This is a subject that is near and dear to The Gadfly's dirty old hippie heart - namely the penchant for the American people to continuously elect selfish, vindictive assholes to public office who they goddamn well know don't give a rat's puckered ass about them and their familily's economic condition. That penchant also encompasses the innate and utterly insane death instinct of electing and re-electing outright frauds and criminals to legislate over their lives - as Bill Maher recently pointed out on a pre-election show of his.
Paul Rosenberg does an in-depth analysis of this frightening phenomenon in Salon this past week and it really is an eye-opening read. And while Rosenberg chooses to dig a whole helluva lot deeper in to the psychoanalytical aspect of this issue, a few direct points in his opening observation really struck a nerve with The Gadfly -- observe:
When George W. Bush became president in 2001, it marked the first time in 70 years that conservative Republicans controlled all three branches of government. By the time Bush left office, we were all reminded why. The financial crisis and resulting global economic meltdown Bush left us with were eerily reminiscent of the Great Depression, but there was also 9/11, the Iraq War and Katrina—a multifaceted record of spectacular failure so stunning that it should have disqualified conservative Republicans from holding power for at least another seven decades. Yet, the Democrats’ political response to the many messes Bush left behind has been so spectacularly inept that they’ve not only lost both houses of Congress, they’ve also lost more state legislative seats than any time since before the Great Recession.
There are many ways one might explain this state of affairs—and certainly the rise of Wall Street Democrats and the decline of labor played crucial roles. But beyond any particular issue area, there’s also the matter of differences in how liberals and conservatives think—and how they act and organize as a result.
Some very simple facts pointed out there in those two paragraphs dear readers -- and indisputable at that. Republicans did indeed control all three branches of government for 6 of Bush's 8 years in office. And what was the result of it? A world economy brought to it's knees by incompetence, greed & corruption, a lack of vision and a wholly deliberate attitude of just not giving a shit about those Americans who didn't have campaign donations big enough to get their attention. Millions of good Americans losing jobs and homes and any hope of ever seeing their version of the "American Dream" ever come to fruition. And of course - not to mention being asleep at the wheel on 9/11 and getting us involved in the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmires after wiser people warned them not to.
Sure -- the electorate did punish the GOP somewhat with the election of Obama in 2008, but they subsequently allowed the GOP to behave like the stunted intellectual growth toddlers that they are and obstruct every effort Obama made to move the country forward from the Bush and Republican fuckuppery. And the ADD afflicted electorate has now rewarded that obstruction by giving control of the Senate and House to these sadistic psychopaths earlier this month. American voters remind The Gadfly of the clod, dumbass, inept military recruit in basic training who is constantly getting picked on by the drill instructor - and the clod loser's mantra of begging for more pain and punishment as in "thank you sir, may I have another?!" becomes the hallmark of their pitiable existence - it is a sad drama to be witness to.
The Gadfly is by no means advocating that the current crop of spineless, nearly as ethically compromised corporate democrats are leagues better than the Republicans, but honestly folks -- when you have clowns like this on your team -- you sure as shit ought to be laughed out of the arena of serious discourse - and no - there are no equivalents of that level of batshit nuttery on the democratic side - none, nada, zilch.
All that having been said though, The Gadfly can only sit back and watch now - watch as the flying monkees invade the monkee house and inflict even more of their senseless damage on the nation over the next couple of years. The Gadfly has mentally prepared himself for this though, so most of his job as an agitator towards the conservative movement and their horror house ideology, will be alleviated by the fact that the Teabagging wingnuts can absolutely be counted on to overstep the bounds of decency and fairness and ethical propriety by slowly hanging themselves with the slack length of rope that the American electorate has obliviously granted them.
Pass the popcorn.
----TFG
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