The true believer is in a high degree protected against the danger of certain neurotic afflictions, by accepting the universal neurosis he is spared the task of forming a personal neurosis.
Sigmund Freud
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Monday’s Uberlinks;
Boehner defends criticism of financial overhaul as excessive
Paul draws backlash to comments about poverty
Sharron Angle flummoxes local press with “stimulus” non sequitur
BP plans test tomorrow on stopping leak from well
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Viddy of the day to start things off: Jim Lehrer talking about America’s political atmosphere.
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Jim says that the extremism in the political dialogue in America is due to the variety of problems this nation is going through. Reeeeeeeal deep. Duh is a good way to put that, it just makes sense that the emotion in the debate would get more heated as life gets more difficult. But the level of difficulty is only one reason the heatedness of the debate has gotten to this level. There are other “reasons”, equally simple in explanation.
1 ) Political expediency. Republicans are using the fact that there is a Democratic President in the White House and a De
mocratic majority in congress as an excuse to yell and scream about how much things suck, little remembering that without the Republican largesse and excesses of the last decade, and the Laissez-faire attitude engendered by the ruling conservatives, we would not be in this position to begin with.
2 ) Inability to control our impulses. This is a recession folks, and things have been going terribly for the economy for a couple of years, and we knew in 2008 that things were going to be bad for a few years. Things are slowly getting better, but we want things to get better faster, even though that is really not possible. If it could have happened, we’d be there already.
3 ) The right is crazy. They have had it in for anyone whose views are different from theirs and have been like that since even before the days of the launching of the John Birch society, which has been the hallmark of political lunacy since it’s inception. Taxes are evil. Government is evil. God loves America, he gave us the military industrial complex because he loves us. Everything not right wing is evil.
4 ) The left is crazy. They are far more inclusive than their looney tune brothers and sisters on the right, but they are crazy nonetheless. What makes them crazy? The environment is falling apart. The government is after our freedoms. The gravity is holding us down. God hates America, he gave us the military industrial complex because he hates us. Everything not left wing is evil.
5 ) We are extremists. Seriously, if the capacity for extremity in our political philosophy and action wasn’t in our hearts and minds to begin with, it would not show up at times like this, and most other times for that matter.
6 ) Politicians make it easy for this kind of attitude to exist. When we have John Boehner saying the recession is like an ant and the reaction to it, the financial overhaul legislation is tantamount to nuking said ant, when we have Rand Paul talking like opposition to Civil Rights is in some odd way acceptable, and Sharron Angle can sit down and ask for “second amendment remedies” to Harry Reid, we have those in power making it plain that they just don’t care about America. And people learn by watching. They see these bullshit artists acting like nuts and think they can do the same, and then they do the same.
7 ) This is America. We’re allowed to be crazy and extreme, and we don’t need a reason. America was just as extreme 16 years ago, and it wasn’t in nearly as bad a shape as it is now. It was this crazy and extreme when I was born, and things were bad back then. It was the same back during the depression, at the turn of the 20th century, in the 1870′s and the 1850′s and 1810′s…. you get the point. The political atmosphere is like this because Americans are comfortable being extreme like this.
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The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing. Ultimately, after endlessly repeated rebuffs, it succeeds. This is one of the few points in which it may be optimistic about the future of mankind, but in itself it signifies not a little.
Sigmund Freud
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Well kids, it’s about that time. I have been watching the home run derby, and still am at this point. Not bad writing for that level of distraction, if I do say so myself. Go do things, I have things to do tomorrow, so I am outta here now. Have a good night, America.
