The Libertarian Fantasy

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Sunday August 30, 2015 · 8:01 AM PDT

2015/08/30 · 08:01

Somehow I've missed seeing a root-cause analysis of why Libertarians, aka Republicans, hate "the government" so much. Why is the GOP view of any program benefitting the poor or the middle class, a case of "too much government," and is presented as axiomatically as a plane geometry proof where an "axiom" is something that is self-evident like square squares and round circles. The GOP "axiom" is that government and all it does and stands for is always undesirable, and probably downright evil.

Why?

I've asked libertarians what the basis of this view is and the question is met with disbelief that I would even ask such a thing. The answers are the confused incoherence of someone having to explain something they find so basic that they've really never even thought about it before. Clearly, as the core belief of right wing mythology it is expected to be accepted on faith without supporting evidence, explanation or backstory. "Freedom from government" to Conservatives is a "truth they hold to be self-evident."

Again, why? Liberals, Progressives, Democrats don't feel that way.

That, over time, human beings have found it necessary to have one form of a governing process or other speaks to the need for it. Since human beings' points of view and interests often clash, often violently, the need for rules and, ultimately, authority should be obvious or else things would quickly degenerate into conflict, confusion and chaos.

So why has government hating become the center of gravity for the Libertarian/Conservative creed?

Meet me below the fold to see what you think of what I think.

GEldridge

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Friday November 21, 2014 · 10:40 PM PST

2014/11/21 · 22:40

Missouri Governor Nixon is deploying the state National Guard, while according to news reports the St. Louis Military Police have drawn up plans to do battle with their taxpayers and of course the cover-up leaks spew without let up. It's hard not to conclude that Missouri state and local law enforcement really need a bloody telegenic riot not only to validate their own racial fantasies but more importantly, to divert attention from Darren Wilson being let off the hook for what any human being with a pulse views as homicide.

The most effective response that the African-American community could possibly make at this ugly moment is to deny Missouri their bloody riot and hit them in an unexpected and more vulnerable body part: The Pocketbook.

Declare Buyless Black Friday leading to a Buyless Black Christmas.

Ask all African-Americans and other citizens who believe in justice, to stay home when the Grand Jury decides not to indict and then stay home through the entire Christmas season. Do not buy anything in Missouri. If the kids can't do without Christmas presents, then buy them in Illinois or Kansas...not Missouri. Or better yet, give presents on MLK day which would leave the Missouri Chamber of Commerce in a total panic.

Plus by not staging a full-blown riot, the African-American community will deprive the blood-thirsty media of hours of breathless commentary, miles of screen crawls and, tragically, end-to-end commercial me$$age$.

IMO it's time to try a different approach.

An American Tragedy

GEldridge

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Monday July 15, 2013 · 10:18 PM PDT

2013/07/15 · 22:18

My apologies to Theodore Dreiser for stealing his title, but the jury's verdict in the George Zimmerman trial suggests that the price our "exceptional" Republic continues to pay for its past embrace of slavery is for racial conflict to keep haunting our society at all levels producing human tragedy at a breathtaking pace.

It was not my intention to write about this issue, since I'm neither lawyer nor social scientist and am not comfortably acquainted with the facts or the evidence in the Zimmerman case. However, two items from two media sources struck me as alternately stunning and infuriating and just seemed to sum up the fallout from these tragic episodes.

The first item was from All in with Chris Hayes on July 11, 2013 (at about 2:16 into the video). Chris Hayes' guests are two African-Americans, Maya Willey (Center for Social Inclusion) and Jelani Cobb (Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut). The exchange that I found to be a stunner (as did Chris Hayes) was:

Jelani Cobb: Yeah. i think, i've been saying this all along. i think that people riot when they expect justice and don't get it. i don't think black people expect justice in this case.
Chris Hayes: That's an incredibly intense statement.

That program was aired before the verdict was in, so Jelani Cobb's remarks turned out to be prescient. But beyond that, they indict us as a people who tolerate and even promote racial injustice to a point that minorities no longer expect justice but rather brace themselves for random violence from the authorities sworn to protect them
.
See you after the fold.
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A lurker comes out

GEldridge

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Sunday July 07, 2013 · 4:19 PM PDT

2013/07/07 · 16:19

My Daily Kos profile says I joined the site on 29 September 2004...9 years ago! Wow!! How time flies...!!

It also rates my diary frequency at "seldom" and my commenting frequency at "often." However, the "comment frequency" rating is not only generous, but recent. If you were to have reviewed my profile a couple of weeks ago, "comment frequency" would have also been rated "seldom." So what happened? And...why start now? Couple of things...

Attending Netroots Nation (in my San Jose home base) last month gave me a big push, but resolving some long-standing personal issues over the past year has been an even more compelling catalyst. After retiring from HP in 2007, I felt my grip on day-to-day functioning slipping to a scary level with stubborn ongoing depression that medication didn't seem to touch. So I finally hit up Kaiser for a psychiatric evaluation which found the root cause to be "attention deficit disorder" (ADD). That was a big surprise since I knew next to nothing about ADD, let alone suspect that I had it.

(Note: you also hear ADHD or "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" and you can follow the link to CHADD.org for a description of the various types of ADD/ADHD.) The support organization which operates nationally for ADD and ADHD patients is CHADD.org or Children and Adults with ADD/ADHD

So after reading Dr Edward Hallowell's Driven to Distraction, which was like reading my own biography, it all fell into place. My age appeared to be the big problem. I was just born too early...before the education system was geared to detect kids with ADD/ADHD and so I along with countless others in my age group were treated as lazy, unmotivated and unteachable. I can't tell you how many times I got whacked over the head with a ruler for staring out the window, for "daydreaming."

If I still have your attention, please meet me below the fold.

GEldridge

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Thursday July 04, 2013 · 4:32 PM PDT

2013/07/04 · 16:32

The forced grounding of Bolivian President Morales' airplane over European airspace this week hints at an intense level of desperation if not panic among US security organizations over the Snowden affair. To interfere with a head of a sovereign state traveling across "friendly" airspace is simply breathtaking. Even to an ordinary citizen like me, this was an egregious breech of diplomatic protocol which sets a very dangerous precedent for global commerce on all levels. Violating the core concept of "safe passage" as well as flagrantly disrespecting Bolivian sovereignty puts US global citizenship in serious question.

Let me say that the US has not to my knowledge admitted asking European countries to close their airspace to President Morales' aircraft, but it strains credulity to believe that three countries--wholly on their own--decided to bar President Morales from crossing their airspace. This post assumes that thru one channel or another, the US at some level, made known to appropriate authorities an intense interest in seizing Edward Snowden.

My concern is that taking such a risky and damaging step suggests that there may be way more under the covers in this episode than has been revealed so far. The injuries to US interests that we know of to date include the compromising of sensitive secret information, Mr. Snowden's violation of a non-disclosure agreement and his fleeing the country and seeking asylum elsewhere.

The question that occurred to me early on was how much money Snowden stood to gain from his actions. To my knowledge (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) other than WikiLeaks picking up daily expenses, he does not stand to make any money from this episode. So his own explanation, that he was acting as a conscientious citizen on behalf of the US public to reveal (in his view) unacceptable intrusions into their private affairs, remains (for the moment) credible.

However, Mr. Snowden whatever his intents and purposes has been effectively stranded in place and has been rendered a global pariah. While his king has been "checked," can the US call "checkmate" or does he still have moves? Or is it game over and back to the States to join Bradley Manning and John Kiriakou in the whistleblower gulag?

Please join me below the fold.

GEldridge

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Tuesday July 02, 2013 · 6:02 PM PDT

2013/07/02 · 18:02

The ongoing religious right's assault on reproductive rights brings me back to a dining hall conversation in the '60s during my Jesuit university undergraduate days. At one bull session I recall a priest informing us emphatically that any...ANY sexual activity without a procreative purpose was sinful even for married folks who despite being married must confine sexual relations to procreation as the sole goal.

I have since wondered how that impacts the post-menopausal and the infertile...but have never gotten a satisfactory answer. However, another Jesuit later added that the Church does recognize the value of sex as an expression of affection and love, but I didn't get the impression that love and affection was at the top of the list.

So it's hard to dispute that the real heart of the issue for both the Catholic Church and the Religious Right is: SEX!

Sex is a basic human drive operating within all of us along with hunger, thirst, self-preservation and many others. Sex is undeniably the source of highly pleasurable experience which when active often becomes relentless if not overwhelming. Sex is also fraught with emotional and psychological complexities which may exact a high price for its pleasures.

Sexual guilt is one price many people pay especially if they were taught to believe that they were violating a cultural taboo or even "God's law." So it is a short leap to see sexual guilt as a very handy tool for religious authorities to use to control behavior and ease their own burden of keeping people in line. If I thought that masturbation were going to land me in hell, then why would I take that chance? Good question...and one that any current or previous adolescent can answer...it feels good and it won't go away without me doing something.

But is there more to it than that? Am I oversimplifying and missing the procreational point? Does propagating the species (now approaching 7 billion) really demand an elaborate and rigorously enforced code of sexual conduct? Does defining and "defending" the procreating family lie wholly within the jurisdiction of religious authorities?

I'm not at all convinced. (and invite you to meet me below the fold)

GEldridge

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Wednesday May 09, 2007 · 11:13 PM PDT

2007/05/09 · 23:13

Based on postings and comments, there is little doubt that nearly everyone who reads and participates in Daily Kos feels that the Bush Administration represents a huge distortion of American culture and history and are counting the days until this ungodly affliction will be lifted. Many feel as I do that with the exception of the Civil War, no period in US history has been as divisive and damaging as the Bush Jr Era. Most of us were deeply disappointed and truly outraged at the the Right Wing faction on the US Supreme Court who discounted their oaths of office and installed Bush Jr in the Presidency in the first place. We were also let down by Al Gore's ineffective handling of the Florida election and his easy capitulation.

However, the elephant in that room was the fact that even taking skullduggery into account, close to 50% of those voting, voted for Bush Jr and did so enthusiastically.

GEldridge

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Saturday September 09, 2006 · 11:05 AM PDT

2006/09/09 · 11:05

We just never learn....do we?

I've been watching the brouhaha over "The Path to 9/11" and, on the one hand, I've been very gratified by the overwhelming and noisy reaction by liberals to this transparent piece of tripe. The grass roots have done what grass roots do best...sign petitions, send emails and make phone calls.

But this is an excellent example of when the Powers-That-Be should put their heads together and come up with a framing stategy. This is a screaming occasion for a concerted effort to steal the Right Wing's thunder and rub their noses in it by framing it as Right Wing Propaganda.

And now with Bush popping up in the middle of the broadcast, it's going to have the presidential seal of approval, at least in the minds of the masses. Read More

An Immodest Proposal

GEldridge

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Tuesday August 22, 2006 · 10:45 PM PDT

2006/08/22 · 22:45

My poor mailman. Every day he brings more pounds of mail from Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, James Carville, Charles Schumer, the DNC, the DFA and it never ends. All are asking, begging, shaming, cajoling, entreating me for money, and it's money that I'm happy to give. However, I also think back to 2004, 2002, 2000 and remember receiving the same appeals. I often responded to those pleas by writing out checks and in 2004 when the full ugly stink of the Bush presidency was apparent, I dipped into my meager pocketbook to the tune of a couple grand.

However, I also remember the anger and frustration at seeing my candidates ducking bullets instead of returning fire, of meeting slime boat attacks with a curious silence and the surprising and still puzzling news that the end of the 2004 campaign saw the loser with 15-20 million still in the bank.

So this year, I'm drawing the line.
Read More

This Week in Review: 1984, Meet Soviet America

GEldridge

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Saturday August 12, 2006 · 11:32 PM PDT

2006/08/12 · 23:32

The only good thing I can say about the terror bombshell dropped on US voters last week is that it was an "August Surprise" and not an "October Surprise." But don't think for a minute that Karl isn't planning a "September Surprise," an "October Surprise" and even a "November "Surprise."

My thought above dramatizes the mental state the Bushoviks have created over time to provide themselves with Election Insurance. Dramatic disclosures dropped during election cycles smell bad because they've used them shamelessly and repeatedly in the past. And we've all heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf, right?

But the reality is far worse. It's time we acknowledge the stark truth of US politics: This country is in the grip of a clique with aggressive ambitions and with a propaganda machine whose only purpose is self-preservation and self-propagation.

Welcome to the merger of 1984 with Soviet America.
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Hate Bush? Nah. Can't Be Bothered.

GEldridge

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Saturday August 05, 2006 · 11:42 PM PDT

2006/08/05 · 23:42

Right wingers often try to defuse criticism of The Leader by accusing critics of being "Bush Haters." Talking heads of the O'Reilly, Krauthammer, and Jacobyilk hurl the term like a thunderbolt from Olympus. I guess to them (and all "right-thinking" people like them) hating Bush is on par with hating apple pie, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother Theresa. Read More

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The Libertarian Fantasy

Ferguson's best hope

An American Tragedy

A lurker comes out

L'Affaire Snowden

War on Women...or a Lot More?

When do we hit rock bottom?

Why Doesn't the Demo Leadership Get It?

An Immodest Proposal

This Week in Review: 1984, Meet Soviet America

Hate Bush? Nah. Can't Be Bothered.