Let a Conservative tell you how it is...

There are times that I feel like I just sit here and harp on and on about the current conservative movement in the United States. I´m pretty sure I´ve covered every angle. Of course to be sure that my dear readers don´t just think that I am the only one seeing things this way, I bring you David Frum, former speech writer of President Bush, and I quote...

"Too often, conservatives dupe themselves. They wrap themselves in closed information systems based upon pretend information. In this closed information system, banks can collapse without injuring the rest of the economy, tax cuts always pay for themselves and Congressional earmarks cause the federal budget deficit. Even the market collapse has not shaken some conservatives out of their closed information system. It enfolded them more closely within it. This is how to understand the Glenn Beck phenomenon. Every day, Beck offers alternative knowledge — an alternative history of the United States and the world, an alternative system of economics, an alternative reality. As corporate profits soar, the closed information system insists that the free-enterprise system is under assault. As prices slump, we are warned of imminent hyperinflation. As black Americans are crushed under Depression-level unemployment, the administration’s policies are condemned by some conservatives as an outburst of Kenyan racial revenge against the white overlord."

Want more? Read it right from the horses mouth. I have to conclude I am impressed. Of course in no way do I agree with everything he is saying, but still its damn well written and has a good point.

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Musings of a Thursday

Unbelievable I just managed to lose an entire post just as I finished it. The main point of the post that should be here is that the Republican Party should really thank their chief strategist for his work this election cycle. The Democrats should start demanding that the President illustrate why the choices made were necessary and stop letting the Republicans control that debate in the media.

I also wanted to recommend the book I am currently reading: The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike. It has been pure magic so far (pun intended).

Also, today, I have been musing over why American Evangelicals are so entwined with the Republican and conservative movements. It is something that I completely fail to understand. How does Ayn Rand mix with the Bible? I am at a loss.

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P.S. Great read for today: by Gail Collins at the NY Times

P.P.S. Another thing to check out: by Paul Krugman at the NY Times

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The Big Day

At this point it’s too late to start wondering what could have been. The elections are upon us and the predictions are only pointing one way. The Democrats might as well go ahead and put a disaster stamp in the party’s history book for this chapter. I for one have been impressed with what they have accomplished, and I am not some person who believes that change happens overnight. The Republican Party will at best take the House and the Senate today and at worst only takes the House. That will be enough to bring a gloom to my hope for further progressive change. We will see stagnation in American politics as the Republicans bask in their conquest and then realize that it won’t be as easy as they had thought all this time. The Tea Party will be frothing at the mouth like zombies over their shoulders and when they misstep they will pay for it.

I wonder how long it takes before they go centrist? Will they compromise? What will compromise cost them? How long before the coalition they have built frays? It’s going to be a very interesting two years to say the least.

I am ashamed of my country. I had big hopes after the cowboy was gone that we were going in the right direction, that reason and intellect might even be something to admire once again. I was wrong. People like Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity exist on the airwaves because people are willing to listen to that garbage. They want their politicians and policies to be as simple as a two hour-long radio show. They want to know who to hate. Hate is something that is growing in America. Its strange how instead of moving forward and trying to improve our lives we have turned to hating our neighbors, to blaming them for our bad choices, and hating on anyone and anything that comes from outside our own limited spheres of knowledge. Der Spiegel has an article today about the end of the American Dream. Its one of the most frank and forthright articles I have read about America in a long time. I recommend it to everyone who reads this blog. The gist of it is this: Americans have lived beyond their means for decades now. They used to brag about it to the rest of the world. Now economic reality has finally caught up with them and instead of change they are just going to get mad and vote for the same party that encouraged the bad behavior from the beginning.

I hope everyone who is reading this is voting today.

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