The last century saw two major battles with two major forms of tyranny--the Fascists of the right and the Stalinists on the left. The old left and right no longer apply. In the beginning of this century we face Islamic fundamentalists abroad and the Rabid Right Wing in this country. The Islamists can hurt us but the Rabid Right can destroy us from within. Since Ike warned about the dangers inherent in unwarranted power in the Military Industrial Complex we are less and less a republic and more and more an oligarchy governed by corporations and special interests to which the rabid right agenda appeals and for which they are more than willing to pay trillions. Our only protection against that oligarchy is the constitution which was created by wise people who understood the risk of too much power in too few people. That is why the Bush administration has undermined it so. We must protect it if we are to be the America I love.
PROFIT IS GOD
A belief that the profit motive is the motivational fountainhead for most that is good and that greed is good is a key characteristic. They push to turn all enterprises into profit making operations and seek privatization as the cure for most ills. Of course the choice of organizational structure should be determined by the purpose the organization is to fill. For cause organizations can often deliver better results and the pursuit of profit can often short circuit needed results.
GENES ARE DESTINY
A belief in genetics as the primary determinant of human behavior and contempt for learning and environmental factors is a tenet of the RR agenda. If all behavior is a product of genes we need not waste time on programs like Head Start and thus we can promise no new taxes. Human behavior is a product of both genetic and environment. RRs are notorious in their rejection of both psychological and social sciences.
ANTI ENVIRONMENT
Opposition to conservation of the environment when such conservation threatens the profits of their allies has been dramatized by Rabid Rightist George Bush. TR kind of conservatism which emphasized conservation of resources is not part of the RR mind. They are slaves to the powerful companies who fund them and buy their power for them. They call those concerned about the environment ‘tree huggers’ and dismiss most environmental concerns out of hand.
CONTEMPT FOR INTELLECT
Contempt for the scientific, intellectual and artistic and for those who value scientific activity, the intellect and artistic expression marks the RRs. They have turned the GOP into an enemy of science. They use the so called creationists to water down the scientific curriculums in our schools, heap contempt on the scientists who have warned the world about global warming and have no real interests in the arts.
EMOTIONAL APPEALS
They view humans as objects for their control and this leads to wildly emotional presentations and appeals to emotions rather than intellect. To RRs intellect is an enemy. Hitler was a Rabid Rightist who was masterful at manipulation of negative emotions. The RR radio talk show hosts rant and rave and slobber into their mikes to whip the like minded into a frenzy.
ANTI PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Contempt for institutions like free public schooling that tend to level the playing field for all is often carefully coded. At every opportunity the Rabid Right undermines the public schools. In the south RRs created a private system of so called ‘Christian’ schools to avoid race mixing. More subtly RRs push for diversion of public funds to church schools and vouchers which undercut the creation of meaningful and needed changes in the public system.
EXPLOITATION OF FEARS
The Rabid Right is willing to not only exploit fears for political power but create fear in the furtherance of power. Goebbles exploited fears of Jews and Bolsheviks to unify Germans and take them to war. Bush has used fears to control Americans to get re-elected and to take us to a war that is the greatest foreign policy in modern American history. A true leader would have comforted the fears Americans had after 9-11 and guided us into not giving the terrorists a victory by changing our way of life. That is what they wanted. He surrendered us to fear.
COMMUNICATION AS PROPAGANDA
A propagandist model of communication that seeks to confuse issues rather than clarify and enlist repetition of slogans rather than create understanding is the RR way. The purpose is to control people and bend them to the ends preferred by the coalition that supports the Rabid Right. They are masters if spin and their disciples follow the prescribed talking points rather than thinking for themselves. They have studied at the feet of the master who pioneered most modern propaganda methods—Joseph Goebbels. Lincoln said you cannot fool all the people all the time. But it only takes 51%
PREFERENCE FOR FORCE
A willingness to use individual and collective violence as a method of coercing other individuals, other cultural groups and other nations is a feature of the Rabid Right. Libertarian conservatives flatly reject the use of force by one person or group against another. The Rabid Right thrives on war and cannot maintain itself in power without keeping America at war. Americans will eventually have to decide if they want to continue to send their children away to have their brains spilled on desert sands to keep RR in power. RRs must have the blood of our children.
PHONY PATRIOTISM
They promote the least significant, shallow and phony symbols of patriotism as a cheap and convenient cover for selling out their countrymen for power. Real patriots love their country enough to fight for its principles and show courage when their patriotism is questioned. Wearing a lapel means nothing. For RRs it is my country right or wrong. Real patriots are willing to fight to correct things when they are wrong.
SLASH AND BURN TACTICS
They are called Rabid because of their vicious always-on-the-attack and slash-and-burn style of politics to win at all cost. Their methods have left this country more divided than at any time since the civil war. Nixon fathered it all with his paranoid approach, with enemies under the bed and in all the closets. The more viscous the better. The only person better at it was that Rabid Right propaganda genius Joseph Goebbels. If you are going to tell a lie make it a real whopper.
EXPLOITATION OF FEAR
The Rabid Right is willing to exploit the fears, hatreds and biases of religious fundamentalists as cover for a radical materialist and amoral approach to politics. The way the Rabid Right has exploited the biblical literalists has been masterful though quite cynical. RRs see people as economic units to be used for profit and their philosophy is purely materialistic. Careful tracing of Bush’s so called conversion from useless drunk to a religious person suggests it was guided as much by politics as spirituality.
CHRONY CAPITALISM
The Rabid Right pretends of support for free enterprise as a cover for the worst and most corrupt forms of crony capitalism. Libertarians support free enterprise. They detest the cozy relationship the Rabid Right creates between our government and companies like Halliburton. This all began in the GOP with the relationship between railroads and big oil in the 19th century. The Rabid Right believes in welfare for the wealthy and powerful. Nothing for the victims of Katrina.
EXPLOITATION OF RACISM
A willingness to exploit racist elements by either direct or indirect coded messages in the pursuit of power is a key to gaining and keeping the Rabid Right in power. Nixon saw an opening in the democrats supporting and end to Jim Crow and new legislation supporting voting rights for blacks and civil rights and in 1968 successfully brought the white bigots in the south into the GOP. With the democrats nominating a black man we should expect a very nasty but carefully coded campaign to exploit racism to beat him. The power base for the Rabid Right include the white bigots in the south who still use the N word and uneducated blue collar types in places like West Virginia.
CORPORATE WELFARE
The Rabid Right has a visceral opposition to welfare except for large commercial organizations who contribute to their power. Ronald Reagan was an expert at running against black welfare moms while selling out the nation to corporate moguls. The alliance between the GOP and big powerful corporations began as soon as Lincoln’s body was cold. The alliance between govern and big business that Mussolini cited as a key element in the success of his form a fascism is alive and well in the Rabid Right.
OPPOSE CIVIL LIBERTY
Benign neglect to outright opposition to civil rights and civil liberties, except for large and powerful commercial organizations who contribute to their power, is also characteristic of the RRs. The Rabid Right democrats prevented civil rights legislation for decades. Before moderate republicans were drummed out of the party by the Rabid Right the GOP was stronger on civil rights. The Earl Warren court was the strongest in our history on civil liberties. The contempt Bush-Cheney have for civil liberty has made this administration the worst since the 19th century
MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Knee jerk support of the military and the industries which profit from war and preparations for war is characteristic of the Rabid Right. In his final address Ike warned that the military industrial complex posed a danger to our liberties. The Rabid Right dismissed him as a commie and he is rarely mentioned by the GOP, in spite of the fact that he was the second best GOP president, after Lincoln. Ike prophesized accurately they are dangerous and in control of our government.
EXTREME NATIONALISM
They support extreme nationalism and an urge to create an American Empire that controls the resources of as much of the world as possible. The urge to empire started in the first half of the 19th century and was opposed on principle by the likes of Emerson and Thoreau. Since WWII we have built bases all over the world with the pretension that we are protecting others. With ‘W” and Cheney we have crossed the Rubicon in that we have declared we can attack a country which is no danger to us and change its government to one we may like. And anyone who questions it is attacked as unpatriotic.
EXTREME EXECUTIVE POWER
They support an unbalanced concentration of power in the executive and packing the judiciary with those who will interpret the constitution in support of the executive. The concentration of power in the executive did indeed start with FDR. One could argue that even if it went too far it was for the purpose of managing the depression and a world war. With the father of the modern Rabid Right, Nixon, the modern era began and his agent Dick Cheney has spent the last seven years restoring the unbalanced arrangement purely for purposes of profits and power. Real conservatives could not support that process and Libertarians warn us that it is dangerous.
SOCIAL DARWINISM
They Support the most callous and cold blooded forms of Social Darwinism that encourage vicious forms of exploitation. While the progressive movement led by Teddy Roosevelt changed the course, much of the 19th century involved callous abuse of people first with slavery which most of America supported up to and during the civil war. Then with the industrial revolution the era of robber barons and sweat shops created a form of economic slavery. It was not really a product of free enterprise. It was a partnership between corrupt Pols and economic predation.
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