One of the main drivers of the regressive, right wing, Republican noise machine is the viral email rant. Whether it's the birthers, deathers or deniers, or whatever fearful, hostile, gossipy attack on progressives or Democrats is the current strategy, these emails are a joy to behold and a lot of fun to take down.
A friend of a friend sent me a summary of a speech by Charles Krauthammer, full of praise for his great intellect and deep insight into the inner workings of President Obama.
The struggle to plant seeds of fear of progress and to delegitimize our duly elected president is easy to deconstruct, so it was my pleasure to scoff at the gossip.
Below is a numbered list of what they're sending out to stoke the anxieties of the already fearful, followed by my suggested responses. I enjoyed the exercise and if anyone has other suitable answers, let's have some fun.
Below, in blockquote, is the exact email sent to a list of right wing friends (he thought).
Jerry, thanks for the exercise. I hope you can think about it.
-h
At 02:11 PM 8/13/2009, you wrote:
August 10, 2009 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: Charles Krauthammer
A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. You would do well to read and pass this along to EVERYBODY that loves his country. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country. The ramifications are staggering for us & our children.
Krauthammer is a libertarian, individualist capitalist and a devoted Republican. That's not a critique, but it's the lens through which he sees the world. It's not universal or the highest order of intellectualism. I don't know what else might be bothering him.
To my Friends & Associates:
Last Monday was a profound evening, hearing Dr. Charles Krauthammer speak to the Center for the American Experiment. He is brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fearmonger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has a Pulitzer prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post. The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have shared this with many of you and several have asked me to summarize his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not 'drunk the Kool-Aid', feel free.
A summary of his comments:
- Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a 'cool customer' who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's 'behind the mask'. Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
It's so easy to distrust.
- Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!
"doing the opposite" is an assumption
- Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to 'level the playing field' with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada.
"ruthless quest for power" is an assumption of the extreme kind. It makes Charles look like an extremist. Maybe it's long past time to modify capitalism with some economic foundations and civil legal framework, rather than a war of all against all.
- His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, & NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada. God forbid.
"goals are to control" is an assumption. Cap and trade is about controlling global warming. If a person doesn't believe in it, that person is not oriented to reality, i.e., is crazy. Cap and trade is an attempt to accomplish the goal using economic incentives rather that regulatory control. It's an attempt to avoid federal control but still solve the problem even when so many people don't believe the reality of global warming. I don't think it will work because too many people are crazy. There are many ways to control the costs of health care, including by removing the profit-taking middlemen whose only goal is to take money out of the system at the maximum rate. It's what is taught in MBA school, and it's what has destroyed the economy.
- He's surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they're going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama's not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
Larry Summers and Tim Geithner are serious Goldman Sachs banksters. That's my main complaint about Obama. Bent on revolution is a wild assumption bordering on pure fear mongering propaganda.
- Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States, but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
Has any previous president proclaimed that America was the leader of the free world? (Yes). Or is he just uppity and doesn't know his place?
- He's now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not 'come due' until after he's reelected in 2012. He'd like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.
Translation: Uppity.
- Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We're 'pining' for another Reagan, but there'll never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she's to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states' rights.
Palin, intelligent? That's puts the whole scree in perspective. The ring of desperation is hurting my ears. Republicans are toast.
- The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We're spending trillions that we don't have. This could lead to hyper inflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn't work, nor will the stimulus package . These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
Huge tax breaks for the uber-wealthy and corporate welfare didn't work either. We're deep in a hole and strapped to a dysfunctional economic system designed to funnel all the cash to the top, rendering the working people unable to live.
- The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of 'change' caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising is was as close as it was.
In spite of Republican shrieks of fear and pain, the people acted rationally.
- In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it'll be a dogfight. It'll all be about the economy.
The economy is a subset of the ecology, and the ecology has been raped and crippled by the dominant economic and political hierarchy.
I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There's a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.
I hope he's right about the left-wing revolution. We're reclaiming our country now.