that allow for economic growth through government policies that support economic activities for job creation, private and public investment, and therefore, economic stability. US Treasury department is also responsible for the disbursement of payments to the public, revenue/tax collection, thus funds to run the federal government. I am sure, you would agree, this task should not be left to individual family's whims and caprices. Remember this humble rendition on department of treasury budget allocation and spending!!
- The US Department of Justice [DOJ] to maintain the legal system, the courts and law enforcement. It would be foolhardy to attempt to delve into all the workings of the US justice system, and further would be naive enough to believe the governmental functions for an effective justice system could be likened to any part of our individual family pursuit of justice in an advanced society as the USA. I am sure, the reader would agree, this task should not be left to individual family's whims and caprices. Remember this humble rendition on department of justice budget allocation and spending!
- The US Department Health and Human Services, is the principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans [HHS - NIH, CDC ] and therefore the management of health care, and do not forget the associated hospitals and medical research centers required for our well being and therefore, the protection and maintenance of our overall lives. The NIH/CDC medical research and studies have and continue to provide us all with many remedies, treatments and therapies for many deadly diseases and ailments. This responsibility, I think the reader will agree, should be fully funded and continued since it is a primary component of our basic human survival and ultimate security, and the thought of managing this function like an individual family's approach to health security, should be frightening to all practical thinkers.
- The other government functions: Immigration and Border enforcement to assure territorial integrity and national sovereignty; Department of State for foreign policy and inter-national relations; Homeland Security, FEMA and emergency management; and the many functions only the government is able to undertake, to assure our security and preserve our liberty.
These preceding examples should be enough to help make it clear to the US electorate the absurdity cloaked in the overly simplified political slogans and meaningless mantras from republicans especially the tea party republicans, about operating the government like they run their families. It is distressing that the democrats and rational political independents, do not seem to know how to formulate simple counter message to expose the truth and the realities presented here to the US electorate. I truly believe the electorate is already aware of marked differences, but need concise message articulation to make clear, and discredit the concerted republican panic tantrums that seem to dominate the public political mis-information. Where is Congressman Anthony Weiner [D-NY], when you need him? [I intend to send this link to Mr. Weiner and possibly Fmr. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)].
This blog posting is not to whole-heartedly endorse all aspects of governmental approaches to managing our daily societal problems and well being, but the alternative being proclaimed and sold to the US electorate is sickeningly ridiculous, utterly absurd and should be unacceptable to thinking human beings, unless these human beings subscribe, with warm embrace, to the empty headedness and lack of the application of intelligence permeating the republican party darlings led by the likes of Ms. Sarah Pailin and Ms. Michele Bachmann, where facts are considered a nuisance and knowledge and the application of the intellect is frowned upon as heresy, and the race to the bottom on the achievement ladder seems to be a cherished aspiration and prescription for the USA.
I can guarantee the reader of this blog hopefully does not subscribe to the race to the bottom mentality of the tea party republicans, but if they do, I will apologize later when appropriate, but the seriousness of the state of affairs in the USA, requires discussion on these topics which are mostly ignored by the media because it does not enhance their revenue stream which they successfully achieved through presentation of mindless tabloid based stories. As I write this blog, the report of a congressional budget deal is on the regular constant media loop of reporting, but no media outlet is embarking on the true details contained in the deals, and I will bet the rest of the population will be given the impression that one side or the order gained the upper hand or won the so called fight. No one believes the fraudulent and phony outrage of fiscal policy as claimed by the tea party republicans, because now we know their zeal is to deprive women of their health maintenance and reproductive rights [defunding Planned Parenthood]! It is mystifying to me why republican party and their women do not believe in the protection of the health and reproductive rights of women in general!
To end this blog, I call attention to a couple of facts:
I truly believe the refrain 'Run Government as a Family' is absurd and we all should be mindful not to be confused with ignorance contained in the misguided mantra! Let me hear your comments...
This blog posting is not to whole-heartedly endorse all aspects of governmental approaches to managing our daily societal problems and well being, but the alternative being proclaimed and sold to the US electorate is sickeningly ridiculous, utterly absurd and should be unacceptable to thinking human beings, unless these human beings subscribe, with warm embrace, to the empty headedness and lack of the application of intelligence permeating the republican party darlings led by the likes of Ms. Sarah Pailin and Ms. Michele Bachmann, where facts are considered a nuisance and knowledge and the application of the intellect is frowned upon as heresy, and the race to the bottom on the achievement ladder seems to be a cherished aspiration and prescription for the USA.
I can guarantee the reader of this blog hopefully does not subscribe to the race to the bottom mentality of the tea party republicans, but if they do, I will apologize later when appropriate, but the seriousness of the state of affairs in the USA, requires discussion on these topics which are mostly ignored by the media because it does not enhance their revenue stream which they successfully achieved through presentation of mindless tabloid based stories. As I write this blog, the report of a congressional budget deal is on the regular constant media loop of reporting, but no media outlet is embarking on the true details contained in the deals, and I will bet the rest of the population will be given the impression that one side or the order gained the upper hand or won the so called fight. No one believes the fraudulent and phony outrage of fiscal policy as claimed by the tea party republicans, because now we know their zeal is to deprive women of their health maintenance and reproductive rights [defunding Planned Parenthood]! It is mystifying to me why republican party and their women do not believe in the protection of the health and reproductive rights of women in general!
To end this blog, I call attention to a couple of facts:
- A great portion of the national debt [~$14.3 Trillion] is actually owed to the Social Security Trust Fund which is used to meet social security payments to our seniors, constituted from direct contribution from these seniors while they worked. The US congress in its infinite wisdom overtime has borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund [Some estimates are approx. $2.0 Trillion per budget cycle], and now all we hear from the right wing and tea party republicans is the call for reduction of social security benefits as a means to defray the accumulated debt. I hope fair minded Americans will resist such blatant unfairness towards our seniors. I think the government, not acting like a normal family unit, should honor its obligations.
- The normal families in the USA who are lucky enough to own their own homes, should not allow the right wing republicans to help them ignore the fact that these families all carry large debts called their Mortgages which in most cases persist for years. Furthermore, surprisingly they do not believe they should be forced to pay off their large mortgages at the time the obligations are incurred. Why will these same families, not withstanding their own debt loads, join the right wing republican refrain against the government carrying debt obligations necessary to maintain our US DOD, US DOT, US Treasury, US DOJ, US DHHS and the other worthwhile governmental functions?
I truly believe the refrain 'Run Government as a Family' is absurd and we all should be mindful not to be confused with ignorance contained in the misguided mantra! Let me hear your comments...
Monday, March 14, 2011
Self Destructive Messaging of Liberal Punditry..?
The so termed Liberal media pundits, have to learn about the well practiced clarity and simplicity of messaging, the art that seems well mastered by so termed Conservative media pundits. It is not enough to describe the problems simply and clearly, but leave the desired punch-lines and the key points of the message in the ether of rationalization, vicious and sometimes comedic satire, and employing partial agreement to opposing views coupled with a muddled articulation of the facts. I do not believe the right wing messaging machine can be that much more inspired and sophisticated than their left wing counterparts. The conservative pundits, however, seem to pontificate the 'matter of fact' gesture with indignant pomposity and self assured justification for their points of view with no self censorship, no self doubt and definitely no messaging restraint.
Why do the liberals and progressive media pundits seem to do the work for their right wing counterparts. The liberals in their quest to be measured and fair to 'both sides', end up digging up skeletons of their own side and handing the opposition, irrefutable evidence to nullify their own messaging. Message discipline is not a virtue for progressives but is a cherished creed of conservatives, republicans and their media pundits.
I recently saw an MSNBC progressive commentators replay, at infinitum, a video clip showing Presidential candidate Obama exalting his base with the following: paraphrase: "I would put on my comfortable shoes and join the Unions on the picket line, to peacefully demonstrate with them for their collective bargaining rights". Well the right wing pundits used this video revelation to deride President Obama for not following through with his campaign promise, making it look important to them. This is an example where the liberal pundits and the associated movement voices did not evaluate the impact of up-staging the very deliberative and thoughtful, constitutional lawyer, President, who understands the timing required to be effective when private enterprise operatives attempt to usurp the labor rights of the citizenry, through the coercive utilization of the political power of money, to compel elected government representatives, in this case, the Governor of Wisconsin, to use the pretext of economic crisis and legal responsibility, to deprive the working middle class, and especially organized labor unions, of their legal and long established rights to collective bargaining by public employees. To deprive workers the right for collective bargaining is practically equivalent to depriving a community of having legal counsel in product liability or environmental health violations. We are all now familiar with the name Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, Esq., imagine after 9/11 the families of the victims had to fight individually for their rights without a collective bargaining representation during arbitration. Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, who has served as the Court-Appointed Special Settlement Master in cases like Agent Orange Product Liability, Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation, and arbitration of the Holocaust Slave Labor Litigation, remind us all of the perception of fairness in the situation of human rights and survival. Why is the liberal and progressive messaging machine not able to formulate simple and effective populous messages that are not self destructive?
Liberal pundits and their supporters should not forget their own inflexible posture during the debates leading to the 2010 Health Care Bill, and in particular the adamant stance on the so called Public Option provision, which made it impossible to become a ratified provision, which could have garnered the desired 60-vote threshold in the US Senate. The liberal and progressives coalitions, in concert with their media pundits went as far as threatening some of the Senators with re-election challenges. The negative effect was manifested when the left wing pundits publicized threats from the liberal and progressive wings of the democratic party towards Senator Joe Lieberman [ID-CT] on his flip-flop on the provision for expanding Medicaid for the un-insured, as the more viable alternative to the then contentious Public Option provision. The intransigence of Sen. Lieberman, a very proud conservative democrat, was a direct reaction and repudiation of the left wings' impractical and sometimes irrational demands against reality, and essentially almost helped to defeat the Health Bill, but by the strength of President Obama's persuasive and political acuity. Sometimes the rhetoric of 'all or nothing because we are right' approach in representative political government is not likely to ever succeed. After what seemed the most successful legislative achievement, the passage of a comprehensive Health Care Bill in the US ever, the left wing activists and their pundit allies set out on a vicious collision course with their own democratic party senators and congress members, who they labeled as not 'fighting hard enough' for the more radical left wing health bill, the Single Payer System and the modified compromise, the Public Option. Through these contentious in-fighting and un-disciplined negative public pronouncements, the self destructive liberal messaging was incessant and dominated the media, thus the negative components of the Health Care Bill, as was claimed by the opposing republicans, overtook the laudable provisions that were actually contained in the health care legislation, and became the message that permeated the country and ended up becoming the destructive message albatross around the necks of the congressional democrats and the President, which falsely portrayed them as the the bearers of bad and over bearing government, the negative perception that has ultimately come to define the historic health legislation to a good portion of the electorate. Most of these democratic Senators and Congress members were defeated in the November 2010 congressional elections, resulting in the minority status of the democratic party, and therefore, making sure almost all the agenda and policies the liberals had worked hard for, rendered useless at best, and certainly standing on the verge of roll-back of the gains championed by Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Obama. Senator Blanche Lincoln [D-AR] was defeated by the liberal and progressive campaigns against her in non-liberal state of Arkansas, thus shrinking the conservative democratic base in the US congress, is a sad example of the Self Destructive Messaging of the Liberal Punditry.
The liberal activists who mobilized for the democrats and Mr. Obama in 2006 and 2008, self destructed in the 2010 congressional elections, strictly based on their 'my way or the highway' posture. I believe they de-mobilized because they did not get their Public Option in the health care bill. One would have thought these liberals were the intelligent class of the citizenry, and would have calculated that their own unilateral ideological movement demobilization, would create the space for opposing political ideology to exploit. This is the space the igneous republicans and their activist pundits acquired, and ushered in the tea party republicans, as a movement for the demise of the liberal agenda. When liberals forget to follow their leader, in this case the practical minded, Mr. Obama, the President, and further decided to 'eat their young', helping to defeat their own allies, the outcome is what we are all experiencing today. Political malpractice is the charge I levy on the liberals and progressives, who seem not to understand the political system in operation in the USA. Our constitutionally framed political system requires constant vigilance and well reasoned strategies on the part of the ideological purist, the liberals form of weak non-committed teenage-like intermittent activism and panicky call to action, is non-sustainable in a dynamic political system like ours. I detest ideological purism, but I admire ideological consistency when it is carefully mitigated by thoughtful consideration of the dynamism of the prevailing natural evolution of our society and political existence. In short, politics in US requires a clear understanding of the workings of what a representative constitutional government entails.
Liberals are very fervent in their believe in political ideology as do conservative political operatives, but the messaging for their respective political ideologies is where the similarities end. The right wing conservatives excel far and away above the left wing liberals, in the art of message composition and message discipline. Liberals seem very uncomfortable and woefully convoluted in their logic for the passionate expression of their inherent patriotic nature of inclusion and universal acceptance of differences between people in general, a trait not easily claimed or cherished by the conservatives, and can be captured in a simple but effective message campaign, in contrast to the unnecessarily laborious modes of liberal self expression; furthermore, liberals seem not to exude the prerequisite of desired intensity of conviction of their ideas that merit public admiration, and therefore, seem to convey very timid and inarticulate ideas. Liberal ideas, I should confess, are mostly better for the society at large due to their expansive and inclusiveness of scope, compared to the limiting scope and marked rigidity of most conservative ideas. What is holding back the liberals from such simple but effective and believable messaging of self expression? As a friendly caveat, I want the reader to be reminded that the United States of America is the most Prized Product of liberalism and liberal ideas, noting that, if conservatism and conservative ideas of government and governing had prevailed in the exceptional evolution of the origins of USA within this contest, the USA would have remained a colony of the British Empire!! We should all be mindful of that fact! Why are the liberals, their progressive coalitions and media pundits, not able to craft a simple message to remind the electorate of this fact?
Liberal pundits and activists are very 'liberal' with their messaging, or I should say, very careless and undisciplined in their message presentation. They mostly love to threaten the politicians and political operatives that agree with them even to the tune of more than 80+% of the time, and forget that they actually make the job for their common opposition easier, because the right wing media and opposing pundits just capture the vicious criticisms from the liberals and progressives of their own political allies, and highlight the negative implications, thereby, the liberals end up consuming all their valuable political capital to their own detriment, and the liberal focusing on the points of disagreement of their own caucuses, prolong the perceived negative connotation, which then translate to acute loss of message discipline within the political context. I contend that, the emergence of Tea Party Republicans, was made easier by the apathetic liberals and their weak but self-destructive messaging. Instead of the liberals and progressive coalitions banding strongly together to support their own political agenda and immense political and ideological gains as a result of the 2006 and 2008 elections, which at the time, were being successfully championed and exceptionally executed with precision by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Executive Branch, they instead, turned their attention to minor divisions within their own ranks based on what they perceived as 'not getting everything' they wanted in the many legislative bills passed by congress, and thus reverting to what I call the 'Liberal Winners Mind Set'.
The 'Liberal Winners Mind Set', is the condition where previously dis-enfranchised liberals and progressives find themselves in power with responsibility to lead and solve problems, but after a few seeming successes, begin what I call, 'the self congratulatory leg of the leadership marathon', the mode where they truly need to employ leadership and message discipline, but instead, they start working hard to knowingly or unknowingly, breakdown the alliances, bonds and coalitions that had helped them ascend to power, in the first place. When this happened in 2009 and 2010, the message gab was quickly filled with coalitions made up of the right wing republicans and tea party republicans, who were well disguised and carefully cloaked in fictitious outrage about the economic state of the country, the near demise of the US economy, which had been created by these same republicans. The dawning of the tea party republicans seems to have come as a surprise to the liberals and progressives, and they were not prepared with a counter movement or message, which at a minimum could have challenged the key operatives like Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey [R-TX] and other prominent opportunistic republicans, who could have been made the poster children of the economic state of the US, instead, the 'liberal winners mind set' crowd, just sat back and hoped the tea party republicans would be discredited based on their past performance in leadership, burn themselves out and go away! The subsequent out come of this colossal miscalculation on the part of the liberals and progressives, is now not in dispute! The simplistic reason or explanation is the self destructive messaging of the liberals and their media pundits, but that will be a fallacy that clearly underestimates the strengths of the coalition of the right wing republicans and their supportive media pundits.
Whilst I write this blog, the political melodrama of Wisconsin is playing out in the media, and the classic seat-of-the-pants tutorial of political education of the US electorate, the ultimate crash course for political maneuvering, is jarring the minds of the usually absent minded general public, liberals, conservatives and independents. The elected politicians who believe in corporatism and are working on behalf of private enterprises are being exposed as they work hard to usurp the public sector concept of fairness for the US middle class, and the social liberals are rapidly cultivating cast iron backbones necessary to withstand the onslaught from their own elected leaders, who they just found out, are beholding to and completely controlled by the power of money in politics. The message bearers from the liberals side of the ideological spectrum, are tightening up their loose talk, and their playground dares are favorably and fairly being vetted. Denoting the self destructive nature of the liberal messaging is an observation that seem to pan out regularly when political ideological debates and conflicts arise, because the self congratulatory liberals never fail to celebrate their perceived successes, prematurely! The the left wing, liberal and progressive strategists and their media pundits, profusely are complementary and conciliatory in their messaging, which does not help advance their conviction and believes to the society at large, but tend to impress and/or satisfy people who already believe in their argument, but carefully and meticulously ignore the true intended target of their message, which should be the right wing ideologues, the ones the liberal message should be intended to forcefully persuade, in an attempt to win some of them to the liberal side, or at a minimum, give the organized opposition, significant amount of work in formulating their non-plausible counter message. In other words, the liberal messaging machine has to learn not to destroy their own ideological campaigns before they have had a chance to take hold.
I am very sure a lot of liberals and ideological progressives will disagree with my characterization of the lack of effectiveness of their messaging, and may point to the not so distant but recent political successes, the democratic controlled Congress of Nancy Pelosi, but should not forget the non-sustainability of those memorable political gains, which I am attributing to their muddled messaging and ineffectual presentation of ideas, and therefore, highlight the Self Destructive Messaging of Liberal Punditry and their political operatives...
Why do the liberals and progressive media pundits seem to do the work for their right wing counterparts. The liberals in their quest to be measured and fair to 'both sides', end up digging up skeletons of their own side and handing the opposition, irrefutable evidence to nullify their own messaging. Message discipline is not a virtue for progressives but is a cherished creed of conservatives, republicans and their media pundits.
I recently saw an MSNBC progressive commentators replay, at infinitum, a video clip showing Presidential candidate Obama exalting his base with the following: paraphrase: "I would put on my comfortable shoes and join the Unions on the picket line, to peacefully demonstrate with them for their collective bargaining rights". Well the right wing pundits used this video revelation to deride President Obama for not following through with his campaign promise, making it look important to them. This is an example where the liberal pundits and the associated movement voices did not evaluate the impact of up-staging the very deliberative and thoughtful, constitutional lawyer, President, who understands the timing required to be effective when private enterprise operatives attempt to usurp the labor rights of the citizenry, through the coercive utilization of the political power of money, to compel elected government representatives, in this case, the Governor of Wisconsin, to use the pretext of economic crisis and legal responsibility, to deprive the working middle class, and especially organized labor unions, of their legal and long established rights to collective bargaining by public employees. To deprive workers the right for collective bargaining is practically equivalent to depriving a community of having legal counsel in product liability or environmental health violations. We are all now familiar with the name Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, Esq., imagine after 9/11 the families of the victims had to fight individually for their rights without a collective bargaining representation during arbitration. Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, who has served as the Court-Appointed Special Settlement Master in cases like Agent Orange Product Liability, Asbestos Personal Injury Litigation, and arbitration of the Holocaust Slave Labor Litigation, remind us all of the perception of fairness in the situation of human rights and survival. Why is the liberal and progressive messaging machine not able to formulate simple and effective populous messages that are not self destructive?
Liberal pundits and their supporters should not forget their own inflexible posture during the debates leading to the 2010 Health Care Bill, and in particular the adamant stance on the so called Public Option provision, which made it impossible to become a ratified provision, which could have garnered the desired 60-vote threshold in the US Senate. The liberal and progressives coalitions, in concert with their media pundits went as far as threatening some of the Senators with re-election challenges. The negative effect was manifested when the left wing pundits publicized threats from the liberal and progressive wings of the democratic party towards Senator Joe Lieberman [ID-CT] on his flip-flop on the provision for expanding Medicaid for the un-insured, as the more viable alternative to the then contentious Public Option provision. The intransigence of Sen. Lieberman, a very proud conservative democrat, was a direct reaction and repudiation of the left wings' impractical and sometimes irrational demands against reality, and essentially almost helped to defeat the Health Bill, but by the strength of President Obama's persuasive and political acuity. Sometimes the rhetoric of 'all or nothing because we are right' approach in representative political government is not likely to ever succeed. After what seemed the most successful legislative achievement, the passage of a comprehensive Health Care Bill in the US ever, the left wing activists and their pundit allies set out on a vicious collision course with their own democratic party senators and congress members, who they labeled as not 'fighting hard enough' for the more radical left wing health bill, the Single Payer System and the modified compromise, the Public Option. Through these contentious in-fighting and un-disciplined negative public pronouncements, the self destructive liberal messaging was incessant and dominated the media, thus the negative components of the Health Care Bill, as was claimed by the opposing republicans, overtook the laudable provisions that were actually contained in the health care legislation, and became the message that permeated the country and ended up becoming the destructive message albatross around the necks of the congressional democrats and the President, which falsely portrayed them as the the bearers of bad and over bearing government, the negative perception that has ultimately come to define the historic health legislation to a good portion of the electorate. Most of these democratic Senators and Congress members were defeated in the November 2010 congressional elections, resulting in the minority status of the democratic party, and therefore, making sure almost all the agenda and policies the liberals had worked hard for, rendered useless at best, and certainly standing on the verge of roll-back of the gains championed by Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Obama. Senator Blanche Lincoln [D-AR] was defeated by the liberal and progressive campaigns against her in non-liberal state of Arkansas, thus shrinking the conservative democratic base in the US congress, is a sad example of the Self Destructive Messaging of the Liberal Punditry.
The liberal activists who mobilized for the democrats and Mr. Obama in 2006 and 2008, self destructed in the 2010 congressional elections, strictly based on their 'my way or the highway' posture. I believe they de-mobilized because they did not get their Public Option in the health care bill. One would have thought these liberals were the intelligent class of the citizenry, and would have calculated that their own unilateral ideological movement demobilization, would create the space for opposing political ideology to exploit. This is the space the igneous republicans and their activist pundits acquired, and ushered in the tea party republicans, as a movement for the demise of the liberal agenda. When liberals forget to follow their leader, in this case the practical minded, Mr. Obama, the President, and further decided to 'eat their young', helping to defeat their own allies, the outcome is what we are all experiencing today. Political malpractice is the charge I levy on the liberals and progressives, who seem not to understand the political system in operation in the USA. Our constitutionally framed political system requires constant vigilance and well reasoned strategies on the part of the ideological purist, the liberals form of weak non-committed teenage-like intermittent activism and panicky call to action, is non-sustainable in a dynamic political system like ours. I detest ideological purism, but I admire ideological consistency when it is carefully mitigated by thoughtful consideration of the dynamism of the prevailing natural evolution of our society and political existence. In short, politics in US requires a clear understanding of the workings of what a representative constitutional government entails.
Liberals are very fervent in their believe in political ideology as do conservative political operatives, but the messaging for their respective political ideologies is where the similarities end. The right wing conservatives excel far and away above the left wing liberals, in the art of message composition and message discipline. Liberals seem very uncomfortable and woefully convoluted in their logic for the passionate expression of their inherent patriotic nature of inclusion and universal acceptance of differences between people in general, a trait not easily claimed or cherished by the conservatives, and can be captured in a simple but effective message campaign, in contrast to the unnecessarily laborious modes of liberal self expression; furthermore, liberals seem not to exude the prerequisite of desired intensity of conviction of their ideas that merit public admiration, and therefore, seem to convey very timid and inarticulate ideas. Liberal ideas, I should confess, are mostly better for the society at large due to their expansive and inclusiveness of scope, compared to the limiting scope and marked rigidity of most conservative ideas. What is holding back the liberals from such simple but effective and believable messaging of self expression? As a friendly caveat, I want the reader to be reminded that the United States of America is the most Prized Product of liberalism and liberal ideas, noting that, if conservatism and conservative ideas of government and governing had prevailed in the exceptional evolution of the origins of USA within this contest, the USA would have remained a colony of the British Empire!! We should all be mindful of that fact! Why are the liberals, their progressive coalitions and media pundits, not able to craft a simple message to remind the electorate of this fact?
Liberal pundits and activists are very 'liberal' with their messaging, or I should say, very careless and undisciplined in their message presentation. They mostly love to threaten the politicians and political operatives that agree with them even to the tune of more than 80+% of the time, and forget that they actually make the job for their common opposition easier, because the right wing media and opposing pundits just capture the vicious criticisms from the liberals and progressives of their own political allies, and highlight the negative implications, thereby, the liberals end up consuming all their valuable political capital to their own detriment, and the liberal focusing on the points of disagreement of their own caucuses, prolong the perceived negative connotation, which then translate to acute loss of message discipline within the political context. I contend that, the emergence of Tea Party Republicans, was made easier by the apathetic liberals and their weak but self-destructive messaging. Instead of the liberals and progressive coalitions banding strongly together to support their own political agenda and immense political and ideological gains as a result of the 2006 and 2008 elections, which at the time, were being successfully championed and exceptionally executed with precision by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Executive Branch, they instead, turned their attention to minor divisions within their own ranks based on what they perceived as 'not getting everything' they wanted in the many legislative bills passed by congress, and thus reverting to what I call the 'Liberal Winners Mind Set'.
The 'Liberal Winners Mind Set', is the condition where previously dis-enfranchised liberals and progressives find themselves in power with responsibility to lead and solve problems, but after a few seeming successes, begin what I call, 'the self congratulatory leg of the leadership marathon', the mode where they truly need to employ leadership and message discipline, but instead, they start working hard to knowingly or unknowingly, breakdown the alliances, bonds and coalitions that had helped them ascend to power, in the first place. When this happened in 2009 and 2010, the message gab was quickly filled with coalitions made up of the right wing republicans and tea party republicans, who were well disguised and carefully cloaked in fictitious outrage about the economic state of the country, the near demise of the US economy, which had been created by these same republicans. The dawning of the tea party republicans seems to have come as a surprise to the liberals and progressives, and they were not prepared with a counter movement or message, which at a minimum could have challenged the key operatives like Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey [R-TX] and other prominent opportunistic republicans, who could have been made the poster children of the economic state of the US, instead, the 'liberal winners mind set' crowd, just sat back and hoped the tea party republicans would be discredited based on their past performance in leadership, burn themselves out and go away! The subsequent out come of this colossal miscalculation on the part of the liberals and progressives, is now not in dispute! The simplistic reason or explanation is the self destructive messaging of the liberals and their media pundits, but that will be a fallacy that clearly underestimates the strengths of the coalition of the right wing republicans and their supportive media pundits.
Whilst I write this blog, the political melodrama of Wisconsin is playing out in the media, and the classic seat-of-the-pants tutorial of political education of the US electorate, the ultimate crash course for political maneuvering, is jarring the minds of the usually absent minded general public, liberals, conservatives and independents. The elected politicians who believe in corporatism and are working on behalf of private enterprises are being exposed as they work hard to usurp the public sector concept of fairness for the US middle class, and the social liberals are rapidly cultivating cast iron backbones necessary to withstand the onslaught from their own elected leaders, who they just found out, are beholding to and completely controlled by the power of money in politics. The message bearers from the liberals side of the ideological spectrum, are tightening up their loose talk, and their playground dares are favorably and fairly being vetted. Denoting the self destructive nature of the liberal messaging is an observation that seem to pan out regularly when political ideological debates and conflicts arise, because the self congratulatory liberals never fail to celebrate their perceived successes, prematurely! The the left wing, liberal and progressive strategists and their media pundits, profusely are complementary and conciliatory in their messaging, which does not help advance their conviction and believes to the society at large, but tend to impress and/or satisfy people who already believe in their argument, but carefully and meticulously ignore the true intended target of their message, which should be the right wing ideologues, the ones the liberal message should be intended to forcefully persuade, in an attempt to win some of them to the liberal side, or at a minimum, give the organized opposition, significant amount of work in formulating their non-plausible counter message. In other words, the liberal messaging machine has to learn not to destroy their own ideological campaigns before they have had a chance to take hold.
I am very sure a lot of liberals and ideological progressives will disagree with my characterization of the lack of effectiveness of their messaging, and may point to the not so distant but recent political successes, the democratic controlled Congress of Nancy Pelosi, but should not forget the non-sustainability of those memorable political gains, which I am attributing to their muddled messaging and ineffectual presentation of ideas, and therefore, highlight the Self Destructive Messaging of Liberal Punditry and their political operatives...
Monday, February 28, 2011
'Hatred Mantra', Tactic of Right Wing Republicans?
I chose this topic after watching [NFL] Super Bowl pre-show interview of the US President, conducted by Bill O'Reilly of FOX News. In his usual disrespectful, pushy and tabloid interviewing style, Mr. O'Reilly persistently asked the President to acknowledge that some people, who mostly watch Fox News' O'Reilly show, Hate Mr. Obama. Shockingly amazing, I thought, shockingly a classic right wing republican engaging in the usual self absorbed and over inflated egotistical expression of self importance!
The use of Hate as a political pejorative, and as political strategy to perpetuate political ideology, is now very prevalent in the US. I am sure the nasty tone in political discourse has possible historical corollaries and simplified historical equivalences, but these contentious and downright hostile muscular political confrontations, are becoming increasingly difficult to accept as the new criteria for civil political discourse. It is very disgraceful and scary to see and sometimes hear elected members of US congress engage in this hate culture, but becomes frighteningly worst, when these same US congress persons publicly condone actions and implied threatening actions of deranged lunatics in their constituency. What follows is a description of what I term the 'Hatred Mantra' prevalent in our current political climate.
The origins are quite simple for anyone paying attention to the political dynamics in the US. Simply described, the brain trust of the right wing republican operatives, concoct a value system, which they use to classify the electorate [voters] into conforming and non-conforming political ideological blocks. The value system of the right wing conforming ideological block is then expanded to include many of the prevailing dogmatic believe systems, such as, social class distinctions, race and ethnicity demarcations, perceived cultural identity claims, and the most potent classification of all, dogmatic religious believes. The believe system becomes a pseudo-crusade with emotionally charged deity proclamations, which then serve to inflame passions among the electorate. Social issues as Women's Reproductive Rights [Abortion Rights] is a prominent example, because of the connotation attributable to its interpretations firmly rooted in religious fervor. It is frightening to me, to think that the self-proclaimed political conservatives [right wing republicans], willingly accept the imposition of government on these social issues, at same time they profess to not believe in the power of an over bearing government. What a glaring hypocritical contradiction in their value system! Why are the right wing republicans so enthralled by government control of the Civil Liberties of Women in our society? Remember, the moral majority movement of the 1980s, led by Jerry Falwell, and the Christian Fundamentalist, and the present day Evangelicals, the Nationalist proclaimers, the Patriotic and Flag Waving impostors, the ones that claim to love veterans of our wars, but want to deprive same of their earned benefits. These are some of the tenets of the value system of right wing republicans, which is full of dishonest practitioners parading through our political culture, and firmly interspersed within our political infrastructure, sadly to the detriment of the un-informed electorate [voters] and the nation at large.
Out of the right wing republicans' value system, evolves the de-valuation system [demonization and delegitimization] used to characterize people whose believes and opinions are contrary to right wing intolerance and inflexibility. In particular, people who do not ascribe to the right wing value system, are labelled as not being main-stream, and most times, called Un-American and/or 'different', and are targeted with incessant mantras of Hate and Moral [but religiously acceptable] De-Humanization. The de-valued opposition are further characterized with derogatory labels as: 'Baby Killers' for those who believe in abortion and reproductive rights for women; 'Atheist and anti-Religious' for skeptics of political ideology cloaked in religious dogma; 'Socialists and Communists' connotation for thoughtful democrats and independents who advocate for economic and social fairness. As a classic example, remember in 2009 President Obama reluctantly but correctly bailed-out Wall Street Bankers and the Financial Industry, and managed to avert total depression and collapse of the US economy, but when he [Mr. Obama] introduced prudent financial reforms to mitigate future economic collapse, the right wing republicans labelled Mr. Obama a Socialist and a Wealth Re-Distributer!! Can anyone imagine a socialist intent on bailing out a collapsing capitalist system? A true thoughtless picture to consider. .... incredible!!
Once the de-legitimization [demonization] processes take hold, either by the constant repetition by right wing republican media advocates and pundits, and further picked up and propagated by the non-critical but trend-following main stream media, then any proposals and/or ridiculous claims made to fit the right wing value system, become acceptable to the loud right wing republican minority and their media pundits. Furthermore, the lack of concerted, organized and credible opposition from timid liberals and sensible but apathetic independents and libertarians, allow the right wing republicans' hatred mantras to take hold, and appear as the prevailing doctoring for perpetual social debate and conflict. In so doing, the cherished tradition of healthy political debates descend into colorful expression of moral superiority and the dubious justifiable expression of hatred towards opponents. Why is this phenomenon not obvious to the electorate [voters]?
I am fascinated by these same right wing republicans coming up with excuses to exempt their own closeted hypocrites when such actions they purport to hate, tend to be what their private lives have long been defined by. The morally professed evangelicals, claim to hate homosexuals, [and homosexual life-style, whatever that means] as the curse for the demise of our moral and religiously righteous society, and vehemently utilize inhumane treatment and campaigns to persecute such persons, until, lo and behold, the popular and charismatic evangelicals like Ted Haggard and Eddie Long; and prominent politicians, like Former Sen. Larry Craig and Congressman Mark Foley, get exposed for who they really are, then hating these self-righteous hypocrites, as would have been expected from the inflexible right wing value system, become turned into a religious experience, cloaked in the flexible concept of forgiveness and redemption for sinners, and the loud-mouthed pundits become muted. Remember, the right wing republicans never seem to have such religious compassion for their opponents!!
Why do the right wing republicans and their supportive media pundits resort to inciting the passions of the electorate with the Hatred Mantra? Because it is simple and targeted messaging, which allows the accepting and conforming electorate:
Based on 2010 congressional election results, it seems the 'Hatred Mantra' as a political tactic succeeded for the Right Wing and Tea Party Republicans. Arguably, the apathy and complacency of the liberals, progressives, democrats and young voters deserve most of credit, but that will be a topic for a subsequent blog. My question is, what will be the new political and/or social mantric tactic from the progressive political movements, as a counter perspective to compete with the hatred mantra of the right wing republicans? May be: 'Hope Mantra', 'Unity Mantra', 'Inclusion Mantra', 'Service Mantra', 'Aspiration Mantra', 'Bright Future Mantra', 'Achievement Mantra'... What is the shelf life of the 'Hatred Mantra', I ask the political progressives..?
My food for thought: The use of political ideology and perceived moral and religious believe contrasts as tools for the de-valuation and demonization of human life, constitute some of the pre-requisites and/or principal components in the formulation [operational planning], justification and subsequent perpetration of deadly conflicts [wars] between seemingly not dissimilar factions of society [most times, nations], and some of the instruments of justification for such conflicts, are firmly rooted in political ideology cloaked in religious fervor and apocalyptic imagery of the economic state of affairs, perceived as thrusted upon us by the targeted 'others' usually termed the non-believers and different, and fit perfectly in a 'Hatred Mantra' tuxedo!! ... Never forget that....!!!
The use of Hate as a political pejorative, and as political strategy to perpetuate political ideology, is now very prevalent in the US. I am sure the nasty tone in political discourse has possible historical corollaries and simplified historical equivalences, but these contentious and downright hostile muscular political confrontations, are becoming increasingly difficult to accept as the new criteria for civil political discourse. It is very disgraceful and scary to see and sometimes hear elected members of US congress engage in this hate culture, but becomes frighteningly worst, when these same US congress persons publicly condone actions and implied threatening actions of deranged lunatics in their constituency. What follows is a description of what I term the 'Hatred Mantra' prevalent in our current political climate.
The origins are quite simple for anyone paying attention to the political dynamics in the US. Simply described, the brain trust of the right wing republican operatives, concoct a value system, which they use to classify the electorate [voters] into conforming and non-conforming political ideological blocks. The value system of the right wing conforming ideological block is then expanded to include many of the prevailing dogmatic believe systems, such as, social class distinctions, race and ethnicity demarcations, perceived cultural identity claims, and the most potent classification of all, dogmatic religious believes. The believe system becomes a pseudo-crusade with emotionally charged deity proclamations, which then serve to inflame passions among the electorate. Social issues as Women's Reproductive Rights [Abortion Rights] is a prominent example, because of the connotation attributable to its interpretations firmly rooted in religious fervor. It is frightening to me, to think that the self-proclaimed political conservatives [right wing republicans], willingly accept the imposition of government on these social issues, at same time they profess to not believe in the power of an over bearing government. What a glaring hypocritical contradiction in their value system! Why are the right wing republicans so enthralled by government control of the Civil Liberties of Women in our society? Remember, the moral majority movement of the 1980s, led by Jerry Falwell, and the Christian Fundamentalist, and the present day Evangelicals, the Nationalist proclaimers, the Patriotic and Flag Waving impostors, the ones that claim to love veterans of our wars, but want to deprive same of their earned benefits. These are some of the tenets of the value system of right wing republicans, which is full of dishonest practitioners parading through our political culture, and firmly interspersed within our political infrastructure, sadly to the detriment of the un-informed electorate [voters] and the nation at large.
Out of the right wing republicans' value system, evolves the de-valuation system [demonization and delegitimization] used to characterize people whose believes and opinions are contrary to right wing intolerance and inflexibility. In particular, people who do not ascribe to the right wing value system, are labelled as not being main-stream, and most times, called Un-American and/or 'different', and are targeted with incessant mantras of Hate and Moral [but religiously acceptable] De-Humanization. The de-valued opposition are further characterized with derogatory labels as: 'Baby Killers' for those who believe in abortion and reproductive rights for women; 'Atheist and anti-Religious' for skeptics of political ideology cloaked in religious dogma; 'Socialists and Communists' connotation for thoughtful democrats and independents who advocate for economic and social fairness. As a classic example, remember in 2009 President Obama reluctantly but correctly bailed-out Wall Street Bankers and the Financial Industry, and managed to avert total depression and collapse of the US economy, but when he [Mr. Obama] introduced prudent financial reforms to mitigate future economic collapse, the right wing republicans labelled Mr. Obama a Socialist and a Wealth Re-Distributer!! Can anyone imagine a socialist intent on bailing out a collapsing capitalist system? A true thoughtless picture to consider. .... incredible!!
Once the de-legitimization [demonization] processes take hold, either by the constant repetition by right wing republican media advocates and pundits, and further picked up and propagated by the non-critical but trend-following main stream media, then any proposals and/or ridiculous claims made to fit the right wing value system, become acceptable to the loud right wing republican minority and their media pundits. Furthermore, the lack of concerted, organized and credible opposition from timid liberals and sensible but apathetic independents and libertarians, allow the right wing republicans' hatred mantras to take hold, and appear as the prevailing doctoring for perpetual social debate and conflict. In so doing, the cherished tradition of healthy political debates descend into colorful expression of moral superiority and the dubious justifiable expression of hatred towards opponents. Why is this phenomenon not obvious to the electorate [voters]?
I am fascinated by these same right wing republicans coming up with excuses to exempt their own closeted hypocrites when such actions they purport to hate, tend to be what their private lives have long been defined by. The morally professed evangelicals, claim to hate homosexuals, [and homosexual life-style, whatever that means] as the curse for the demise of our moral and religiously righteous society, and vehemently utilize inhumane treatment and campaigns to persecute such persons, until, lo and behold, the popular and charismatic evangelicals like Ted Haggard and Eddie Long; and prominent politicians, like Former Sen. Larry Craig and Congressman Mark Foley, get exposed for who they really are, then hating these self-righteous hypocrites, as would have been expected from the inflexible right wing value system, become turned into a religious experience, cloaked in the flexible concept of forgiveness and redemption for sinners, and the loud-mouthed pundits become muted. Remember, the right wing republicans never seem to have such religious compassion for their opponents!!
Why do the right wing republicans and their supportive media pundits resort to inciting the passions of the electorate with the Hatred Mantra? Because it is simple and targeted messaging, which allows the accepting and conforming electorate:
- To hang their disappointments, personal failures, unfulfilled aspirations and diminished expectations.
- To doggedly and contemptuously assign blame to others for their own miserable conditions;
- To effortlessly and without thought, discover the perceived culprits of their own current state of perceived demise.
- To embolden the first time un-employed to be convinced ethnic minorities and new immigrants, the easy targets of hate, are the reason for their joblessness, without acknowledging their own short comings.
- To embolden families losing their homes, in blaming ethnic minorities who, although are also losing their homes, are labelled as the 'dead-beats' responsible for the foreclosure crisis.
- To treat other citizens with opposing political views as un-american and not worthy of respect and support.
The reader, should not forget the caricature the right wing republicans have been allowed to create to represent the US President, Mr. Barack Obama. In my humble opinion, Mr. Obama is what I consider, the true realization and personal embodiment of what makes United States of America, exceptional!!
Based on 2010 congressional election results, it seems the 'Hatred Mantra' as a political tactic succeeded for the Right Wing and Tea Party Republicans. Arguably, the apathy and complacency of the liberals, progressives, democrats and young voters deserve most of credit, but that will be a topic for a subsequent blog. My question is, what will be the new political and/or social mantric tactic from the progressive political movements, as a counter perspective to compete with the hatred mantra of the right wing republicans? May be: 'Hope Mantra', 'Unity Mantra', 'Inclusion Mantra', 'Service Mantra', 'Aspiration Mantra', 'Bright Future Mantra', 'Achievement Mantra'... What is the shelf life of the 'Hatred Mantra', I ask the political progressives..?
My food for thought: The use of political ideology and perceived moral and religious believe contrasts as tools for the de-valuation and demonization of human life, constitute some of the pre-requisites and/or principal components in the formulation [operational planning], justification and subsequent perpetration of deadly conflicts [wars] between seemingly not dissimilar factions of society [most times, nations], and some of the instruments of justification for such conflicts, are firmly rooted in political ideology cloaked in religious fervor and apocalyptic imagery of the economic state of affairs, perceived as thrusted upon us by the targeted 'others' usually termed the non-believers and different, and fit perfectly in a 'Hatred Mantra' tuxedo!! ... Never forget that....!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)