tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post8632062329179935160..comments2023-12-21T04:41:43.537-05:00Comments on Jesus' General: Tea Baggers' Politics of Resentment, Self-DestructionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-91260354040637900302010-04-07T08:09:54.875-04:002010-04-07T08:09:54.875-04:00Bukko,
As one who has been directly engaged in mo...Bukko,<br /><br />As one who has been directly engaged in more than one economy and witnessed how they operate, you have a terrific perspective that frankly, I envy.<br /><br />You probably think I'm nuts. Your perspective just makes the cultural lunacies stand out, and chances are they drive you crazy. At very least, you probably have a rough time taking them seriously.Joe Visionaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03036185687122768326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-36155502999256394242010-04-06T17:38:30.893-04:002010-04-06T17:38:30.893-04:00JoeViz, the thing about America is that it's a...JoeViz, the thing about America is that it's a land of grifters and con men. You see that everywhere from Wall Street bankers who make billions by bilking retirees and city governments, to politicians who pass laws that let corporations pollute and shirk taxes so those same politicians can get a sweet job with the corpos after they're booted from office, to average folks who lie to get welfare payments. The United States is crooked to the core, so of course the people in its government will steal whatever they can and destroy any worthwhile government program.<br /><br />AND THAT'S WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT!<br /><br />The country is a churning cesspool of new ideas on how to make lots of money with minimum effort. That's called EFFICIENCY, son! Making more money with less work is what advances PROGRESS! It also means that American con men are the envy of the world, although Nigerian bank fraud e-mailers and Russian AK-47 murdermafias are close behind.<br /><br />But really, if you expect America to somehow reform and become relatively honest, it's going to turn into someplace like Canada or Western Europe. (Not like Iceland or Ireland, though -- their banksters caught the American spirit pretty good in recent years, and look how far that's got them.) Are you sure you want THAT?!? (shudders...)Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-6178668597746270242010-04-06T13:40:05.821-04:002010-04-06T13:40:05.821-04:00Thank you demo.
Two weeks ago, Comrade Clinenswin...Thank you demo.<br /><br />Two weeks ago, Comrade Clinenswineski as you've referred to him, posted about <a href="http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2010/03/reinforcing-reforming-or-restructuring.html" rel="nofollow">Reinforcing, Reforming, or Restructuring the System</a>. In it, he seemed to have suggested that blaming people for America's woes (<i>The problem is an overabundance of people who suffer from congenital cognitive dissonance</i>) ignores the systemic problems that I refer to.<br /><br />I'll accept that I may have got this wrong, but everything I know tells me that there's a point where we need to stop blaming human weaknesses and consider what the social environment is that motivates them to act as they do. And the American situation readily motivates as I see it.<br /><br />Are you so sure that if a massive government overhaul created a system that:<br /><br />demands accountability to the public FIRST;<br /><br />that big money/lobbyists are strictly controlled, primarily by their knowing that there are a raft of internal and external agencies (aside from a voracious media) that will out them at the drop of a hat, and the elected rep so caught WILL NEED TO RESIGN;<br /><br />that elected members were left alone long enough to actually focus on informed voting and/or considering their conscience and not the knee-jerk partisan monkeyshines that are too common;<br /><br />that the second house was mandated to seriously investigate proposed legislation instead of dismissing it 'just because they can';<br /><br />that legal precedence is only <i>part</i> of the feedback that makes good quality lasting laws,<br /><br />are you so sure that this wouldn't profoundly affect even the reddest redneck, and instead of distrust and derision, s/he'd abide by a deep respect for the government?<br /><br />Please don't assume I'm a starry eyed dreamer. Effective government doesn't NEED to be an oxymoron.Joe Visionaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03036185687122768326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-735706525758035392010-04-06T12:12:10.510-04:002010-04-06T12:12:10.510-04:00Joe Visionary:
No. The problem is not a fundamen...Joe Visionary:<br /><br />No. The problem is not a fundamental lack of credibility. The problem is an overabundance of people who suffer from congenital cognitive dissonance.democommiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714733977927594559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-10284608365931385242010-04-06T10:10:47.296-04:002010-04-06T10:10:47.296-04:00I still think that this internal conflict of the R...I still think that this internal conflict of the Republican base is due to a massive distrust of the American government.<br /><br />To have an exceptionally rational government try to introduce intelligent health care reform would be seen as altruistic pandering, which will have seemingly enabled new and even greater graft opportunities than before the 'reform.' ... or so these people believe.<br /><br />How far off can they be? The U.S. government is too often seen swaying whichever way Big Money blows; having 'black book' operations that are by nature, unseen by the public; a massive military complex that siphons huge amounts of cash... a complete lack of transparency in general. Trust Big Daddy; Daddy knows best. Does it come as a surprise that these people are running at the sight of any 'nanny state?'<br /><br />How can you ask them to put their shoulder behind such a seemingly inept organization? Have I presented enough of a case to support my claim that the fundamental structure of the government needs to be looked at? Would it be so fantastic to imagine that the present structure isn't working because it suffers from a fundamental lack of credibility?<br /><br />I've been suggesting that this has been the case since America's inception, and consequently will need to be revisited at that same point in time, which in America's case, was at the Philadelphia Convention (of 1787).<br /><br />Sorry I keep coming back to this, but a tune-up doesn't fix your car when the main bearing is rumbling.Joe Visionaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03036185687122768326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-84764342941663811012010-04-06T07:38:19.509-04:002010-04-06T07:38:19.509-04:00Cline, I realize I'm coming late to this party...Cline, I realize I'm coming late to this party. But considering it's a party YOU gave, you're lucky I'm crashing it at all.<br /><br />I will present my own mother as an example of the cognitively dissonant Teabagger-types you describe. (Only don't describe her as a Teabagger! Aside from what she had to do to pop out me and my two sisters, I doubt the woman had sex at all. And if she did, she didn't enjoy it.)<br /><br />Mum grizzles a lot about how much her taxes are going up. She says it's unfair for the government to take so much of her money, and suspects that illegitimoPresident Obama is going to take away one of her pensions. She has no specific information to back this suspicion, but she just KNOWS he will.<br /><br />That's because good ol' tax-hating Mater ekes out a subsistence living (all alone) in her four-bedroom, three-bath, $750,000 fully-paid-for home on 10 acres with nothing else but the two pension cheques she gets each month from my late father's 25-year military career and his subsequent 15 years working for the federal government in Washington, D.C. And her pension cheque from the decade she worked for a government hospital in Maryland. Plus her Social Security and Tri-Care, the military's version of Medicare. She's pulling in about $75 G's a year from the government.<br /><br />Can you imagine the horror a government-hating conservative must feel to know that the eeeeeeeevil government is giving them about twice as much as the average American earns each year? It's enough to make them thoroughly disgusted with themselves. But instead of hating herself, Mumsy fnds it easier to hate on the .gov.<br /><br />Sometimes when I talk to her on the phone, I pretend to be a liberal. It's cruel of me, but that's how I get back at her for how she was when I was a teenager. I remind her that pretty much every penny she ever got in her life came from the government, and that she's got more money than she knows what to do with, so why should she be concerned if the government wants to get a little bit back?<br /><br />"But it's MY money" is all she can come up with. Then she starts calling me a traitor because I abandoned my own country. Phone calls back home are not much fun, but as a Godly conservative, I must do my filial duty. No matter how much I hate it.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-45030472497645079542010-04-05T22:34:06.843-04:002010-04-05T22:34:06.843-04:00hoser:
Uh, fuck no? What the progressives defini...hoser:<br /><br />Uh, fuck no? What the progressives definitely do not need is to empathize with a bunch of idiotic fucktards who are poster children for denial.<br /><br />Ortis:<br /><br />You can be a Lutheran or not, lapsed Lutheran is not, btw. <br /><br />Don't get too comfortable with the notion that folks who don't screech and foam at the mouth about the BlackdevilobamandingostealingourmoneymakingustehGAYandfuckingourwimmen aren't passionate. It's just that they have forebrains as well as hindbrains.democommiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714733977927594559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-76395109106325554002010-04-05T17:07:42.233-04:002010-04-05T17:07:42.233-04:00I like this post but as a lapsed Lutheran I have t...I like this post but as a lapsed Lutheran I have to point out two extensions of your point:<br /><br />1) Of course Hegel and "the economic philosopher whose name can't be mentioned" observed that modern humans tend to be comfortable with an astonishing degree of inner conflict and self-contradiction. This is never more apparent than in Christianity where the concepts of original sin (Natural Born Killa'), and the death of Jesus ("Whokilledhim?" "Wealldid!") not only encourage self-hatred, but institutionalize it.<br /><br />2) A liberal capitalist socioeconomic system ala Adam Smith, a philosopher God to both right and left, pretty much relies on everyone NOT voting their economic interests. Otherwise elections would be very short and bloody affairs with the wealthy ending up in a shallow fire pit. Which begs the reverse of your question, "Why do so many filthy rich people vote for Liberal Dems?" Are they as self-hating as the tea partiers? Or do they just feel really fortunate and guilty enough to share? Ultimately politics and religion go so well together because for the vast majority, rich and otherwise, they are primarily emotional, not rational, pursuits. That is why it's no accident that most tea partiers are money-lacking fundamentalist Christians and most liberals are materially comfortable and passionate (if true liberals can be said to be passionate) about something other than religion (hunger, climate change, Molly Cyrus, etc.)<br /><br />So let's get Jesus back into the discussion, because Christian or not, we can all agree that the answer to "Who created the tea partiers?" is, you guessed it, "Jesus General".<br />Happy Easter.ortishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850198680207838701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-49027905891388266692010-04-05T16:35:20.067-04:002010-04-05T16:35:20.067-04:00Actually, insults and derision are staples for Cou...Actually, insults and derision are staples for Coulter/Beck/Limbaugh. They do seem to be swaying people.bodiciah t rentlord IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17076697194473745061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-2941605519363195682010-04-05T15:20:55.346-04:002010-04-05T15:20:55.346-04:00On one hand you say "it's not difficult t...On one hand you say "it's not difficult to see how people do miss it after all." But then you insult "the other tribe" by using the term "tea bagger."<br />Perhaps if we understood that the messaging that the GOP has been employing for at least the past fifty years, which has been filled with distortions and lies, has had a powerful impact on the common man. Perhaps if we employed a little more empathy, and tried to understand their motives and beliefs, we might then try to educate them through engagement and discussion. Because I am pretty sure that insult and derision isn't going to sway anybody.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-53950174216141404122010-04-04T23:21:19.729-04:002010-04-04T23:21:19.729-04:00Comrade Clinenswineski:
You know what 100% disabl...Comrade Clinenswineski:<br /><br />You know what 100% disabled is? It's you, whenever I get my fifteen minutes of "up close and personal" with you, Posterboyboy. I'm gonna kick your ass so hard that your milkwhales will be swimmin' in circles, knowi'msayin? And I'm gonna commence on your "trail of tears" just as soon as the VA does the surgery to replace my artificial hip with a real one. Your time is comin', boyo, your time is comin!democommiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08714733977927594559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-18350102104723909792010-04-04T19:23:35.542-04:002010-04-04T19:23:35.542-04:00One of my best friends fits this profile to a tee....One of my best friends fits this profile to a tee. He drives a concrete truck, which means downtime during Wisconsin winters. When he works less than 40 hours (or no hours), he draws unemployment compensation. Since the 2008 campaign, we've sporadically traded emails regarding political issues, the latest being health care. In his latest email, he recounts how he has driven his concrete truck into inner cities near Milwaukee and has seen "ghetto rodents" sitting on their porches drinking beer at 9:30 in the morning. He doesn't want any of his tax dollars to go to these obviously undeserving people who are "sucking" off him. I asked him how he squared this belief with his annual drawing of unemployment benefits, which is certainly "getting something for nothing." Regarding health care reform, which he is stridently against, I asked how government assistance for health care differs from government assistance for mortgage and utility payments through unemployment benefits. Not a peep from him explaining this contradiction. I'm certain that he sees unemployment benefits as something he deserves. He does plan for winter downtime and saves his summer overtime. He may even mistakenly believe that an unemployment tax is withheld from his paycheck. Bottom line, he's dependent on the government for the same financial assistance that he decries.Workin' Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15259078554439186808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-4838071917267589712010-04-04T16:49:22.827-04:002010-04-04T16:49:22.827-04:00The poster brought back a childhood memory of a tr...The poster brought back a childhood memory of a train trip from Caliornia to Seattle WA. When passing through Oregon I looked out the window and saw a one armed woman plowing behind two horses. Yikes!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09201767938953738714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-31556079605208458472010-04-04T16:27:53.653-04:002010-04-04T16:27:53.653-04:00This cognitive dissonance issue may be a remnant f...This cognitive dissonance issue may be a remnant from an earlier age of humanity...after we left the trees but before we stopped tripping over rocks.<br /><br />++++mjshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13233294798002466875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-6400339852723676762010-04-04T14:08:23.362-04:002010-04-04T14:08:23.362-04:00Good article indeed. if anyone has any doubts as t...Good article indeed. if anyone has any doubts as to the power corporations and their lobbyists wield, look no further than the angry protests against Health Insurance reform; they have people rioting in the streets against their own best interests, like access to health care without interference from 'the man'. Journey back three years… before health insurance reform was even close to being reality and ask a teabagger if they think mega corps like aetna should have more or less say on their family’s health care. wanna bet on what their response would be?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10220936496431362870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-70201727263407632652010-04-04T13:47:10.728-04:002010-04-04T13:47:10.728-04:00You've hit the nail on the head. I'd take ...You've hit the nail on the head. I'd take it a step further: It's not only their identity as being independent of government that's being challenged, they're in danger of being lumped in with the "host of other groups" that you mention.K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10222703055177237209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-64173083380835346892010-04-04T13:04:32.975-04:002010-04-04T13:04:32.975-04:00I cannot recommend Frank's, "What's t...I cannot recommend Frank's, "What's the Matter With Kansas" strongly enough. Why do people vote against their own interests? Frank explores the phenomena personally and in depth (and some breadth) and to my mind comes away with as many answers as there are individuals. "There's a million stories in the naked city..." <br /><br />Cognative dissonance indeed. To a certain degree, I blame television. Half hour or one hour answers to problems that, given that human nature is at least partly irrational, actually have no real world solutions.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16195457950466059377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-73622594783433902382010-04-04T11:28:37.386-04:002010-04-04T11:28:37.386-04:00Excellent Article!Excellent Article!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09625686483408301603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-41823956434638164852010-04-04T11:16:59.152-04:002010-04-04T11:16:59.152-04:00No matter how much actual government assistance in...No matter how much actual government assistance in the form of health care reform these people receive, they will NEVER consider themselves recipients of government assistance. <br /><br />Remember "Keep the government out of Medicare!" ?<br /><br />They do not and will never consider any government not run by repugs to be legitimate. It has always been thus.<br /><br />It's far worse since November 2008 for one reason and one reason only.<br /><br />When they scream "I want my country back!" what they really mean is:<br /><br />"Get that nigger out of the White House!"Yellow Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15340604354589650030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099635.post-88088991742700496642010-04-04T11:15:47.073-04:002010-04-04T11:15:47.073-04:00This phenomenon of getting the GOP base to vote ag...This phenomenon of getting the GOP base to vote against their interest still baffles me, even with the (tragic) reasoning spelled out in front of me.<br /><br />I have long had an image of the GOP politicians behind this as a group of men standing behind a curtain and peeking out at the Teabagger crowds. Behind the curtain, they stand at once both ecstatic and stupefied. On the one hand, I can hear them mulling their success. <br />"Who cares if the bill actually helps? Look out the window -- <i>they</i> certainly don't."<br />On the other hand, they are still humans, so their success in something so counter-intuitive to human nature must seem slightly improbable.<br />"I mean, I was there the whole time, I know, but could someone tell me how in the f*** we pulled <i>THAT</i> off?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com