This morning I had Diane from St. Louis Park call in. I was talking about the joke Pioneer Press editorial written by Mike McFadden, GOP candidate for Senate against Senator Al Franken. Part of the editorial was about foreign policy, namely the group ISIS/ISIL and President Obama's response to the terrorist organization. It was a minor point overall, but Diane called in and insisted I was not being politically correct, as ISIS is also Isis, an ancient Egyptian deity. Her point was the right uses ISIS while the president uses ISIL so we should be culturally sensitive and not upset anyone who worships ancient Egyptian gods. Okay...?
Diane upset me, but not because I can't take the grammar police pulling me over, usually for my misuse of your/you're or there/they're/their. She upset me because she so perfectly highlighted what the heck is wrong with the left. Here is the Republican nominee for Senate in Minnesota, writing an amazingly foolish editorial, ripe for the scorn I was about to level upon it, and Diane derails the whole talk topic with ISIS verses ISIL.
Democrats, we have to stop tripping our own selves up. There is an element of the left so enamored with the well worded memo, Lincoln v. Douglas debates, Mr. Smith goes to Washington pipe dream, they don't realize the other side just doesn't care. Not only does that perfect debate world not exist, the right depends on the left romanticizing the idea of an eloquent speech so they can control the entire political process. The win over the crowd speech, akin to the one given at the end of the movie Revenge of the Nerds, will not happen today because either the nerd would have been beaten to a pulp the minute he said, "I have something to say...", or the opposition would have just walked away and ignored it. Even if you were to manage to stop the right and force them to listen to your point of view, they'll never acknowledge you're right. The left, so wanting to win on the merit of their argument, forgets the forest, just so they can pat themselves on the back for the one leaf of grass they trimmed to perfection.
We need to get over this. Let's look back into history, to the time the current masterminds pulling the strings of the modern Republican party are trying to return us too, the 1870's to the 1920's. Back then, 50 or so people at any given time were making the decisions for all of us. Most of those people were not politicians, but extremely wealthy businessmen who happened to be at the forefront of the industries which would drive the country for the next 100 years and beyond. The people who ran steel, oil, trains, and eventually cars were, for the most part, ruthless, letting their accumulated wealth buy their legacy after their deaths. This country, with the population in the beginning stages of abandoning the farm and moving into the metro areas, had a incredibly large poverty class who would do anything to survive. They would work in near slave labor conditions, with death almost a daily occurrence in the workplace. There were no workers rights. You just sat back at took it with a smile. If a worker ever did try to read their well worded memo about the conditions, they were fired, beaten, and often killed.
It took a combination of things happening for change to begin; the horrific deaths and atrocious working conditions being exposed and the workers realizing they far outnumbered the 50 or so people who were pulling the strings. Big business back then despised the idea of workers rights, and the notion of a union having a seat at the table in business decisions was tantamount to the destruction of the democracy itself. Change was slow to come, until the businesses screwed things up so bad, we ended up in the Great Depression. FDR was not a looney leftie. He just realized the old system was unsustainable if the country was going to develop into the powerhouse it would eventually be. Workers rights groups now had the backing of the President, and equal rights for all began its path forward. Many of the business leaders of the time were so upset at FDR, they even tried to assassinate him and overthrow the government. They failed, and the country moved into the golden age of the worker.
The modern Republican can trace it's roots back to the late 1950's, early 1960's. Big business, realizing they could never go directly back to the way things used to be, realized in a two party system they could control a lot of the debate if they ran one of the parties. They chose the Republican Party, as they were recently flush with Dixiecrats, furious over the desegregation of the south. These guys were perfect foot soldiers to start the march back to the old ways of doing things.
The plan was daunting, but relatively simple; get control of one of the political parties, slowly take over the Federal government first, state governments second, and then local governments, infiltrate all departments of the federal government with appointees, appoint judicial activists to the bench who will side with business first, slowly take control of the media, offer the idiots, zealots and idealists who will vote for you regardless of their circumstances a few core issues to keep them loyal, and offer the rest of the country a few scraps along the way to keep them content enough.
There were a few hiccups (Carter, Iran Contra, the Internet) but they achieved tremendous success, a lot of their advances coming with Reagan's popularity with unions and the working class from 1983 to 1986, but the people pulling the strings realized they had a problem, they were far too successful at turning back the clock. Moderate Republicans started to peel away from the GOP. To replace them, the cabal started moving more and more to the right, replenishing their ranks with groups and organizations who were never welcome to the table before: the religious right, tea partiers, Libertarians, and militias. Each group brought in more foot soldiers for the right's cause, but middle America started to wash their hands of the Republican Party.
The right's political and economic lies of the last 40 years, like trickle down economics, aren't fooling anyone anymore. To maintain their power, the right had to tilt the playing field almost onto it's side to stay in power. They outspend the left 20 to 1 in elections, purge voter lists, gerrymander districts, limit voting, and cultivate indifference, all while unleashing their media to convince you how much the left has failed you. Even with the overwhelming system to help them win, their lies have caught up to them. They can't win solid majorities, they can only hope to obstruct the undoing of the system they have created. They are not trying to win anymore, they are just trying to stop the other side from succeeding.
Which brings us to another topic of this morning, Sarah Palin. The GOP nominee for Vice President in 2008, and her family, were in a drunken street brawl in Alaska. The right, so desperate to maintain what little control they have left, depend on the popularity a candidate has with the extreme far right base first and foremost, foregoing vetting and evaluation just to try to appease the extremists that now control their selection process. As funny as the Palin fiasco is (and it is HILARIOUS!), look at the Republican Candidates in Minnesota. McFadden, Johnson, Mills, Hagedorn, Emmer, Westrom, MacDonald whoever their running in the 4th and 5th; they're a laughing stock. Even the 'established' politicians left in the GOP, Kline and Paulson, are empty suits, thin memories of what the Republican Party used to be. The GOP ticket this year would have never gotten nominated to run 30 years ago, and more than a few would not have even been allowed into the nominating convention. They have become a low hanging, shoddily made, breaking apart piñata, hoping, heck praying, a light breeze doesn't shatter it.
What do you want to do, talk about the politically correct way to refer to ancient Egyptian gods, or grab a bat and swing away? Don't get caught up in the metaphor, don't criticize me for being too violent for suggesting hitting a piñata, don't have a debate on whether the bat is made from recyclable material, and for goodness sake, do not prioritize the feelings of the opposition over what is the right thing to do. If we don't start swinging away, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Batter up!