Language of the American Electorate
How seriously do Americans take the health of their democracy? In a time when far-right conservatives scream belligerently about taking their [unoccupied] country back, one wonders what country they think they live in. Nevada’s Republican senatorial candidate Sharon Angle is the face of extremist rhetoric with her call for “second amendment remedies” as a means of redressing political defeat.
From the LA Times
One of the typical traits of third world politics is the rise of charismatic leaders who eschew recognition of political contests that they do not or cannot win. For these people, it’s okay to wave the flag and proclaim their patriotism when they believe they are in a majority but when faced with defeat, they quickly resort to deception, demagoguery, or destruction as a means of achieving their political objectives. What does it say about their commitment to democracy when they behave as if they are entitled to rule and will do anything necessary to impose their ideals on a nation?
One basic flaw of conservative ideology is the belief in its inherent rightness. This contributes to the current nonconstructive state of left to right and right to left dialog. Without the belief in the inherent rightness of conservative politics, it would not be possible for any rational person to vote for someone like Angle or New York’s Paladino. It would also not be possible for anyone with an average or better IQ to watch a channel like Fox News, which as I’m sure you know is the most biased news source since the Soviet era Pravda—legendary source of pro-communist, cold war propaganda.
During my time as a committed conservative who promoted Judeo-Christian values where ever possible, I watched Fox News (as do many traditional conservatives) so as to avoid the taint of liberal media bias. When they became an order of magnitude more right-biased than the most liberal of news papers was left-biased, I found that it violated my own ethical standards of fairness and objectivity and accordingly, I stopped watching them. This is why I know that it is not a matter of simply being jaded or duped. Anyone with a healthy sense of fair play and a healthy respect for the truth, would be concerned by the extremist political rhetoric spewing forth from Fox on a daily basis. Are we to understand that Islamic extremism is a threat but Christian or conservative extremism is perfectly okay?
This is why the coming mid-term elections worry me. Apparently, Americans are angry at incumbents and plan to vote Democrats out of office. Okay. Walk me through the logic here. Republicans spend 8 years destroying our economy, helping companies ship jobs overseas, are apathetic to global warming and the environment, and spend borrowed money like drunken sailors while expanding our national debt by more than a trillion dollars and the average voter wants to hand the country’s driver’s seat back to them? It would not be so bad if there was a viable third party that could give it a go. At least that would make sense. But to give the reigns back to the people who got us in trouble to begin with and who said “no” to every initiative that might have successfully dealt with the problem, makes sense in what way? It makes me wonder if Sharon Angle would endorse second amendment remedies to remove right-wing radicals as well. But then, they often forget that we have guns too…don’t they? Be careful what you wish for.
So that brings me back to the original question. Assuming that actions speak louder than words, what message are Americans sending the world when they vote emotionally without regard to the national political consequences or the long term affects on our democracy? What message does it send when the Roberts Supreme Court allows hundreds of million dollars by billionaires and corporations to pour into Karl Rove’s Republican funding initiatives in order to create a legislative climate where they can do whatever they want and answer to no one—but no one on the Republican side cares about the ethics of coming to power through corporate sponsorships? Who will these Republicans be loyal to, the people or the corporations?
Everyone who cares about our democracy needs to help keep it clean and honest (in as much as that is possible). Everyone should vote, no matter their political leaning. After this election season is done, we need to reverse the damaging Roberts court ruling on campaign finance and then reign-in the unwieldy Senate. Without both of these, we may end up remembering fondly the United States as a modern democracy.
