If you are an American and watched what happened at the Capitol today – and are not outraged – then you are a defective person. And probably have been for a long time.
Soonergrunt, long time commenter at Balloon-Juice, summed up these thoughts of mine very well.
The list of those folks who need to go f*ck themselves is actually quite long and goes back to those days some 12 years ago when I spoke out on this blog and in the comments section of other blogs repeatedly about the Tea Party and the dangerous threat it posed to the American political commonwealth.
A commenter here a couple of years ago said that I insulted the other commenters at Lex’s place ( God rest his soul) by pointing out (repeatedly) how worthless the teabaggers were in those heady days of – as I called them then and still feel now – “celebrations of selfishness” – also called Tea Party rallies. Many commenters were shocked, utterly shocked that I expressed my contempt for those loons by calling them a name they created: teabaggers. (They did, look it up – or look in my archives; I did a post on it). In that effort, I got some great support from my Canadian Counterpart, who actually cut the teabaggers apart far better than me. A list of my many articles criticizing these dangerous souls can be found here.
That particular comment implied that I should feel some remorse for taking them on explicitly and calling them out as the hypocrites they were and are.
Newsflash. I felt no remorse then, and I feel none now. Because today’s events proved that I was right. The teabaggers were dangerous and a threat to American Constitutional Democracy and American political commonwealth. I take no special pleasure in being proven correct – but correct I was. I called it out for you back in 2009 – these morons were dangerous. Specifically, in August of 2009, I pointed out:
3) The real thing I don’t like about the teabaggers and their movement is that it is not a movement at all. It is a carefully planned and aggressive misuse of a genuine sentiment-real concern about the end effects of planned legislation ( like insurance reform)-for very narrow political purposes, namely to get friends of Dick Armey and their friends into the positions he wants for them. As was also pointed out by folks wiser than me, ” When your money floweth from the teat of the insurance industry, you are perhaps little more than a tool of corporate interests, either wittingly, or worse, not.”
The people behind the curtain think they can keep the wild-eyed crazies within the movement in control-as I recall that’s what a lot of Communist Russians said in 1917 or Germans in 1932. Look how well those “movements” turned out. Not so well.
The anger these people are stoking is just right for a demagogue to jump into and ride on to a path to a real dictatorship if they are not careful. And these folks, many of whom are nice enough if you keep them away from Fox News and Glenn Beck long enough-have no idea of the anger they are stoking with their signs and slogans. The demagogues are out there-witness Sarah Palin-but they just haven’t hit on quite the right one yet. Trust me however-he’s out there, just waiting for his chance. He’ll ( and it will be a he) be charming, well-spoken, well-groomed, well educated, and will ride a wave of popular resentment.- Just like the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania avenue did. Or worse yet-more reasonable people will be so afraid of the emotional violence the tea partiers have set in motion that they themselves will do unreasonable things. The liberals they disparage so much have already had that happen to them-and watched some of the things they championed slide down into the pit of unreasonable being. The same thing will most probably be the fate of the tea partiers after a few more elections. I’ve already read of people who say there should be a “purity test’ to be a Republican. What’s up with that?
For the same reason the teabaggers do-fear and anger.
These people have no idea of the terrible forces they are playing with. Nor do I believe at this point-do they care.
Fast forward to 2015 and the golden staircase and one Donald J. Trump, and lo and behold – we found our American demagogue. The only part I got wrong was the “well-spoken” part. No one can ever say that about Trump.
But by 2016, it did not matter so much for a lot of America had lost sight of what an erudite individual really was.
Today, on the grounds of the US Capitol, we saw the consequences of indulging these spoiled children who participated in a totally astroturfed “movement.
If there is one mistake I made, it was to downplay the blatant racism at the heart of the tea party “movement.” I correctly pointed out at the time that they want to make it clear that they believe only one party is fit to govern – any election of a Democrat is illegitimate. By their way of thinking, the last “legitimate” Democratic President was Lyndon Johnson.
I did not give credence to the racism that was a subtext of their parade of grievance. Trump exposed that racism for what it was – and exploited it.
Ton Nichols spoke for many when he said today:
He’s right.
I was also very correct when I said this at the time, ” If this lunacy is not reigned in-and repudiated by the leaders of the Republican party, it will get out of control and someone will get killed. You mark my words.“
4 people are now dead, 11 years after I wrote that. I take no joy in it, but by the same token, I have no remorse for having been correct and acting to point that out in the strongest terms to the “folks on the front porch.”
Our Galtian overlords own this disgrace today.
