Watching the right wing is like watching bears under the whip at a circus. They all dance in circles on command, sit back on their flanks, open their wide jaws in unison, and growl. The tea parties are the latest examples of this unity of purpose, reminding me of the old saying that when everyone thinks alike, no one is thinking at all.
What are they upset about? They’re not real clear on this. They have been instructed to say that it is about spending, and not taxes. That’s going to be a separate issue, and I imagine the Koch family is working on it right now. But what about spending?
Well, they don’t say much about it except that they are against it. It’s a completion of the circle for them. Prior to Ronald Reagan, they were against deficits and social spending, and as the Great Communicator ran up the largest deficits in history, they lined up like school children behind him. Then came Bush Sr., and the S&L bailout, and more spending, and not much protest except among the few true conservatives and libertarians left over there. Then Goldwater died, and there was but one left. Ron Paul.
Clinton came along, and due to an unexpected bubble, in the last few year of his administration we had a surplus (if you don’t count borrowing from Social Security). That’s a dangerous thing – when the government runs a surplus, people begin to think about things like health care and infrastructure. Along came Bush II, who very deliberately and methodically eliminated the surplus, and again went about the business of running up massive debt.
And the children lined up and cheered. As Dick Cheney said, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter”.
Bush left the Obama Administration with a $1.2 trillion deficit, basically disabling any kind of health care reform. Not a word about spending from the circus clowns.
Oh, why go on. We know what this is all about. It’s a stage play, much like New Gingrich’s Contract on America, designed to lure moderate voters over to the far right. Will it work? Doesn’t appear so at this time.
But the children are lined up.
Truthfully, there’s no salvation for us here. Americans are trained to believe that their salvation lies in one party versus another, even as both shut out populist movements and play patty whack with the bankers and wealthy families and corporations. There’s very little left of this Republic to pick over – it’s a carcass now. But watching these fools, these circus clowns doing their tricks is disturbing. It makes me wonder if there is a thoughtful person left on the right.
Budge has been silent on this matter. Kudos to him.
Piece of Mindful 