John Lennon asked but I don't know how he made out.
I received Bob Tyrrell's After The Hangover: The Conservatives' Road to Recovery (Thomas Nelson, 2010). I will report on this next week. I accept Bob's distortions of liberalism as necessary for his worldview but I expected to read a more honest appraisal of the George W. Bush Administration, which was stocked with more movement conservatives than any other administration in history. As Ronald Reagan said, "Personnel is policy."Somehow that doesn't make a difference in terms of how Bob sees the validity of "conservative ideas". He expects the revival of conservatism to come from the same think-tanks and a greater self-consciousness that conservatism is a movement and should not be strictly be confused with a political party. So far his litany of policy prescriptions reads like an old-worn manual of things that simply do not address the severe crises facing the country.
His analysis of the Obama Administration as "collectivist" simply doesn't mirror reality and his selective appraisal of Obama's foreign policy doesn't hold water. So far, I have not read any reservations about the performance and actions and morality of our private sector, which should inform any re-thinking of so-called conservative positions. Also, I have problems with his view that Obama is trying to over-regulate the economy, when we have not had any enforced regulation in over 10 years. Bob actually speaks well of the Mount Vernon Declaration, which I have written about, lamenting that there was no one under 65 in the whole bunch.
I was hoping for a recognition that the last Administration expanded the size and power of executive branch greater than at any time in our history, including during FDR. Also, I would like a conservative or Republican to admit that they took a surplus and ran it into a $12 trillion deficit. That is coveniently missing in the analysis, while Obama is criticized as the most profilgate President of our time. While Bob praises the greatest boom in job creation after 1980, he neglects to say how the economy has not grown any jobs since 2007. Luckily, this month it did produce some jobs but half of which are temporary.
Also in the mail came Bob Altemeyer The Authoritarians ( 2006), which is available free on-line at www.theauthoritarians.com . This is not what I had expected but it is rich in examining the attitudes of the evangelical movement, which detailed references to internal criticisms of the movement by evangelical theologians themselves. The findings of a rigid authoritarian mindset doesn't fit with the calls for the conservative resurgence mentioned above.
Not to beat up on Bob today but he says conservative ideas are supported by the majority of Americans. The Quinnipiac poll shows that 60% of both parties support raising income taxes over $250,000 to tame the deficit. 70% support making people who earn $1 million pay more taxes. 80% are against raising taxes on people earning less than $250,000 and these 80% are opposed to cutting Medicare and Social Security. Bob's policy perscriptions call for cuts in both programs.
A Washington Post poll on the anger in the country show that 94% of the angry crowd are white and 73% are conservative. One respondent affectionately mentioned the 1950s and how he grew up with Ozzie& Harriet, but he added something that I think is telling," No one was trying to get rich then." My hunch is that there has been a delayed reaction to the devastation wrought on the nation by the last Administration. Much of the conservative noisechamber has tried and to some degree has been successful in diverting attention away from this fact. Perhaps they will succeed in its entirety but if not, then there will be another political price to pay for the Republicans.
The FBI is investigating a series of threats against IRS offices. As I wrote last week concerning my monitoring militia broadcasts, the militia movement, this time in the name of Guardians of the Free Republics, has sent letters to 30 sitting Governors demanding they leave office within three days or they will be removed. The group claims to want "to restore America" by peacefully dismantling parts of the government. The threats were made both to Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, signifying a bipartisan victim list. The FBI associates the letter with "sovereign citizens", the Christian identity movement, who believe they are free from all duties of a U.S. citizen, like paying taxes or needing a government license to drive. Scott Roeder, the man sentenced yesterday for killing Dr. Tiller, is a member of this group and was arrested in the 1990s for driving with a car filled with explosives.
Chip Berlet posted on www.talk2action.org an article entitled "Armed Militias, the Antichrist, and Obama", which outlines how millennialism has been mainstreamed and how the Christian Identity, Patriot amd militia movements have used this to popularize xenophobia,authoritarianism and scapegoating. Chip Berlet has spent a career documenting the militia movement and now ,after years of freelancing, regularly appears on television to discuss the phenomenon and its threats.
Frank Schaeffer posted on www.huffingtonpost.com April 1st his take on "The Evangelical 'Mainstream' Insanity Behind the Michigan 'End Times' Militia" . Knowing of what he speaks, Frank refers to the influence of the "Christian Reconstructionist" Movement and the Left Behind series in shaping this type of extremism. Frank believes this type of thinking influences the tea party movement and its encouragement that the government of the United States is illegitimate.
Rand Paul, Ron's son who is the Tea Party Choice running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Kentucky,held a campiagn rally surrounded by camo-clad militia members sportingautomatic weapons. The militia members claimed to be "the real homeland security" force not the "feds" and promised they would kill Democratic politicians. Bloggers noted that this might be Rand's "Macaca" moment. I disagree I think the political landscape has changed sufficiently that we will see more politicians embrace the militia movement.
Michael Steele's sexytime party has been supplanted by a parallel organization led by three former RNC chairpeople with the addition of Karl Rove, which aims to siphon off the big donor money that has fled Steele.
Peggy Noonan defended the Pope today, while the new hotlines to report sexual abuse in Europe are receiving 4,000 calls per hour. The Vatican's exorcist now says the Devil is in the media.
Roger Clemens wants to tell you his "pipes are working fine". Thanks for sharing.
The President received a thunderous welcome in the whitest state in the union, Maine. Hecarried Maine with about 70% of the vote last time. Conservatives are complaining that he "targeted Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck" in his recent CBS interview. All he said was that they don't represent the majority of the country.
Believe it or not Republicans said that they improved the health bill by getting rid of the "death panels".
That's All, folks.
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