The evangelicals have seen the light, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Hundreds of those who remain are in federal prison on a variety of felony convictions associated with conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government.
There are still all manner of conspiracy theorists, QAnoners, and other nut-jobs left, but their numbers are dwindling.
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s statement here is interesting, but I think the answer is even simpler.
Our country is roughly equally divided between those who care about the well-being of others, and those who crave reasons to think of themselves as better and more deserving than others: those with whiter skin color, more advantaged national origin, socio-economic class, religion, or sexual orientation.
Today’s Republicans have tapped into the ignorance and hatred of the latter, and have established their political platform accordingly.
The GOP’s behavior at this point is completely predictable. If a certain element of American society, in this case labor unions, benefits the common person, Republicans will do their level damndest to remove it from our lives. The same applies to better education, access to healthcare, environmental responsibility, and everything else that makes us a happier and healthier society.
The imperative: Reject science and all aspects of common sense and decency, if it makes rich donors happy.
It’s what makes living in America rather pathetic for people of kindness and decency. It’s why the rest of the civilized world, when asked about the United States, says essentially, “We simply feel sorry for you. If this had happened in Botswana or Azerbaijan, we would have barely noticed. But we never, ever, thought it could happen to you.”
We’ve previously noted that Trump supporters tend to be anti-vaxxers, and that anti-vaxxers are far more likely to die of COVID-19 than the rest of the population.
Something that needs to be added on top of this phenomenon (death), however, is removal from society by way of incarceration. Here’s the fellow, a Republican who lost a local election in New Mexico by a landslide (74% to 26%), who became convinced that the election was rigged, and then, with a team of hired thugs, went about shooting into the homes of the Democrats who beat him.
Felony charges range from aggravated battery to illegally discharging a firearm to conspiracy. We don’t have to worry about seeing this sociopath on the streets for a least a few decades.
I suppose we need to thank these people for making themselves disappear, rendering our world, incrementally, a bit safer and saner.
The rise of ultra-right-wing personalities in countries that are historically democratic should be a concern to all.
Yet we need to know that the United States is unique in both its economic strength (world’s #1 GDP), and its promotion of lunatics to positions of great power.
In an earlier post I mentioned that there are several reasons not to eat meat. Here’s one of them. Enjoy.
If further evidence were required that Republican lawmakers are hellbent on making the rich richer and the poor poorer, consider that the GOP is reintroducing the National Sales Tax. These means the abolition of all federal and state income taxes, the inheritance tax, gift taxes, etc., to be replaced by a single tax on all purchases. Experts believe that a national sales tax of 23% would be revenue-neutral.
This offers the advantage of ending all the expense of record-keeping and the tax return preparation. But as anyone can see, it disproportionately taxes the poor. Suppose Person A makes $5 million per year, which is 100 times more than Person B makes at $50,000 (and 250 times more than a retiree living on $20,000).
Do you suppose that Person A spends 100 times more than Person B on gasoline, food, cars, clothes, and other living expenses? Of course not. The richer you are, the less you pay, and vice versa. It would raise the tax burden for 90% of taxpayers.
OK, so now Republicans need a misleading name to sell this to the American people. How about “FairTax?”
It’s because most poor people were denied access to quality education, and, as a consequence, tend to be bamboozled by ruthless people.
This produces the counter-intuitive fact that we should feel sorry for Trump supporters. How would you like to go through life so thoroughly ignorant?
Let me take a stab at answering this stupid question.
Meat tastes good.
There are good reasons not to eat hamburgers, but “because they taste bad” isn’t one of them.
Btw, Gene Wilder would turn over in his grave if he knew his likeness was being used by imbeciles.
One Jim Palmer wrote an essay on the meme here that begins:
When readers ask me to comment on ideas like the one expressed in the meme here from Hillsdale College, my first response is to ask: Well, is America in fact the freest and most prosperous nation in history? The answer, of course, as anyone who can read and write understands, is no.
Right now, the U.S.’s “freedom ranking” is number 53 (and falling) among the world’s countries. Freedom House rates people’s access to political rights and civil liberties in 210 countries and territories through its annual Freedom in the World report, and the United States is nowhere close to the top of the list.
If you don’t care about facts, however, please feel free to weigh in on the “college’s” survey and show your ignorance. Remember that a hearty appetite for accepting baldfaced lies ihas become a virtue; it’s what makes you click in today’s world.
To Hillsdale: Go Trump. Storm the Capitol. Whatever you’re selling to our dullest minds must be correct.
