Today's GOP: the Politics of Paranoia

If one looks at many of the policies advocated by today's Republican Party, one underlying thread motivates them: fear and paranoia.  Fear and paranoia towards non-whites, fear and paranoia towards those with different religious beliefs (or no belief), fear and paranoia towards the poor who are depicted as shiftless and deserving of their misfortunes, and of course fear and paranoia towards gays who do not love the same way.  The positions seem to always be based on who the GOP base is against rather than for positive, innovative solutions to modern day problems and issues.  Retreating back to a mythical past when only whites enjoyed full citizenship isn't a solution.  Yet the GOP persists in in campaign to play upon the ugliest inclinations of the party base.  A column in the New York Times looks at the poisonous phenomenon.  Here are some highlights:

Out-of-control federal government. An immediate and immense Muslim threat. Gun grabbing, national registries and eventual mass confiscations. Tyranny. The politics of the political right have become the politics of paranoia. 

According to too many of them, the country is collapsing, and the government is not to be trusted. The circle of safety is contracting. You must arm yourselves to defend your own. 

It is no wonder, then, that in this environment, a Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday found that while 47 percent of Americans were angry or disappointed that new gun control legislation in the Senate (including the enormously popular background-checks provision) had failed to pass, 39 percent were very happy or relieved. Fifty-one percent of Republicans had those sentiments, compared with 22 percent of Democrats.

“The growing view that the federal government threatens personal rights and freedoms has been led by conservative Republicans. Currently 76 percent of conservative Republicans say that the federal government threatens their personal rights and freedoms and 54 percent describe the government as a ‘major’ threat.” 

The report continued:  “By comparison, there has been little change in opinions among Democrats; 38 percent say the government poses a threat to personal rights and freedoms and just 16 percent view it as a major threat.” 

Last month, Glenn Beck described the makeup of what he believed was the coming “New World Order.” It did not bode well for America.  “I think you might even have some Nazi influence in the United States, unfortunately, because we’ve had it before. And it will happen there and there, I think,” Beck said, placing dots over the Northwest and the Northeast on a map.

Discussing the Muslim Brotherhood’s “influence,” Beck said:  “I think there’s going to be a slight influence in South America and Mexico and in the United States. I think it is going to be more significant than anyone imagines, and I believe that you are also then going to be co-ruled by a thug-ocracy of this part of the world. 

And Beck delivered this prattle in a suit jacket, not a straitjacket.  This is the constant stream of desperate drivel that has fostered a climate of fear on the far right that makes common-sense consensus nearly impossible. 

As a former GOP activist, I now believe at times that those who remain in the GOP are mentally ill and that everyone sane has fled the asylum.  There really is little else that explains the severe lunacy.

Feel the Love: Linda Harvey, A Queen of "Christian" Hate

I've noted before that I had some e-mail exchanges some years ago with Linda Harvey, head of her cottage industry hate "ministry." Like most of the Christianists who hold themselves out as experts to the gullible sheeple who listen to their blather and even more foolishly contribute money (so that the faux experts can live comfortably without having a real job), Linda Harvey has ZERO credentials that qualify her for pontificating on issues of sexual orientation, civil rights, legal rights of minorities, public policy issues or virtually anything else. Like so many of these hate merchants she set up a "ministry" and selectively picked Bible passages that support her prejudices and bigotry and has been living off of the ignorance of her followers ever since. Given that LGBT Americans had some advancement of their civil rights as American citizens in 2011, Ms. Harvey is big time pissed off and has been spewing some real "Christian" love towards LGBT people. Here are some highlights of her despicable comments via Jeremy Hooper at Good As You:

If Linda Harvey's year-end assessment of LGBT rights in 2011 isn't an all-out attempt to make people hate us, then I don't know what is:

Dare I say the obvious? We need non-effeminate men in the military. Does anyone really believe that a prancing drill sergeant won't detract from readiness? Where women are serving, they should be women of high character, not those who embrace homosexual conduct and publicly declare a "sin" identity. These folks have truly lost their way, their shame, their innate sense of God's touch on and design for their lives.

Friends, this list [compiled by World Net Daily] is a call to action. We need to first understand the decline into barbarism that homosexual and sex-change activism brings. Then, we need to each be that person who gets it, who understands that these folks with their radical ideology are purposely endangering families, children, our nation's security, our economy and the religious freedom of all who don't go along.

God has warned us in the pages of Scripture that these sinful impulses will end in catastrophe. It's not true that this is just another way to love, but these activists, as you can see, intend to overturn the beauty of traditional sexual morality.

Why do the words "modern day Pharisee" spring to mind? One has to wonder how someone like Harvey has become so consumed by hate. What sort of severe psychological/mental health problems might be behind it? Oh, and as for the thought of engaging in "beauty of traditional sexual morality" with Harvey, the thought is down right terrifying!

Hillary Resorts to Bush Fear Tactics

In what I can only perceive as a move of desperation, Hillary Clinton is running an ad trying to motivate people to vote for her rather than Barack Obama based on fear. Her 3:00AM ad begins with language to the effect that "It's 3am and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing. Something's happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call," implying the wrong vote - i.e. a vote for Obama - will endanger one's children. Hillary apparently thinks voters will still fall for the tactics of the Chimperator. Perhaps the GOP base likes such ads, but I suspect most Democrats have wised up to them. Fortunately, Obama had a great response which I hope gets plenty of coverage ( http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Obama_responds_to_the_red_phone.html):

Now before we open this up for conversation, I just want to take a moment to respond to an ad that Sen. Clinton is apparently running today that asks, “Who do you want answering the phone in the White House when it’s 3 a.m. and something has happened in the world?”We’ve seen these ads before. They’re the kind that play on peoples’ fears to scare up votes.Well it won’t work this time. Because the question is not about picking up the phone. The question is — what kind of judgment will you make when you answer? We’ve had a red phone moment. It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Sen. Clinton gave the wrong answer. George Bush gave the wrong answer. John McCain gave the wrong answer.

And I’ll never see the threat of terrorism as a way to scare up votes, because it’s a threat that should rally this country around our common enemies. That’s the judgment we need at 3 a.m. And that’s the judgment that I am running for president to provide.