One of the most frequently recurring themes echoing inside the bubble of Obamahate culture is that the President, although handily elected, was somehow thrust upon us by mistake and is an unelected tyrant.
It takes a special kind of person to believe that. It takes a special kind of person to attempt to profit by that belief and it takes a special kind of specialness not to be able to smell the boot polish and Cordite when reading about Wisconsin Governor Walker's plan to take over municipal governments ( duly elected) as part of his plan for prosperity through penury.
Forbes' Rick Ungar calls it Financial Martial Law and the Walker plan:
"would empower the governor to insert a financial manager of his choosing into local government with the ability to cancel union contracts, push aside duly elected local government officials and school board members and take control of Wisconsin cities and towns whenever he sees fit to do so,"I have no doubt that's just what the Tea-Shirts would like and little doubt that they will be able to reconcile that with their flimsy facade of Constitutional reverence.
"Such a law would additionally give Walker unchallenged power to end municipal services of which he disapproves, including safety net assistance to those in need."That's not tyranny, that's not the kind of shredding of the constitution the baggery would love to attribute to the President: at least not to the Tea-drunk masses longing to break free of any remaining bonds of civilization.
It'll never happen? It's Liberal hyperbole? Think a State Government can't simply strip a municipality's elected government of all power by Gubernatorial fiat? You say this isn't possible in America? It's already happened in Michigan. Perhaps it's coming soon, to a state near you.
I'll spare you a rant about Fascism and Mussolini, the perils of "special emergency powers" and Orwell's eternal boot heel, I suspect you've read enough 20th Century history to know what I'm talking about, but I suspect too that the years I have left to me will be years of counting up the mounting victories of barbarism, and the steady descent of our empire. Perhaps it's high time that I got back to studying Chinese.
I just posted this comment under Shaw’s review of Atlas Shrugged (Middle Class Mugged). Although intended for a different post, I believe it has relevance here:
ReplyDeleteIn her diary circa 1928, Ayn Rand spoke glowingly of one William Edward Hickman, whom she described as: “A wonderful, free, light consciousness" freed of "the necessity, meaning, or importance of other people." In other words, a "real man" worthy of enshrinement in her pantheon of fictional heroes (source: Michael Prescott). Who is William Edward Hickman?
By all accounts, he was a forger, an armed robber, a child kidnapper, and a murderer who kidnapped a 12-year old girl from school and demanded ransom for her safe return. Here is what happened when the girl’s father tried to pay the ransom:
“When Mr. Parker paid the ransom, he could see his daughter, Marion, sitting in the passenger seat next to the suspect. As soon as the money was exchanged, the suspect drove off with the victim still in the car. At the end of the street, Marion's corpse was dumped onto the pavement. She was dead. Her legs had been chopped off and her eyes had been wired open to appear as if she was still alive. Her internal organs had been cut out and pieces of her body were later found strewn all over the Los Angeles area."
Ayn Rand’s admiration of this sick and twisted personality does not speak well of her judgment, her mental health, or her literary works. Her admirers and apologists, no doubt, would rationalize it this way: The mature Rand should not be judged by the indiscretions of her youth. Bullshit!
If anything, the mature Ayn Rand continued to revere the sociopath in her novels, and, yes, her literary heroes are pathological personalities who exhibit a callous disregard for fellow human beings.
Ayn Rand was not far from sociopathy herself (or at least extreme narcissism). She slept from one end of Hollywood to another to advance her ambitions, betrayed lovers (openly humiliating them in public), abused drugs, is known for fits of rage, and betrayed friends and colleagues to the McCarthy witch hunt … ruining lives and reputations.
This is the same Ayn Rand idolized by such GOP stalwarts as Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas, Glenn Beck, Alan Greenspan, and the Teahoo movement, as examples … all of whom seek to reshape government into an objectivist utopia, whose goal is to usher in an era of serfdom and savagery for all.
Let us not forgot that this entire edifice is built on really sick shit, and it may serve a purpose to remind people that it all started with a narcissist's admiration for a sociopath.
michigan poor michigan
ReplyDeleteyou mitten, like shaped state
embroiled, right in the middle
of this nation wide debate
unions poor unions
long beseiged and mostly gone
must awaken from their stupor
what the fuck is going on
citizens poor citizens
must you be, so damn confused
ever willing, always eager
the Plutocracy is so amused
democrats poor democrats
manhood shriveled mostly gone
need a pair of new cojones
or are you, part of the con
americans poor americans
blink twice and nod your head
remember, when I tell you this
Your democracy's fucking dead!
Yes, I've been following this development and it's remarkable for all the wrong reasons -- perhaps this is what the Right really means by "reducing the size of government": cut out those messy middlemen and turn all powers over to one individual. It tends to prove my walnut-brained theory about the Right: when you give them even a little slice of power, they just can't help themselves and eat the whole power-pie in one sitting. It's a disgusting spectacle, but at the same time, brings the hope that a majority will wake up and vote against them in revulsion -- until the process of forgetting begins anew and the old lies about trickle-down, etc. begin to sound charming again.
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping that this is exactly what will happen, but even though the sheep's clothing is threadbare and the zippers are showing, Americans still won't see through it.
ReplyDeleteIs I keep saying, we are not a reality based or even a reality respectful people but superstitious, fond of occult knowledge, especially the fake kind, self-pitying, xenophobic, bigoted -- and we've had our selfish anger stoked and stroked for so long, we'd have withdrawal symptoms if God almighty ushered in an era of peace, justice and plenty.
Dino: "you give them even a little slice of power ..."
ReplyDeleteIf I get your sea drift: You give them an inch, they become a ruler.
I think my daughter is a realist - probably looking toward the future, she's been sending our two grand kids, ages 5 and 7 to Chinese language class.
ReplyDeleteDing hao!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking the same thing, baby.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not sure that's the side of the globe I'd want to be situated on or to be here when they all descend.
Thanks!
It's not going to go well and it seems that only a few (like you!) see it.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could tell you why you are wrong, but sadly I don't believe you are!
(But part of the reason is that many do NOT read about 20th century history or if they do they only read the revisionist BS)